Brighton Atlantic: 32424 Beachy Head

A Hercules is a damn sight smoother and quieter than an R-2800 too...

 

Quite so. I think both the W&LLR and the IoWSR should rid themselves of locos that never ran on their respective lines and get back to being an authentic replication of their respective pasts.
The great thing about preservationists is they don't listen to people like you who have a doom laden, narrow minded view of the world. Most of us had a dream and have seen it through to fruition and a time goes
on the movement has grown and has chalked up ever more miraculous achievements. I've no idea why you hold the views you do and make so many negative posts. Maybe it's just to annoy or it's a personality trait
but few seem inclined to listen and thank goodness for that. Do you find it impossible to rejoice in the vibrant preservation movement that we have in all its varied and wonderful forms, with its army of volunteers
doing all manner of jobs up and down the country because they enjoy it? Yes Paul, we enjoy it. It doesn't make economic sense, it costs us all a lot of money and spare time but we don't care and will keep on doing it as long as we can. And when someone comes along and tells us we've got it all wrong - your loco's too big, your line's too long, you shouldn't have buffet cars or on board toilets - the list goes on - don't be surprised if we disagree with you and occasionally have a go back. Now you'll either ignore this or play the victim but I don't care as I'm off out tomorrow to help my mates with a loco that, if you'd had your way, wouldn't have been preserved at all.

 

Like it's possible to tell you anything?

 

But did they?

My own grandfather used to run a garage which dealt with customers in the carriage trade and used to say unrepeatable things about sleeve valve Daimlers. They needed to be warmed up with the greatest of care on cold mornings. If the chauffeur got it wrong it resulted in an expensive repair. I have heard much the same from an Engineer Commander R.N. about the Bristol aero engines in his care. As I said, these problems were well known by 1939. Daimler no longer used the arrangement and, with the exception of Panhard et Levassor every one else had ceased to, or gone out of business.

Transport this arrangement into the gritty world of the running shed and the results would be predictable. Bulleid must have been mad. Either that or he had simply not gone into the matter deeply enough.

PH

 

See the footage of any sleeve valve vehicle on Youtube and observe the smokescreen! Aero engines were very carefully warmed up which would reduce the problems from fragility. This would be less likely with motor vehicles and less likely still in a steam shed.

PH

 

Fascinating though all of this is, it's a long way from Beachy Head (the loco, that is), and does seem to be repeating the content from other, more relevant threads...

Steve B

 

I don't think the Jones Goods does look LBSCR, although Jones was undoubtedly much influenced by Stroudley. I don't think the Jones Goods did really carry Stroudley livery, I think that's a preservation era mistake. Jones went to a green livery well before that.
Also, I think Stroudley replaced the Craven engines because they were hard to maintain being non-standard, and were outclassed by heavier trains then appearing. I don't think they were inadequate for their time (although I plead general ignorance of loco matters south of Euston!)

 

Sadly we rise to the bait of a certain somebody so to get it back on track, I'm full of admiration for what the Atlantic team is achieving and I look forward to seeing the loco in traffic.

 

Nirvana didn't do poor old Kurt Cobain any good, did it? Just sayin'...

 

Likewise. Also, although at present they have no intention of main line operation, I hope that it may happen at some future date; and therefore that they will at least maintain all the documentation that would be necessary, and not do anything now that will absolutely rule it out.

 

... as did 19 of the 20 MGWR 2-4-0 (GSR Class 650). Six even made it into the 1960s. Most received (round topped or Belpaire) superheated boilers from 1918 onwards... Is that unique for a 2-4-0 design dating from 1893?

And... no, nobody seems to know what Atcock's thinking behind the 'fly away' cab was! The last example, fitted to GSR No.656, was replaced by a conventional cab in 1936.

How the hell did we get so far from Beachy Head?

 

WIBN to have a 'new build gala' on one line (or several) in the course of time? Atlantic/A1/Patriot et al. Mouth watering!

 

That louvred Jones chimney made his locos look like nothing else on rails! The cabs on many of his designs were pure Stroudley though and quite a few rear buffer beams sported a distinctly Stroudlian toolbox atop them.

 

A sort of 'New Build' version of a pub crawl? Why not?

 

City of Truro ran on the main line not so long ago, and the Atlantic would be a fair bit more powerful, especially with the big wide firebox. I've checked the numbers: when running in their later years at 200psi (originally 160), the H2s had a tractive effort of 24,518lb. This is only 2000lb less than the LMS Patriot has, with an advantage of just 1 1/2" driving wheel diameter (Patriot 6'9", H2 6' 7 1/2"). It's also a whopping 6,718lb more than the GWR City (6' 8 1/2"). I know not what pressure the 'new' 32424 will run at, but I would assume not less than 170psi (the minimum setting for the GNR C1), which would still be good for 20,840lb (3040lb more than Truro!). Some of the C1s ran at 200psi, and it was reportedly Bulleid's familiarity with these that caused him to order the H2s' pressure be raised to 200psi. They then ran for another 20 years unproblematically, which suggests that this was not unreasonable.

What I'm not sure about is how suited it'll be to running 200 or so tons around up a 1-in-55 at a steady 25mph... granted, I'm looking a long way in the future, but what is the Bluebell going to do to develop? Although it might be possible eventually to extend south, I don't see it happening... and I would argue that, while consolidation is prudent, stagnation is deadly.

 

Incidentally, while Paul often has a reasonable argument to make, it does seem that he has an uncanny knack for getting people's backs up, even by my standards. Considering how long he appears to have had this contrary manner, it is a tribute to the patience of the other members (and moderators) of this forum that he's not been kicked off. I'm all for lively, robust debate, but coming along every single day to tell the entire forum membership that they're all wrong, without conceding the possibility that I too might be wrong sometimes, seems beyond the pale even to me.

 

"Incidentally" I normally click the "like" button or simply make no comment. If there is information that might possibly help then I post it. However, railway preservation has been going for more than sixty years and it is mighty annoying to see succeeding generations falling into the same traps the pioneers fell into. If saying so annoys people, then frankly tough!

Naturally, no-one is perfect or always correct; certainly not me. But then you may not be either.

PH

 

Without those pioneers, where would we be now? Left with fading memories and a load of branch lines turned into bypasses or abandoned to be reclaimed by nature and agriculture. The vast majority of them succeeded, didn't they? There haven't been many failed preservation projects...