Date: Mon, 02 Jul 2001 23:39:10 +0100 From: nbrumpus@lineone.net Reply-To: Canals To: Canals Newsgroups: uk.rec.waterways Subject: Trip Report - Rumpus Goes to Brum - Part the Seventh and Last! Friday June 20th I forgot to mention - as we were coming down Walsall Locks on Wednesday, the mobile rang. I answered it, to find Ken Kroeker on the line from Canada. His first question? "How's the gearbox?" The Towpath Telegraph really has got world-wide! The problem with the gearbox is easy to explain - the little lever on the side has not been staying put on the shaft which sticks out of the side of said gearbox, which means that finding a gear of any sort has been akin to winning the lottery! Having succeeded in getting to the bottom of Ryders Green under power eventually this morning, things were so difficult that I was resigned to bow-hauling all the way up the flight, when who should happen along but a pair of Mormon missionaries. They were pressed into service as a scratch bow-hauling crew, and hauled Rumpus all the way up the flight - a true example of practical Christianity by Elders Genet and Barnes which was very greatly appreciated, as was the timely attendance of two BW men (Mick Oakley and Tim Cartwright) who helped re-fill the flight after I'd found a totally dry pound. When I got to the top, I engaged forward gear (worked better if I did that) and started the engine - the gear stopped in so it was only a matter of (a fairly long) time before I reached Tipton and Ken's yard, the old Caggy Stevens one, where Rumpus lies now. All should be sorted by next weekend. I must once again pay a public and very heartfelt thanks to our BCN Correspondent, Kevin Maslin, who has been kindness itself and made a potentially fraught situation much easier than it could have been - very many thanks, Mate! Brian L Dominic NB Rumpus Web Sites: NB Rumpus: http://www.nb-rumpus.com Golden Valley Light Railway: http://website.lineone.net/~gvlr/index.htm Coming to GIG2001?? Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GiG-2001 to subscribe to the mailing list! ---