CathEx to Weymouth, 9th July 2015

yes Hemerdon you are right, there is nothing wrong with Tangmere tackling hills with the right driver in control.

 

A further update from the platform at Brookwood: 34067 option not possible so diesel all day :-(

SD steward told us that the smokebox door on 61306 "burst open" after the FTR :-o

 

Pete Roberts was driving that day, and about a month before he had driven Tangmere up Sole Street with 13 on. I do not remember who the fireman were.

 

There were various little knots of people around West Byfleet to film this, all unaware of its failure. I mischievously told one group that Mayflowers boiler had exploded last night, seems like the steward and I share the same gag writer.



West Byfleet is only a 10 minute walk away, would have been rude to not enjoy the morning walk to go and film this

 

It may be that Tangmere is not ready to move at the moment.

The failure of 61306 gives an indication of how few main line registered steam locos are available at present. <BJ>

 

Same at the two bridges at Woking, the two people there with me hadn't heard that it was diesel hauled

 

Just been told that 61306 had a mudhole door failure by Marcus.

 

Ironically, I was going to drop off at Clapham Junction to see this today, but missed the Victoria train at Redhill by a few seconds because my FGW train from Betchworth was late. Looking at RTT, the Southern train got to Clapham at 0902, and the SD run passed there at 0903 - so I would have seen it, but only with a diesel!

 

Class 37 in trouble on Upwey bank. Now stopped outside tunnel.

 

Wish I could have been at Upwey for a video of that... i was thinking the duff would be pushing like mad.. why oh why do we have to have a diesel on the back of a......errrrr diesel...

 

Lost the phone signal for a while but we are on the move again now near Wareham. Class 37 had to stop for a diesel equivalent of a blowup. It still struggled after the stop to get over the top. Nail biting stuff.

 

What's a 'mudhole door'??

 

"Mud" is scale, sludge, dirt and crap that accumulates in the bottom of the boiler. The hole is where you wash or drain it out, the door is what seals up the hole.

 

As in a liquid tight seal? presumably under pressure?

Cheers!

 

A door in a boiler is usually not round, so you can slide or slot it it n the hole, turn it and fit it /close it from inside the boiler, the boiler pressure helps to seal the door. It will of course usually require some form of sealant or gasket

 

So! Lets get this right, the next time Tangmere slips to a stand, we blame the driver?

 

Bit of a pessimist are we? I like to think that in the future Tangmere won't be given a load that she can't handle.