Of sweat, phone and rope

10th September 2023

Things haven't gone briiliantly well this week. From the mobile network going t*ts up on Monday, through to winch ropes and grinder power cables getting snagged. Was it multiples of 3? Can't remember...

Monday: Andrew and I dashed down to the shed almost as soon as it was light. The plan was to lift the front of T1 back over with the crane so that when Adam arrived he could back straight on to it. But the iffy SLI didn't give Andrew any confidence and in the name of caution, we abandoned it and went over to Plan B, to whit, pull-lift it back over the same way we had pulled it across to get it out of the way. Slow work during which Adam arrived and seeing that we weren't ready (and I hadn't brought any milk) drove away again in search of a tea.

Sweating and conscious of the time we were as good as ready when he came back and hooked on to the trailer. 'Does the new radio work?' he asked, eyeing the receiver mounted on the neck. 'I haven't had the power source to test it' I admitted. 'Then let's do it now.' I hunted out the transmitter and inserted its batteries. With the electrical connections between tractor and trailer all in place, I pressed the 'on' button on the transmitter - the white light under the receiver came on and the pump motor started. The buttons made the wheels on the trailer change angle - it all appeared to work!

Off went Adam, as too did Andrew who was back at work himself. I tidied up and headed home, with Adam promising to phone me when they were setting off for Scunthorpe with Cranford. But he texted me and as I often don't hear the tone for an incoming text he had 35 minute head start before I noticed. I hurriedly wrapped up what I was doing and hit the road. People were trying to ring me to no avail. The network I was on had 'problems' on Monday - they reckoned it was only between them and Vodafone but as the afternoon wore on I found I could ring landlines but no mobiles anywhere and people ringing me got a 'Not available' response. But that's to get ahead of the narrative. I reached Scunthorpe just as Adam and Ian did and spent the next hour or so in very hot conditions unloading Cranford at the AFRPS shed. Then Adam passed me the news - as they had pushed T1 into the workshops for its obligatory 6 weekly exam before it went out on our planned Tuesday job, the hydraulic pump had seized and caused the motor to burn out. I postponed the Tuesday job to Thursday and Andrew insisted that I borrowed the pump set from his trailer and we went down that evening to recover it.

So Tuesday didn't go as plannd but at least I had the day free to go and collect Steph's new(er) car. And my mobile suddenly started functioning normally at about nine o'clock in the morning.

Another very early start on Wednesday - Andrew and I went down to Adam's yard, swapped the pump sets over and he did a quick bit of welding of the rear brackets for the rails, before dashing back home in time for work. I was left to get the trailer ready - namely lift the rails up into position and with the 'new' Lister pump set, wind the new winch rope on to the Warn winch. Later Ian gave me a hand, but in hindsight I should not have tried to wind in a new winch rope on on my own - too many hands and eyes required for a single person. Anyway, more sweating and I got home mid afternoon for a late lunch and ready for Thursday.

Another early start, but Adam was ahead of me (being farther south to begin with). I was aiming to be at Welshpool for 09.30 and wasn't far out. Adam pulled in to a layby just before Buttington so that I could pilot him, so we went forward and joined the new by-pass alongside the railway with me watching for him in my mirrors. At a roundabout by the old station you turn right into the town and as I came off it I couldn't see Adam. A bus stop was just ahead so I pulled in. Two cars came by and then would you believe it, a bus arrived so I vacated its spot and continued up no-mans land between the Tesco and Aldi then onto a one-way. Still can't see Adam but there's a car park so I swing in, intending to do a ceremonial lap around it and be back at the exit as they swing into view. Only I see them just as I've swung in and not even Lewis Hamilton could have got that van round the car park and out before them! Fortunately they pick the right road towards Raven Square and I'm able to overtake. Along the A458 we proceed to Llanfair Caereinion, where the first gate on the access road is lined with traffic cones. At one minute past ten I move a couple to one side, open the gates and guide Adam in. It takes longer than usual to line up as the rails on the trailer for today are in alignment with the trailer neck. No line of sight to work from and anyway the siding is curved, so not only align the rails but estimate how far back you have to be for the ramp rails to reach the tracks tangentially. All this is under the gaze of passengers getting into the 10.30 departure and as we cannot load until it has left, still plenty of time for a bacon sandwich and a tea from the adjacent caravan. With the train away the Mitshubishi-built 0-4-4-0DH, DL34 of the Alishan Foreset Railway advances to the end of our ramp.

Unlike the winch on T1, there is a mechanical de-clutch on the Warn winch so I release it and pull the cable out. There is just enough to reach the loco when the cable jams. Investigation shows that I have managed to snag the cable on the winch, i.e. instead of neatly rolling one layer after another one strand has sunk down and become trapped under another. It is already deformed and trying to extricate it makes it worse - the brand new rope is scrap. But it is perfectly safe for today's job so we start to winch the loco on. I am fascinated by the winch - the 15mm thick plate on which is mounts flexes yet the Lister plods on without any sign of load. Then I get a call to stop. The loco has pushed the bottom tip rails out of the way. We assume that, although the cowcatchers (?) have already been removed at my request, the sand pipes are very close so I get out some spanners and detach them. The loco is moved back to let us re-align the tip rails and add a bit more timber support. In the process it was realised that we had been winching the loco with the parking brake still on. Second time the loco climbs the ramp and cameras appear from everywhere.

Aboard and secured, the tractor re-engages and we back out on to the A458, me steering T1 through the radio. Adam and Ian set off east, I clean up and say cheerios and follow. I pass them on the Shrewsbury by pass but need a pit stop at Derby-Burton services and catch them again at Markeaton Island. I just have time to get to Darley Dale and get some timbers out ready when they roll up, and once again I am steering T1 back into our yard.

And there, temporarily, it has had to wait, for to get the loco on to those rails in the shed you saw last week, we had intended to get various things moved and time had got the better of us.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we had had Gordon in fitting a new SLI to the crane. I think he had hoped to get it done in two days but in the end it took all three. On Friday I was there most of the day, starting by putting in a new feed from the battery isolator direct to power the SLI (there was sufficient voltage drop somewhere in the existing wiring that certain parts of the electronics got twitchy). Jordan and friends turned up to do some work but from what I could see the heat was such that work was minimal.

Friday evening I was out but Andrew borrowed the van and went down to Derby to collect the posts for the palisade fencing. Despite having advised the Shift Manager he was intercepted by site security after they had reports of some pikey stealing scrap(!) - he was able to produce his staff pass and it transpired the evening shift manager had not had any message from the afternoon one!

Saturday was palisade day. Despite the heat we had a lot to do. As this generously donated fencing had been 'cut out' rather than 'dismantled' a proportion of the horizontals aren't re-usable and these we had to strip off the palisades themselves. There are 17 of these per panel, each held with two security screws whereby the nut is tightened until it sheers, leaving a boss with no hex. So its grinders and slitting discs to chop them, throw the horizontals in a pile and stack up the palisades (mind the sharp ends) in piles of 17, swapping out any bent ones. To move the panels off the pile and turn them over when needed we are using the forklift, but then siuddenly it won't start. We break for lunch. After eating we return and can clearly hear the contactor pull in but no go from the starter. The contactor is more accessible than the starter so I decide to try that first and jump the two big connections with a length of starter cable and the engine cranks up so work resumes, though starting it is a bit of a chore.

About 3.30 we break off and lock up, heading up to Rowsley. The Hatramm is due to come home but in addition we're to take a park bench down the line to a former p/way hut, now just a base and one wall. Also I look at the 03 to see if the fuel overflow drum is full yet. It is and has overflowed. But before I can do this Andrew cannot find the battery key for the Hatramm so I have to drive back to Darley and get one. Back at the 03, last time I managed to spill diesel over me trying to pour a very full 25 litre drum with no cap on back into a fuel tank filler at head level, and am not keen to repeat the experience. So I dig out a 1 gallon bottle from the van, and transfer the fuel, from 25 litre drum to 1 gallon one with a funnel, which still spills some but over my hands rather than overalls, tee shirt and jeans. Half way through Andrew rings me to say they're setting off. Phone is now sticky with diesel. I get finished and reach Darley just as the Hatramm has crossed the crossing, so get invited along, together with the the Darley Dale signaller after he's closed up after the last train north.

The Hatramm stops opposite the p/way hut, the crane extends the bench across and places it where and how specified, and Tom Dakin tests it. Returning to Darley, the crossover is released and the Hatramm transfers to the yard.

Sunday: Andrew wasn't around for much of the day. I set about a repair to a grinder whose cable got snagged yesterday, and scour our stores for a 12V starter contactor for the forklift but can only find a 24V one. The palisade posts, having been cut out too, must be trued up and extensions welded on and as our contractor isn't far off being ready to start, I set up a few in the hacksaw and cut the damaged ends off. Andrew arrives and we start to move some of the obstructions that are preventing DL34 being unloaded into the shed, but for now it is an object of surprise to the passengers as the trains go by.

For reasons I won't go into, next week's blog may get delayed, so don't be surprised or concerned. It will appear one way or another. So whenever, see ya then.