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Isle of Wight Steam Railway

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by Freshwater, Nov 12, 2013.

  1. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    The units have a top speed of 45 mph (again according to Wiki, I'm ignorant of these things.) so to run at that is nearly going to double the horsepower. Tube lines generally have much steeper gradients than the IOWR's 1 in 70 so that is going to need more horsepower. Foe example, 1 in 35 will double the horsepower requirement needed to ascend the grade. I'm happy with my mental calculation but more detailed calcs can be produced which would probably come out at slightly less. A further thought is that I've base my calcs on ascending 1 in 70 at 25 mph. If a speed reduction to 20 mph is acceptable that reduces the requirement further.
    As for the gen set, they are usually rated at output power so a 165 hp set will produce 165 hp (123 kW) What happens between there and the traction motors is outside my knowledge base. A quick Google shows that you can pick up a 125kVA 3 phase silent genset for about £10K but that's not the right type of electricity.
    Batteries would probably take up more room but have the advantage of being able to be spread around rather than be in one lump and also the right type of electricity.
     
  2. Paulthehitch

    Paulthehitch Well-Known Member

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    Sorry but this is all WIBN stuff
     
  3. Alan Kebby

    Alan Kebby Well-Known Member

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    How about solar panels on the roof? ;)
     
  4. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    What, the units being run at all, being run on battery power, or specifically swapping batteries out?
     
  5. andrewtoplis

    andrewtoplis Well-Known Member

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    It isn't, in terms of Vivarail's offering a rapid charge capability where you could put plenty of juice into the battery whilst the driver changes ends, proving it is possible. That said I doubt it would retrofit to a 38 without substantial works!

    I'm not quite sure about the whole idea tbh, we will have the same issue with platform heights that stops them running on Island Line. Plus whilst it is part of Island history, most of our visitors come for a ride on the steam train!
     
  6. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Is it something that might run on a 2 train timetable as an intermediate between a 1 train timetable and a 2 steam timetable perhaps?
     
  7. andrewtoplis

    andrewtoplis Well-Known Member

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    Perhaps, assuming that it is cheaper than a steam train...there was a suggestion we use the pier tram for this. Remember though, we could always use a terrier and a short four-wheeler train, which must be about the cheapest possible mainline steam combo!

    Would there be interest, outside a small number of enthusiasts? Would it have novelty value if you has small kids? Would we need a ramp at each station? Lots of questions!
     
  8. 61624

    61624 Part of the furniture

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    For a bit of clearer blue sky thinking, could the drive train from a PHEV be adapted to power the unit? It would be a lot more compact than traditional railway vehicles but the power requirement of say 200bhp would be well within the scope of what many larger PHEV vehicles are provided with. Clearly there would have to be some form of conversion of the motor/generator's output to match that required by the motors.
     
  9. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    That was the central plank of my suggestion! :) Most railways tend to use a DMU as a way of increasing the frequency of their service without going to the extra expense of steaming another loco, just used as a way to keep more people on the move. I suppose it's of less importance on the IoW, but for example of I was visiting from Smallbrook I might take the steam train from there to Wooton and back to Havenstreet, have a look round, then take the 483 back to Smallbrook rather than have to wait for the steam train to come round again if I was short of time. I know that most people tend to arrive at Havenstreet which is the only place you'd want to leave the train anyway so probably not as great an advantage as it might be elsewhere.
     
  10. Paulthehitch

    Paulthehitch Well-Known Member

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    Better idea
     
  11. martin1656

    martin1656 Nat Pres stalwart Friend

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    The only time i could envisage the 483 being used is either as part of an deisel ( or electric) gala, or on an dedicated 38 running day, or turn, the biggest issue will be the step down from the platform into the car, unless its just shuttling round the goose field to the station etc, or somewhere and an temporary platform could be built
     
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  12. Alan Kebby

    Alan Kebby Well-Known Member

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    In what way is it better? Not necessarily disagreeing, just interested to know your reasoning.

    A 483 would be better in that it is higher capacity. Watching the South Today clip, it confirms that official IOWSR policy is to try and power 007 in some way.
     
  13. Nick C

    Nick C Well-Known Member

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    Well, they do call it the Sunshine Isle!

    It works in Australia, but they do have rather more sun than we do here - the proposals I've seen here are very much on the lines of lineside solar farms feeding into a traditional 3rd-rail/OHL distribution network
     
  14. andrewtoplis

    andrewtoplis Well-Known Member

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    The tram is already under restoration to working order and doesn't need batteries adding! Much smaller unit though
     
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  15. Paulthehitch

    Paulthehitch Well-Known Member

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    See post 974
     
  16. DcB

    DcB Well-Known Member

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    From the website the rebuilt pier tram was donated a suitable new small diesel engine by Perkins. But it's use in the Island is still being debated?.

    From the Islands Line thread suitable batteries will be ordered by the Epping group for thier 483 (rather than the forklift batteries tested in the 484s) but they don't say the capacity or if they will be in one end of the unit or under the floor?
    Battery technology has improved, they are more effeicent , but capacity and size of the batteries depends on how much the 483 units will used?.
     
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  17. burmister

    burmister Member

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    And perhaps not suitable as a one off unique unit for day in day out rough and tumble service.

    I have enjoyed the posts above re putting an engine in and agree with Steve, things have moved on since BR bought basically 1930s designed Sulzers and English Electrics to fit in DEMUs, 73s, etc etc in the 1950s and 60s. ( Major thread drift I had a great day in Switzerland behind a 1930s Sulzer LDA Loco the other year including pottering right through Zurich in the morning rush hour) The 73s now have 1,600hp out of a MTU in place of a 600hp EE in the same space and like Steve suggested it would not be impossible to fit a packaged lorry engine with a suitable rectified output for the DC motors. All it would take is a person with enough money and interest - again look at the money that has been spent making the Brighton Belle bodies run with CIG/BIG 400 series motors, controls, cab electrics and bogies. Not much left of the original technical parts though so perhaps not preservation.

    Personally I think Battery technology is at a game changer development point and this will be a better way forward.

    Brian
     
  18. DcB

    DcB Well-Known Member

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    My mobile browser does not show the post numbers, can you repost the full post?
     
  19. Paulthehitch

    Paulthehitch Well-Known Member

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    As requested by Db
     
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  20. jnc

    jnc Well-Known Member

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    It's a moment's work to left-click on the timestamp of the post in question, select 'copy link', and paste it into the reply inside a pair of url-/url tags. (OK, people with Apple-mania, like my wife, can't left-click; I forget what the incantation is there.) I appeal to everyone to take that moment for their readers. Thank you.

    Noel
     

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