West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Visited the line today; first trip since Mrs Devonbelle and I did since the excellent Carol train last December. 7f BL to Dun; then we walked to MD to do 1430 back with a manor. Lovely. Trains not as busy as I expected. Lovely staff and great weather. 6430 out to play at MD too.

Huge amount of trackwork in evidence and what seems like some new speed restrictions. Slight niggle was loss of time in running - nearly 15L at Dun in the morning. Excellent in all other respects.

 

No need for a dome with a belpaire firebox loco with the regulator in the smokebox as dry steam can be collected from the highest point at the front of the firebox & travel to the regulator valve through a large internal pipe. Older designed locos with parallel boilers need as dome to enable steam to be taken from a high point and some domed boilers also have the regulator valve in the dome.

Steam needs to be taken from a high point above the water level to minimise water carry over as the boiler water surges around with the motion of the loco.

 

They are not compulsory, you know

In principal, you want the entrance to the main steam pipe to be as high as possible, to minimise the risk of water carry over into the cylinders. (The steam / water interface in a boiler isn't a nice sharp demarcation; instead there is a layer of turbulent froth above the water, which can get sucked through into the cylinders, which is an effect you wish to avoid if possible).

Traditionally, the way to get the "driest" steam was to add a dome to the boiler and situate the inlet to the main steam pipe there, as high as possible. As locomotives, and their boilers got larger, the domes got smaller (to stay within the loading gauge); eventually more or less disappearing altogether. On larger GWR locos, the main steam pipe entrance is at the top of the front end of the firebox, which is where the steam should be driest.

Fortunately, that increase in size of boiler generally corresponded with superheating, which to some degree reduced the danger of water carry over by putting further heat into the steam, ensuring evaporation of any residual water. However, even on saturated locos, domes aren't invariably present: the Stirling family (Patrick on the GNR; James on the SER and Matthew on the Hull and Barnsley) were notable for producing locomotives with domeless boilers even though the loading gauge would have easily allowed a dome - (for example: https://www.national-preservation.com/threads/stirling-gnr-singles.998861/). The SER ones at least had something of a propensity to priming (probably not helped by indifferent water supply in the south east), and were generally replaced with domed boilers of Wainwright design as the originals wore out, which gave the locos another lease of life.

Tom

 

30+ operational carriages / 3 painted per year, that means an average life expectancy for the paint of 10 years.

Seems over optimistic for open air storage, especially near the salt air.

 

It has been said that as the prevailing winds are offshore the effects of the sea on the WSR are not as bad as in other areas

 

Thank you. I followed that!

Robin

 

Can anyone confirm a steam car being in minehead on Saturday. Twas on the vintage bus and could smell a gorgeous smell but was sitting up top, and at last could not see.

 

Can’t wait to see a Duchess back on the line, if it only be at BL next Sunday

 

'Ere show us your mug then!........ as I will be visiting in early June and may wish to purchase a suitable reminder..........along with the inevitable multitude of 'must have' railway publications.
Ooooh, me shelves is groaning

 

It was there for the Mad Hatters Tea Party held in Blenheim Gardens by Gateway Events as a fund raiser for the Minehead Christmas Festival.

 

I know what I forgot.

On the way back from the WSR on Sunday I spoke to a lady from Watchet. She talked about the great sense of community in the town & the number of events that are organised in the town - so if they can do it why not Minehead??

 

The difference between Watchet and Minehead is explained in what the lady said, Watchet is a small town with a great sense of community and local identity. A visitor to the town can feel this, look how the whole town adopted the WSR's 40's weekend. Minehead on the other hand is a large seaside holiday resort, when I visit I get no sense of community or local identity and the High Street businesses seem disconnected from the tourist arcades on the sea front.

 

A freshly painted Maroon coach does indeed look pleasing to the eye in my view and a rake of them even more so. However our experience is that the sheen fades rapidly from UV if left out in the sun and they require extra labour and effort with polishers keep in a bright condition. This is in spite of using Williamson paint. I appreciate UV acts on all paint but its effect does seem to show up more with Maroon. So I am a bit surprised to read the WSR is going down that route.

 

I did wonder whether there would be mugs this year. Pleased to hear that there are. I'll have to get over soon for a day so I can get one, after which I will have a full set again (until 2020, anyway!).

 

Drawing of the steam collector on a GWR Manor attached, showing the main internal steam pipe angled upwards and flattened, so it collects steam at the highest level.

 

Churchward had grown up with the GWR Broad Gauge, many (most?) of whose engines also had domeless boilers. I wonder whether this Broad Gauge legacy was an influence on Churchward's move to domeless boilers for his larger engines. But I find it curious that the GWR continued to build its smaller engines with domed boilers. This design dichotomy suggests that the choice was not very clear-cut.

Domeless boilers do seem to have been a peculiarly British design choice, which is difficult to find overseas. Foreign locos often have 3 or 4 domes atop the boiler - perhaps a steam collector, water feed (cf Maunsell Mogul) and acouple of sandboxes.

 

But..............

The domed boilers were for smaller, non superheated locos where there was a risk of 'carry over'

On 'Non UK' locos the more generous loading gauges allowed all manner of stuff to be attached to the outside of the loco that simply wasnt possible in the UK

 

Excellent! A new WSR mug to collect.
I should have a complete set, I really must rummage in all the cupboards in my house and try to find them all.

 

Have the earlier ones become collectors' pieces? It is a mad world we live in, and maybe everyone donating theirs to the WSR would help the financial situation.