Another Hudswell

Last week we looked at a Hudswell Clarke steam loco suffering an aquatic embarrassment. This time we'll look at another Hudswell product - built only 13 years later, in 1930. Loco D558 worked at a lime works in Derbyshire. Some rather splendid colour photos have recently come to light. Taken by Philip Hindley in September 1966, they show the loco working in the quarry in 1966. Five years later, the loco had been withdrawn, went to a scrapyard, and was rescued to the Cadeby Light Railway. The years of standing outside at Cadeby have taken a cosmetic toll, but the loco still runs well - the second photo shows it "doing its stuff" with a train of skips at Apedale in 2011. Apart from the background, the loco is being demonstrated doing exactly what it would have done in industry. Sometimes we forget the second word in the phrase "Railway Preservation". Get in touch here.

Oops!

Today's photo shows a forlorn looking locomotive lying upside down in a swamp in 1996. The photograph was taken by Colin Laidler, who was instrumental in recovering the loco, a painstaking operation which ensured that all surviving parts were located. How it came to be there in the first place is a fascinating story in itself, one which we are piecing together with help from Colin.

The locomotive in question is, of course, our own Hudswell Clarke H class locomotive No 1238 of 1916, originally delivered to the Obuassi Gold mine in Ghana, where it was used to haul timber from the nearby forests to the mine for use as part of the gold ore roasting process. Colin knew of the locomotive and had been looking for it by following the track beds of the different lines, some up to 25 miles in length away from the mine.

After being accidentally rediscovered by a local, the loco was duly recovered using a bulldozer and taken back to the mine at Obuassi where it was “stripped down from the bottom upwards”. They found that the axles were in apparently good condition and some minor cleaning work on the bearings was all that was needed prior to reassembly for display. A number "9” was painted on the side of the loco based on the rust marks visible from where the original brass number had been mounted, the size and shape being taken from this information. A careful search of the swampy area had found the chimney cap piece, and it was later discovered that the rear coupler, a bar of some 4 feet in length with a hook, was now being used to hold cooking pots over a fire in one of the villages. This was “re-acquired” in exchange for a bottle schnapps.


The loco was put on display as part of a small museum which was maintained by some of the Europeans working at Obuassi. In 2006, the mine directors felt that they cold no longer keep the locomotive and, through contacts in the UK, eventually donated it to the Moseley Railway Trust in 2007. Shipped from Accra in February 2008, the locomotive arrived in the UK in May 2008.


Then came the difficult job of assembling a restoration team and the financing necessary to finally bring this engine back from the dead after 64 years. A sympathetic restoration started in 2010 and rapid progress has been made in the intervening time. The current status is shown in the second photograph.

None of the progress to date could have been achieved without a large number of supporting organisations and individuals to whom we express our grateful thanks for their continued support. There's still a long way to go, and if you would like to help us progress towards a proposed steaming of the loco in 2013, contact us here.

(First photo courtesy Colin Laidler)

Preparation H

Piles can be nasty things, and at Apedale the piles for the museum foundations were seriously impeding access to the area for the machines needed to continue constructing the foundations. So, go they had to. After testing for gas, it was out with a serious collection of angle grinders for cutting off of the surplus piles. All 70-odd of them. If there is anyone from ScrewFix Direct reading this, you should seriously consider becoming a corporate donor - since all you would be doing is giving back all the money we have spent with you on cutting discs. But with the forest of steel gone, the whole area looks a lot better, and the way is becoming clearer to getting the site in a fit condition for the September Gala. Incidentally, if you have any problems with piles, we would be only too happy to make them go away for a fairly nominal consideration.

Meanwhile, down at t'works, the team working on the D class wagons were having a jolly time trying to make the doors fully interchangeable. Which leads to this week's maths quiz. There are two wagons. Each has four doors. Any door can fit any position. How many combinations are there? Get in touch here with your answer, and make show that you show your working out.

Day of the Diesels

 

There are quite a few disparate loco restoration projects on-going at Apedale at the moment. This week, work progressed on at least four different ones. So, we'll have a quick round up of these. The biggest job at the moment is Project Pluto - Ruston 189972. The focus on this one is currently the 2VTO engine. This suffered a major set-back a few weeks ago when one of the cylinder lines was discovered to be fractured. Fortunately, it was possible to obtain a spare, and this has been fitted - and it fitted correctly first time. This alleviated some worries about blocks with oversize registers. The Apprentices are working hard on this one, and hopefully learning about the fundamental working of IC engines at the same time. There aren't too many 12 and 13 year olds who can correctly identify compression rings and oil control rings, and understand what each does. Not far away is MR5038, on the last lap after its return from the dead. A lot of paint has been applied recently, by an owner who loathes painting things. It needs a cab, but that's a Big Job.
Deep inside Aurora North, the Deutz is slowly returning to life. This loco suffered damage to a big end some time ago, and for various reasons it's been a long haul to repair. But we now have a skilled team on the job, scraping and bluing the new shells onto the big end pin. So, hopefully we'll see this run again before too much longer. The resemblance to steam engine technology will be noted. At the other end of the technological spectrum is the Baguley Drewry, which having some unspeakable operation carried out on its electrics, without anaesthetic. That'll teach it. The target for most of these locos is the September Gala, about which more anon. As ever, get in touch here.

Steam & Industry - or mini Steam Gala?

We have turned out not one, but two steam locos for this weekend's Steam & Industry trains - the ever-faithful "Stanhope" and the new and slightly eccentric "Joffre". We usually use the steam loco on the passenger trains, and one or two of the heritage diesel fleet on demonstration good trains during the S&I weekends. However, the decision was taken to turn out two steamers this time. The "Joffre" is still in its post-restoration infancy, and we're still learning about its foibles. The cab, for example, is almost entirely filled with various lubricators. One of these has been compared to the Optics stand behind a nightclub bar - since it contains a slighly mysterious, and probably toxic, blue liquid. It may that the loco is running on alcopops, but it's a bit old for that sort of nonsense. The "Joffre" now sports are rather spiffing new dome cover - which makes it now looks all together a bit more "finished". And on the subject of finished, one of the wagons used today was the latest output from the Carriage & wagon production line - it's a newly restored WDLR Class "D" wagon - and it looks a real credit to all who worked on it. Take a bow, chaps. It's all happening again tomorrow (Sunday 15th April). As a reminder, the Steam & Industry weekends are the second complete weekend in each month - so the next is May 12 & 13. In between, it's trains every Saturday using one of the diesel fleet. Get in touch here.

S is for???

Day One of the Easter Egg Hunt as been very succesful with lots of happy customers, lots of completed Easter Egg Hunt quiz sheets and consequently lots of slightly heavier children loaded with chocolate. The task is to find the painted eggs dotted around the railway and then re-arrange the letters into a word. Simples. Why not come down on Sunday or Monday and give it a go? Get in touch here.

Easter Eggstravaganza

Firstly, I would like to apologise for the heading of this entry. However, I can confirm that I hold a licence for this sort of thing from the "Bad English but Commercially Necessary Regulation Body". The point is that we have now started the regular passenger service - we saw lots of eager visitors last weekend, and this Easter Saturday, Sunday and Monday is the First Ever Apedale Valley Light Railway Easter Egg Hunt. We've not done this before, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. We'll either be desperately trying to buy more chocolate eggs in petrol stations on Sunday night - or all the Trustees will have to consume the excess chocolate eggs and hence become massively obese and suffering from behavioural difficulties. So, no change there. The idea is that children will have to hunt down eight strategically placed eggs, visible from the train journey, and reassemble the letters to form a word. Successful entries will be rewarded with a small treat. Who knows, we may even see a return visit from Harvey the Humongous Bunny - who may or may not be invisible dependant on willing volunteers to wear the outfit. The event is from 1130 to 1600 each day, with steam traction on every train. Our usual bargain fares apply. Get in touch here if you want to know more. Finally, we are compelled by the Truth and Reconciliation Committee to accept that there may have been a modicum of spoof in the last post. There were, of course, no halcyon summer days at the Cheadle school. It was near Manchester, so obviously it rained all the time.