Of much ado about nothing

20th April 2025

If you've got better things to do on a Bank Holiday, you won't be missing much here...

A fairly short report this week, I think, as although I've been inordinately busy it just doesn't seem to have amounted to much.

On Monday I was back at the shed for the afternoon to cover for Andrew who had arranged for Johnathon F to call to collect the rest of the trolley for Telford, and the remains of the ex-Irish Wickham which had turned up unexpectedly when the guys from Amlwch came. I was all ready with teas/coffees but in the end they (he came with a friend) were here barely 10 mins as they had an itinerary tighter than any I've attempted. I carried on with some work relative to the 03, which culminated in a decision, agreed with Andrew, to upgrade part of the electrical system, though not all as the integration of the mechanical control system of the 03 with a sophisticated electronic one doesn't work too well.

I had also decided to try refitting the original speedo - well I say 'original' but I don't mean original to Swindon rather original as to what it had when Andrew acquired it. This is purely for entertainment and to make the large hole in the instrument panel look more complete. Why? Well it is driven from a little three phase generator mounted where the speedo drive used to be, and the speedo head is an automotive type by VDO but is only calbrated up to 25 km/hr, or about 18-19 mph. I don't know if it still works, but downhill with 3 or 4 carriages the loco might easily exceed 25km/hr and I'm not sure what will happen if it does. If it doesn't work out then I have several other ideas that could use the 03 as a test bed later on...

Tuesday: Up to Rowsley first thing with a spare AC5 alternator for the Barclay 0-6-0. As I had the batteries off it they had put the batteries from Mark S's Baguley on to keep the loco operational. The loco would be needed that afternoon, so I took the old alternator off and ran it down to Darley Dale where I had all the tools I needed to take the pulley off and transfer it to the replacement. Back on the loco and fired up, the system charged at 28.5volts (someone has put the regulator on the high setting) so I knew that was the correct solution.

Andrew has decided to sell his 4 axle trailer as it had done nothing for several months . He'd already had a couple of offers but had another prospective purchaser coming on Tuesday and I agreed to go up to the yard straight after lunch on his behalf. Not solely for that though - I had a fuel pipe on the donkey engine on T1 leaking when the engine was running (and the lift pump pressured it) so was able to change that while I waited. He arrived and a sale was subsequently agreed.

Wednesday: As I got home Tuesday I found an email telling me that a number of fabrications were awaiting my collection which I could have done efficiently that day, but such is life. So Wednesday morning I did a long tour of suppliers picking up and dropping off. In the afternoon I had my annual haircut (for new readers: I usually make a joke here about getting a better priced trim during the sheep-shearing season) and then returned to the shed where Jordan and his pal were back continuing the saga of painting a container.

Thursday afternoon it was back to the yard, where with Jeff on forklift we lifted off all the parts manufactured and-or fitted to Andrew's trailer and returned it to its basic condition - well almost. We had to drag it out to get at all the bits and a significant air leak revealed itself which turned out be a corroded air brake pipe fitting - a clue to its age and mileage. A large amount of smaller (heavier) pieces, tensioners, heavy securing chains and the like were put in my van so I took it gently coming home.

Friday: I had to drop Steph off first thing for a weekend away with our daughter but combined it with a trip in to the motor factors to get some water for topping up 873's (proper) batteries. They have now been replenished and given a long slow charge to bring them up to scratch ready for refitting. Andrew and I were at the shed for part of the day and first task was to empty the van. Our most significant act though was to change the air cleaner on the Barclay 0-4-0. When it arrived it had no element inside the air cleaner housing. I naturally won't let it leave without one but after ages poring over my 1993 Fleetguard catalogue I haven't been able to get the right element for the housing. Andrew was also adamant that it was in any event too small (restrictive) for the engine and from a purely aesthetic view he's right - it certainly looks like it is barely adequate and would be more appropriate to a smaller engine, but the bracketry is clearly Cummins and seemingly unaltered.

Anyway, it has now been changed for a bigger one, used but in good order, which has required alterations to that bracketry and still needs an air intake extension, preferably to bring it outside the casing. I also got to do some work with a piece of plate I had acquired from the fabricators earlier in the week. It was too large as it began, but by judicious bending, cutting and drilling it began to look like a mounting plate for a little module to fit into the 03.

Saturday: I had a stack of jobs to do at home so didn't get down to the shed until just after lunch, and my main job was to unbolt the cast elbow on the outlet of the air cleaner and rotate the body so that the inlet faced upwards. In the course of this I needed some 5/16 UNC setscrews and found some 'just right' in my old UNC/UNF selection box (from the time when I had to load any materials we might need into the car and drive Andrew out to whichever loco we were working on that day) only to find that the screw didn't really want to engage and the 1/2 AF spanner I had wouldn't fit the head. That it was ever so slightly too big for the spanner suggested it was a Whitworth rather than UNC, and a closer look at the head showed the manufacturers initials and an R rather than the 3 lines 120 degrees apart which designate a unified series head. Back to the box and yes, about 50 setscrews were actually 5/16 Whit and shouldn't be there. They were rehomed and the job on the Barclay finished with real UNC ones.

There is a nipple in the cooling system which Andrew spotted a week ago would have caused a considerable puddle had we tried filling the system. I had unscrewed it but the thread on the exposed side was damaged and I couldn't find a suitable substitute plug that I could anticipate being able to screw in to what is a rather remote location. It had been left pending a visit to a suitable supplier but on Saturday a simpler alternative presented itself. What was the bore of the fitting? Just under 7/16, and being brass, a 7/16 UNF thread cut quite easily and cleanly and was then filled with a setscrew. I left it ready to refit, I thought, today and turned to my bracket for the 03, which was drilled, trimmed and finally sprayed with primer so as to be ready to install.

Sunday: I had been putting off a job at the Briddon Country Pile but thought that if I cracked on it would only take an hour or so to sort. The culprit was a toilet upstairs, which I had heard 'sizzling' continuously because the float valve wasn't shutting off fully. Ok, it didn't amount to any significant flow, but that particular toilet has an 'overflow' hole in the back of the cistern which is just that - if the water level reached it it would head down the back of the wall and on to the bathroom carpet. I had tried adjusting the float level earlier in the week in the vain hope that if I lowered things slightly it might actually shut off fully before reaching the level of the hole, but it hadn't had any effect.

So Sunday morn I turned the water off completely and dismantled the valve assembly. I assumed it would be a flat rubber seal but in fact it was a thin moulded diaphragm that was perishing slowly and granules of what had been rubber detached themselves onto my fingers. My attempts at a substitute in 5mm nitrile were ineffective plus my disturbing things caused the inlet pipe, which passes up through the base of the cistern, to leak there too. Andrew rang and suggested that I could isolate it with the 'service valve' which I hadn't previously noticed in the gloom but that was seized solid and no screwdriver could persuade it to turn. So it was off to the shed and collect a selection of fittings to cap it off so as to be able to turn the water back on for the rest of the house. Thus what I had planned as a quick task for an hour before lunch and then down to the shed, became more complex (the much ado of the title), mucked up the day completely and requires more time tomorrow (when the DIY shops re-open).

Sorry there's not much railway interest this week and no pictures. Normal service should be resumed shortly (I hope). See ya then.