Of Pluto's homecoming

10th December 2023

So as we left things the trailer had an 08 on and was sat at Adam's yard and it would finish its journey on the Monday. But the winch had an oil leak on the control valve so my first task was to head on to the supplier's in Sheffield and pick up some fittings to suit the valve we had spare. Adam initially said 11 but then changed it to noon which gave me a little more time and I was there with just enough to ascertain where they wanted it unloading before the unit arrived. After we lined up I went to the control valve to start swapping it over and found I had the wrong fittings - so it had to continue as it was, but at least unloading doesn't require so much pressure so not so much leakage. Part way through the Lister engine died (lack of fuel) I topped up the tank but couldn't get it to start again even after bleeding it through, so Adam promised his people would sort it. Even then I didn't get to take any photos until it was actually off the trailer, but then when you've seen one 08 ....

Two more suppliers to get to and then home, late afternoon. Tuesday was a return to the dentists so I didn't plan anything special and spent some time on the drawings to progress the W&L job.

Wednesday I had a visitor due from the W&L at 10.30 or so. I got down in the freezing cold (minus 3 I think it was) and found the lock on the gate had frozen up. So I squeezed round, unlocked the shed and part-boiled a kettle-full of water. It was just about finished when my phone rang - it was the visitor to say that the 'place seemed locked up'.(!) I explained as I walked out carrying the kettle and soon had the lock undone and hot to the touch. Just after he had gone I had another call to say the profiles were ready for collection, thus after lunch I set off again for Sheffield, for the profilers but also back to get some more hydraulic fittings - I'd gone for 1/2 BSP first time, but when I saw the pipes in the flesh suspected they were metric, and so this time I bought both M20 and M22 as I couldn't remember which. I returned straight to the shed and unloaded the profiles and re-loaded the van ready for Thursday. But I couldn't resist trying the plate that forms the base for the compressor in position on the W&L loco.

Pluto has been at Whitrope for several years now. It went up as 'cover' for the planned repower of their Fowler loco but when the cost of that escalated the plan was dropped and Pluto remained on a sort of hire basis. I had stressed to the guys that it was not a long term arrangement and had been hoping for a suitable opportunity to bring it back for the last 15 months or more. In the end, rather than have it up there for another winter (in a rather exposed location) I set a special run up and collection was to be Thursday. When Pluto went up there it was in the early days with the Andover trailer that had no winch and no rear wheel steer, and Adam had had great difficulty on the B road south from Hawick where at Stobs, there was a sharp left hand bend and a bridge under the Waverley route trackbed. There was no phone signal at Whitrope and I ended up walking up to the coll where I could see into the next valley and get a phone signal, but even then I was none the wiser where they were. They eventually arrived with soil and grass over the trailer as it had taken 90 minutes of shuffling to get it through. The Whitrope members suggested an alternative road but that was single carriageway all the way for several miles with next to no passing places, so Adam traversed it in the early hours of the morning.

Now let's wind the clock forward to this week. I set off before seven with the intention of getting there by noon. Getting on to and off the M60 around Manchester was a pain (congestion) but by around eleven I was coming up on Carlisle so pulled in to the Southwaite services for a 'personal needs break' (PNB in modern railway parlance) and found Adam and Ian sat there having breakfast and the obligatory 'break'. They were going up the A7 to Hawick and back from the north as before - I at least could take the direct route through Newcastleton and over two hump back bridges prohibited to abnormal loads. Consequently I arrived at noon and met up with another Ian (F) and between us we drove Pluto into position for loading. Then I had a call from Adam - yes, Whitrope has now gained a phone aerial - could I meet him at Stobs and guide him through? Even with rear wheel steer he has bad memories of that bend. He is just leaving Hawick. Now, if Stobs was half-way between Hawick and Whitrope I might have got there in time, but as it was I drove north admiring the qualitity of the Waverley route engineering and wondering where this bridge was. Then I saw the lorry coming the other way, so pulled up and was accused of being 'at the wrong bridge'. They had got through Stobs, though not completely unscathed as I was to find one of my 'new' marker lamps had been broken.

We travelled back to Whitrope in convoy. With the radio we were able to back the trailer onto the ballasted track section where we had placed the Andover before but Adam was reluctant to back the tractor over the adjacent track to the back of the trailer so we rolled out the extension hoses which I had sensibly loaded the day before. The rain which had been only drizzly earlier was now building up towards the amber warning the Met Office had issued for it so I didn't worry about the leaking valve and loaded it as quickly as possible.

Even with only 22ton of Planet the rope misbehaved and got itself trapped in the side of the rollers again and in freeing it, Adam reported that it was 'scrap'. Anyway, with the loco on and the unit reassembled, we needed to turn round and they had achieved this last time by going up to the car park and pushing the trailer into the soft earthy heather as far as it would go and then progressively turning it a few degrees at a time until Adam could jack-knife the tractor across to the other way. I was on radio steering again and by now, wet through my overalls, the thin sweater under, tee shirt beneath and possibly the thermal vest beneath them all, but I couldn't quite tell. The back of the trailer collected several largish lumps of Scotland from the sodden earth. Then the radio went off - the 'Anderson cable' which provides the 24Volt supply from the tractor, had pulled out during the jack knife. We got it re-connected and exited the car park, down to the bottom of the track at the level crossing. Set the rear wheels straight and they're ready to go. To Stobs? Well, I pointed out, the road they'd taken last time, the one that was one vehicle wide with no passing places, was now signposted as the official HGV route to Hawick. Oh yes, says Ian F, they've upgraded it for access to the new wind farm. Oh, says Adam, we'll go that way then. And off they went: would have saved me a broken marker light if they'd come in that way...

I loaded the hydraulic hoses back into the van, took off soaking overalls and boots and changed my sweater for a thick dry one before heading south. I needed a couple of stops for a snooze on the way - the early start and the physical conditions had got the better of me. Adam meanwhile, instead of turning left at the end of the upgraded road and returning through Hawick, turned right and ended up overnighting at Washington Services on the A1. Incidentally, regular readers will know that I aim to optimise my fuel consumption and on runs like this get upset if the mileage is poorer than 50mpg. This run however, was almost entirely on fuel from Texaco - some of it 'Supreme' (premium price) for reasons I won't go into. The overall distance there and back was 418 but the best reading during the day was 48.6 and it fell back such that the overall consumption was only 47mpg. Now, I could dismiss this as a combination of weather conditions or some unique event (such as the morning queues around Manchester) except that I have had similar anomalies with Texaco diesel before. Normally I will avoid it and I think I must remind myself that it just doesn't seem to be as good as other brands.

Friday. I had warned Adam that I had another appointment first thing so we agreed noon at Rowsley to unload. They had come down the A1 and presumably across A38 A610 as instead of blocking Bakewell they let me know they were just leaving Matlock so I dashed up to Rowsley. Steph however went out on to the main road just down from the Briddon Country Pile and photo'd them going by. At Rowsley Harvey C was just heading down to Matlock and didn't think he'd be long but we had Pluto off, started up and moved up to the locked gates before he returned.

Andrew had a few minutes spare so came down to see his loco and Jagger was on a day off. Adam wanted to park my trailer and head back with the Doll, which had been waiting since unloading Ben's carriage, so I headed down to it to get things ready. I saw Pluto trundling in to the yard, then later Bagnall the Barclay went out and pushed it back into the headshunt. I concluded Pluto may have conked out. Adam departed, I put the sheet over the trailer and eventually found Andrew and Jagger. Yes, Pluto had been performing alright but when they had tried to haul a load it died out and wouldn't restart. Out of curiousity I dipped the tank and smelt it - it was about 4 inches deep and had the aroma of diesel throughout (the donkey engine's problems on Monday had been because what I had put in was apparently a mixture of diesel and water).

Saturday and Andrew was away so I had the day largely to myself. I picked up some bits and headed up to Rowsley. First plan was to change the control valve, but as a prelude check which fitting - the M20 or the M22 - fitted the hydraulic hoses to the motor. And the answer of course was neither - it must be M24 (this time I had the opportunity and weather to get a measure on it!). Then I took off the roller assembly. I expected this would be a fight but actually it came off quite easily, revealing that the 4 bolts holding it were to the upper group of 6 tapped holes on the front of the winch.

I had long felt that it would be less of a problem if the rollers were lower, as the angular change from the roller to the bottom of the drum was quite dramatic. The rope is wound on to the bottom as it is regarded as safer, but I have the feeling that this winch was previously wound on to the top, but we never noticed at the time and I can't determine which from the photos. I put the roller assembly in the van to take back to Darley and adjourned to Pluto to remind myself what filters might be needed. As I climbed up the cab steps to get onto the running plate, there was a tweeting and rustling inside the cab. A distressed Great Tit was crashing into the cab windows. I hadn't seen Pluto's keys at the shed so I texted Andrew, who admitted he'd still got them in his pocket, but OK'd me to get a door open. A pry-bar between cab side and padlock proved that the pop-rivets holding the hasp were weaker than the padlock, but that got the door open though not the bird out, which continued to fly headlong into the glass on the far side as if the open door was an obvious trap. We have had a few birds get imprisoned in the cab of the 14 and before they die of exhaustion they tend to evacuate their bowels all over the place. So far this Great Tit did not appear to lack the strength to get out, if only it had the intelligence to (a) recall how it got in in the first place or (b) risk flying toward that big opening that had appeared, albeit with that enormous orange-clad human on the other side. In the end I had to climb in and open a window on the opposite side to the door before it finally figuered its way to the outside world. Drama over, I opened the casings, checked the fuel filter and tried the fuel lift pump, which seemed to have no resistance at all. It wasn't pulling fuel (nor water for that matter) but my few functioning brain cells recalled that there was a fuel isolating tap under the tank, else changing the fuel filter would be extremely messy. If it is there, and it is turned off, it would explain why it cut out, but it is not very accessible and I wasn't in the mood to linger long as the weather was turning wetter.

Back at the shed I took a good look at the roller assembly. The rollers run on a axles about an inch in diameter held in place by circlips at each end. The bottom roller had too much apparent sideplay (sufficient that the rope was getting down the side and trapping) and the circlip at one end was well out of its groove. I had my suspicions so took out the axle and found that the rollers run on oilite bushes. They should be 'top-hat' bushes, but the bottom roller's had lost both their brims, creating the space for the whole thing to move sideways. I spent the next hour trying to press the bushes out, by wangling a piece of steel through the hole in the bush, then turning it so that it rested on the inside edges of the bush and finally pressing from above with a piece of thick tube through the upper bush. With one out, the other would be much simpler, but every time I pressed down it ejected my cross-piece back out of the bush. I decided to go for Plan B, which leaves the bushes alone.

Later on Andrew arrived with a friend and her two sons. On a tip-off from Steph that they were on their way I headed out into the monsoon and got RS8 to fire up. After a tour of the loco shed they had a ride up and down on the loco before driving back up to Rowsley for the 4pm Santa special.

Sunday: I was expecting Andrew back but not early, so headed down and spent some time on the Alstom loco. I have now changed all the modules and initially the PLC stayed 'off' but clearing the fault log enabled it and once again it had the engine starting and stopping, though some of the faults I had recorded last time re-appeared and must be investigated. As yet I still can't get throttle control or motion, and it is insisting that the air filter is clogged but even that is a long way from where I was a week ago.

Over night the Derwent had overflowed and once again the 'Four Lanes' crossroads and adjacent fields were under water. A taxi had attempted it at about 4 am and was marooned - a recovery truck arrived while I photographed the scene and got it out. This is happening more and more frequently but at least it isn't as near to the railway as it has been on some past floods. Matt H arrived with a pump and injectors for attention but otherwise I was on my own all day doing various little tasks but nothing particularly newsworthy. For that matter there's nothing exceptional planned for this week, but that may all change. Getting Pluto to go again would be a good start, order up yet another new rope for that winch, brake blocks to collect, profiles to sort... the days will soon go by. Tell you all about it next week. See ya then.