a fairground life (heart and lungs of a ride)

Last Wednesday we packed up. Two of the crew came from Falkirk to give us a hand. It was just after 6pm when we started and all the rides were down before 10pm. The next morning we took the Miami and show over into the shed. "R" reversed the ride through the doors and into its position without too much trouble, in fact it was easier than I thought it was going to be. We headed straight back to pick up the Skydiver and Dropzone to take them to Stirling. The trip out was fine and we dropped the rides off and headed back to Glasgow, but the M80 was chocca now and it took us two hours to do the 26 mile return trip. The next morning we were up and into the shed. The plan was to get the two hydraulic motors and the pump off the ride so I could take them for servicing. So "BK" removed the grease guards, "r" removed the pipes and I removed the pinions. A regular little production line. Sure enough it wasn't too long and the crane was brought up to lift out the first motor. "R" got a little ahead of himself and removed too many mounting bolts before attaching the crane to the motor's lifting eye. The result was that the last bolt sheared off and the motor literally fell out!! Luckily it jammed on a cross stay before it fell to the deck. "R" was lucky it didn't fall on him. So we quickly attached the crane and lowered the motor out. Ironically, I was worried that we would not be able to get that particular one out and it had fell out it's self. So not dwelling on the possible consequences of that near disaster we quickly removed the next motor. That done we began to remove the pump from under the rides chassis. It too was a large lump and we put a trolley jack under it to take the weight as we removed the last mounting bolt. We lowered the jack and when the pump was about 6" (150mm) from the floor we rolled it off and slid it out from under the ride.

Now all we had to do was put them on the pick up. Not wanting to risk damaging the pickup floor, we put a sheet of 3/4 ply down first. We lifted on the first motor. The pick up sat down a bit. We lifted on the second motor. The pick up sat down even more. We lifted on the pump and the pick up looked like the a**e was dragging out of it! Any way, not having too many transport options, we strapped them off ready for the journey to the hydraulic engineers. I wasn't too worried, it was only a short trip down London Rd, followed by the M74,A69,A1,A17 to Norwich where they would be serviced (420m). So mission accomplished for the day we knocked off early. The heart and lungs of the ride had been removed.

Friday was a terrible day.

Saturday we started on other jobs around the ride. We removed all the paybox lights, "r" fabricated a couple of new panel frames as the old ones were rotten (I told "BK" to give them a thick coat of paint to hold them together as "r" is still novice status on the welder). Sunday evening Mrs showman and I set off with the motors. She popped into Morrisons to get some refreshments for the journey. When she came out she had a weeks worth of shopping! In my best sarcastic tone I calmly asked her, "What part of-this pick up can't carry any more weight, did she not understand"? We stopped off at Newcastle for the night to visit "DT". Monday morning at 6am I set off to complete the journey to Norwich. I couldn't believe that it had snowed all through the night. I took my time on the roads because of the weather and the weight on the pick up. I never went over 60 mph in fear the tyres would blow out. I know the pickup is rated for 1000 kg and I must have had a least 800 kg on it. Six hours later I arrived at the engineers. We off loaded the motors and pump using a pallet hoist. The place was very small and I could not see any work taking place. I was a bit concerned until I spotted another identical pump and motor stripped down in the place. At least there was evidence that they could do what they said they could. It was well after 1pm now and I headed back to Newcastle to pick up Mrs Showman. I could get the foot down now and arrived there just after 6pm. My backside was numb. I had a quick look around the large fair there and DT's new booster before heading back to bonnie Scotland.It was a pity that they had a poor turn out at the fair.

The last few days have been spent on wiring , scraping, cleaning and painting. We have plenty to do before we put the motors and pump back on. Just as well they are on a 3-4 week turn around.I want the ride all finished so that when we put them back on its job done. I have even put the light caps into the dishwasher to clean them up.

a fairground lifetrance

Friday afternoon we took the skydiver out of the shed. The paint literally wasn't dry on the chassis but I wanted it out so we could build it up for the weekend. So we headed over to the mall

and set the ride on a plot. That same weekend was also the colours Fantasylands music event, so the space was split between the fair and the music event. This meant that we had to improvise the layout a bit but we managed in the end. It was About 7pm when we left for the night only setting the ride and levelling off the chassis.

Saturday at 7am "r" and I set off to finish the ride off for opening at 12pm. The music event was completed and fenced off. The miami was inside this area whilst the rest of the funfair was outside on the boardwalk. The skydiver was erected and we opened at noon. The miami was closed , only opening when the music event would start. Just after 4pm we closed the fair and erected the security fencing around the rides to create a controlled path into the music event. The sky diver was out of this pen and I was a wee bit concerned that it would be subject to abuse through the night. At 5pm we left to get something to eat before returning to open the miami at 6:30pm.

The weather was dry and at 7pm the gates opened. Slowly the crowd gathered and at around 11pm there were enough people to make the event look busy.So I counted down the nano seconds until closing at 4am. The pull down was easy as again we only did half the ride, leaving the weights and backflash in situ while we slowly drove the ride up the mall 150 yrd onto its next plot. The ride was about 28ft high but it didn't matter with no bridges or corners to worry about. It was a little before 5am and we headed home.

Sunday at 9am and we were back at the mall to erect the miami and take down the security corridor around the rides. The area inside the music event was deep in plastic bottles but our patch was tidy. I was feeling the effects of the long hours from the night before. At 6pm we closed after a very very quiet Sunday afternoons trade.

The photo is across the miami platform. You can see the dropzone tower in the distance, like a giant monolith at the entrance to the gig.

a fairground life (shed rats)

"R" picked a good time to go on holiday, as he missed pulling down the Skydiver at the mall. I did this with "worm" a week gone Sunday night. It took us 3 hours, what a disgrace as that was a good hour longer than it should have taken. To be fair though the last time I pulled that ride down was in June and it has been a while since I did any other heavy work so it doesn't take long to grow fat 'n' lazy. A few weeks after starting out should see me in the swing of things again (I hope).

I went looking for a shed again to work on the rides in. As usual I looked where the other showmen are working first to see if there was room and what's what. Anyhow while at the shed talking to one or two, it was mentioned that we are "shed rats". It was quite apt though as it is always the same faces that are in the sheds year on year. There are some showmen who have never been in a shed to do any work. Maybe they work harder in the summer or just have more time to do this maintenance then. Maybe they have better equipment that doesn't need this level of maintenance or maybe they are just lazy, but one thing is for sure- I don't seem to fall into any of these categories as I have been in sheds every few years for as long as I can remember, so I guess I am a "Shed Rat".

The skydiver has been taken back into the shed again for maintenance. I didn't think we were going to be able to do that work this month as the first proposed shed had a door that was too low and it was full with other rides anyway, also the engineer making the replacement components had not done so and was leaving the next morning for a 3 week holiday. So I cancelled the shed. Three hours later the engineer called me to come to his place immediately and he would do the components there and then. For 10pm that night I had the two new bushes in my hands. Now all I had to do was find another shed I could fit into. Anyway four days later and I manage to get space in the same shed I used two years ago, that was very lucky. I took the skydiver over there in the morning and put it back on its original plot used 6 and 2 years ago, in fact the blue paint from painting the chassis is still clearly visible on the floor!

With the ride positioned its only a matter of starting work, which I left to "r" and "wk" that day as I was otherwise engaged. I started on the job the next morning.

Its has been a week now that we have been working. The ride has had a few mechanical jobs done-pins,bushes etc. We started to repair the lighting again. The running light box has been playing up lately so I opened it for for inspection. I didn't spot anything obvious at first but then the box froze as I prodded and poked. It turned out that there was a fractured pin on a very small IC connector on a ribbon cable. It became more apparent when it broke off completely when I touched it. So I ended up at Maplins, then a computer repair shop and finally RS components, all of whom did not have a replacement. I have ordered one for tomorrow, I hope its the correct one. That episode took up a couple of hours and when we got into the shed it was lunchtime. We spent the next few hours putting in bulbs and changing bulb holders. I can't help but wonder how it seems that so much work needs done to the ride? I'm far from a perfectionist, but it seems the the potential for improvement to the ride is endless. It has been getting me down a bit as I have felt like I've been getting nowhere fast. Hopefully this feeling will pass and I will get a little ahead with things. After this one is finished the plan is to crack on with the Miami.