SVR Loco Newsy News / discussions

I've never before in my life heard a GWR Hall described as "reliable in high fire risk conditions". Is it an oil burner or something?

 

Fitted with a really good spark arrestor, modern design of over door ashpan, can be worked round the whole railway in 1st valve no drama. Was our most reliable last year in the high fire risk season

 

7714 in use tomorrow along 13268 and 4930.

 

Out of interest, which SVR engine (or I suppose other engine, but if we try to avoid too much thread drift) would be considered bad for starting fires?

At the Bluebell, Lady of Legend, and O1 No 65.

 

Panniers often have a reputation, one which probably caused by being used on heavy trains. 75069 had some issues last time it was used, it's getting on a bit in its current ticket.

 

75069 is/has been our fire starter. It’s spent several weeks under repair post Spring Gala. It will go out on test one day next week to see if those repairs are succesful pending next weekends 1940s

ESMP have done a significant ammount of work to locos and put good spark arrestors in them now. And good secure ashpans are progressing on most of the fleet now.

The smaller engines obviously put up more risk up.

 

That's interesting - I would have thought, and in my experience, standards aren't too bad for starting fires.

If I was looking for 'categories' of engine to blame, I'd go for Bulleids and Westerns. Also small / pre-grouping engines as you say. I appreciate that not all Westerns are the same, but as a firm fan of the Southern, I wouldn't know how different Western locos behave.

 

I think that is ignoring the significant amount of work / research done post preservation by railways and implementing wholly new spark arresting and damping arrangements. This post dates regional differences, as railways themselves aim to come up with solutions to an increasing problem with Climate change and fuel variability.
I know the Ffestiniog have invested heavily in this area as well (given a lot of their railway runs through a National Park).

 

Yes, this is a very good point which I failed to acknowledge in my post. I suppose, at the end of the day, with a good spark arrestor, the chance of a fire is significantly reduced. Collaboration between railways will also, I imagine, have taken place to share fire risk reduction methods.

 

An ashpan spray spray is also a must

 

We fit pan sprays to anything big enough to have one in terms of water capacity. 1450/813/7714 don’t have them as it would drink too much

 

All the Bluebell's locos operational have had spark arresters fitted over the last four or five years as and when they have had spells in the works; and also generally ashpan sprays fitted at major overhauls.

The loocs with hopper washpans are also being converted to have conventional flat ashpans; that is partly to give more security from ashes dropping out and starting fires, and partly to try to avoid what was becoming a regular - and expensive - requirement to replace the ashpan mechanism due to regular ashpan fires; it seems to be an issue with the current coal supplies available. Thus far Sir Archie and Camelot have been fitted with 80151 due to be done this winter.

Another interesting modification is that the Q class, when it returns to traffic, will have a low pressure turbine-driven fire pump fitted between the frames, driven from the steam heat supply. That has a number of potential advantages over our current fitting of petrol-driven pumps on tender locos, not least that it can be operated from ground level, which has obvious working-at-height benefits. If successful, I'm sure it will be rolled out to other locos, including potentially the tank engines which can't at the moment carry fire pumps.

We haven’t yet worked out how to fit air conditioning to the cab of a Bulleid …

Tom

 

Any way of using the electrical supply from the generator to power a few electric fans in the cab?

Chris

 

Cabs are overrated...

 

I'm sure I have seen somewhere some pictures from the NYMR where they have modified the cabs on the locos with a removable centre section to provide access for easier boiler lifts, maybe it's the future?

 

4150 is on the roster for loaded test runs on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week.

 

What do footplate crews think about loosing the hopper pans in favour of scrape outs?
Does Sadiq Khan’s empire extend to Sheffield Park? Would you be allowed to fit air conditioning?

 

From an SVR point of view I know our crews prefer the scrape out jobs, although we’ve gone more for the stick a high pressure hose in and flood out job. Keeps the dust right down as it’s very controlled and we were having some awful issues with pans jamming/warping, etc

 

I don't think it has been met with howls of protest, and my personal view (sample size: 1) is that I prefer it. Hoppers always seemed to be one of those things that were great in theory but never quite worked as well as hoped in practice. In particular, the one on Camelot had one door that would sometimes "over centre", at which point a degree of, erm, persuasion from underneath was necessary to set it back anyway. So in practical terms, I'd prefer a reliable "rake out" than an unreliable hopper! FWIW, in my opinion the two easiest locos to prepare (from a fireman's perspective) are 32424 and 65, both of which have big flat ashpans largely free of obstructions. Make of that what you will!

We've also fitted 34059 with perforated plates over the grate which are designed to prevent small coals falling into the ashpan; the same modification apparently exists on 35005 and was previously used in the US and South Africa. I haven't experienced them yet but there doesn't seem to seem to be any issue with steaming. I think with the current hard coal that is in widespread circulation, you need less primary air, and the consequence is you get more ash in the ashpan and less in the smokebox (because there is reduced draft lifting the fire off the grate); I think that is at the root of the ashpan issues that many seem to be suffering and what the protective plates are designed to mitigate.

No, we're OK. Just a case of finding a unit that will run off the Bulleid electricity supply!

Tom

 

Interesting comments about scrape outs being preferred to hopper pans. In my NYMR experience hopper pans have always been the preferred option and, as one who often operated them, I’ve rarely had trouble with them. I’ve not come across the idea of having perforated plates over the grate. Presumably these plates were the same size as the grate sections to allow it to be rocked? Any idea how they were attached to the fingers and how they go on for longevity? I assume they are plate material. Stainless?
Ash does seem to be a problem with current coal supplies, especially as it tends to break up and fall through the grate whilst still burning.