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Right. I won't leave you in suspenders any longer.
A couple of years ago, myself and another Thornaby driver called Dave were rostered on a Saturday evening to work for Nexus. At the time when I first read the roster I didn't know that Nexus are the company that runs the Tyne and Wear metro. We were assigned to take a couple of class 37's to Sunderland from Tyne Yard and we'd get our further instructions when we got there.
We got to Sunderland with the two loco's somewhere close to midnight on that Saturday night and we were met by a small party of people, including a couple of drivers who worked for Nexus to conduct us over their metals, and an EWS inspector called Ken. Me and Ken go back a long way as we both started our footplate career at Darlington at virtually the same time in 1978.
Me and Dave were told that if the power in the overhead lines on The Metro were to fail for any reason, then Nexus doesn't have any diesel loco's of any description to haul their dead units about. They therefore have an agreement with EWS who will come along with some loco's and haul their units back into stations or depots etc. Unfortunately, there's a couple of obsticles to overcome when you want to couple a loco to a Nexus unit.
Firstly, the couplings aren't compatible. EWS loco's have the traditional drawhook, whereas the Nexus units have the same couplings that Pacers and Sprinters and TransPennine units have. The second problem is the fact that the units couplings are about 18 inches lower than what is standard on Network Rail trains. To get around these two problems, the engineers had made a specialist drawbar for to couple the two vehicles together. One end of it fitted over the drawhook of the loco. From there, there was a steel bar which was about 2x2 inches in diameter that went horizontal for about six inches, then there was a bend in it and the bar went down at a 45 degree angle to the units coupling level where it straightened out again for a few inches and then had a specialist unit coupler attatched at the other end. Me and Dave had the job of testing out the gizmo to see if it worked.
We uncoupled the locos at Sunderland and Dave went in the correct route up to University with his loco and I went facing road to one of the stations before the uni where the action was to take place. When I got to the station there were loads of bods about including a number of gaffers from EWS and Nexus, and also the police and fire brigade were in attendance. I was told to position my loco about ten feet from the front of the unit and then I was told to go make use of the hospitality, which was basically a few sarnies and bags of crisps and plastic cups of tea that were available in the unit, while the engineers buggered about with their new toy.
After a while, I was summoned to go and perform whatever actions needed to be performed for the guys. I sat at the controls of the 37 and awaited my next instructions. About five minutes later, the engineer who appeared to be in charge climbed on my loco to explain things to me. He told me that the contraption was now fitted to my loco and he wanted me to very gently come up against the unit to have the units type couplings click together.
I said okay and made ready to move the loco. Just as I was about to move, the engineer suddenly said "Now driver, remember to buffer up very very slowly" to which I replied that I would. I was about to move again when I felt his hand on my shoulder and he said "Don't forget this loco is a whole lot bigger than that little unit there!" I could sense a wee bit of panic in his voice. I told him that I'd be very gentle and made ready to move again, but just as I was about to apply power and release the brake gently I suddenly felt the engineer grab my arm very firmly and he said "Driver! This loco weighs over a hundred tons, whereas that units only a few hundredweight. If you hit it too hard you'll turn it into matchwood!" I was wondering if he'd ever actually let me go and couple the two vehicles and be done with it, and I wanted to diffuse the tension a bit too. I said "Don't worry, I've got a touch like a midwife." At this he burst out laughing and said "Ah, you listen to Blaster Bates as well do you?" I said "Aye," and so he let me carry on and gently couple the two vehicles.
I coupled my loco to the unit without a hitch, and then Dave put his loco on the other end without any problems and we did a few push and pull tests and found everything to be hunky dory. All in all, a very satisfactory outcome.
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