Of bearings, pipes and identities

25th February 2024

Not the most exciting of weeks.

The trailer isn't back from HFS yet, but the van has taken centre stage for road transport issues. Regular readers will recall that the van had a series of bearing failures on the front near side, the last one being changed in August 2022. That is, for interest, its 4th since new and the previous 3 had been close together. At the time the friendly local garage had surmised it was incorrect fitting on their part, and the time since the last was installed tended to bear this out. But a few months ago I started hearing a noise and deduced this must be tyre noise as (a) it surely couldn't be another bearing and (b) the front tyres were nearly worn out. So on Monday Andrew had his car booked in for MoT and I took him down to pick it up and book the van in for 2 new tyres. When I told N what the problem was she decided to get it on one of the stands and check and sure enough, there is play in the bearing - again. Oh and the two front tyres were borderline illegal. This time, they said we must change the hub as well but that's a 'dealer only' part so pricey, better see if I could source one - new or s/h - instead. Well of course almost nothing is literally dealer only and an hour or so on ebay identified not only that there were new ones for anywhere between £42 and £82 each but, judging from the numbers on offer, that it must be a regular requirement as well as being common to Pegueot, Citroen and Fiat for a number of years. So back I went to the friendly local garage and N had 2 new tyres put on, plus armed with a 'non-genuine' part number and a target price she managed to source one from a supplier. So the van's booked in for Tuesday and I've tried to keep the mileage down this week. Once you know that noise is a bearing it seems suddenly louder and more alarming.

On the locomotive front it has been sorting out bits and bobs. I met one of the Alstom engineers near Glossop, he has gone through the pneumatic valve manifold and assures me that all valves now work bar one. The Monday session had included a pressure test of the radiator, which passed, and later in the week it was carefully strapped to a pallet and loaded into Matt's van to make its way back to the loco, where it is now back in situ. I ordered a relief valve for the W&L loco hydraulics which was due to arrive Friday - it didn't. I did though get 7/16 UNFs for the propshaft on W H Davis's loco but need to find a supply of 1.25inch 3/8 UNCs for the converter, and 9/16 UNcs for that right hand side flywheel housing. The major set back for the week has been with a fuel pump from a Gardner. I had had a call from the pump specialists to the effect that a part was 'missing' and I had dashed down with what I thought was what they wanted. They had however made a remark about a hairline crack and I was presented with a large cast flange with a periphery like a disc about 1/8 inch thick in cast iron, with a segment broken off. They offered to have a new one machined out of mild steel, which I declined as the base material would have been upward of £200 and the number of hours of machinists time didn't bear thinking about. Part of the broken segment was clearly an old crack, but part was fresh. In the end I came away with the broken parts: although there is a well-known cast iron welding specialist in Coalville, I located another in Sheffield that was easier for me to get to and it should have been welded up on Friday. Sorry? Why didn't I just go to Gardner Marine and buy another? The pump specialists already had and I deduced that it wouldn't be made new anymore. Once the dust has settled I must find out why/how it came to get broken.

That tank you saw on the W&L loco last week now sports all its upperworks, including the return line filter which needed a large hole cutting. We had a hole saw almost the right size, but it was one that came in from an auction lot and the arbor was so worn that it ran eccentric. Since it was a make different to all our others no other arbor would suit and so I had to resort to a size smaller and open the hole up: I got so far with a selection of files and then Andrew finished it with the die grinder. Meanwhile the vac pipe work continues and I'm breaking in to air feed and brake cylinder pipework to install the pneumatic mods.

Incidentally I was amused to look in on 'UKlocos' this week. Given that some years ago I offered to keep their entry on Darley Dale up-to-date and was rebuffed, I leave them to sort themselves out and they have excelled themselves. For 'DL34' has developed a split personality, It is not one but TWO Mitsubishi locos at Darley Dale. One is 2'6 gauge and a 'BoBo Diesel mechanical' and the other is standard gauge 4w-4w Diesel hydraulic. Hey guys, hiding in the gloom are side rods - so both your interpretations are wrong. It is 2ft 6 gauge (its role on the W&L wouldn't really be worth the transport cost over had it been standard) and it is a diesel hydraulic, so maybe you should create a third incarnation for it as a 2ft 6in 0-4-4-0DH. Only trying to be helpful.

My time on Saturday was taken up in part by two separate enthusiasts who asked to look round. One was clearly a regular visitor to Rowsley and remembered a number of the locos from their brief times spent by the new Rowsley signal box. The other was a number collector who recited each number into a dictaphone but had no apparent interest in any historical data. Neither got anywhere near dipping their hands in tbeir pockets. Matt was busy reducing a customer's Hunslet loco into skip seized pieces. Andy H was recovering parts from the power unit and looking over defective power tools. A works train came by, propelled by Bagnall the Barclay with Mark Sealey in the driving seat. It was taking a tractor-based flail down the line on the Lowmac for lineside clearance and constitutes the only picture of any note I took this week.

On his return Mark advised that there is some progress as regards our fence works, but I wasn't too clear as to exactly where it leaves us so I will try to clarify that this week. As neither Andrew nor Jagger were around today I took the day 'off' and got on with some things back at home. I debated popping down for a couple of hours in the morning but given the overnight frost and no passing trains for occasional company decided against it.

This week is similarly vague - we have a new oven due to be installed tomorrow at the Briddon Country Pile and the van booked in on Tuesday so I must try and fit everything around that. And hopefully T1 will return in time for forthcoming tasks. Drop back in next week, when hopefully I've more earth-shattering news to impart. See ya then.