Of things that happen in threes

19th March 2023

They say things happen in threes. 'They' in this case are other people, undefined, such that you cannot dispute with them the basis for the assertion and rather must accept it as some sort of acknowledged wisdom or even proof of divine intervention.

It all depends of course, on where and when you start counting, and over what time period, and whether you continue to look out for this 'conicidence' after the magical three has been scratched on your scorecard. Take the trailer. On its way up from the Avon Valley last week it suffered a puncture. I've had punctures before, and no doubt will have more in the future, with the loads being carried and the state of our road network, not to mention the dubious places we have to access to load and unload, it is one of those things that will happen.

Last Monday we had the postponed trip to Cardiff. Loading was scheduled for about half eleven in Burton on Trent, but we were both a little late. The loco was sat waiting though and so the load took its usual ninety minutes or so, and we backed out. No gateposts were harmed. I returned to the van, caught up with the low loader as it left Burton but took a different route to the M42 and saw them again much further on.

I could have made it to Cardiff for about 5 o'clock if I'd tried, and perhaps if I had had the gift of foresight I might have stopped at say Ross on Wye or Monmouth and sampled the local atmosphere. As it was I carried on, not wishing to rush as a wheel bearing on the van is making a noise (again? yes, bear with me). I'd stopped at Raglan services when my phone rang. It was Adam. 'We're going to be a little late' he reported 'we've had a puncture'. He was on the M50 when he'd become aware that one tyre had deflated. I carried on, now being in less of a rush than I had been before. 

I daresay bits of Cardiff are very pleasant, but the industrial area around the Docks (I don't mean the redeveloped posh bit) isn't one of them. Litter abounds, not just on the verges but cascading onto the roads themselves. The 24 hour Tesco is therefore a haven of comparative civility but as the cafe closes at five even this has its limits. Adam rolled up at five past seven, and having spent the previous 30 minutes or so on the road outside the steelworks watching a VW with a distinctly ineffective silencer race up and down well in excess of the speed limit I was happy to follow the low loader in.

While he and Ian lined up I parked the van and got into my ovvies, then in a break from normal practice unloaded 5 or the 6 traffic cones and some red/white tape and set about cordoning off our work area. You may recall that in an earlier post I had complained about Polish (other nationalities are available) lorry drivers who tried to drive around us while we are blocking a level crossing which is our only point for loading or unloading, and muttered about getting some cones. Well, we had two in the shed and I had a look around on my favourite online auction site (other online auction sites are available) and found a seller in Doncaster with 4. A deal was struck and I had collected them a week or so before. I laid out three ahead of us and two behind, taped their tops together and then set about dragging rails out into position for the ramp. Ian asked if I'd been ordered to put cones out - 'No' I told him, 'I just felt we ought to define our area for health and safety, etc.' And I began to wonder what was going on, for when next I glanced up we had an audience of 5 or 6 and two vehicles had parked just outside my barrier. Admittedly a 4 x 4 squeezed past us - I learned later the driver had been sent to the station to collect a GBRf engineer - but that was all, and our audience maintained a safe distance.

The 08 ceased moving almost as soon as its first axle touched the level crossing rails - not unusual, the crossing is not in use so the flangeways, filled with debris, perform the role of a sand drag - and the loco was started up and once air pressure was raised it crept down and away and our audience dispersed along with it. I found Adam moving 3 of my cones to one side and started putting them back in the van. He hadn't realised they were mine but thought it a good idea. And did we deter any foreign lorries from challenging our occupancy? Well, there's an old anecdote where one person declares he scatters salt by his front gate to deter elephants from invading his garden. His friend asks if it works. 'Of course,' he replies, 'have you seen any elephants around here?' Adam and Ian meanwhile, had another issue to deal with as a second tyre had failed just as they had arrived. Not much I could help with as it happens but I hung around to lend moral support before we convoyed back out of Cardiff and on to the M4. So is that our third puncture of a three and we will be spared any more for a while? We shall see.

The van went in for a service on Wednesday and sure enough, the wheel bearing making the noise is the one they have changed twice already. So it is booked back in later in the month for it to be changed and a good close look to see what has caused the failures. That should be the end of it, after all, things happen in threes.

The rest of the week has been quiet by my standards, a chance to catch up on quotes and drawings and such but seemingly no more up-to-date now as I was last week. By the weekend however we were ready to get back on with things at the shed and were joined by Andy M. As I was down rather earlier than Andrew I set Andy the task of 'fixing' the lights on the Hatramm supposed to illuminate the deck area, as Andrew had felt the need of them when swapping the Sentinel 0-8-0 and Ruston 165 the previous week. That turned out to be straightforward, but the third lamp on the crane boom, which looks to have been a Colas addition, less so as the cable (which is not in the first flush of youth) disappeared into the centre rotating column of the crane and could not be found anywhere underneath. As it had power but the light itself is u/s, we shall replace that and the cable to it but junction it somewhere near the column.

I meanwhile had drilled and mounted a new capacitor which I was confident would resolve the cranking issue on the Hudswell. But when I came to try it, it didn't. I had gone from 1000 micro-farads (mfd) to 2000mfd but the difference was marginal. In the end I went over to another loco where I had fitted a capacitor that I had had no problems with and found to my surprise that this was 68000mfd. If memory serves I had bought this by accident, possibly the supplier selling off 'discontinued' stock lines cheaply. So I borrowed it and substituted it for my 2000mfd one and sure enough it cranked without limit. But for now I had compressor delivery pipes and unloader valves to connect up, and a couple who asked to see any ex BR locos we had here (but they were given most of the official tour anyway, who knows, maybe I can open their eyes to greater horizons).

Andy M meanwhile had returned to the Hatramm and converted the cab lights to LEDs, utilising an existing switch to illuminate either one bank or two. He asked our preference on this over a tea, and I asked if he could alter the cab light switch which resides on the doorframe so that it sends a sharp pointed stick into the back of anyone who leans against said doorframe and thus turns the cablights on without realising. Andrew meanwhile, had manufactured a second alternator bracket to go on the Janus, replicating that which we'd made for the Matlock end and painted them both, though when he and Andy came to install the second (Bakewell end) it turned out to have a slightly different gearcasing and needed a bit of modification to make it fit. The (almost) finished installation though, looks like this.

Sunday was suppposed to be the better weather. I had almost finished the compressor unloader connections when Andrew appeared and between us we altered the air connection where I had got a 3/4 hose but the nipple it was to mate with was 1 inch. Andy got on with rewiring the other end of the Janus as per the first, Andrew shunted the 0-8-0 Sentinel properly in to line on Track 1 and pulled them all back so that we could sort out some pallets etc outside with the forklift. I won't bore you with a blow--by-blow account but apart from the two speed transmission ex the 03 now being in the back of the van, another torque converter formerly in Cheedale is now out of the ferry van and will be dropped into the 03 in lieu (and hopefully in time for the diesel gala) and its place in the ferry van taken by the converter which Andrew brought back from the East Somerset. The Hudswell was brought out and filled with water again but wouldn't start which was probably a good thing as we were unable to see any oil pressure and a physical check showed it hadn't even filled the filters. This requires urgent investigation - maybe the relief valve is stuck open or the suction hose from sump to pump has cracked and is admitting air. What will we find, you'll have to see, as will we.

But tomorrow T2 comes to Darley Dale so that we can make time to adapt it for rail use, and later in the week I have wagons to move for the MoD. Three of them in fact. Spooky. Will any more triples take place? Find out next week, same time, same website. See ya then.