Corris Railway No.7 on the Talyllyn

A few shots from Sunday of No.7 on the Talyllyn Railway:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilscottuk/sets/72157627760797247/

 

Excellent photos, thanks for sharing! It has been good to hear that no 7 has run well on the TR, there were some that said she'd not manage it all the way up the line! From what I hear she's been performing really well and is a credit to Trefor and the rest of the opertions dept at Maespoeth. I now cannot wait until the Corris members' special later in the month.

 

She's been a popular and welcome visitor to the railway. It's been very good to have her over.

 

The TR kindly allowed us to run a Corris Society Members' Special last Sunday all the way to nant Gwernol. I have posted a video of part of the run. As you'll see no 7 makes a nice sound when working hard and the promise of what is to come with our southern extention makes for an exciting future for our line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAL2Vzuzozc

 

Has Edward Thomas been modified then ? im curious why what appears to be an identical loco would fail when one presumably of the same design works that line with ease.

 

identical in look only, whilst there are a few problems with the Corris No.7 its nothing that cant be put right. sadly it was built at Winsons and it is only now that it has been over at the TR that the things that are wrong with it have been proved,

regards

AndrewThomas

volunteer TR and CR

 

The locos are not identical, in many aspects, and perform very differently. Corris Loco 7 has performed reasonably well during its visit to the Talyllyn, but the longer length of the Talyllyn has shown Corris 7 needs various issues to be attended to at its 10 year examination. It has been out and about again today on a photo charter so look out for the results.

Lawrence Garvey

 

Cheers for the replies, is it just differing standards of workmanship/ maintenence or are there genuine mechanical differences between the two ?.

 

Seems to be workmanship issues, rather than maintenance issues, the loco is well maintained by the Corris, but it is showing its heritage as built by Winson Engineering.

 

What is it exactly that's wrong ?

 

There's considerable debate on the Corris Yahoo group as to the exact problems, but everyone happily agrees it can be tweaked and fixed at the 10 year overhaul; thus in time for when the extension southwards is open

 

Is it so secret it can't be mentioned ?

 

LOL, the unofficial feedback I've heard from 'crews' at the Tal Y Llyn us that all it wants is a bigger blastpipe nozzle, but otherwise it is 'alright'.

Laying the blame on Winsons for any problems with it is a little unfair. In my game you get what you specify. And the client needs to make sure he gets whatever it is to his specification, if this has to occur by contractural means then so be it.

Is the engine 'to spec'?

If it isn't the question needs to be asked why not?, was it paid for?, in full?, if so why?

If it is, then surely the problems lie with the management structure that procured, specified and paid for it, rather than the contractor who built it.

 

Suffice to say that Corris crews are more than happy with no 7, and are indeed most proud of our engine and how it performed at the TR.

Some excellent suggestions have been received as a result of the visit, some more positively phrased than others, but the overall feeling is that we have some work to do but nothing worrying. As with any opinion it's just that. Luckily we have excellent people at Maespoeth and with positive hands-on help, support and advice from friends at the TR we are sure that no 7 will continue to do us proud for many years.

Roll on no 10!

 

Yes, but do remember that Winsons went into recievership before the engine was even completed. So it's a little late to sue them now! :tongue:

 

Yes Mike!, i agree with you 100%, No 7 run extremely smoothly on the TR and did not fail once!, I was on the third trip back to Corris on no 7 after she returned from the TR.

Yes Roll on no 10!

 

she did when the lubricator rods fell off, anyway from what I know the main steam pipes are very small and where a curve in the steam pipes should be there are as near as damn it 90 degree bends thus the power of the steam is weakend as has been stated its nothing that cant be repaired

as for the Winson debate its 6 of one and 1/2 a dozen of the other one one hand I have heard the comment you pays your money you gets your engine, on the other if the design was given to Winsons to include these problems and couldnt they have given advice as to how to improve the steam flow?!

I look forward to the TR welcoming her back to the TR's Metals in the near future I hope.

 

Yes i agree.

It would be even better if an original Talyllyn loco came for a visit to the CR metals!, when the extension to Tan Y Coed is all up and running!
Yes and no 7 should return to the TR again!

 

One difference I found from being on it is that our No.4 has the feel of a proper engine that's been refined to run day-in, day-out quite intensively for many years. It has all the little differences in the cab that make it feel like a 'proper' engine. CR No.7 has a fairly basic cab with some rather crude controls - the regulator is one - which is similar to some industrials I fired when on the Strathspey years ago. Hopefully in time the engine will be brought up to a similar standard like No.4.