Isle of Wight Steam Railway

I've not seen the article. Are the issues above or below the solebar?

A quad-art is by its nature four coaches - so it isn't as if you can rotate one carriage out of the set for maintenance, which I imagine impacts on things. I'd assume most lines where compartment stock has seen heavier than normal usage over the last 18 have given those carriages additional maintenance over the winter (accepting lockdown disruptions) and limitations imposed by that and social distancing on what can be done and how fast things can be done.

 

It's also 4 coaches on 3 coaches' worth of bogies - does anybody know if they needed more maintenance/mile compared to standard coaches when in service. You never get something for nothing, so if you make 5 bogies do the work of 8, there is increased wear on bearing etc (or you have bigger, heavier bearings)

 

Additional brake wear and adjustment is the thing that immediately comes to mind, though I guess the NNR is lighter than some lines on brake wear. On the Bluebell I believe it is brake adjustment that drives shorter service intervals in routine running between Mark 1s and vintage carriages. Availability of spares is another issue: I believe on the Bluebell the Mets, which have been heavily used in the last 18 months, have what are now non-standard brake cylinder diameters, which makes spares harder to come by and with longer lead times when you can get them.

An other issue long term is simply greater requirement for door and lock overhauls on non-corridor carriages if you use them intensively (i.e. more door and lock overhauls per seat).

Tom

 

I'd also ask whether the issue may just be about the amount of time that the set is outdoors - on my few visits to the NNR, the QuadArts have been safely parked up in their shed.

 

There's a nice feature in the newly released issue of Trackside, about the Railway's plans for the E1's overhaul.

 

Good, I'll head for WH Smith tomorrow! My train set for Christmas in 1963 included an E1 (Trix Twin), which I've still got; would love to see the prototype working.

 

The fact that the Quad Art set is permanently together has a massive impact. They completely dominate the workshops when they come in for any work - not just the space they take up, but also the fact that they act as a "wall" in the centre of the workshops, which prevents people and equipment easily crossing from one side to another (the NNR's loco/C&W/machine shops/Pway areas are all side-by-side at Weybourne so people would be surprised how much access the Quads limit when they effectively divide the site in half - the inconvenience extends beyond C&W)

It's fairly pointless limiting work to 1/2/3 of the 4 vehicles, so 95% of tasks extend to all four coaches at once, which can be a burden. Re-varnishing coaches can be tedious, doing four together, you get the idea!!

The bogies are fairly well behaved (they're almost the same as normal Gresley bogies) although wheelset removal again is a massive issue as you can't get them out normally given the fixed formation! Of interest to some is that the coaches have couplings which sit on top of each other, so to split you have to crane off each coach one at a time starting with the non brake end! You can't just pinch the brake off the other end on its own sadly... I don't know what was said in the article, but there is now some wheelset work due but I won't expand just at the moment as I'm not sure if the information is sensitive. We hope to resolve it all this winter - updates will be in the NNR C&W Blog! (If I can permit myself a plug!!!)

The top halves are much more troublesome. Doors and door locks a constant area to be monitored to keep them maintained and in check. Once again the sheer number of these is half the challenge. Also the lack of corridors means every door that has an issue and gets locked out immediately drops the sets capacity by 12, as you lose a compartment. You can imagine if you don't keep on top of the doors how quickly things could decline, exactly as it did in the 1970's when half the set ended up locked out. Also the woodwork.... external re-varnishing is attempted around every 2 years, in an attempt to stop the teak going black - the fate of many a Gresley vehicle (including the NNR's own buffet car) after being outside for too long between revarnishes.

In conclusion, the Lottery Funded restoration, whilst excellent, was only designed for an occasional use running schedule and daily running "Mark 1 style" has thrown up delicate bits of the set which were not a problem before. Let it be known though that they very much saved the railway through Covid! The Mark 1 suburbans have now thankfully taken up the strain.

The Quads are a beautiful set of coaches, and I wouldn't swap them for anything, but they certainly come at a great cost and much like the swan analogy with its spinning feet, a lot of effort goes into keeping them available and keeping them nice. A lot of people complain that the NNR's Gresley/Thompson rake is now to be restored in BR painted condition, but the sad fact is that we just don't have the resources to look after two teak rakes (one articulated) without them both suffering. (Sorry for the thread hijack!)

Sent from my moto g(8) power using Tapatalk

 

They could put a gaurds van in front of the E1 and push it with another engine just along a platform and charge money for people to ride and also some smoke in the chimney for them to take photos of it

 

Given that parts of the loco have been taken off to be assessed, the possibility of it travelling anywhere at the moment is remote

 

The boiler is out...so the smoke might be odd!

 

Both above and below.

 

Having read the Trackside article on the E1's imminent overhaul, I have to say I'm quite impressed by the level of work they've been up to behind the scenes, indeed feeling rather foolish now for assuming nothing had been done in all this time.

Clearly restoring the E1 into operational condition while a big undertaking, pales in comparison to the sheer amount of time and effort they've put into research and collecting of parts, all so as to make sure they can recreate the original W2 Yarmouth as close as possible. As well as of course make sure it's in as solid and good a condition as possible when it's operational again to ensure it's longevity and reliability. Indeed I reckon the E1 would prove to be a pretty useful engine to have round for the busier seasons of the year, seeing as it's stronger and thus more able to handle the heavier trains then perhaps the Terriers could manage.

Was very interesting to read about the subject of the boiler as it seems to me that their going for a different approach, for though it's going to be for the most part the original shape and overall design of the boilers used by the E1s previously based on the IOW, apparently the boiler may be built to be slightly smaller and more in line with size of the boiler from it's industrial days. The reasoning behind this being that the Bagnall boiler fitted better in the frames then the original design, apparently being a real tight fit.

Got to respect them to for fully acknowledging and in no way hiding the original identity of the engine, even going so far as thinking to have the original number of No. 110 somewhere on locomotive itself too. Even suggesting as well that they'd be open to the engine going into LBSCR livery at some stage, if only for a brief spell.

So all in all most impressed and look forward to seeing watching the progress on this project, being a engine I have long anticipated to seeing in steam once again as well as carry it's new IOW guise.

 

A new bogie coach for the IOWSR. Birdcage brake 1106 has arrived, with the intention to restore it as a type that ran on the island.

 

Long time resident of KESR. Released due to it being unlikely to be restored by Tenterden any time soon.

 

I hope the E1 engine will be able to go back to Bristol harbour railway where it ran before and the east Somerset’s railway but I imagine it would avoid the west Somerset railway for a while.

 

The E1 has no historical connection with either of those two railways. Apart from the Isle of Wight, of which it shows every sign of being a permanent resident, the only other railway it has a context with is Bluebell, and personally, in the longer term, I really look forward to seeing it there as a visitor, as the IOW Terriers have been in the past.

 

.... and it'll be air braked!

 

The E1 does have significant links with the Chasewater Railway. As CRC and later NCB No.6 it likely worked over part of the line. In addition it was one of the earliest members of their fleet, albeit it was later sold to raise money so that they could purchase part of the route.

 

Very true, and though I blush to admit it, I'd actually forgotten about the Chacewater's existence altogether. Shocking.