Of steering the way forward

5th February 2023

Owing to a  technical hitch, you are now viewing a 'work in progress' on the new Weekend Rails site which was intended only to be unleashed once all the features were working. Please bear with us, Bill is toiling as hard as he can to sort it all out!

First thing Monday it was back on the road again, as the 08 we had dropped off a week or so before was awaiting collection from Leeds. I got there about 09.15 to find two large 4x4s had been parked, not only alongside (but not in) a marked parking bay but on top of the marked pedestrian walkway and effectively reducing a gap which Adam had to steer through from 'tight' to 'impossible'. It was not though my only problem as our arrival had been forewarned but not entirely anticipated and with it being Monday morning they had the usual weekly start-up meeting and the mess of the weekend to sort first.

So Adam and Ian waited patiently outside while I waited, not quite so patiently, in the wheel lathe building. The two 4x4s were by comparison, easy to get moved. Eventually things were ready, the 08 was towed in to the shed (it was touch and go whether to back in and load it where it stood and to be honest there was only a metre or two in it) and the low loader crept through the car park (Adam watching the front corner of the tractor, Ian steering the rear of the trailer and me watching the front corner of a car as the nearside of the trailer passed within 3 inches of it) and made ready to load. The depot 'tug' pushed the loco back to the end of the ramp and up she went, secured down and we reversed our way out of the depot. I can't put over just how much of a squeeze it was, creeping along watching each corner and edge to make sure nobody's prized wheels got scratched.

A group of loco drivers watched us - they may be off shift but they couldn't leave until we got clear - and I took delight in saying 'And that gentlemen, is how to get an 08 around a curve of less than 3 and a half chains!' As they backed out into the road I stood at the junction and scared off any cars thinking of turning in, then collected my van and raced off to get ahead of them and down to our destination.

Rather later than planned thanks to the waiting in the morning, but on arrival another 08 was waiting to draw our charge clear, so out went the ramp and the loco de-trailered.

That evening all three of us attended the PRA Derwent Valley group meeting as it was being addressed by Mark Sealey, reviewing 2022 and plugging all the firm and provisional events in 2023, from the Railwayana Auction on March 12th (Quorn comes to Rowsley) onwards. As an aside he asked us to take a look at the Sentinel, whose clutch appeared to be slipping.

Tuesday and it was an equally early start in the opposite direction to collect a loco going to a scrapyard. Being southward Adam had a head start and I got fouled up in traffic so advised them that far from arriving ahead, I would be 10 or 15 minutes behind them. But no problem we got on to site, found the loco and also found it coupled to another with the Instanter almost tight. I got between but couldn't bring the loop over the hook so out came a strop, Adam fitted the tow hook to the front of the tractor and we buffered up - or tried to. You can't get the same squeeze as a loco can even though I had chocked the coupled loco I still couldn't lift the instanter off. A piece of 3 x 2 softwood about 15ft long lying on the ground nearby did the trick although it bent ominously!

The loco was loaded and we departed site. I got to the scrapyard by quarter to two but it was twenty minutes before my contact deigned to come and talk to me and other than directing me to use their (longer) weighbridge on arrival I was none the wiser as to where we would be unloading. By twenty past Adam had arrived but at that moment one lorry was on the weighbridge and another queued behind him, so once they were clear I stood in the way to stop anyone else getting in. But the longer weighbridge still wasn't long enough to get tractor and trailer on together, so we had to detach the tractor, drive off the weighbridge and once trailer and loco had been weighed, back up and reconnect - a labourious process.

But our troubles weren't yet over. The place where we were to unload was adjacent to the oil catch pits, which were being pumped out by 3 big articulated tankers sat over where we needed to be. We waited. In the end, they departed, we moved in to find two large skips parked so close to the rails that we couldn't line up and had to unload at an angle.

'It'll be a miracle of this lands on the tracks' said Adam but in spite of being an 0-6-0 it did and was rolled along the lines by a Liebherr grab so we could reconnect. It was well after 4pm by now and we still needed to be weighed empty on the way out, the yard closing at 5. The young lady looked at the clock as I got back to the weighbridge 'I go in 9 minutes' she said so I turned on my bestest charm as the lorry arrived and Adam detached tractor from trailer again.

I followed them for a quarter mile, noting that the trailer seemed to crab at little, then left them and headed home.

Wednesday. Nothing was planned as Adam had a new driver to induct, but Andrew had won an auction lot from up near Eggborough and I was allocated an appointment to be loaded at 09.00, so was off early again. I have been to Euroauctions before, but only on a walk around. This time it was as a buyer to collect and I was issued with a pass-out and a big number sheet telling whoever looked that I was number 16. I waited. After about twenty five minutes I wandered over and asked the man on the gate how long it was likely to be. He looked at the Ipad screen on a strap across his chest then got on his radio. 'Big John, could you get one pallet out for a guy here? He's been waiting some time." (He could have added patiently, I thought). Big John reluctantly agreed, I went back to the van and headed in to the great yard and towards the section devoted to 'engines'. An area maybe 150 yards long and 40 wide was occupied with pallets of engines. Cummins, Deutz, Listers, all sorts. I drove up an access way, looking across at all the various shapes when a toot behind me was Big John in his Telehandler. With site of my pass-out he grunted and said 'it's over there' turned around and drove off, I followed.

Four or five rows in was lot 3238, two Lister TS2s. The Telehandler reached over, pushed two adjacent pallets aside, turned ours then reached back in, slid its forks under raised and retracted. I had stopped the van wth the back to face him and opened the back doors but the biting wind kept closing one and I had to stand and hold it. The telehandler placed the pallet halfway inside, then withdrew, changed its fork spacings to match the outsides of the pallet, angled them and pushed the pallet inside so I could shut the doors. It was smooth, quick and I was impressed with Big John's skill though if I had seen that he'd rammed the pallet into two plastic bottles containing liquids at the front of the van I might not have been quite so content! I came away, and here they are, after unloading them and doing some preliminary investigation.

Later that day I had a call from Adam. The job for Thursday was off and could I come down and help Nick on the trailer? So Thursday it was down to Adam's. We'd picked something up at the scrapyard that had done some minor damage, so Nick, the fitter, was repairing it when he found an issue with a steering ram, which we had been aware of, was much worse than had been realised and needed doing now. Initially I thought this was straightforward. Knock out a pin, produce a sleeve to take up the play temporarily then do a proper repair when convenient. In fact it was so simple that Nick passed me the two manual control boxes for steeering the trailers and I checked T1's before re-cabling T2's to match. But the pin refused meanwhile to budge and we had jacks underneath and heat above before it lifted far enough to swing the ram round and realise that no amount of sleeving would do, temporary or otherwise.

So we set to work on the pin at the other end of the ram, which refused to go at all and had to be burnt out bit by bit. In fact by Thursday night it was still in place and frustrating our efforts to get the ram out. Nick and Adam were commenting on the radio unit they had acquired to steer the Doll. Instead of plugging in a cable and pressing control buttons, the manual steering was now operated by a transmitter little bigger than a garage door remote, from either someone at the back or even, if brave, by the driver himself. I set Andrew the task of finding one, and sure enough he located a brand which fits the bill and very attractive on price. I'll order for T1 before long.

Thursday evening Andrew asked me if I wouldn't mind collecting something for him from Kegworth, a few miles from Adam's yard. It was a piece of parts racking, with umpteen sliding drawers. He'd won it on ebay and it was at a former computer data centre now being stripped ready for demolition. It was duly set up and next day I headed there first. A young man with jeans that drooped half way down his bum revealing some very colourful underpants talked me through security and directed me around the back of the building.

The rack itself was just under 6ft so sat on the toolbox and cleared the van's doors. He and his assistants started throwing the drawers in on top but mindful that I still had a ram to load I started sliding them in to place to save space (and noise). Arriving at Adam's Nick had finally got the ram out, it was put in the van and I set off for a repair firm who, I was told, 'would do it while I waited'. It was lunchtime when I arrived. The boss looked at it. A new eye on the ram and two new pins. 'That's two days work' he said ' and we finish at 3'.

I decided not to wait.

Saturday. Andy M joined us and as the weather was a bit iffy we had planned to do stuff indoors. Andrew has had several evenings 'tidying' which in this case means re-arranging our nuts and bolts stocks and trying to find homes for all the sizes and threads we have acquired - like the wheelbarrowfuls of BSW/BSFs a few weeks ago. The new rack had come out of the van Friday night and rested just inside the door. Andrew confirmed it was to live where the 'commodities' cupboard currently stood so we emptied that, moved it aside and put the new rack in its place, fitted the drawers and started filling them with a myriad if BSFs and BSWs, Andy carefully marking each drawer as he went until it looked like this.

When Andrew arrived the commodities cupboard was found a new home on the back wall and we proceeded to move it there and refill it. The bandsaw shown last week was lifted from the pallet and admired. Then it was moved to one side and while I had hoped it might be headed for a semi-permanent landing place there it rested, trailing sawdust on to the floor: but at least we could walk past it. Not so the two Listers, which Andrew had already had a look at, finding one 'turnable' but minus a fuel pump, but the other solid. We took the pump assembly off the red one in the hope it might be that holding it, but considering there was plant life visible in the open fuel tank it wasn't likely, and proved so.

Sunday. The weather was colder but forecast better so I set Andy up with a 110V supply to the Yorkshire 2895 and he set about grinding off the channels added by Elsecar to raise the front casing section, then grinding the welds flush with the running plate. This is the first stage in putting the loco back to its original state (well cosmetically) and we may well refit the casings to make it look better and protect things until the new power unit is ready to be installed.

After lunch he returned and removed the wiring and trunking that was far too far gone to be reusable. Andrew headed up to Rowsley to look at Tom but instead of adjusting the clutch a notch as we expected it transpired the cylinder was bottoming and so the clutch arm needed to be moved around a spline or two, which required some tools he didn't have so abandoned it for the day. Back at the shed he set about drilling the rails needed so that we have two or three servicable ramp sets when T1 and T2 or the Doll are out together. This involved hand drilling with the big Bosch drill acquired a few weeks ago from yes, another auction, and was one of those drills that you don't argue with when it grabs even though the side handle is a foot long. His knuckles are still sore tonight from one moment when the drill swung them into something else hard!

I took a look at the Hudswell's fuel tank. Every Coal Board loco I've had close contact with has fuel that was black rather than red as though NCB tried to eek their diesel out by adding coal dust. As 1387 was ostensibly drained I thought now was a good time to clean any muck out and took the inspection cover off the back. Fortunately the remaining fuel was just below the bottom edge of the cover and I scooped out 25 litres of blackish gas oil into a drum but there's still a few millimetres depth left. Seeing the tank float inside I lifted it and confirmed the fuel gauge needle moved which reminded me to the fact that it had lost its glass cover and I ought to protect it. The cover needed to be 4 inches in diameter with six holes to suit a thread of about 1/8 inch, probably BA but to save time and effort I retapped the holes to M4. A disc of 6mm Makrolon was cut on the pillar drill with a 4.125 inch hole saw minus its pilot drill. The resulting disc was slightly undersized but covered all 6 holes so I set about marking it up with Andrew's assistance, later drilling it to clear M4 and finding half the holes didn't line up.

Start again, cut new disc, this time peel off backing sheets, lay over gauge and mark position of holes with a felt pen. Drill. Well 3 holes line up, one is slightly out and two were so close to the edge that the drill wandered off so will be filed out into slots and placed at the bottom where I can pretend they are to drain out any rainwater that gets in (if anyone notices).

Outside we looked at Yorkshire 2895 and Andrew decided that the front vac pipe, welded through the running plate slap bang in the middle of the walkway, would be re-routed properly through the buffer beam. The total thickness here is about 5 and a half inches. I agree the vac pipe is in a totally stupid position but rotabroaching out through that thickness and force-lubricating the cutter as it chews horizontally like a tunnel boring machine is not a simple task. Andy moved on to the other recently arrived Yorkshire 0-6-0, the DE from Toddington, removing the batteries for safe keeping and starting to disconnect the generator from the engine.

And that's about it for another fun-filled week. Not what I expected nor looked forward to but you take the rough with the smooth, and at least it only clocked up 700 miles doing so. Next week - ah, we shall see how long the ram is. And with that, and hoping I haven't missed any typos like the 'bugger' for 'bigger' that the eagle-eyed spotted (didn't you, or were you too polite to say?) I shall leave it for another 7 days. See ya then.