Tynedalesman - Fun Page

There were no light hearted fun articles published in this issue of Tynedalesman, therefore the article that appeared in the previous issue, No. 145, dated Spring 2006, is shown below:-

The Further Adventures of Nessie
A Big Forklift Truck

An Old Smokey Production

Important Notice. Please do not try this at home, these people are experts.

Unimportant Notice. If you believe that the you are definitely Engineering Department material, phone up now!

The idea behind getting a big forklift was to find a machine that would do at least some of the jobs that most sensible people would assume were either;

A: impossible without a large crane, or
B: impossible anyway.

Which shows you how dynamic and forward thinking we all are in the engine shed. A veritable hotbed of ideas, we rarely give up unless more than one of us points out that it cant be done without using The Force. If it seems merely daft we have been known to give it a try, as you will shortly find out.

About a year ago, we had to get the coach bogies off the steel bodied coaches in order to do some urgent repairs. Now at over thirty feet long, and weighing around four tons, there are only two ways of doing this, a yard crane, which we didn't have, or using four hydraulic jacks and a lot of care and patience. Its actually not a nice job with a something a large as a coach, as it has to go up about three feet to clear the bogies, and it never looks very safe. So this was where the Chief Engineer turned to Peter and asked if we could use Nessie.

He thought for a bit, then said, Usllgeeitatree. Or thats what it sounded like, and there are not many people can write Haltwhistle. In fact there are those who reckon not many people in Haltwhistle can write, but I of course am not among them, at least not while I need a skilled forklift driver.

Anyway, cometh the day cometh the forklift. With thirty feet of coach in front of him, and the forks set full width, we had to get the balance spot on. The forks had to be right through the chassis, to pick up on the far side, which meant Peter had to drive up until he was almost in the coach, using just a small wooden pad to prevent any scratching of the paintwork against the lift frame. We loosened the lockpins on the bogies, and did a trial lift. No unbalance, solid as a rock. With much care and attention, up we went, till the whole coach was four feet off the ground, and we could pull out the bogies, and push in a set of accomodation bogies (spare ones to push it around with). Getting it back down so that the pins lined up on the new bogies was tricky, but all went well and the job was done. It was repeated a week or so later, but by then it was old hat, bin there done that got the hair shirt, as they say in Haltwhistle.

It was Autumn before the next big job came along. We had a weld repair to do on the foundation ring of a boiler, and it had to be turned on its side, something we had never attempted before. Easy, quoth Norm, plying all with coffee and donuts, use the downshop crane and put it onto a pair of rotators. Hmmm. Not working in Exxon now are we Norm. After much discussion going nowhere, the Chief Engineer had a eureka moment (without the bath and still wearing all of his clothes). We could use the forklift!

Blank stares greeted this, (so nothing new there). Look, its just a cylinder, so if we put it on the forks and turn it by pulling on the steam dome, we can turn it.

How?

And that was the problem. Would it turn with levers and bars, after all it weighed over four tons. Well there was much doubt and discussion, but as we had no other way of doing it, then try it we would, and the next working day we pulled the boiler out on a flat wagon, ready to do battle.

We first oiled the forks, and found we had to pad out the boiler with timber to avoid tank mounting lugs on the side as we turned it. Well the first attempt was a failure, nothing moved. The chief engineer, working on the time honoured principle of If at first you dont succeed, use a bigger hammer, decided that he would use the digger.

The plan was to use the hydraulic digger mast, as this had the power and control necessary for such a delicate movement. Load straps were wrapped round the boiler, and connected to the digger situated some way behind the forklift. Peter sat on the digger, controlling any slight mast or fork movement, and signalling to me as I gently started the pull. First time a bit out of line, and the boiler tried to twist across the forks. We realigned everything, and next time with a gentle pull it started to rotate. Very slowly it turned, twenty then thirty degrees, until I could see the inside of the firebox, and we had done it! We were all feeling pretty chuffed as we pulled the boiler back into the shed, and put it on blocks ready for the repair work.

The reverse turn - easy peasy! No problems and done in half an hour. By now Nessie had really earned her keep, and Peter set to with a will to repair all of the little things that needed attention. She had lost power, and would not climb the bank out of the engine shed onto the main road. This we traced to a blocked exhaust, part opening throttle, and collapsed inlet feed pipe restricting the air flow. After a day on the spanners, Peter shot off to the bank, and crawled straight up, so we were now on top form again, and ready for the next problem.

This was a delivery of about 22 tons of 33 feet 75 lb rail scheduled for a day in January. Not a good plan for Alston, and of course it snowed. And when it finally stopped snowing, it rained, which is why there are no photos. We have always found if you do a big lift in the summer, people appear from all over to take pictures, but on this day, not a soul, and we were too cold and wet to bother.

Anyway, the wagon arrived and me and Mick lined up in the compound outside the carriage works alongside Nessie and Peter. Peter needed to know the centre of the rails, because long rails present a danger unless you get the job absolutely right. I got out my tape and marked the centre, and stood back. Two frowning faces greeted me. Something was wrong. Peter pointed farther along. I stood back and saw the problem. Either someone had cut several feet off the end of my tape, or the rails were too long.

Well it wasnt the tape, the rails were actually 36 footers. Even with a big forklift like Nessie, this is some overhang. Fortunately Peter used to train people to do similar work with pipes, so we were in good hands. Anyway, we marked the centres and set to. As the rails were stacked across the lorry bed, we had to take out a smaller number, and we did this by lifting more, say ten rails, of which the last one was right on the end of the forks. We only lifted this stack up so that we could get timbers under the first six, or however many we wanted to take. These timbers were high enough to allow the forks to drop back down and leave our six rails above the rest, with enough space to reload them onto the forks closer to the mast, for a more secure carry.

Then Peter set off very gently to navigate his way to the stack, in some cases working within two or three inches of the mess but and the end of the carriage works. It was important to get the rails square on to the stack, a slight angle on the forklift could throw one side off the timbers. After an hour we were soaked. Well Peter wasnt, as Nessie has a roof, although by now he was regreting not getting the luxury trim pack, the one with doors and windows.

At this point rescue from the cold came for me in the form of a welding rep, and sadly I had to go and have a cup of coffee and a warm up in the carriage works. I got back when most of the fun was over, and Mick was wringing out his gloves. A really filthy day, but they got the job done, and deserve our thanks.

What of the future? Well with Nessie and the shed gang, you never can tell, but I know we have promised Peter a triple xenon flashing array with siren and reversing sounder, and I've never seen so many spotlights outside of a football stadium, so watch this space.

Smokey

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