Of cable colour confusion

24th December 2023

Christmas comes but once a year - could you cope it it were more?

I suppose I should start by thanking you all for NOT writing in to point out that I was 'out' by one day on my dates last week. Either that or nobody noticed and I should have kept my mouth shut. Regardless of that it is difficult not to notice that as I am writing this it is Christmas Eve and hopefully I will get it finished before Christmas Day itself and Santa kicks his way through the plasterboard blanking off the old fireplace.

The week started slowly and turned distinctly 'off' on Tuesday when I had a tooth extracted and some other bad news. An amount of running around ensued Wednesday and Thursday, though Thursday afternoon I was in the shed and came out to see E1 trundling by on what I assume was a track patrol as it ran light loco. Normally E1 is confined to Rowsley and as it only works in one gear (or did when last I heard), takes a long time to get anywhere so this sojourn south was both notable and long-winded. I wondered at the time why they hadn't used Bagnall the Barclay...

Ben Riley popped round, looking like he was trying to wind-surf with a sheet of rigid insulation. He'd just bought it from the Builders Merchants (who were closing up for the festivities) and needed somewhere to stash it until the wind died down and he could transport it up to Rowsley. Friday was a final trip in to Palletline (better that these last items got into transit rather than occupied the back of my van) followed by some Christmas shopping.

Andrew suffered a car breakdown Friday night so wasn't about until later on Saturday, leaving me and Andy H together. I allocated Andy a number of jobs - mostly machining - to keep him busy while I wandered lonely as a clou... - sorry wrong book - doing various tidy ups and odd jobs. After the first Santas train passed by, Ben appeared and went away with his sheet of insulation. Dave Horton popped in hoping for news on a spare unloader valve for the dmu, but without Andrew I couldn't tell him much. I returned to my private list of tasks. One such was to do with RS8. Ever since it was restored, I have been bothered by the slowness that the brakes apply. It has the standard Davies & Metcalfe FD1 driver's brake valve, cam operated from a cross shaft. The FD1 seems to have what is referred to in today's jargon as a low CV factor, or in other words it is very slow passing air to build up the pressure. This isn't unique to RS8, I've seen it with other FD1 braked locos but here it is especially pronounced: you can pull any brake lever to full travel and watch the brake pressure slowly start to rise. The answer (I hope) is to relegate the FD1 to the role of a pilot valve and let a relay valve due the real work of getting the volume of air into the brake cylinder. I have had the intended relay valve in stock for quite some time, but I've been loathe to disable the loco by breaking into the air pipework and then finding I'm short of some important component, so on a whim I started building up a 'kit' ready so that when I have the courage to go for it, it should take only a couple of hours. You may understand why I am a trifle cautious when you see the picture of the pipe bits we had to employ to get it to work in the first place.

The base of the valve is that dark grey bit into which the pipes are connected. The lowermost, coming down through a regulator (that limits the maximum pressure to the valve) is the feed in, and the one on the right, that is open at the end, is the exhaust, while the leftmost turns down and back into a changeover valve underneath which leads to the brake cylinder feeding either from the brake valve, or the emergency brake system (bright blue valve in foreground). My relay valve must become the feed to the cylinder, so the leftmost must be broken into and the outlet from the driver's brake valve reduced to a small bore pipe which then becomes the pilot line. Other than that, I must install a new air feed to the relay valve, and this from the main air pressure rather than the regulator that restricts the driver's brake valve. (I have wondered whether in fact it would be simpler installing reservoir after the regulator, to give the feed some additional capacity: in other words, was it the regulator also affecting the flow into the FD1 that makes RS8 so much worse than other FD1s. I've pondered it from time to time, but while it might improve things, it might also prove a waste of time so I've opted to go with the solution I have more confidence in.) Oh, and make sure (given that there is already quite a bit of pipework that is relatively unsupported) that what I add doesn't detract from the self-support of what's there or else fit additional support where neccessary. The kit bits are now in a pile awaiting a suitable opportunity.

Andrew arrived and cracked on with welding up various brackets to do with DL34 which I subsequently painted - well slapped on a one-coat black. One bracket was still quite warm from welding and I had whisps of smoke (?) coming off as the paint dried in record time. During the week he had ordered up a blade for the band saw. This device he had bought from a factory closing down auction in Chesterfield and I collected it some months ago, since when it has resided almost in the epi-centre of the shed awaiting (a) a blade and (b) a 'permanent' home. It still awaits the latter but at least with the blade it could look as though it was almost ready. So Andrew decided to install said blade, and having read up the instruction manual proceeded to do so. By the time it was all ready it was near to finishing time so it was left for trial on Sunday.

Our original plan for Sunday was to go up to Rowsley and investigate Pluto's issues, plus look at Bagnall the Barclay after a rumour came to our ears that it had been 'stopped' by the CME with a broken spring. (Hence the travels of E1?) But the weather was much less pleasant (rain and wind) than we had been led to expect and while Andrew popped in (after a quick bit of shopping at the Peak Outlet) to check over the Barclay, I headed down to the shed and continued painting. When Andrew arrived it was to confirm that all springs were intact, but that it had developed a pronounced lean at the front left (again) and we need to carry out another adjustment.

We turned our attention to the band saw. With one last inspection to confirm all was well I plugged the 3-phase cable into the wall outlet, turned on the switch, then Andrew turned on the machine's isolator, and there being no flashes or bangs, jabbed the start button long enough to see blade move a foot or two. Thus emboldened, he tried longer and longer until we were happy that it ran without any obvious signs of distress. Were we about to try it out cutting something? No, not quite, Andrew opened the door and punched the button long enough to recognise that the blade was running backwards - you couldn't tell from the blade itself but the 3 big yellow pulleys inside were obvious. It is a characteristic of 3-phase motors that if you get a phase crossed over, they run in the opposite direction, so it was time to disconect the supply and go on a cable hunt. Modern British colour code for the 3 phases is Brown, black and grey but it used to be red, yellow and blue. With blue now used for neutral (which you don't neccesarily get on a 3 phase installation) there is always the opportunity for c***-up. At the plug the cable had been assembled without the 'outer sheath' passing through the cable grip, making it a right so and so to dismantle. But the modern colours were there, with the 4th core (neutral -blue) used for earth (and sleeved correctly with green/yellow to make that clear) and all in the correct order. We re-made the connections so that the outer was grabbed by the gripper and moved along to the machine's isolator. Here the modern cable inbound handed over to the 'old' colour code within the machine, and to my discomfort instead of wiring in 'phase order' 1-2-3, it was rather 2-1-3, but the colours in and out were correct to the norms. Andrew meanwhile found a cover plate behind which were the motor connections, clearly labelled on a panel L1 L2 and L3 but the incoming cable was not in the correct sequence.

We reversed two cables, put the cover back on, plugged everything back in and tested. Good news, the blade ran the right way. Bad news, it jumped straight off the pulleys inside. One pulley is a 'tracking' pulley that you adjust and it wasn't set up to run that way round. Re-tracked and set, it ran happily and we cut firstly a test piece of wood, and then some bits of steel. Until it finds itself in its 'official home' that is all for now, but it does raise some interesting questions. The blade running backwards is cutting 'upwards' so making it much harder to handle the material when it should cut down, pulling the material on to the cutting base. That the wiring was crossed at the motor and a 'bit strange' at the isolator, it is unlikely to have been some post-closure sabotage, rather a genuine error when it was installed and has operated that way for years - or does electricity flow backwards in the land of the crooked spire?

After lunch, the rain had eased and we looked at doing a bit on the Fowler 0-6-0 to get it tested and ready to depart. It needed to be nearer the shed so RS8 was started up and a bit of shunting ensued. The Fowler's Rolls engine was minus a dipstick and we were looking around for a replacement when two visitors arrived, bearing doughnuts, biscuits and a broken brake block - well gold, frankinsense and myhrr are so cliched, don't you think? They also had what they said was a brake cylinder seal but when we showed them the 'real' seals for their cylinder it was obvious that a third party had re-engineered theirs with something that was less durable. We talked over various issues and they left with a brake block that might well be suitable for them but the last Santa train had gone by, darkness had fallen and it was nearly time to head home ourselves. Andrew made an attempt at cutting a piece of box section at 60 degrees on the hacksaw (and concluded it shouldn't be attempted) finishing it off on the band saw. It's to make up some additional stiffeners on that engine stand for the 6VPH, where he wants 60 x 30 degree ends rather than a 45 x 45.

We'll probably spend some time at the shed again tomorrow - though trying not to make too much noise - then back in again on Thursday, when Pluto may at last get that attention. Looks like I'll get this finished in time to post it up and wrap a present or two before midnight. I had my annual Santa-socks on today and I think the reindeer ones are in position for tmorrow - my sole concession to Christmas other than muttering Bah Humbug at appropriate moments. But from Andrew, Steph and myself, if you are reading this on or during Christmas day (why?) - hope you have a good one and be back for the last report of the year. See ya tben.