Tornado

I recently visited the Bure Valley Railway where they burn an artificial type of coal and are quite happy with it's results.
Norfolk's Bure Valley Railway tests new bio-coal for steam locomotives

 

Whilst i understand others have experienced problems, with some coals, that does not explain why the fire could not be dropped, , that To me sounds like the grate has jammed, so either it's been assembled with insufficient clearance in-between the grate fingers, or there is a mis alignment between the operating mechanism and the grate sections, If a grate is built without enough clearence to allow for expansion , or something isnt quite straight, it will prevent the grate from opening, it only needs one section to foul and the rest won't operate, same if a lever in-between the sections is bent, I've actually experienced this, I was fitting replacement rocking grate sections onto the carriers on 73096, once using new fingers, and even though it looked right, the grate would not close up fully, because the new sections, whilst looking the same as the ones that came off, had a slight casting lip, only once i had removed the new bits, removed the lip, and rounded the edge did the grate operate properly, at first, a few of us were scratching our heads, it was only when i decided to remove one of the new fingers, did we notice the extra length,

 

https://www.a1steam.com/tornado/news/tornado-details/tornado-main-line-return-delayed

This is what they were saying in September. I understand that whatever the issue was then, it's now even worse.

 

Unfortunately I don't think we can trust anything the A1 Trust tells us.

 

Mmm... unlike the "Q&A session with Steve Davies" posted on here that in fact turned out to have nothing whatsoever to do with Tornado, but in fact related to his involvement with the forthcoming S&D 200 celebrations at Hopetown Museum and the running of Locomotion No. 1?

I rang them and asked.

 

Alex, already investigated, ours came from a different source/country.

 

Clearly time is now ticking away, and the engine still has not even had any main line toc inspection and I actually am beginning to think are the firebox problems actually worse than the trust have admitted, and they are scratching their heads about what to do, my bet will be that the throatplate, has become misaligned, and the foundation ring now out of true, caused by the welding in the new corners and section of plate when the boiler was patched up, and that in turn has meant the grate will not it quite fit right, and its only once the engine has had a few steaming's, so the problems have come to light as things expand, I could be wrong, and no doubt someone will tell me i'm wrong, that i don't know, But what else can it be, if the grate has had to be replaced, then, what else has had to be changed, the linkage, the carriers, If the fire has clinkered the bars, or dropped through to the ashpan, then you can get distortion of the ashpan, with dampers being warped through heat, but it would have to be a very hot fire indeed to distort the linkage,

 

Your getting warmer, sources say a major ashpan repair is also required.

 

Is that another boiler lift ? Bet there are some double takes around hitting pause on the first new boiler ( as seems to have happened) now...

One can only assume that the donations continue to flow in from folk, - and i am sure there are many, and i am sure a lot of them are Tornado Fans who had probably only heard of Flying Scotsman before and may well form a new influx of general steam enthusiasts in time if the current state of affairs of being 'Mushroomed' does not disillusion them completely , because there doesnt seem to be much urgency around getting Tornado back out there winning hearts and generating selfies and living up to the carefully crafted image so painstakingly built around it. Perhaps there is a lot of handwringing or calling out or even infighting going on behind the scenes and keeping that underwraps is perhaps not a bad thing, but i get the feeling its only a couple more turns before the jack in a box pops....

 

Weren't the driving and coupled wheels re-machined in recent times due to limited clearances? If so, we can assume that these wheel-sets have not moved back relative to the chassis, so it is rather looking like the boiler (or throat plate in this case) has moved forward relative to the wheel-sets. Hmmm.......

 

When I finally get five minutes (or rather more to do this justice) …..

 

I would not be surprised if it gets announced that Tornado is not going to be going main line this year now, and that instead the engine will visit preserved lines in an attempt to somehow make the trust look like they are doing the right thing, saying that more people will get to see her etc,
And after that she will be retired to Darlington because every mainline toc, that might want to hire her, has questions about the state of the boiler, stays, and the work done. and the firebox issues effectible mean the boiler has to be replaced. if it wants to return to the main line.

 

We’re totally in accord there Martin.

 

I'm a very patient person having done patented engineering development work over the last twenty something years, despite being "retired". I know things can go wrong, you can go down blind alleys and people today are used to pressing buttons and it happens.
But I'm rapidly beginning to lose patience.... it's seems to being run like a public sector fiasco..."lessons have been learnt"... obviously doesn't apply. Will the next appeal be "The Woodham Appeal"....scappage fund ? What the hell's going on ?

 

Grates can be replaced without a boiler lift and we did wrestle a damaged section of ashpan out of 34081 and similarly wrestle a new section back in again with the boiler in situ. No idea if the A1’s ashpan has been damaged though. The NVR shed blog on Facebook only mentions the grate needing replacement.

 

Following the wheel-turning excitement, I'd guess any bets on what you can and can't wrestle in are off, as whatever the ooo-nasty that caused that means all clearances are up in the air until checked.

That's before you start wondering what else the ooo-nasty has caused.

 

It did run ok on the NVR until the reported grate problems arose but I’ve no idea if the grate is the sole problem.

 

Just a thought........seems to me that the A1 folk have taken a leaf out of 10A's book............expect it when you see it, tell 'em nowt.

 

Then they can get their money when we see it...

 

My suggestion for a Covenantor/ Supporter to wear.




Dave B