Of guarding a Sentinel

12th March 2023

A little bit of a quieter week than anticipated. One job got postponed into next week (which I had hoped to leave free for a bit of recuperation, get the van serviced, do some work in the shed, get the radio control fitted to the steering on the trailer, catch up on quotes and materials to order, etc., etc.,) but that won't happen.

On Monday Adam and Ian set off for Plymouth having told me that I had absolutely no need to travel all that way and to be honest I was happy to accept that decision. It would have meant an awful lot of driving and a night out, and whereas Adam and Ian can grab a hotel but if all else fails sleep in the lorry cab, I am stuck with locating a hotel and will avoid rough nights in the van like the plague. I am getting too old for that sort of thing. They got as far back as Chieveley services (Newbury) Monday night and I planned to meet them at Castle Hedingham Tuesday morning to help unload

It should have been simple - there is a ban on abnormal loads around the M25 at certain hours of the day so Adam wouldn't be able to get through before it so might as well wait until after which gave a late morning arrival at the Colne Valley. I counted 3 hours back from that and set off on schedule only to lose time all the way (diary note, allow a minimum of 3.5 hours in future) and arrived a few minutes behind them.

The loading pad at the CVR has two distinct characteristics - it slopes up into the site and is right up next to a bramble-ridden fence. While waiting for the CVR Adam removed all the securing chains from the bramble side of the loco but the control panel and electric/hydraulic connectors between neck and deck are all on that side so there's nothing for it but to tough it out! The ex Plym Valley 03, although on a 'downward' slope on the trailer, as the trailer was on an upward slope stayed still as the winch wound out and a CVR loco and carriage ended up gently pulling it off (a long sling I have in the van for such occasions enabling a safe distance to be maintained) and at the bottom of the ramp buffering up and pulling it away. We rejoined tractor to trailer (brambles ouch again) and then went around to their new 'welcome' building for a tea before heading back. As I set off I saw the 0-4-0DH Hunslet 6975, which we delivered a long back, shunting the yard.

Wednesday should have had another job in the afternon but as I said before, that got postponed so instead it was an early start Thursday morning. Or was it? The weather forecast was for snow - would it arrive early enough? I texted Adam about making a decision first thing in the morning and received a reply that they'd already set off and were staying at Michaelwoods services that night, which ought to give them an easy ride in to Bitton the next morning. I meanwhile was faced with an early get-up and rely on the weather not obstructing my ride. My body on these occasions anticipates an early rise and in order to ensure I don't oversleep, stays in a light repose and has a tendency to wake up far earlier than needed - in this case 03.40 - and refuse to go back to shut-eye. I got up at 05.00 and hit the road at 05.45, but even this wasn't early enough to get me to Bitton for 09.00, but I rolled in at about 09.30 to find the lorry lined up and the ramp down, so had avoided some of the hard work!

We were collecting the unique Sentinel 0-8-0DH, once pride of the Longmoor Military railway. Indeed, back in 1969, at the last open day of the LMR, I celebrated my impending adulthood by travelling down from Surbiton with some of my railway-minded school friends and rode from Liss to Longmoor behind that very loco, though I knew little of industrial diesels at that time. I rode standing in a suburban brake coach, Guards' compartment next to the Sentinel, and endeavoured to record it on my portable reel-to-reel recorder (I was into that then) and must still have that tape somewhere. I don't think I knew it was the last Open Day otherwise I'd probably have availed myself of a ride to Oakhanger and back. I did though walk part way up the line from Longmoor (to record things passing) and was politely ticked off by the crew of an Army diesel - was it a NB or an RH? I can't recall - who did though offer to sell me the loco for half-a-crown. I declined as I couldn't think how to get it home.

The loco is unique today for two reasons - firstly, all the other Sentinel 0-8-0DHs have been scrapped, but secondly, whereas the 'industrial' versions were about 74tons, this one was built at 54 tons and having less adhesion, was geared for 'tripping' so can run up to 30mph. It is in a sense two 0-4-0 locos back to back with two Rolls-Royce C8SFL engines and torque converters and two final drive gearboxes on the inner axles. Unlike the heavy weight plodders, the military 0-8-0 has fluted side rods as befits a faster machine. After Longmoor it went to Shroeburyness and then for base overhaul at Thomas Hill in 1977, leaving early in 1978, 3 months before I started there. Demobbed it went to the Mid Hants, where from what I heard it began to suffer from the usual issues of converter overheat. On it went to its present owner, and apart from a spell at Long Marston has been there ever since, undergoing a long, slow rebuild.

Once aboard we height-sticked it - the bridge at Bitton (where the railway goes over the main road) is plated 14ft 3 which probably means it's actually 14ft 6, but you can't rely on that as a local authority may re-surface the tarmac and reduce it. I hopped up to make sure the height stick was true to the roof and we maxed at 14ft 1 though the Bitton loading area was rough so working to the inch wasn't a guarantee. Ian had an unfortunate incident backing out and managed to hit a gatepost with the trailer. My trailer has been struck in the rear by a lorry and has had the odd scrape getting in and out of some places but this is the first time we have actually struck something, but the bill that the AVR has forwarded is being settled this week. Anyway, I went down to the entrance to stop the traffic to enable the lorry to get out onto the road and away. It was quiet as they backed carefully down the entrance lane but as they reached the bottom it suddenly got busy, although this might have had something to do with the double-deck car transporter that was clearly well over 14ft 3 stopped 50 yards the other side of the bridge!

As soon as I brought things to a halt and Adam and Ian started to back out, wouldn't you know it but a Police car with blues and twos tore round the roundabout and came towards us. Adam slammed the DAF back into forwards and pulled clear to make a gap - the police car swung through with a 'thank you' wave and was gone. We finished getting out (some motorists clearly getting impatient) set the steering straight on the trailer and started moving off. Adam called to me to see him through under the bridge, which we did with about 6" clear. As I turned back to get my van, a car transporter driver (not I think the same man) yelled at me asserting we 'should have height sticked it first'. 'We did' I yelled back '14ft 1' but one should never take too much for granted.

I overtook the loco on the Bristol ring road and went ahead, stopping at Michaelwoods and as I emerged, saw the loco over at the HGV fuelling area, so surprised Adam and got a quick photo. Meanwhile back at Rowsley the Hatramm had come up conveying a Ruston 165 which we had shunted out Wednesday evening in readiness. Adam and Ian though had a blow-out on the trailer so it was half-five before they approached Rowsley. Andrew and Jagger took over as I am usually out on a Thursday night, thus I was in the kitchen in the Briddon Country Pile and saw the rig come past as they had driven up the A6 from Matlock! The Sentinel came off and the Ruston put on, and the Hatramm and Sentinel parked, by now in the dark and snow to await transit to Darley Dale.

Friday. The morning was an interesting contrast with everything white, but we wanted the pair back at Darley Dale so after lunch set things up with Harvey C for a run down. Prior to this there was a meeting with Mark Sealey and a 'Sentinel admiration group' formed around the loco.  It would have been nice to have got a photo of the Sentinel and Bagnall the Barclay together (the first time reunited since February 1968) but that will have to wait. But first the meeting touched on several issues - we may at last see the way clear to installing more secure fencing between the shed and the footpath, but more importantly, for various reasons, got the OK to bring T2 into Darley for modifications. Then it was fire up the Hatramm and set off for Darley, parking the Sentinel on track 1 for the moment. Its power units, mostly rebuilt, still reside at Bitton though they need new rear engine mounts (my usual arrangement a version of which already exists for Sentinels) and hopefully will have improved torque converter cooling before it ventures out into traffic.

And what of Adam and Ian? With Jagger along to assist, they were taking the Ruston to an embryo group at Bramley and were supposed to be ready to accept it but I understand weren't 'quite'. All I know is unloading took 4 hours and Adam remarked on an email 'that was fun' and I don't think he really meant it!

Saturday. Peak Rail had planned to run a service but in view of the snow it had already been cancelled. I went down to the shed a bit after Andrew (for a change) and first job was to reprogram the PLC on the Hudswell. I had during the week realised what I had done wrong and it had been self-inflicted. During earlier testing, as the transmission oil tank wasn't filled so was indicating low oil level, I had reversed the input in the program so that 'low' was 'go' instead of 'stop'. But we'd filled the tank and I'd forgotten, so the PLC did what it was told and refused to go any further. Reverse the input lines back to what they should be and it was happy again, but as we had no coolant in (and Andrew wanted to fix the coolant leak we'd seen last week) starting it up was delayed. Andrew meanwhile had received a new regulator assembly for the MIG welder so started welding up the mounts for 2895 which had languished on his bench for a couple of months. In theory, he declared, the heat should help keep us warm, but it's a big shed and I did succumb to temptation and burnt a bit of kersoene anyway. Roger Hallatt appeared at the door. He'd come over to see how bad things were - allegedly he had 18 inches of snow at the upper class side of Sheffield - and was dismayed to find so little here, though it was melting. I returned to my job of assembling the radio control unit for steering T1, creating a connector box to carry an isolation switch and a relay behind on the bracket that was made for the receiver and the 'radio engaged' light. Later on Andrew and I removed the water pump from the Hudswell's engine again and found the sealing gasket damaged. A fresh joint was put in and hopefully that will now be OK.

Sunday and Steph and Andrew set off early for Rowsley as the usual Quorn railwayana meet had moved there and they'd decided to do a stand. I got down to the shed just after 10 to find Andy B from the Yorkshire Wolds waiting to collect some parts from the 0-4-0 Fowler. He accepted a tea and we were still doing 'the tour' when Andrew arrived. As at this point there was a guy photographing from the footpath: I invited him and left Andy with Andrew. Shortly after that Andrew spotted another enthusiast on the footpath (they're not goin' to be happy when we put pallisade fencing up!) and volunteered me for another tour. The first though had a list of locos he specially wanted to see - 144V (inside so not visible from the footpath) 1197 (on track 1` so not visible from the footpath) and the ex Aln Ruston (which left Thursday). So 2 out of 3 isn't bad I suppose. Tony S was over on his railcar. In order to change the fuel pump you have to access the front of the engine and such is the installation that it effectively means removing grille, radiator and sundry other bits.

The weather had turned positively warm and a bit of tidying up was on the list in order to shunt road 2 shortly in a major change around. I made a further attempt at cranking on the Hudswell but encountered another problem. When cranking, the system voltage falls and drops below the PLC threshold such that it turns off and thus stops cranking. I used to fit a pair of 12V burglar alarm type batteries to prevent this, but even float charged off the system they were a clumsy solution and instead I'd started fitting a chunky electrolytic capacitor as it only needs to maintain the voltage for a few seconds. The 'cap I had fitted to another loco was no longer listed by my regular electronics supplier so I'd taken the biggest they still offered - and it isn't up to the job.

That must get sorted this week. And so after hopefully resolving an issue with Steph's car, I'll be off on another 08 jaunt postponed from last week, and then a quiet catch-up week (no, it won't be I'm sure). Pop back, usual time and website, to find out. See ya then.