Clan Line special duty tour.

That's you in the book for starters..........VIIIIIICTOOOOOOR>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Well thats not a very pleasant spot for the crew to drink their champagne cocktails and canapés. Do they know they are going to get their overall dirty?

 

What were you expecting in Tinsley then ?, stunning sea views ?, the hanging gardens of babylon perhaps ?, herds of wilderbeast sweeping majestically across the plain ?

 

I thought the Merchant Navy could only travel on the sea...

 

Brilliant. Thank you Basil!

 

Checking my 1960s MN timing logs this week you are partly right as they can certainly walk on water!

 

Given that it's marking the centenary of stainless steel, maybe they should consider renaming it from "Clan Line" to "Flan Tin"?

 

How about "Tin Bath"?

 

The MNLPS should be very wary; the last time two MNs (35002/15) were left in a yard in Sheffield (well, the Ickles, in Rotherham, actually), the Dee-dahs chopped them up and threw them into a furnace.

 

Looking at a copy of the log I see that after that incredible climb of Roundwood the loco could not have been winded as 82 was reached not that far over the summit on little better than level track! A very long spell of hard steaming from the start of Roundwood bank with the equivalent of above 12 cars. Circa 70 minutes net up from Southampton with the Belle and with speed constrained to below the mid 90s in from Basingstoke. No wonder only the Duchess was ever better re hp per ton of loco. It was a most amazing performance. And astonishingly, Gordon Hooper got close to repeating parts of it with a Light Pacific (Gulp), and the 28th February 1967 run I was not on and had forgotten until today. 11 cars that day. A superlative recovery from 15 at Winchester to mid 60s over Roundwood . Then close to mid 90s in the Fleet/Farnborough area. And again the loco could not have been winded by that superb climb of Roundwood as again he accelerated once onto the almost level bits over the summit! I do hope Gordon makes the Buebell re-union this year. A living legend still from the days of steam. And a very nice guy too.

Those runs and the re start of Sootie Saunders run from the signal stop at MP 15.5 on the 12 car 5.30 pm with 12 on convince me that York-Darlington with a MN on 12 is possible in 34 minutes. Start to stop. Running a long part of the total stretch at 90 or over would not be problem for a MN. It can produce the steam to sustain the hp needed. It has a track record of doing that. The only questions would be how far inside 34 minutes and would it reach three figures on the 2.6 miles or so downhill approaching Croft?

To me the key to the above would be arriving at York from the South with a loco fully warmed up, and leaving after only a very short stop indeed. Seconds rather than minutes.

PS. I've brought this discussion here from the "LNER" thread as I really do not want to rain on the parade for that Region this year of all years. Similarly I plan not to make any responses to any comments re my fast steam loco web sites this year. I may seem to be quite Bulleid man, (LOL), but I do have a lot of respect for some other very fine UK steam locos.

 

Tin baths were always galvanised. It's the invention of stainless steel that's being celebrated. That's possibly why Clan Line was chosen for the event - she's always spotless, no matter what she does!

....thanks to the stirling efforts of her support crew.

 

Yeah. And look what happened to 35029 not far away in York. .

 

http://www.welcometosheffield.co.uk/visit/stainless/events-programme

Outokumpu Open Day, Saturday 15 June

 

So is this an official public open day? Will consider visiting if it is!

James at SVN

 

I hope so, otherwise I'm going to have a wasted journey tomorrow!

 

From Clan Line's Twitter:

Clan Line ‏@ClanLine28 1m
Saturday Clan Line be on display to steel company staff only this is a private event

 

Yeah, they'll be sizing her up to see how many pieces they'll have to chop her into to fit her into the furnace.
Oh and by the way maybe she could pay a visit to nearby Booths of Rotherham, I hear those folks are pretty handy with a gas axe.

 

How about the company supplying some nice new stainless boiler cladding as a thank you for turning up !