Of parcels 'service'

22nd December 2024

A somewhat brief instalment.

For all the time I have spent down at the workshops this week (which I think has been about 4 days, but my memory is a bit hazy) I don't feel as though I have achieved all that much.

There has been some good news though. I now have an ECU for the DH60 minilok. I was down at the workshops on Tuesday when I received a picture by text from our friendly Deutz agent. It was of a tracking page from a certain parcels carrier to inform him (why not me I have no idea, but at least I was being updated through the Deutz man) that a package would be delivered between 2pm and 6pm that afternoon. That was fine except it would be going to the Briddon Country Pile, the address on the screen didn't include my house name and they would require a signature. As I had Matt H with me I could hardly leave him unattended for the afternoon so I dashed back at lunchtine, stuck a note on the door to the effect if they needed my scrawl they could phone me and returned to the workshops, (where Matt had repositioned the torque converter temperature switch in a sensible position and renewed the exhaust flex pipe on a certain 0-4-0 Barclay) but not before another unrelated email had me dashing for about 45 minutes.

Steph returned later in the afternoon and took over watching for the package, but it didn't appear. Another tracking message came through Wednesday morning, that it would be delivered between 08.20 and 12.20. Steph would be out all morning, but it was determined that if I stayed in the kitchen, I could watch out for the van in case it did the usual trick of Satnav directing it to the road, but not to the bit where we are. Rather than stand and do nothing I decided to set my little notebook computer up and do some programming work, but the kitchen worktop is definitely not a suitable height for such activities.

At about 1pm another tracking screen came through which actually announced that they were late, but would still deliver that day. I was getting all this by picture text from the Deutz agent (who had assured me that in reality both the housename and my number were highlighted on the actual paperwork) which meant that in between I was receiving 'Is it there yet?' texts. We were also discussing what to do should the parcel turn up back at the dealers' premises the next morning, which seemed increasingly likely.

First thing Thursday morning I had to meet Matt H down at the shed again and without prior notice, the elusive parcels service delivered just after nine am - and, maybe to avoid an ugly incident or hide their embarassment, didn't stop for a signature. So is this eagerly anticipated, long awaited ECU now on the DH60? Well actually no, the weather has been very inhospitable since but it is high on my list of things to do.

One thing that did finally happen was that the Colchester lathe found itself with a roof over its head. It got lifted in and positioned by the Hatramm (working right on its limits) and for now has been left to dry out before we oil up the slides, check the gearbox oil and maybe even blow a little warm air across the motor to make sure it is dry after the time it was been waiting outside. And since this is the most physically obvious event of the week, it is about all I have photographed.

Work on the Barclay 0-4-0 continues. I am not all that familiar with Barclay philosophy of design. I am fairly conversant with the externals of their control desks of the 60s and 70s and was aware, from Bagnall the Barclay, that a lot of their wiring is placed behind the instrument panel but that the cavity is open to the engine bay and unprotected from dirt ingress. Oh and the exhaust tail pipe passes just in front, so to get in you have to either detach the instrument panel (several gauges being secured with rigid copper piping to make that difficult) or reach in from the engine side, with a 5 inch exhaust pipe right in your way. For the 0-4-0 I am working to Plan A and hope to return the wiring to some semblance of tidyness and function, but I have had to scrape copious amounts of muck from everywhere I would like to find clean. For now, I have a hiatus, brought about by Andrew asking to borrow my cable crimper and not yet bringing it back.

Saturday had me getting new instruments, start switch and cable conduit installed. As well as progressing a little with the new throttle module for the big minilok but again the weather has not been conducive to working for long outside. Indeed, the longest I have been spending outside the shed has been to wave at the passengers, as exhorted by the weekly newsletter from the PR operations department, and for which, in celebration of the time of year, I have temporarily added tinsel and a bauble to my woolly hat. Tony S was over today and between us we trial fitted the disc brake and caliper on his Baguley railcar, but decided on a few minor alterations which Tony is putting in hand. On a brief visit Andrew checked over the other Baguley railcar and found that the engine does indeed bar over, so we'll do some more checks when the weather gives us a viable alternative to bitingly cold wind or rain showers. Tony though did point out that we had in a pile on a bench some suitable tooling for the new lathe, and if I am not mistaken, that has been sat there for quite some time. Late on this afternoon, looking for something else entirely, I found a shortish length of heavy 5 core SY cable and, as I am not sure the existing cable on the lathe will quite reach the nearby 3-phase socket, I spent a while making it into a new extension cable ready for the task.

And with that rather brief instalment, I shall take the opportunity to wish you all a very good Christmas. I should be back next Sunday to reveal if Santa brought anything and what we got up to so as to work off a surfeit of Christmas cake and mince pies, plus whether Andrew will have completed enough DIY projects in his house to afford some more time down at the shed. 'Til next week - see ya then.