Of split heads

19th May 2024

Weather huh? Heavy rain and now dry and hot.

The early part of this week has been uneventful, even a return visit to the dentist did not require him to stick a needle in me. Andrew and grandson were here for a couple of days.

Wednesday morning and I was sat in the van at Rowsley waiting for the tractor to arrive and collect T1. I wanted to be there as it would be the first time the 'new' pump motor set had been run. It was both Jeff and new man Ryan - the latter I was to learn had turned down a job with Allelys because he didn't want to move railway locos(!) - and the orange DAF as Jeff's Merc had blown an oil pipe. The motor lifted the trailer deck without issue, we hooked up and set off for Dudley.

Well I set off for the Briddon Country Pile to collect my lunch and have another tea, so I was a little surprised to catch up with them near Belper and pass them just south of Derby. But my plan has always been to get there first and suss the site out especially as I hadn't been 'there' before. The 'there' in this case was the Light Rail Innovation Centre at Dudley, which I had seen only through the pages of Railway Magazine. Our load was an HNRC 08 returning to Worksop having been on trial after receiving a hydrogen generator which discharges into the air intake to reduce the fossil fuels it uses and thus its carbon emissions. (Personally I'd prefer it if people stopped using 08s altogether, but the world isn't perfect.)

Anyway, Jeff and Ryan turned up and we lined up with the track, got the ramp assembled and I rang the contact to get someone to move the loco down to us. Now here was a surprise, apparently it had all been arranged that I would start the loco up and move it down as they had no driver on site. Arranged that is, with everyone but me. But it isn't the first 08 I've driven and so I became the last to drive it at Dudley. We winched it on to T1, secured it, dismantled the ramp (the new roller on the nearside proving its worth) and reconnected the DAF. Then the trouble began. The new pump and motor lugged down and the trailer barely lifted off the ground. There was a metallic scraping sound from the cabinet (which might have just been the cooling fan catching on the rear casing) which I could ignore, but I couldn't ignore the whisps of smoke. After ten minutes of trying to lift the neck by combinations of air suspension, wood blocks and leverage, Jeff tactfully suggested that it would be quicker if I swapped the pumps back, as I had the old one in the back of the van 'just in case'. He and Ryan then disappeared altogether and left me to it.

After about half an hour I had the pumps changed with the minimum of oil leakage, the load up was completed and we set off for Worksop. The DAF and T1 had to go down the M5 round the M42 and up the M1 to the M18, across to the A1 and back down to enter Worksop from the east, whereas I could retrace my steps through Walsall, to the A5 at Lichfield and the A38 through Derby. Thus I arrived nearly 2 hours before them but thanks to the good offices of HNRC I was able to get the vehicle in and unloaded that evening. Not that it went entirely without issue. The trailer manufacturer utilised an air cylinder to lift the kingpin that locks the neck and trailer together. Originally this single-acting cylinder was tee'd to another air connection, but months ago I provided it with its own switch. When I operated this there was a loud bang and a woosh of air - the cylinder - a pressed steel automotive one - had, unknown to us, been corroding quietly away and its head had now split open. Another plus point for my seperate control - I could simply turn the air to it off and stop the leak. For now a lorry strap can haul the pin out, so we got the loco unloaded and headed for home(s).

Thursday, and by prior arrangement I had to get myself and the van over to Ellesmere Port to collect an air receiver and sundry other items. I had been told the air receiver was about 2.2m long and I had checked that the back of the van could accomodate a maximum of 2.15m, but to achieve even that required my emptying it of most of the 'kit' I keep in for loco moves, including the now disgraced pump and motor, which kept me occupied for an hour or so first thing. Then it was off to Ellesmere Port. The van has been giving me cause for concern of late, an occasional tendency to emit black smoke, thought to be a sticky servo-operated thing on the turbo, had been getting worse, especially when cold, but now even just changing gear seemed to result in a small cloud. It all went to make me feel very self-conscious, and having loaded up in Cheshire (taking the safety valve off the top of the air receiver made it under 2.15) and added some more in Manchester, it was only getting worse. Finally, somewhere about Chinley, there was a ping and the message 'Engine Fault: Repair Needed' appeared on the display. After a moment's shock I felt relieved, after all, I was aware of a problem that was resulting in it producing black smoke - why had the electronics taken so long to spot it? It was booked in anyway, but not until next week.For Thursday I got home and parked up.

Friday, and I had all morning to empty the van, but whereas I had had two helpers in Ellesmere Port and a forklift in Manchester, here I was on my own. The air receiver in particular was too much for me and although I tried, with a pull lift off Andrew's crane, to raise it back vertical, it was beyond me in the time I had. By noon I was supposed to be on my way to Leeming Bar, via a Sheffield supplier, so it has stayed on the floor, and anyone who asks will get told that I'm going to weld fins on it, paint it black and get a passing Lancaster bomber to drop it on the Warring 40s event. (And yes, apparently Peak Rail is getting a flypast.)

Anyway, back to Friday. First thing as I headed down to the shed the system pinged and the 'Engine Fault: Repair Needed' message appeared. It did so again as I set off back for the Briddon Country Pile and again as I set off for Leeming Bar, but I stopped for some fuel and it was only 5 miles later that it occurred to me that it hadn't pinged, the warning symbol was out and it wasn't making any black smoke. Thanks to a long shopping list at Sheffield, and traffic delays on the M1 north of Leeds, it was half-three when I reached Leeming Bar instead of the planned 3pm. The lateness was to give Wensleydale time to shunt it out, and Ryan had been parked up since just after lunch awaiting my call to head in. The loco was sat there so this I could make straightaway, and we soon were lined up and hauling it on, though I was a little disappointed at having to snatch block the loco and may have to investigate whether we have either a low-set relief valve or maybe a tired motor. Everything was going fine as we pushed the ramp rails back on the deck until I head butted an axlebox. This resulted in a cut on my scalp about an inch or so long (I can't see it) and blood all down my face. As readers will know I am not keen on the sight of blood, especially mine, and having to head over to the toilets to wash myself down - well it was like one of those action movies where the hero, wounded but still determined to fight on, turns the sink water red as he does his own first aid.

Anyway, Ryan finished loading and securing, I was back in time to assist re-connecting trailer and neck, and he set off for the Yard. I set off for home with a bit of a headache. Still no 'Engine Fault: Repair Needed' messages, no black smoke and the mpg was up to 55. Maybe my own internal systems were pinging up 'Head Fault: Repair needed' but I wasn't listening.

Saturday, again no Andrew this weekend but I had a list of jobs I needed to complete so cracked on with them. The Bosch pump motor, plus the two others I bought at the same time, are destined to go over to our friendly electric motor specialists (who have just about finished the generator for Des, I believe) and I had a component for a customer that I needed to drill and tap 1/2 BSP in two places. I was just doing this when I heard movement and found Tom Dakin looking for me. He and Mark Sealey (who was outside on phone call) had taken me up on the suggestion of taking a look at the weedkiller spraying trolley, since Tom now has all the essential certifications and had been thinking of building up something similar.

We climbed on to T2 (its temporary home) and pulled the sheet back, revealing all the equipment, valves, mixing vessels, etc with Tom delighted that it had been provided with all the requisite accessories. Although Tony S's Baguley railcar will be the ideal towing vehicle, we of course made up a tow bar to bring the railcar down from Rowsley which will enable the trolley, for now, to be hauled by a loco with a normal drawhook, so it is likely to be transferred to PR tracks in the near future.

Off they went and I returned to my tasks. I had by now received a replacement cylinder for T1 and intended to determine the length of push rod required and cut it down ready for a rapid fit on site on Monday, but in the end, it was apparent that not only had the cylinder head split, but the piston road and piston had parted company which made any attempt at deducing the correct length without the trailer to hand a very risky business. I could take a guess as to how long it had been from where the black paint stopped on the push rod, but?

No, best do it properly, either Monday or later in the week. The component for my customer was finished assembled and I could think of no other excuses on Sunday than to get back on to the Alstom loco. And by the end of the afternoon it was at least driving itself a little under its own power, after I had found a timer that didn't work because the software had allocated it a register number that didn't exist on this hardware and a program line that included an input condition that was 'on' when it should have been 'off' - one of several I had missed. A few other things highlighted themselves but at least I no longer have that feeling of banging my head on a brick wall, which could only result in yet another split head. Good reports of the weedkiller wagon must have got around Rowsley, for as Cathryn came past on the service train, Roger Hallatt on the footplate could be seen surveying it and pointing it out to other footplate crew.

So, this week - well first thing tomorrow it's out to unload that loco and shift a couple of bogies, then the van is in shop on Tuesday. Wednesday onwards I don't know yet but I have a stack of jobs to pursue on T1 as I enable the Lister engine to drive the trailer hydraulics, so I might be spending time up with it in Rotherham, plus fitting that shorter offside roller assembly. So until next week, same time, same website. See ya then.