Of springs and release notes

8th December 2024

I said last week that things hadn't gone to plan and much the same occurred this. Or rather didn't occur - if you see what I mean. Originally I was supposed to be out on Monday but that job got cancelled and so I had a day clear to get on with paperwork. The job should have carried on in to Tuesday but here its non-happening was a boon, as Andrew had the day off, and there was supposed to be a container and a piece of rail kit arriving. However, just as Andrew was about to set off to oversee collection, a message came through to the effect the vehicle which was supposed to be heading to site to do the move was somewhere on the Isle of Wight and can they put it back to tomorrow? But Andrew and another participant were back at work the next day, and the collection point had been manned specially - that was why this date had been booked with them over a week before. A revised plan for this next week was settled on and everyone stood down.

Incidentally, do you remember our first trip into Long Marston for miniloks when we were supposed to see the DH60 away only the haulier had the vehicle somewhere else and put it back a day? Sounds familiar? Yes, same contractor.

Anyway, we made the best of our time that we could. Louise drew road 1 back so the forklift could get out, and between the two of us the big minilok was driven forwards to clear the way. The crane picked up the lathe and processed gently down to the other end of the shed, there to place it down outside the roller shutters from whence, Andrew plans, the Hatramm can lift it and bring it inside, but for now Tony S and I sheeted it down again.

Andrew then loaded my van with a pallet - I'd never seen the van springs settle that far but there was still travel left in them, and the overall weight was still within capacity. After Andrew and Tony left for home(s) I stayed on and continued with a little project of my own - namely creating a backboard for the signing-in bench. Years ago with the 'old regime' no-one would dream of providing us a working timetable and we would deduce what time trains were due by by the public one. Now though with 2 train regular operation and an enlightened attitude I get a fresh working timetable every Thursday, or at least a further copy of whatever one is in force that weekend - they've even started declaring days when Andrew or I will be occupying the line to Rowsley. Thus I have copies of the current WTT in protective sleeves on the bench but it has become cluttered and as I had a 4-ring binder in my office which had disintegrated, I seperated its metalllic workings from the vinyl and mounted this on the backboard so that the current WTT can be rapidly consulted. The Donations tin - not that it gets used much - was also displaced by the back board so it was re-mounted from it (and to it so you can't just grab and dash out the door!).

First thing on Wednesday I was off to Palletline in Sheffield to get rid of this load and had things worked out better, gone on to Euroauctions and collected those lonely jacks that we talked about last week. As it was I phoned the auctioneers Wednesday afternoon to see when I might have a release note only to be told I didn't need one, just turn up. So on Thursday I did. And since I needed the assistance of one of their forklifts, I was allocated a number, which I displayed proudly in the front window of the van and tried to make myself as comfortable as possible for what I feared might be a long wait. I'd been there half an hour or so when a figure strolled past, heading for reception. He didn't recognise me (I was still in the old van last time) but I knew Phil G so waited till he returned to ambush him. He had the advantage that whatever he had to load he could drive on himself. but as we started to catch up a guy pointed at me and signalled to follow.

We convoyed in, our man on a forklift, me in my van and somebody else in a 40ft artic. We were stopped at a loading area, and told to wait. Forklifts and telehandlers snaked to and fro. I opened the back doors of the van and tried to look as nonchalant as possible, but it is not easy to look cool when the wind really is. Eventually 'my' forklift appeared from a completely different direction from where the jacks had been when I'd been there for inspection, and deposited them in the back of my van, which sank a bit but not as much as Tuesday. On my way back I stopped at the battery suppliers for a new battery for the crane - we'd had to jump it twice recently - then over into Barnsley to another auctioneers to pick up some more bits of Andrew's. He is a lover of Rigger boots (I have nothing against them but many sites I have been on refuse to accept them as they offer no ankle support, so I stick to traditional lace-ups) and a particular make, and there had been a few pairs on auction which he had snaffled. Oh and he'd got some lifting eyes, though I think his sense of scale had been switched off as they were enormous, but what he paid was scarcely more than he'd get in scrap.

What he hadn't got was a release note: the auction hadn't long finished and it was emailed to him after I left, but no matter, they created another and I came home as darkness fell.

Friday: it was agreed that Andrew would come and give me a hand unloading but that was lunchtime in the end. The jacks were lifted out individually and sack-trucked to a temporary home. We fitted the new battery to the crane and tested it. Andrew chased off to Twiggs for more House-improvement bits and I cadged a few M16s from him to get while he was there.

And so the weekend, with Storm Darragh. The wind had been getting up Friday night and the rain too, and we are way inland compared to Wales and the South west. I was not expecting to see Andrew much, if at all, but had plenty to be getting on with. But not long after I'd arrived I had message that two visitors were a few minutes away and by the time I saw it they were outside the gates. A father and son, I gave them the full tour even though it started to rain part way through. In addition to the Santa specials traffic, there was a Victorian Market at Matlock and in a move that has long been thought a good idea but only now tried, the dmu was out on a Park-and-Ride shuttle - park at Rowsley, ride to Matlock. The WTT hanging above the bench looked quite intensive.

The disc brake caliper had arrived for the Baguley railcar so I tried it on its slides (it's actually the wrong way round in this shot and there's a bit of card where the disc will be) and to my relief it fits perfectly.

My main activity had to be W H Davis' loco and I finished off the distribution box with all its M5 studs and nuts then also fixed a little enclosure which houses the starter solenoid and cabled it in to position.

The original alternator wires were contained in a flexible sleeving, while I guess it had been flexible once, it was now rigid and brittle and I extricated the wires by breaking off the sleeve in sections and as the wires themselves weren't too bad, threading them through new 25mmm flex conduit (7 words that you can write in 10 seconds but the reality must have taken an hour to achieve). Once finished, the distribution box needed somewhere to mount that was accessible for wiring/checking, convenient to route other flex conduits to the various devices and above all, within the range of the multi-core cable that was already connected to the control box under the desk! I found a bit of strip and cut/drilled it to fit one of the flywheel mounts, not otherwise used on this installation. Assembled the strip and fitted the box and admired it before going home.

Sunday: Severn Trent had thrown up a road works just down from the Country Pile so I turned right and went to the shed via Church Lane. It was still raining, in fact part of the day it sounded as though there was a waterfall on top of the roof. Off came the distribution box and I drilled it for conduits, following a plan I'd drawn up over a tea. Then it went back on and the incoming multi-core was terminated on to the posts. I need to run two 20mm conduit routes and a 16mm one. I can't find any 16mm conduit (but I have ends) and I have maybe a metre of 20mm conduit left but no ends whatsoever, and I'm almost out of 0.75 wire so there the job came to a halt until I can get in to the suppliers.

During a lull in the rain I dashed out and did some measuring of fence posts and pailings. The 'kit' we are due to pass over the road to the station has no suitable posts, but three '8ft' posts which have been hacked off about ground level can be re-used for 6ft fencing provided you cut a new slot to suit the bottom rail of the shorter pallisades. A matter merely of finding a 6ft post and measuring. But I have found more than one measurement and Andrew now reports that there is also a 5ft pallisade system... Anyway I marked out the posts with alternative slots and drilled starting holes so that Andrew can plasma them out when he has a minute.

One of the weekend's jobs was to try and get the throttle working on the big minilok. The new hardware has arrived - a new ramp generator and an amplifier - but initial attempts at fitting both into the original enclosure proved problematic. The ramp generator is in a plastic module designed to fit to a DIN rail. Mounted on the enclosure bottom it was too tall: bolted to the side you couldn't access the adjusting screws and restricted access to the amplifier. Besides, the original enclosure had holes drilled specifically to mount the PCBs: I'd have to drill new holes and fill the old ones if they weren't to admit water and take us back to where we'd started. A hunt in the cupboard produced a slightly larger, taller enclosure in plastic with a clear lid and a thin metal chassis plate. The suitability was obvious - both modules could mount to the chassis plate with a section of 'choc' block for wire connections. I could recover the cables, plugs and glands from the old container and connect them to the new units through the choc block in the comfort of an open workspace (in this case, my knee in the mess area).

Andrew had arrived to do some bits of woodwork, along with dachshund Buddy, which was a distraction but the chassis plate is now cabled and waiting mounting in to the enclosure. Before finally connecting up though I must check the feed cable for polarity and the signal connections (from the driver's accelerator pedal) as to which is which, and that means probing with a meter on the minilok outside and the weather wasn't conducive to that. The little minilok may still be waiting patiently but the Deutz people reckon they've found a replacement ECU for it so that too may be bursting forth ere long.

So once again that wraps up this week. Tomorrow, if the haulier hasn't sent the lorry somewhere else, will see me back for about lunchtime to assist unloading, then there's a transport job booked for Wednesday but it may all change, if the last couple of weeks are anything to go by. Pop by to find out if it does. See ya then.