Return of the Cotton Mill Express

Eight pix added here of Scots Guardsman's return to Carnforth tonight. My sympathies to all involved with what has been a desperately unfortunate turn of events.

http://andrewstransport.fotopic.net/c1809372.html

Cheers

AN

 

Managed to photograph 46115 in fine form at Brock this morning with what looked like Bill Andrews leaning from the cab with a happy look of pride as the Scot seemed to be in fine fettle - so fine that a linesider commented on how quiet the loco sounded ! Feel desperately sorry for all at WCRC - especially Bill if it was he driving - but perhaps he needs to get Frank back as his lucky charm !

 

Perhaps 46236 would like to pay the huge costs involved with having a standby steam locomotive all coaled, watered and crewed rady for the off at a minute's notice. just not practical at all. and then what if it was'nt needed what a waste of resources.

 

Well said. Hell, they'll be blaming 46115's conjugated valvegear for today's failure next.

 

I was a couple of miles up the line and heard 46115 whistle in the distance and some exhaust beat then nothing for a good few minutes. Then I could hear what sounded like drain cocks being opened but the exhuast sounded really sharp, one beat of the exhaust totally out of proportian to the rest. I assumed at this point there had been a signal check and the train had restarted, possibly with a sticky drain cock. A few minutes later 46115 came into view as my video shows, at this point it was around 20 minutes down.

As to the train stopping, I think they must have checked it out between coming off the WCML and a mile or so of running on the the Manchester-Liverpool line looking at times that you saw it pass Parkside.

I would expect that the first thing to do would be to move the train off the mainline, which they did in going to Eccles.



Neil

 

Wrote a reply to this but sadly forum said I wasn't able to post it and I need to refresh page and log in, although I had logged in and was shown as being so. Of course in doing that lost what I'd written and really don't have to time to redo it all again.
So briefly, train was brought to a sudden stop after a jolt was heard on the footplate. On the r/h side of the track was a golf course, maybe belle1 and 23E will know where that is. Loco was examined and after 10 to 15 minutes limped slowly towards Eccles at speeds between 5 and 15 mph. As for reports of earlier late running, I don't know where that would be because we left Preston on time and were more or less right time until the stop. In answer to Fred Kerr, the driver I spoke to at Man was not Bill Andrews. Hope this post is of some help and obviously would explain the trains lateness at Culcheth and onwards.

Dave B

 

Not bad, rubbish is a better word.

 

Originally posted by 46236

"what did I say thats so bad"


Firstly it implies that the FTR exam that all locos have to have before a mainline run was flawed, as you think the loco was sent out defective. Secondly it casts doubts on the standard of workmanship and maintenance carried out by Carnforth fitters. I could well understand a loco owner reading your remarks and saying sod it I won't bother restoring my locomotives to mainline standard in future if this is what I get to read after 2 unfortunate, unforeseen and unrelated incidents led to curtailment of railtours. IMHO, and no doubt someone one with loco engineering knowledge will put me right if I'm wrong, but I don't think a FTR exam would tell you that a big end would go at sometime during the day. I for one am glad to be able to see and travel behind steam on the mainline line and appreciate the hard work, time, effort and money that all those involved in the repair and restoration of locomotives put in. Negative thoughts that can be interpreted as slights on standards of workmanship are uncalled for.

Dave B

 

Just to say I have added a shot showing Scots Guardsman's partially dismantled motion. Taking it down on the main line must have been a heavy and awkward job!

http://andrewstransport.fotopic.net/p63306051.html

Cheers

AN

 

Nice pic, but i cant see anything missing ? Thought the problem was on the middle set ?

 

My mistake, thanks for the correction. (I knew the problem concerned the inside cylinder, but it looked as if part of the outside motion had also been dismantled for the journey back to Steamtown.)

AN

 

That would be Leigh Golf Club, which is just under 4 miles from Parkside Jct. I hasten to repeat here that the knock was apparent to trackside observers much earlier than the "sudden stop"! Incidentally, when you say Beccles, one assumes that this was a typo and that you really meant Eccles - the latter being, I would guess, around 12-13 miles from the first halt to examine.

 

I understand that the crew were told by NR, that to stay where they were to await rescue would lead to many service trains being delayed or cancelled, so the decision was taken to proceed to the loop at Eccles. The plan was then for a WCRC diesel to come onto the back of the train and take it back to Preston leaving 46115 to be recovered later. However this would involve a short section of wrong way working along a section that was not signalled for this, NR therefore refused to sanction this move under any circumstances. So the whole train had to be taken to Victoria to allow the passengers to alight. This could not be done until various bits of connecting rod/valve gear had been removed, in some cases with an angle grinder.........

 

For the record the driver was Albert Seymour the regular "Cotton Mill" driver and one of West Coasts senior and most experienced footplatemen.

 

Of course the actual reason for the catastrophic sounding failure will come out soon enough (I might just phone Caldwell tomorrow and ask him directly). But one of my loco fitters said, "Core Plug!", when I told him about 46115s failure and the sights and sounds descriptions posted on here.

 

"Two. members, 23E and 46236 have posted on this matter and a lot of what they said has been scandalous. One (23E?) pointed the finger at the driver for doing something THAT 23E DID NOT SEE. You've no idea of the circumstances. 46236 said the machine was "not fit for purpose". What the hell qualifies him to say that? Did he do the FTR exam?
The two members should, if they had any decency ,withdraw their comments.
Disgraceful.

 

Was ther Lizzie one the run over shap a few years ago Martin? Seem to remember that kept it out for ages.