Of things HAPpening
30th October 2022
Locos and coaches on the move.Such a novelty.
Next to no pictures last week, this week a little more time to be camera-happy but still a tendency to get stuck in and think - hmm, I didn't get any pictures - when it's all too late. Monday was notable for finally managing to get my hair cut. I missed out on the sheep shearers this year, just too busy, and it was beginning to get rather unsightly. I start to get this 'mad professor' look that I don't like at all. But the local barbers changed from a walk-in service, and all thanks to Covid, switched to appointments and with my 'flexible' diary I couldn't be sure what I would be doing when. But while I was removing excess fur Ian, Adam's Dad, had decided to re-grow his moustache, which I found as we met up at Midsomer Norton on Tuesday. When I was in my twenties and working at Hills, I decided to grow one to try and make me look older as I was working with more senior engineers and operators and felt that I looked too young and niave to be taken seriously. By the time I reached my fifties it was obvious that I didn't need such assistance any more so off it came.
Our reason for being at Midsomer was to return an 03 to Swindon after its loan came to an end, and here is Ian himself steering the trailer as we started to reverse out. My task was to walk out into the middle of the road and bring traffic to a halt so he could get out. It wasn't helped by the fact that the main road to Radstock which passes just north of Midsomer was closed and this was the signed diversion route so was much busier than usual. Just as when we brought it down, I headed cross-country through Melksham and Calne while Adam had to return north, go round the Bristol ring road and then M32 and M4. It was nigh on half four as he rolled in to Blunsdon but as usual we had the loco off and he was on his way home in just over the hour. So quick in fact that I forgot even to take a picture.
With another 390 miles under my belt I had planned to take Wednesday a little more quietly, especially as Steph and Andrew had gone off with grandson the previous evening, stayed overnight at a hotel not far from where my father used to live, and had done a drive-by there before heading on to spend the day at Bovington Tank museum. Thursday afternoon it was over to Hope cement works to collect an 08, loaded late in the afternoon. 'Who's that?' asked my contact at Hope 'I've not seen him before.' 'You have,' I told him 'he brought that loco in.' Obviously Ian's moustache is an effective disguise.
The only access route to Hope (avoiding low bridges and such) involves taking a B road through Bradwell village heading towards Tideswell. Once you clear the village you ascend through a peculiar defile with sheer cliffs at each side, then burst out on to fields, still climbing. On a good summer's day you look left and see gliders aloft from the airfield. But having passed the farm from whence Andrew bought the Andover trailer (that convinced me that it was worth investing in the King) you have a short steep pitch with a zig zag at the top. Ian was concerned about this, saying how steep it felt even without a 48ton lump on the back. Later he told me that Adam came up to it, dropped the tractor into 'crawler' gear and crept all the way, but he wanted to get out and kiss the tarmac when they reached the summit!
Friday we met up at Shackerstone to unload it but again I didn't get any pictures, partially because Adam had slipped and twisted his knee on Thursday so as the next fittest person on the team I had to do as much as possible, including dragging off and pushing back the 10ft 75 lb/yd rails that form the bulk of the ramp. Ian said 'it was a good job Pete was here' which was about the nicest thing anyone has said to me all week.
Back on Monday the spring steel discs to make up the transmission coupling on the Janus had arrived so one of the first tasks Saturday was get it assembled, left to Matt as he had experience of rivetting. The construction of the coupling involves 3 spring steel discs, separated by shims, with re-inforcement rings on the centre and periphery. The outer rings had distorted with the old discs, so these were new, but we re-used the shims and the centre pieces as these were unaffected. Here's the rivetted disc prior to painting, and under a close up of the laminations.
All of this is now invisible as shortly after it was given some paint. Over on the Hudswell, I had picked up the machined jockey pulley for the fan drive and with a bit of assistance got it assembled on the sliding carrier. A spare C section belt was placed over to see how it was going to look (I hadn't bought the driving pulley for the fan shaft yet) and I decided I wasn't keen on it. It was messy and I ought to be able to do better, even if it delayed things a little. Back on fan drives, I had also picked oup the new flange for the fan on Alstom's loco so Matt put together the assembly ready to go back on the loco, and last thing I gave it a spray of paint.
Saturday evening, while Andrew and Steph were returning grandson to his mother's, I returned to the front end details of the Hudswell and concluded that if I used a multi-groove pulley on the engine crank extension (where Plan A had a mere 2 grooves for the compressor) I could drive the fan from it too and it would look far more practical..That may be implemented in the next few days, although Andrew did point out that he couldn't install the connecting pipe between the air receivers until the crank pulley was on and staying there.
It is time for the 2HAP to leave us, after some four and a half years at Darley Dale, indeed it has been postponed several weeks already as other jobs got in the way. Had the 'old management' at Matlock been in place, just getting it to Rowsley would have been an exercise in frustration. But nowadays I knew that any suggestions I made would not be dismissed out of hand, so I had put forward that the easiest solution was that we moved it up after the last service train had gone by, provided the blockmen at Darley Dale and Church Lane were prepared to stay on a bit later. This plan was adopted and I knew that one of our major jobs for Sunday would be that. Originally we had hoped to be getting the engine and generator in the Janus assembled as well, but that plan was thwarted when Matt texted me Sunday morning to say he had been unwell all night and wouldn't be in. While I waited for Andrew I made up a hose to vent the driver's brake valve on the Hudswell away under the cab floor and continued putting in the small bore gauge pipes into the desk in anticipation of the main air connection from the compressors arriving soon.
When he did arrive, we opted to get the shunting sorted first and so I fired up RS8 and drew Alstom's loco out the way, coupled up to the two locos in front of the 2HAP on track 1 and pulled them up as far as I could so as to give enough room behind them to get the Hatramm up and on to the front of the 2HAP. About then there was a tremendous roll of thunder, and we both got soaked as we dashed for cover, Andrew to the shed and me to RS8 to propel the 4 locos back down to the shed area for the afternoon. By the time we had had a cuppa the rain had stopped again, so we headed back out to get the Hatramm ready for its duty.
The plan was to propel the 2HAP up with one of us in the driving cab and able to stop the train if required. The 2HAP of course has Southern 'high level' train hoses so Andrew put together back-to-back hoses to make up extensions for both the brake and reservoir lines. But the Hatramm's reservoir connection was of opposite hand and incompatible (although the brake line was standard) so we would run single-pipe, giving us an all-or-nothing brake from the 2HAP cab. A few test runs up and down proved that there was no way 70tons of 2HAP would fail to stop the 25 ton Hatramm.
Andrew attended to an air leak on one hose connection (damaged seal) and all was ready. I was by the blockpost as the last northbound train handed over the Darley Dale-Matlock token and the Hatramm and 2HAP were out on the main line even before the service train had left Darley Dale station.
We set forward to the home, waited until the section was clear and then got the go ahead over the level crossing to wait in Darley Dale station. The service train reached Rowsley, returned the token which enabled another to be drawn at Church Lane. The starter came off and we set off north, collecting the token at Church Lane and an audience at the crossing.
At Rowsley I had intended to go through the loop but a STOP board at the far end meant instead we went through the loading bay road, which the steam crew had just cleared of the dining train which had stabled there after Saturday. At the top end of Rowsley we positioned the first carriage for loading, split them and parked the second and the Hatramm on the adjacent headshunt, before getting a lift back to Darley thanks to Jagger.
As darkness fell, RS8 moved the two locos back to a much emptier track 1 before returning to the shed area, and Andrew and I spent some time on the hydraulic exhauster drive on D1120, cutting a strip off the motor base where it had fouled the torque reaction bracket and getting it all to line up.
So that's it for this week. Crack of sparrows tomorrow it's up and see the first carriage away, and wait for the vehicle's return later in the week to take the second and get the Hatramm back home. I've earmarked one day for a trip out to collect an e-bay purchase, but I'm a little concerned about it. I won it on Thursday (maiden bid so no excitement there) and messaged the seller asking did he want Paypal or cash-on-collection, seeking the address and indicating a preferred day to uplift. Silence. The danger is that the seller started it at a 'low price' confident that he'd get more and unwilling to sell that low. If I had waited for his answer he could have cancelled the sale and told e-bay that I didn't pay in time, and the black mark would have been against us. So on Saturday I paid on Paypal anyway, hoping that would trigger a reaction, but so far it hasn't. There may be a perfectly honest answer - the seller is away, or ill, or something. But we have had instances in the past (a 7.25" gauge loco where the seller ignored me and a few weeks later the same loco is listed by another 'selling it on behalf of a friend' - or an engine where the seller cancelled the sale saying it had been 'stolen the previous day' only for it to be relisted at higher price a few weeks later) so take any lack of response as suspicious. More on this perhaps, next week. See ya then.