35028, "Clan Line"

Following the sad failure of this lovely and very popular steam loco last Friday night, it seems sensible to open a specific thread here in Steam Traction. Rather than keep the discussion going under "Whats Going On". Although it will be great to start a new thread in that latter Forum as soon as this magnificent pacific sets out on the main line again!.

So I'l repeat here a post I've just made in that other thread.

"....Tim Robbins, the Chairman of the MNLPS has sent me a Press Release from the MNLPS. He goes on to write, "....If you think it would be helpful, please feel free to forward the Release to National Preservation – we much appreciate the expressions of concern that have been posted there..."

It probably makes sense for me to open a thread for 35028 in the General Steam Forum and post this there also.

Press Release, (from MNLPS)

'MNLPS regrets that on a return trip from Oxford for VSOE on 21st May Clan Line suffered a serious malfunction resulting in the loss of a fusible plug and consequent need to drop the fire. After the ejected fire had been doused by the local fire brigade, the train was diesel-powered back to Victoria with Clan Line still attached. The loco and support coach were then returned to Stewarts Lane depot.

MNLPS is urgently investigating the cause, and until that is ascertained will refrain from speculation. Early indications are that the loco has not suffered any serious damage as a result of the incident.

The Society very much regrets the impact to the passengers on the VSOE Pullman, and on following service trains, and also to travellers who have booked for trips with 35028 in the immediate future.

We offer our apologies to our customers and will do all we can to keep an open approach to this serious incident and communicate accordingly.'

Alan French, (MNLPS)..........."

 

Thanks KentYeti

I saw her on the outwards trip when she looked as good as ever.

I really hope that the action they took means the damage is not serious and that she can be back in operation again before long.

Good luck to everyone at the MNLPS and thanks to them, both for keeping Clan Line in such brilliant shape, and for keeping us informed in this way.

 

Thanks Bryan, it's a very unfortunate incident but let's hope she escaped serious damage and will be back soon.

 

Big Al: Matters not if there is a water stop ahead if the injectors dont work. Some reports say that the fire brigade were called to douse the thrown-out fire, not to fill the tender.
Best we wait for something authoritative.

 

The MNLPS have given a press release about the failure. In the statement it says that the cause is being investigated. Until such time that the cause of the problem is made public I don't think that comments about the crew are very helpful.

 

Extremely professional press release from a group that is renowned for professionally turning out an excellent loco. Unfortunately with historic machinery there is the occasional tendancy for it to throw in the odd curve ball and surprise even the best prepared. I think I'll therefore wait for the next official news (since they are being so open about it) rather than bother with daft speculation based on video clips (not least because I'm no-where near qualified to even guess from them!), and confine my thoughts for now to hoping for a quick return to the mainline.

 

In addition to all three safety valves there seems to be steam blowing down into the four foot under the engine. I thought it might have been the Westinghouse air pump exhaust but, of course, that vents near the rear/top of the tender. All will be revealed in due course no doubt.
I hope Tim Robbins' team doesn't have too much repair work to do and that their lovely loco is gracing Network Rail metals very soon!

 

The injector overflow points under the cab, rather than out to the side like most locos. The large amounts of steam would appear to corroborate the story about the injectors not picking up.

 

If, as suggested elsewhere on this forum, 35028 didn't take water at Oxford (? I am unsure of this), then the last water would have been taken at Ascot at 10:00. So I wonder how warm the water in the tender would have become after 8 or so hours standing in the sunshine, and whether this could possibly have any bearing on the problems with the injectors (which don't take kindly to hot water) ?

David

 

i would expect that all will become clear after the investigation has been made, its not been a good time for steam, first 70013 now 35028, i hope that the cause is found , there would be an even bigger question as to what went wrong if no cause can be found , didnt the last time the injectors played up no faught was found with the injectors, i wonder if because when they overheat they kick off and you need to run water to cool them was there not enough water left in the tender and it might have been a combination of these things, which can befall any engine one thing though i often wonder is this, when the locos were rebuilt why didnt they fit an exhaust steam injector instead of keeping 2 live steam injectors, as most of the standards then being built would have had an exhaust steam injector

 

sad news

I'm in london for next weekend and had Clan Line on my list of things to see. I'd checked both steam uk and the tour operator's site last night lookign for times and it was still shown as running


also had Tangmere... which was replaced by 70013,

 

It is very sad, and I hope she is back in action soon

You could still see Tornado at the weekend however, on the Bath & Bristol Explorer, and perhaps also on the Friday if you're around, on the Great Eastern Explorer.

 

I am in agreement here Martin! For one anything in sunshine in this heat such as a pipe will be hot when it is first turned on as I found out to on an outside pipe. You have to let it run for a bit. You have to remember how vast a tender is; so I cannot imagine that the whole tender (While in motion) would be full of hot water? I think it could have been either a miscalculation of water stop; or BOTH Injectors failed. I have never had it happen to me - only ever 1 Injector on a Bulleid. I guess you can never say never; as I believe the Injectors have failed before on Clanline.

I sincerely hope what has happened isn't a continuing problem with what has happened with 70013 and with Clanline... I just hope there are no problems with 35028's firebox?? I think we should just sit tight and wait and see what they find.

 

I've never seen all three safety valves lift on a Bulleid before. So I take this is a sign of some think about to go terribly wrong with water level in the boiler?

 

I heard off an ex-SR fireman that three safety valves lifting is definatly a sign that something is wrong. He said it usually happens after a process called 'flash steaming' (correct me if I am wrong) where there is so little water in the boiler that it doesn't have time to heat up and instantly turns to steam. Pretty basic explanation but thats the jist of it I think. Heres hoping 35028 is back on the mainline soon, doing what it does best.

 

A boiler 'flash steaming' might indicate that there is so little water that it does heat up - very, very quickly (hence 'flash'). The one thing normally associated with Bulleid boilers is extremely good steaming!
Depending on gradients the water level in the two gauge glasses would have had to have been showing no water for a little while to get to the 'catastrophic' stage. Another problem with low water levels is downhill braking - which should be done VERY gently of course!
Regarding mentions by others about Injectors - they are designed to work most efficiently with cold water. I'm not sure Exhaust Steam Injectors would work any better than Live Steam - if supplied with warm feed water. Hence locos take on fresh water supplies sometimes even if they may have enough left to complete their journey [- especially in hot weather].

As has been said by others on this thread, we'll just have to await the outcome of MNLPS investigations as to the root cause of this incident.
In the meantime all we can do is 'pray' that the boiler has not been damaged in anyway resulting in 35028 gracing NR metals very soon!

 

60009, 60007, 34067, 46115, 45407, 4965, 70013 and now 35028... an impressive failure list..not a good 6 months for mainline steam and so far only 2 of them have made it back into the game !

 

yep, I was on stockport station for a few hours waiting for union of south Africa when that failed last year

and twice was on Man Vic station for the scots guardman this year when it failed

on sat I went to the East Lancs and the 8F was out of service for repairs (although I did see the dutchess at wigan earlier)

now 3 failed locos for the weekend I'll be in london :-(

should be aiming for tornado on the monday ... just waiting for timings and a better idea of the route so I can figure out a station to watch from (and if I can see the black 5 as well)