Of three wagons and downpour

26th March 2023

A shade under 1300 miles this week, with a wheel bearing making a row at most speeds, and getting rained-on twice into the bargain. Am I getting too old for all this?

Monday, and first thing I was headed off to the transmission repairers with the two speed unit from the 03 in the back. Despite a strap over it securing it firmly to the pallet and two more holding the whole caboodle to the floor of the van, after 10 miles you could feel the 'lump' moving in the back as you turned (you probably won't get to experience it in a car, but with the van the whole vehicle sways and shudders as about 600kg rolls) and when I pulled over all 3 straps were loose and one of the wooden blocks had escaped from between the pallet and the transmission. Anyway, I made it safely to my destination and exchanged it for a converter belonging to a customer and returned home.

It is now almost 10 years since we signed the agreement with Peak Rail that enabled us to build the shed at Darley Dale. It was signed for PR by Mrs Statham and included a clause that permitted us to operate between Darley Dale and Rowsley in order to get things in and out. Other than the limitations of train operation or engineering work there was no condition that gave PR the right to deny us unreasonably, yet the first time I wanted to bring a loco in for repair (from Brush at Loughborough as it happened) Mrs Statham decided that it didn't suit her and proceeded to refuse permission. This was one of a number of occasions that she deviated from the agreement that she had signed up to and this time she excelled herself. The haulier I had engaged was a one-man band. Having made the mistake of telling Mrs Statham whom the haulier was, she rang him 5 times (the first 4 getting his wife) telling him bluntly that he was not to do the job as she, as Peak Rail, refused to accept it being delivered. Her arrogance really annoyed our haulier, plus the manner in which she had upset his wife with her repeated berations, made it certain that he was at Brush exactly on time and if on arriving at Darley Dale I had asked him to ram the gates I am sure he would have done so. But we had a back-up plan which involved the acquisition of a key to the padlock on the level crossing gate, so we timbered the track, removed some of the fencing (which was the last vestiges of that acquired to re-fence Darley Dale platforms back in the late 80s so wasn't in pristine order) and backed him over the track to get the loco in. We felt justified by Mrs Statham's unreasonable actions.

Of course she found out but apart from becoming absolutely livid because we had gone against her supreme authority, she had the gate padlock changed and demanded we repair the fence, which eventually we did, though making it removable again in the process. I mention all this because, as regular readers know, we have an arrangement with the owner of the Station House whereby the fence between us is partially removable and if we need to get my trailer (T1) in, provided we don't back onto his lawn, we can gain the extra space neccessary to get through the gateway. But on Monday we were due to see in Andrew's trailer which is wider, longer and would be delivered by Adam's 8x4 tractor which has a poorer turning circle than a 6 wheel one. There was no way in the world we could get it in through the gate, but unlike the bad old days, permission to timber up and bring it through the level crossing was readily granted and late in the afternoon it arrived to take up space in the yard where we can do the necessary mods to suit it for rail vehicles heavier than T1 can handle. So here's a brief view with the fence panels out and the mini-trolley which we used to convey the timbers.

Tuesday was an admin day and to get ready for Wednesday, when I was away very early to head down to Ludgershall, near Andover to collect the first of 3 MoD bogie wagons to go to W H Davis. Now, to be honest I under-estimated the travelling time but even then with several hold-ups and finally a wide load on the A34 I resorted to taking the A342 from the Newbury by-pass south to Andover. I don't recommend this route - it's pot holed and a bit of chipping thrown up by the car in front has generated a crack on my windscreen, though did provide one piece of entertainment - as I went down a hill there was a car coming up with its hazards on and a lorry close behind. I thought it was close, but only as I went by did I realise that it was pushing the car along!

Anyway, I ended up an hour behind schedule but Phil was there pretty much on time and on a siding were all 3 wagons. One snag, owing to a breakdown in communications Phil had the rails sufficient for a ramp load, but this was an end-on loading where the track finished not in a buffer stop but a pair of wheelstops. Out came the tape measures and we put the end of the trailer as far as we dared away from the track end, and after shuffling to and fro, Phil got the tractor out the way and off to the far end. The rails we were carrying spanned the gap with barely 6 inches overlap and the first wagon, a warwell, winched aboard. Getting Phil's tractor unit back in front of the trailer took a lot of shuffles (aided by having the wagon a bit farther back so that the neck could overlap the front of the trailer deck as he manouevered) but eventually he was re-joined and set off north. If it had taken 4 hours in my van I was under no illusions that it would take Phil longer as I passed him on the A34 even though I'd stayed behind a little after he'd left.

I didn't know, for example that there's a bridge on the A34 west of Oxford with a weight restriction on it, forcing such loads to take the ring road around Oxford and rejoin the A34 8 minutes farther on (by you or me) but 40 minutes for him. I had already arranged that WHD would leave their gate open but my original 6pm arrival forecast proved wildly optimistic as Phil had to stop for a break. I ended up with enough time to pop home for a quick meal before, joined by Andrew, meeting Phil at 8pm and unloading under the security lights.

Thursday: Phil set off for Adam's yard and picked up some additional rails but as he headed south rang me to warn of a smash on the M1 south which had resulted in an hour delay between 17 and 16 being flagged on the overheads. He took the M69 and Coventry (empty so no fixed route required) to get to the M40 and as I was just running in to Derby I changed my plan and took the A38 and the M42, yet to my surprise was within 1 mile the same as the 'direct' way I had taken Wednesday. The second wagon was a warflat on which we were advised the brakes were u/s but with the extra rails (though not the ones I'd expected) the load was straightforward and Phil was away again after a couple of hours.

No aspirations of unloading that night, he made it as far as Junction 24 (where there's an abnormal load parking area within the roundabout) with 2 minutes of driving time left. So first thing Friday it was back in to WHD and set up to ramp off - but we hit a snag. This wagon may have had defective brakes, but it didn't need them. I had, thinking back, sensed that the winch had had to work hard loading what was a mere 20 tonnes tare wagon, but despite now sitting on a considerable gradient, it refused to budge. In the end, we had to haul it downhill all the way with a WHD forklift. Re-rig for travel, and set off back to Ludgershall for wagon number 3

I had by now perfected a new route from Newbury, west along the M4 and then south on the A338 through Hungerford and then a minor road over the hills making almost straight for Ludgershall, which I reached just after 2pm. But the gates were locked and shortly after I received a text from the MoD guy that he was on his way. I was tempted to reply with the trendy '3 word location' which in this case would be Sat-Outside-Gate. I tried to snooze but the van is not conducive to comfortable repose and besides, it had started to rain heavily. It had rained a bit the day before, but this was in another class. Phil arrived at 3pm and a few minutes later, the gates were opened and we made a start. We'd left some rails down the previous day so the set up didn't take too long, but the rain was continuous and although I had a waterproof jacket on, this has the effect of taking all the rain that lands on the upper body and draining it on to your thighs and calves. Moreover I was winchman so sat on the trailer neck facing the angled deluge though it did ease once the wagon was loaded(!).

Phil got on the road at 5pm and after removing my soaking ovvies and accepting a cuppa I set off north at about 6, although my legs were soaked through to my skin and my jeans looked as though I'd wet myself. Heat full on and by Hungerford I could stop for a snack at the Tesco looking a bit bedraggled but not obviously incontinent.

Provided I held 55mph on the road the noise from that bearing was tolerable and that day the van turned in 51.3 mpg on a round trip of 370 miles (50.4 the day before). But Saturday I was feeling a little tired, Andrew was off to attend a Class 14 Owners group meeting at Kidderminster and I might have been tempted to stay home but 4 members of the Yorkshire Wolds Railway were calling to recover more bits off the 0-4-0 Fowler. I largely left them to it, had a climb over T2, put a new 68000mfd capacitor in to the Hudswell and returned the other to its home on the Alstom loco, but not a lot else and locked up as soon as they departed.

Sunday - no expected visitors but I was still feeling fatigued and we ended up not going down until lunchtime. Two tasks were on the list - drain the Hudswell's sump and investigate whether the suction hose was holed (or the oil pump u/s), and get on with installing that converter into the 03 to get it going for the gala. While the oil drained slowly back into barrels, Andrew cleaned up the input shaft of the converter so that the new bearing slid on, then we turned the converter on its rear. In the bad old days we would present the converter to the back of the engine, guide the first toothed clutch friction plate into the drive ring and then the second. But it was a faff: you couldn't really see what you were doing, all too easy to trap a finger and even break off a tooth or two from the clutch plates. Then we thought it out and started trying to centralise the friction plates, in line together, and pull the over-centre clutch engaged to clamp them so that the whole assembly was lined up and would slide straight in. It didn't take long to realise that this would be simpler with a spare drive ring and so allocated one with a crack in it for the purpose, and I arranged two profiles to prevent the ring dropping straight down past the friction plates when they lined up. So here's Andrew, checking whether it is central with a vernier and tapping it get lt to get it as near true as possible.

Meanwhile Andy Mac turned up unannounced (but always welcome) and we fired up the Hatramm to move the 03 to be nearer the converter. Snag; all of a sudden the air brake on the Hatramm went to 4 bar and refused to release. The three of us consulted the schematics. The straight air brake is controlled by two valves, one, if un-energised allows air to pass through but is normally (i.e. in lap or release) held 'on' to close off the air while a second valve is energised in release only to let it out. Putting the control to release dropped the brake half a bar and you could hear air escaping, but go back to lap and it just rose straight back to 4bar. Clearly the first valve was either stuck or not energised and allowing air to pass through regardless but it took a while longer to verify that the electrics up at the desk were functioning normally, though the coil on that valve was not showing any current flow. Next stage was to unplug the valve and check the supply or coil, but the plug was secured with a small screw whose head was corroded so we'll have to have the complete valve out and investigate it then.

Time was against us though today and we headed back indoors. The Hudswell's sump was almost empty but removing the suction hose was a bitch, close to the sump but also the engine side frames and a bed plate, you could barely reach it from above or below. Eventually though, after sacrificing the big end of a 44 x 46 spanner to make it short enough to swing on, the hose was extracted, a cap put on one end and we filled it in the degreaser bath. Immediately the fluid emerged from about a third of the way from the oil pump end. Almost certainly this was the problem, the pump drawing air in instead of oil up and explains why Cummins reverted to solid pipework on later engines. We'll source a new hose later this week.

And what of this week? Well first thing tomorrow I meet Phil at WHD and get the last wagon unloaded, and then drop the van off for a thorough investigation of why the wheel bearings have failed. For that reason alone Tuesday is clear but I am due to load a carriage Wednesday. By Saturday I should have some profiles including that flange for RS8 and we need to fix the Hatramm because Sunday has a visit from the Inter City Railway Society, and I promised cab rides. Maybe even get that Hudswell running at last. Will we achieve it? Come back and find out. See ya then.