Of light and dark
5th November 2023
I'm not wild about this time of year, everythimg suddenly feels cold and wet and the days have got inexplicably shorter.
Transport work was back on the agenda this week. First thing Monday morning I met Phil at Rowsley to assist swapping the ramp rails (etc) over from T1 to the Heanor van so he could get them back to yard and on to the 'Doll' trailer which we use for carriages. He was supposed to ring me when he set off, but he forgot and was a long way ahead of me before I knew for certain (though I was already on the road by then, but with an errand or two slotted in). As I pushed the van southwards, the M1 overheads warned of 30 minute delays on the M25 increasing to 45 as I got nearer so on a whim I decided to go the other way around the M25, past Heathrow, rather than face a long wait. Was it quicker? Not too sure, it was nice to keep moving (though there were delays) and Phil was still ahead of me, but there again, he'd been ahead of me at the end of the M1.
Access to the East Kent Railway is from the north east along a B-road and Phil was under the impression there were roadworks (the last time we were here - with Adam and Ian - there'd been closures for re-surfacing) so parked in a layby and waited for me to arrive at Shepherdswell and scout the route. I was able to report it free of roadworks (but plenty of parked cars to steer through at Eythorne) and having got back, opened up the loading area and squeezed the van out the way. Phil duly arrived and we lined him up over the rails and detached tractor and neck. We had originally planned to be there at 3pm, but with a late start and delays it had been 4 before I got there and now about 4.30 and with the clocks having gone back, it was twilight. The ramp was assembled and we waited until the LMS carriage arrived, propelled up from the station, and we were able to winch it on and secure it down.
The other snag wth Shepherdswell is that you have to depart back the way you came in and that means turning around. Phil was staying overnight and would set off early hours Tuesday, but wanted me to assist turning around before I left - it is definitely a two (or better still 3 or 4) man job. The road through Shepherdswell is a local short cut (aka rat run) and there are no roundabouts so it involves backing out of the loading area, going 200 yards along the road, swinging in to a side turn and then backing out while bringing the trailer round to face the opposite way. Sounds simple? It is, but this is with a trailer bearing a 57ft carriage into a side turn not designed for the purpose, and with a car parked just along. Phil took the tractor as close as he dared to the side of the car, I steered the trailer and watched as an overhanging carriage buffer just cleared a telegraph pole - all this in near dark with queues of impatient motorists fuming that we had obstructed their short cut.
With the backlog cleared, we started to reverse out, but the first move left us near perpendicular to the opposite side pavement and it was a half-dozen shuffles, gaining a few feet and a better angle each time, before we got around sufficiently for Phil to get the tractor out of the side turn, and nose forward before backing in to the loading area again for the night. It was now about quarter to seven: I bid Phil goodnight and headed back towards Derbyshire, stopping a couple of times and getting home at a quarter to one Tuesday morning. Phil got rolling first thing and I had an ETA of 3pm at Bakwell for him, though in the event an accident outside Chesterfield slowed him down, but I was ready and waiting to get him wrong-side round the roundabout at Bakewell. Then it was a run down the valley to Rowsley and as the light fell (again!) unloading the carriage to join the burgeoning collection of Dr Ben Riley.
Bagnall the Barclay had just finished some shunting so was close at hand to draw the coach off and away, and after packing up, Phil took the trailer down the car park for another night.
Wednesday: Phil must have been up early and feeling strong, because he transferred the ramp rails and sundries from Doll back to T1 and then set off to the yard to get T1 its mandatory 6-weekly servicing/inspection. We were off east this time, back to Sheringham in fact where we were to collect an 03. I got there about 2.50 and was a bit perturbed to find no 03 in the loading area but there was a Ford Focus Estate which some may feel was an adequate substitute. Its owner was however located and it was moved, and a little after 3pm, a gronk hoved into sight hauling a carriage and an 03 coming up the rear.
They were half-way through running round when Phil pnoned to say he was just outside Sheringham. He was inclined to get me to hold the traffc while he came wrong side of the roundabout, but I reassured him that T1 was shorter and more manouverable than Adam's 4 axle and sure enough it followed obediently round without any worries. In fact, as we arrived at one end of the loading track the 03 was being propelled up from the other end and we had to wait.
By the time we had loaded and secured it was once again dark. But Phil was keen to get out of Sheringham, though not far as Norfolk forbids abnormals to move after dark, so I chaperoned him out of the car park and up the hill, to a layby at the edge of some woods where he was determined to park up. I left him there and headed home.
Thursday, and having sorted out an ETA I headed over to Telford, getting there about an hour before Phil. Initially it was deserted but soon the 03's new owner arrived and we got the place opened and ready. A familiar air horn heralded Phil's arrival and we lined him up in comparative daylight. Most locos will roll down the slope of our trailer and ramp until they reach the bottom where gravity ceases to be effective. Sometimes we pull them clear with the tractor, but here there was no room and initially they deployed a loadall but then one of the loco drivers arrived and fired up a Ruston 165 to draw it clear. We reconnected the unit, backed Phil down the hill and he set off for the yard, I following shortly after to rack up 950 miles for the week.
When I got back that evening, Andrew as down at Rowsley shed, doing prep work for jacking Royal Pioneer up for Peak Rail to complete running gear overhaul. (As I heard it a certain former MD ordered it put back on its wheels as the Mattersons it was on had been sold, before it had been fully repaired.) No prizes for guessing that Friday was quiet (by comparison), but I had plenty to do including getting Steph's old Micra ready for its prospective new owner to collect (and pay) on Saturday. And on Saturday itself my first jaunt was down to the surgery for a anti-Covid jab in one arm and an anti-all-other-flus jab in the other, which left me feeling a little fatigued and sore. To add to it the prospective buyer said he couldn't make it as his mother was in hospital, could we drop back 24 hours?
Andy H was back and Andrew and he had cleared enough space to get the Terrypicker farther up and he completed replacing the middle row of old LED lights with the new ones and boy-oh-boy are they brighter. He was then directed on to Des and started removing old wiring. Des has a mixture of cabling some of which is definitely original, some of which has the look of Allied Seel & Wire about it and some - well, from the humber of chock-blocks and 'domestic' wiring smacks of shall we say, work carried out to a lower standard. Andrew has decreed it shall all come out, even the thick ones to the traction motors and such, and be brought back to a standard we can be sure will operate reliably for the next decade or two.No fence erection, we are still on hold while Peak Rail and the council sort out some formalities.
Sunday. The micra-man was due at 10.30 but at 10 he texted to say he couldn't make it as his recovery truck had broken down. Andrew and I headed down to the shed. Andrew had borrowed the van the previous night to collect some tackle on loan from EMR and the first plan had been to empty it by drawing the train and crane back and getting the forklift out. But I had also bought a new alternator for the crane and Andrew decided to change it before firing it up. This took a while and to our disappointment, once installed and running it made no difference, the battery is still not getting charge. This would seem to mean that (a) I bought an alternator for nothing, that it is a wiring fault to be traced, (b) there may be nothing wrong with the old alternator and (c) I am going to have some more work to do with no wiring diagram, unless I can palm it off onto someone else
After emptying the van Andrew elected to sort out a few more pallisade panels in anticipation of resuming fence work - this involved moving and sorting a pile up in front of his low loader which at least gives us another car parking spot back. Peak Rail had been using Hudswell 0-6-0T Cathryn both days as it had just received steam heat connections in time for winter. It was the last day of regular services today though - aside from Santa trains the season is over. The micra-man phoned to say he can be up tomorrow, was I around? If he thinks he can string this out and then 're-negotiate' he'll be wasting his time as well as mine. No planned transport work this week - I'm trying to arrange it week on and week off else I get nothing else done. For one thing I need time to plan the jobs and get the logistics sorted. T1's winch has developed a habit of bunching the rope to one side, probably because the hook on the end won't rotate under load and is causing the rope to develop a twist - Andrew has dug me out another hook that will rotate, as those on the other two winches do.
And that's about it for the week. Will micra-man turn up tomorrow or put it off further? Tune in next week, same time, same.. well you know the rest. See ya then.