BALL VALVE MANUFACTURERS INDIA

I arrived at the trailer park at 9:15am. I was supposed to be there at 9 but Mr. Fix It (Richard) told me that 9 wasnt set in stone. Anywhere from 9 to 930 would be just fine. When I arrived Richard and Ole were outside going throgh Ole's truck looking for something.

"You're late! We could have used you a bit ago for some unfortunate business." Ole told me.

They were looking for PVC cement for a leak that was innondating the kitchen of a sick mans trailer. We stayed outside searching for it but to no avail. Eventually they figured out a way to connect the PVC without the cement through rubber adaptors whose name escapes me. My first job was to find 1/2" PVC joints in a giant plastic container full of a random assortment of plumbing accessories. They were mostly PVC connectors with smaller clamps and other doo dads which I had no clue as to their use.

Ole first tipped the container a bit. A couple of pieces fell out at my feet. Then more came out and feeling that was unsatisfactory eventually he dumped the entire container out on the drive way and told me to help find the joints. After 30 seconds we found them.

"Your first mission, if you choose to accept it" he said "is to put all of this back into the container."

There was prolly 100-200 pieces lying there which I spent the next 3 minutes picking up and putting bthem back into the container. Then once we had all that we needed we went into the trailer.

I had no idea what exactly I was getting into but it was a shock to the system. The trailer was destitute. It reeked of stale cigarettes and very old and lived in dirt. An old man sat in a musty recliner watching the Ellen Degeneris show on TV. There was filth in every direction. Stains on the ceiling. A large square piece of some sort of cake sat on the table with a knife into a container of icing. Dishes piled in sink. Coffee of indeterminate age sat in a coffee pot that hadnt looked like it had been cleaned since hte clinton administration.

The oven had been pulled out in the kitchen to get the leak behind it. Black mud lay an inch thick on the floor while Ole got to his position on the ground. Apparently someone had used a radiator hose to replace a broken pipe for the hot water. The water, which apparently is hotter than the water used in your car, had slowly eaten away leading it to burst. It sat with the dirty dishes in the sink.

Richard and I stood around for a while. Richard held the light for Ole as I stood and watched. Ole was talking about how he keeps Richard around because "the man has every tool imaginable and always knows where it is. Even though he gives me hell from time to time."

The old man who owned the house mosied around a bit. He seemed unsettled. Apparently he was a dying man. His eyes, which looked seemingly bloodshot for years, had made big red circles around his eyes. A pack of Marlboro reds on the floor lay open. He was told by Ole that if he wanted them to help that he couldnt smoke while they were there.

Eventually I handed Ole a light. Then a saw to resize the PVC. I couldnt for the life of me find the little container of grease in his tool box which he immediately found when I brought it over to him. I was a little upset at myself for that. Eventually the old man got my attention.

"Here kid come with me I want to show you something."

He brought me down the hallway to the bathroom which was even worse than the rest of the house. A kitty litter container sat on the floor which hadnt been cleaned for days. Various bathroom ammenities were strewn about the counter and the floor was covered with dirt as well. Not just bathroom dirt but actual earth.

He pointed to his washer machine. " See this here. A need this here connected 'cause if I try to do it Ima break da fuckin thing off." He grumbled and sauntered with that sense of uneasiness that I couldnt get past. His communication skills were really subpar.

Once Ole had finished with the pipe I was told to check underneath the sink to see if all the joints were good and if there was any leaking. Seeing as I had no plumbing experience at all I was unsure but I shook each one and felt it to see if it was damp. Everything seemed to be in ship shape (or at least as good as it could be given the situation of the house) and I told Richard that things seemed ok.

From there we went back outside to take what we used for the pipe back to the van. I informed Ole about the washer situation.

"Ah, one of those 'Theres also this' situations. We get them all the time but we always help the people with whatever they need."

Though at that point we werent really sure what needed to be done. The man who owned the house I dont think was sure what needed to be done. So off we went back into the place where everyone wanted to get out of. There was a sense of duty and urgency about Ole though not Richard.

When the Ffestiniog Railway won the fight for the Welsh Highland, they obtained 2 Bo-Bo Funkey Diesels along with the Garratts (not pictured) both Funkey's were largely worn out, and too large for the FR Loading Gauge, National Power sponsored the overhaul and rebuild of a Funkey and is seen here in 2002 painted in National Power livery and looking like a narrow gauge Class 58 Diesel
(they say its based on a 59 ?)
Vale of Ffestiniog is the preferred Diesel for off peak services, she has been out of use for some time due to loaning parts to keep her sister Carnarfon Castle (not pictured) running on the Welsh highland, however, she returned to service during 2008 re-painted into FR house Green as still carried by Upnor Castle (not pictured) on the Welsh Highland

This locomotive is a 335 HP turbo-charged B-B diesel-hydraulic built by CH Funkey & Co (Pty) Ltd of Alberton, near Johannesburg, South Africa, for a diamond mine in Namibia. It arrived at the FR on 16 October 1993, one of three engines purchased from Pretoria Portland Cement Ltd, New Brighton Cement Works, Port Elizabeth, Cape Province, South Africa. The second loco, now Castell Caernarfon, is in service on the Welsh Highland Railway (Caernarfon), its superstructure being unchanged. A third loco was involved, details below.

When the two Funkeys arrived in 1993, there was a deliberate decision to treat them differently but with a caveat for "later on" offering the possibility of them working together.

When they arrived they were equipped with quite complex electrical control systems on them that allowed them to run in multiple. This system even included switches on the seats to make sure the driver was sat down. They had tachographs installed with discs still in showing impressive high speeds. They were festooned with safety cut-out switches most of which were shorted out to get them to run.

Of the two loco's, one had evidently been crashed at some time and had had a new cab made out of steel. This loco was selected for trials on the Festiniog on the grounds that the gas axe doesn't work so well on fibreglass! In this form it ran several trials on the FR.

The one with the intact fibreglass body (now Castell Caernarfon), was selected for the WHR and it was decided to rewire and rework the control systems to a simplified pattern. To this end it was fitted with Bowden cable drives for the throttle and gear selection and a simplified electrical scheme but with the deadman systems needed to single man these days. Paul Martin did the rewiring of the loco at Boston Lodge. In this form it did several test trips on the FR but of course only across the cob.

The point of the caveat and "later on" reference was that at the time it was decided to do the simple rebuild with the possibility of doing a more "Vale of Ffestiniog" type job on it later. The theory was that if it was sent to Dinas in its tall form it would suffice until the lines were connected and by then it would be due an overhaul the extent of which could be decided at the time.

Very much more powerful than previous FR internal combustion units, the Funkey provides an attraction in its own right as well as reserve power able to handle the heaviest trains. The original body was, however, far too large for the FR loading gauge, and as a result the loco has received a new body with a cab at each end. Work on this was done with the generous support of National Power (now Innogy). The FR's loco originally carried a livery similar to the Class 59's operated by the National Power Rail Unit at Ferrybridge for the transport of coal and limestone to power stations, while the name Vale of Ffestiniog is in keeping with the names carried by the National Power locos, as well as denoting the valley through which part of the FR runs. The transformation of the Funkey into Vale of Ffestiniog was the main part of the FR's participation in the 1997 Year of Engineering Success campaign.

The locomotive is of the B-B classification in diesel terms but is rather unique in that all wheels are coupled mechanically in a similar manner to that of a Climax steam locomotive. The power unit is a Cummins NT 855 L4 big cam diesel engine producing 335 HP at 2100 RPM cooled by a fan cooled radiator. The diesel engine drives through a torque converter into a constant mesh epicyclic gearbox giving forward and reverse gears and was manufactured by Allison of America. The final drive is a drop-down gearbox integral with the speed/direction gearbox having two output flanges from which the cardan shafts drive to the final drive gearboxes. The gears are engaged by hydraulically operated clutches through an integral selection valve, as is the direction function, with the hydraulic power being supplied by an integral pump. Engine and gearbox oil is cooled by the cooling system through separate heat exchangers. The final drive gearboxes, one to each axle and coupled by cardan shafts, are axle hung with t