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A2 60532 Blue Peter

Discussion in 'Steam Traction' started by big.stu, Nov 3, 2014.

  1. bluetrain

    bluetrain Well-Known Member

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    My understanding is that "Chrome Green" pigment was traditionally derived from Chromium Oxide:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium(III)_oxide
     
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  2. Richard Roper

    Richard Roper Well-Known Member

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    I have been very fortunate today, in acquiring a subscribers' limited edition signed copy of "Keeping North Eastern Steam Alive", the 50th Anniversary book of the NELPG story, from the VCT shop at Ingrow. And very enlightening it is too, regarding 60532's infamous wheelslip at Durham in 1994...

    "What happened before the incident, during the Durham Station departure, and the subsequent inquiry, is set out here for the first time...


    Even before the Durham incident, crew error led to Blue Peter being involved with severe priming of the boiler when departing from stations such as Appleby, and there had been a very violent wheelslip when leaving Blackburn. As a result, the CME was becoming increasingly nervous about BR crews and, just three days before the 1st. October 1994 tour, took the precaution of establishing which named crew were rostered for the Edinburgh to York run. Satisfied with the names, all should have been well. However, 48 hours before the tour the crews were changed by RES in Crewe. No longer would it be the experienced men from Carlisle. The revised Blue Peter footplate crew ended up comprising a driver from Scarborough who had never driven Blue Peter before, and a conductor driver from Newcastle who had never been on a steam footplate before, included because the Scarborough driver was not passed for the route. The inspector was from Darlington and the fireman from Thornaby.
    The Scarborough driver had been phoned by a York inspector about how to drive the engine. "To get the engine into the big valve, put the reverser into mid-gear then open the regulator wide and let the reverser out". Blue Peter's fate was sealed.
    On the day itself, a tape recording of Blue Peter leaving Newcastle, southbound, showed that when the engine came off the King Edward Bridge and was heading towards Tyne Yard at 30mph on the level track, the exhaust went silent as the regulator was shut, then, after a few seconds, there was a loud roar at the chimney. At Durham the situation was totally different, with a rising gradient of 1 in 120 and with damp rail conditions. The train departed from Durham normally and the driver let Blue Peter gather speed to about 15mph as it crossed the viaduct. As it came off the viaduct the exhaust stopped as the regulator was shut, the reverser was put into mid-gear, the regulator opened wide and the reverser let out.. As the wheels spun the driver struggled with the reverser and it flew into full forward gear, resulting in the wheels spinning at an estimated 140mph. It is most certain that the engine primed....
    In view of the seriousness of the incident, CME Maurice Burns took the entire footplate crew, including xxxxx, NELPG footplate representative, and xxxxx, Locomotive Responsible Officer, into a closed compartment and interviewed them..."

    Very interesting to read for the first time what actually happened in the lead-up to the incident. This is an excellent book, and will be a jolly good read over the next few weeks.

    Richard.
     
  3. Matt37401

    Matt37401 Nat Pres stalwart

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    Crikey, I didn’t realise there had been concerns in the lead up to Durham, I do remember Geoff Drury, threatening to pull 60532 off the mainline in the aftermath of that incident, I believe he wasn’t happy about crewing arrangements regarding 60532?
    I believe there may have an instructional video filmed for this purpose?
    I can’t remember if it was him or Maurice Burns who compared 60532 to a Jet Fighter, not a Tiger Moth at sometime afterwards.
    I’m not a railwayperson but that thing is not exactly a 12 volt ‘00’ gauge model is it? And if it wants to bite, it’ll hurt.
     
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  4. guycarr360

    guycarr360 Part of the furniture

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    The video is freely available on youtube of the Durham incident, it is sickening to watch....
     
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  5. Richard Roper

    Richard Roper Well-Known Member

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    It is indeed sickening. I thought another person had videoed it from the lineside as it came off the viaduct. I have never seen this footage. An incident hopefully never to be repeated.

    In the book, it says RES offered to fork out for 75% of the damage to Blue Peter, as they estimated 75% of the damage was caused by the incident.
    I can't see how only 75% of it was caused by the accident, it was a complete, working locomotive before that, and in fine order.
    NELPG were equally unimpressed with RES, as it says in the book. "BR got off very lightly".

    Richard.
     
  6. Big Al

    Big Al Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Moderator

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    Just read that for the first time. With no engineering knowledge let alone of an A2, that sentence still reads as risky. Incremental change makes sense in the generality of things. The sad point is that it seems that the driver did exactly as he was advised to do and it all went wrong.

    There is no substitute for experience and for that experience to be loco specific.
     
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  7. guycarr360

    guycarr360 Part of the furniture

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    She also had a ratchet regulator, which did not help either, according to the report afterwards.
     
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  8. 5944

    5944 Resident of Nat Pres

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    I understand it's was included on a video released many years ago, but never released on DVD or uploaded to the internet.

    I was on the tour, and clearly remember the noise from the front and thinking it wasn't normal. I also remember my dad getting very frustrated as they walked all the Newcastle and Edinburgh passengers back to the station along the track, and we had to sit and watch as the last few London services went by. A night in a hotel in York and we finally got home at lunchtime the following day!
     
  9. Sam 60103

    Sam 60103 Member

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    Extremely sad Richard to put it mildly. How can a driver who was both unfamiliar with the locomotive and unfamiliar with the route allowed to do it. No wonder the CME was worried. Was there a crew change at Newcastle?
     
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  10. Sam 60103

    Sam 60103 Member

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    Just to clarify the tour started down south and went north to Edinburgh diesel hauled? The reason I ask is Six Bells Junction reported that the SRPS had a role in organising it which I have doubt about.
     
  11. green five

    green five Resident of Nat Pres

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    The footage on YouTube is taken from the bi-monthly RailScene video Magazine which was produced in the 1990's by the late Jeremy English (I think he is narrating the footage). This is where I first witnessed the footage of the shocking event as my Dad had purchased a copy of the RailScene VHS at the time. It still sends a shiver down the spine now.

    No doubt that when 60532 eventually emerges from her extensive overhaul LSL will undertake a period of crew training as she is run in.

    Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk
     
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  12. guycarr360

    guycarr360 Part of the furniture

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    From memory, yes a crew change took place at Newcastle, I am sure @torgormaig can shed a bit more light, his input is always interesting.
     
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  13. Richard Roper

    Richard Roper Well-Known Member

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    Thinking about it more, it's very fortunate that the middle set of valvegear didn't disintegrate... A chucked rod under the boiler at that rotational speed doesn't bear thinking about.

    Richard.
     
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  14. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    With many steam locomotives, it is very difficult to open the second (big valve) unless you wind the reverser back towards mid gear as you need to better balance the pressure on both sides of the valve and winding it towards mid gear effectively reduces the steam demand and increases the pressure in the main steam pipe to a level much nearer boiler pressure, allowing you to open the regulator wider. Once you have the main valve open you wind the reverser forward to where you want it. That's normal practice with many locos. The main thing that happened with Blue Peter is that the driver didn't engage the reverser latch, despite being told about it and, when the loco got into a slip, the reverser handle started spinning wildly, making it impossible to control. It hit the drivers arm/hand and that obviously took his immediate attention. What he didn't do was to try and shut the regulator, which may or may not have brought things under control. That was done by the NELPG rep on the footplate but by then the damage was done. (I've discussed the incident with him on several occasions.) LNER locos tend to have a coarse reverser leadscrew, which makes it easier to happen. I've had a similar event (but nowhere near as bad) with a B1 when I was pulling the reverser back and it slipped, wrenching the handle out of my hand and spinning back and forth. The immediate reaction when this happens is to try and grab it but that is unlikely to be successful and the solution is to shut the regulator. Fortunately, I was only in first valve and the slip wasn't great. LMS and BR locos, on the other hand, generally have a much finer leadscrew and I've never known it happen on them. That advantage turns to a disadvantage when you need to wind it from fore-gear to back-gear, though. Then a B1 is much easier to shunt with than a Black 5.
    A Southern S15 will do the same if you let it. I've only experience of lever reverse GW locos so can't comment on those. Easy to shunt with, though.:)
     
  15. 5944

    5944 Resident of Nat Pres

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    It was definitely an SRPS tour, and SBJ is wrong. I have a feeling the plan was diesel hauled York - Edinburgh, 60532 Edinburgh - York, then diesel hauled back north again. My dad and I made the journey up to Edinburgh from Stevenage, so it must've been a lunchtime departure from Waverley, otherwise we wouldn't have made it.
     
  16. Sam 60103

    Sam 60103 Member

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    I thought it was as the SRPS stock was used but SBJ confused me! Also no trace of it on the SRPS website as reports only start in 1998. All I can say is that this was one of the saddest moments in preserved steam history if not the saddest.
     
  17. Sheff

    Sheff Resident of Nat Pres

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    IIRC the driver suffered a broken arm? What really intrigues me is that AFAIK Blue Peter has a multi valve regulator in the smokebox, so there isn’t one big ‘second valve’ and it should be relatively easy and progressive to open?


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
     
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  18. torgormaig

    torgormaig Part of the furniture Friend

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    Sorry, Sam but lets get this in perspective - sure the loco was severly damaged, but no one was killed in this incident. If only you could say that about other incidents in preserved steam history.

    Peter
     
  19. torgormaig

    torgormaig Part of the furniture Friend

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    I really could not add any more to @Steve's post (#614) which explains it far better than I could.

    Peter
     
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  20. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    You’re right in that it has a multiple valve regulator . It’s been a long time since I last had the privilege to sit in the drivers seat but my memory say’s it’s still quite hard to open and pulling the reverser back makes things that much easier.
     
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