The race is on....The Moseley Railway Trust's Hudswell Clarke steam loco is approaching completion off-site, and at Apedale, the 1930 diesel loco by the same maker is also getting there. Not perhaps on the finishing straight, but maybe the last lap (provided the lap is some really long track, like Le Mans or the Nurburgring). The cab is now in place. Bodywork on vintage locos is always an entertaining element of the project. Whatever one does, it never quite fits together. In this case, the issue manifested itself as a slight inability to close the cab doors. After some deliberation and debate, a solution was worked out, albeit one unlikely to find favour with the British Coachbuilder's Association. The cab doors now close with (to paraphrase Douglas Adams) the smug air of a job well done. With that little task complete, attention has turned to refitting the cab with the various controls. The cab is a little snug, especially after a Heritage Centre All-Day Breakfast, and some of the controls are a little peculiar. In particular, the throttle control is a tad over-engineered. We suspect that Hudswell Clarke may have borrowed the design from the Death Star.The next steps are to finish fitting out the cab, install the fuel tank and its cradle, and replace various pipes which suffered rather horribly during the dismantling phase. There is also a small problem with ensuring that the coolant system is leak-proof. So, come on, steam team - the gauntlet is down. As ever, get in touch here (unless you are Darth Vader wanting the throttle back).
