Tornado

Fair enough Bryan but given your passion for train timing and performance as well as the wide range of subjects you produced videos on, I thought your taste and interest encompassed a much wider range.

 

Just to state for the record - I offered a means of mediation to "Ben" and I don't feel I have asked anything more than is relevant to the current line of discussion. I would like to apologize to the mods if I have caused some friction, but you have to ask the questions so a further line of inquiry can be sought privately. I might add, I did ask Ben to PM me if he wished to explain exactly what he meant.

However, I must respond to this:

I made no such claim - feel free to check my previous posts.

I don't disagree with your sentiments, but I cannot see where I personally have made such a claim (I did not, in fact).

Of course not. But a group of people who came together over a course of a few beers and built a steam engine can, surely, be as proud of their achievements as the operators of other preserved locomotives?

I feel perhaps there is a mis-communication somewhere which does neither side a service of any sort. I'd be happy to talk this out via PM and mediate, as I stated earlier, if Ben feels he has more to say on a private level. But as to what I have said - I'm sorry Ben, but I made no such claims and feel a tad bit misrepresented myself.

 

Sorry - the commercial comment was by Sheff, not yourself.

There is no need for mediation. We will agree to disagree. Please be aware that there are quite a lot of people in the preservation world who have been rubbed the wrong way by actions or comments from the trust.

No more to say.

I hope Tornado is back soon to work the trains she is scheduled for - the last thing we want to do is upset the public - then we are all out of business!

 

To be fair on this one, I've actually heard this from the horses mouth!!
So it is indeed quite ironic that the super duper brand new machine that was going to kick everything else into touch, is itself suffering from the these problems far more than its older counterparts that do just as much work??

 

If that's the case then I apologise. What got my goat was your suggestion that A1 Trust members are somehow arrogant and elitist and look down on the rest of the preservation movement. It's just not true. Many like me are involved in plenty of other organisations outside of the A1 Trust. e.g. out in the freezing rain all day last Wednesday doing p/way work at the CVR in my case, plus restoring Barry wrecks in my youth etc.

 

No apologies necessary - and I didn't mean to generalize. I meant no offence to anyone personally.

 

That is all I ask. Thank you Ben for your honesty.

I hope we can accept that one person does not necessarily speak for a group in this instance.

 

Now,now gentlemen we are all in this together. Our main priority is to keep steam on the mainline and petty squabbles between different groups or factions do us all a disservice.

 

Just out of interest Steve, if the boiler was hooked up to a compressor so as it cooled when not in use its internal pressure was maintained, would that be an effective way of reducing pressure stress cycles, or would that be insignificant compared to the stresses caused by heat cycles?
Cheers
Jim

 

That's an interesting one! It would certainly replace the design stresses, which are purely related to the area a stay has to support, as an example. The bending stresses induced by expansion are not usually calculated and are allowed for in the factor of safety - really the factor of ignorance.

I'm not sure about lighting a loco up with 225psi of air in it. Too easy to turn the blower on and force the fire, for a start! That would defeat everything.

 

Well, if my sources are correct (they aren't official but generally reliable), it looks like Noel was right and the boiler is going back to Germany. Such a shame for the A1 team if this is the case.
Anyone with official status able to confirm?

 

Getting off the subject of the boiler (well slightly) I saw this video on Youtube which looks like Tornado has James May on the footplate (it appears from the description that it was the light engine move when the loco failed on one of the Canterbury Tornado trip back in May)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuvqdgiqc3c Would you say it was him? Apparently the loco gets a mention in his book in 2010 (The How to Land an Airbus one I believe)

 

On a more positive note on the A1 group. I was staggered to read in SR magazine that merchandise sales for 2009/10 were worth £182.727 for the A1 group. There can’t be any groups that can come close to selling/fundraising that amount of money in a year. Maybe some groups should take a leaf out of the A1 group and start concentrating to selling their merchandise. There seems to be a big untapped pool of money out there for the possible taking?

 

As i was there at Canterbury that very day, i can definantly say that it was James May on the Footplate.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tchhsoR2yG0

I wish the A1 Trust all the best in getting this fine locomotive back in steam.

 

Sad news if the boiler has to go back. I wish the A1 trust all the best in rectifying the problems. They are a great bunch in my experience and very friendly and welcoming when talking to them on past trips with the loco.

 

Certainly the A1 trust have been remarkably good at flogging stuff to passengers on the trains when I have ridden behind it, I have a Tornado polo shirt, an official book of the Tornado story, and a friend's kid has got a Tornado colouring poster and coloured pencils, plus a little notelet book with Tornado on the front. As I'm not a covenanter, it was a way to feel I was helping put something into the future of the loco. I have not seen other loco owners doing much to compare with that, though I did buy a couple of jars of Watercress Line Gooseberry Jam from the shop when I was there

 

You should send the image to Top Gear in time for next series & see if the 'Steam movement' gets some free publicity.

 

I think this goes all along with the A1 project. It has been properly funded and the marketing side could,nt be bettered. Having had a look at the new Bahamas Locomotive Society site, I have a feeling they have picked up on this.

 

Best of luck to them.

Return to vendor is always the best option with a piece of kit that isn't doing what it said on the tin,and frankly - other than the lift aspect - could there be a quicker and more effective way of surveying and considering the problem than with the boiler out of the frames.

One can only hope that the bill will also be going back to Germany - for consumer reasons - before someone gets the wrong message.