Return of the Cotton Mill Express

Utter rubbish and that's your post I'm referring to, not 46115.

 

Has anybody any info about the exact nature of todays failure and where 46115 is now? I'm not questioning the post earlier by Spamcan just any more detail?

Thanks, Neil.

 

It is now back at Carnforth, having been towed from Man Vic via Wigan and Hellifield by 47760. Pix later

AN

 

You should be on a one match ban for having 5 yellows by now then? Pity you cant just have a permanent one. Stop talking tosh ffs!

Very unfortunate day for 46115,was stood at Man Vic again,a good thing i suppose,i just hope the scot isn't out for too long,best of luck with the repairs.

 

How the hell does the Vac Brake relate to the Middle Big End exactly ?

If your adament that a Standy loco is really that viable then don't come crying on here when prices hit triple figure sums to cover the extra costs incurred, tours with more than one loco involved already in the planning stage are perilously close to that mark so im not being wildly pessimistic either.

 

As a pax on the trip I can say that Carnforth fitters came down with the class 47 and had to remove the middle cylinder rods before the 47 could then propel the whole train to Man Vic where pax then detrained and had to use service trains for their return journeys. RTC very helpful walking through train giving updates, and posh class got their meals. Spoke to steam driver at Man who said damage around £20,000 to fix and he was sure Carnforth would have it fixed for 27th March or they'd have a damned good try. Unfortunately for him he was also the driver 2 weeks ago so Mr Smith might not let him near it again he said! Not sure if Nigel fancies doing another rerun either. I agree with other posters that these things do unfortunately happen and I don't see how it can be anyones fault. 46236's comments don't even merit a reply.

Dave B

 

I've heard nothing more since I received the phone call saying it had failed with a middle big end problem/middle cylinder problem. When my mate gets home I'll ask if he's got any further info/hard evidence.

 

46236's comments don't even merit a reply.

what did I say thats so bad

 

Its good to hear that 6115 is home. The shot estimate at the damage is not good news.

The only good thing is that if anyone can rise to the challenge of bringing her back in a timely fashion its the lads at 10A.

Dp - I'm not getting into a discussion - I know my experience of RTC customer service - it made a deep impression, and I'm not talking about a few hundred quid spent!

 

Fair comment mate... I guess we have all had different experiences and that affects our opinions.

I'm sure the guys at Carnforth will do a great job.

 

Your comment about 46115 on page 20.

 

It's a great shame to see 46115 fail today; it brings back memories of 6201's failure north of Penrith in April 2004. Really tough luck for all concerned, especially the passengers, and hopefully the engine can be returned to good health without too much difficulty for its owners. Reading Mike Notley's column in Steam Railway should reinforce just what a fantastic year the engine had in 2009, its first full year on the mainline; I'll look forward to more of the same in the future.

 

Must of been a challenge to remove the middle con rod without a pit.

 

An unfortunate day for all-concerned

I was line-siding this morning at Parkside Jct (at the end of the connecting chord from the WCML onto the Liverpool & Manchester line). I didn’t check my watch, but the train appeared to be about ‘right time’ when it appeared, so, if reports of late-running earlier in the journey were true, 1Z28 must have been travelling at quite some pace to have recovered that lost time!

Obviously, when traversing the sharp curve, speed was reduced to a minimum and, equally clearly, the pronounced knock that I could detect from the middle big end, from some distance away, would have been more pronounced at such a slow pace. In retrospect, I just wondered what speed the engine was been run at when the defect was first noticed and for how much longer such a high velocity had been maintained.

The most surprising aspect of the whole thing for me was that, once the last of the 11 coaches had cleared the junction, I do recall that the driver opened the regulator wide to accelerate away up the hill towards Culcheth village. Somehow, I had a gut feeling that I wouldn’t be seeing the train again today!

Someone has posted a video earlier in this thread of the train less than a couple of miles further on and, by which time, speed had been reduced to a crawl with a massive steam leak also having appeared. One interpretation of this might be that it had been folly to have accelerated away from Parkside in such a fashion and that it would have been more advisable at that stage to have ‘stopped & examined’ on the seldom-used chord and where there would have been little or no disruption to other traffic.

Clearly it’s all mere conjecture and gossip at this stage, and we shall hear the true facts in due course, but as a professional mechanical engineer and a one-time passed fireman as well, I know what I saw and heard and what I would have done! But, then again, I wasn't on the footplate!

I am sure Mr Cronin will forgive me for adding that 44871 with 5-on on the ELR (plus a plethora of paraffin-burners on the other services) proved to be a poor substitute to such a magnificent sight as a 'Scot' over Standedge!

 

Mallard 1938, five months old and middle big end went on record run...

Scots Guardsman 2010, 83 year old and middle big end went pulling a rake of 11...

Pendolino 2010, seven years old and wrecks overheads bringing system to a grinding halt...

Brings it all into perspective.

 

A very unfortunate turn of events. My sympathies go towards all of the passengers, the support crew and most of all, 46115. Really disheartening for everyone. I was just thinking this morning at Haworth of popping over to Copy Pit, good job I didn't. I wish the very best of luck to the WCRC, no doubt they will have her back in her regular prime.

 

That's horrible to see Neil but thanks for sharing. To add to some other comments she seemed near enough on time away from Preston and, apart from a slightly uneven beat (which wouldn't have caused the later problem I'm sure), seemed to be going well with no suggestion of a later problem or of being worked unduly hard.

Chris

 

Mallard's middle big end didn't go. Ran hot so loco removed from train at Peterborough to prevent further damage. Big end remetalled and loco back in service just a few days later. A failure of several degrees lower than the unfortunate mishap with 46115 today.