45699 Galatea

Sadly the lady in question died a few years ago. There was an obituary of sorts in one of the magazines if I remember correctly, her name was Erica Arneil. I believe that they, master and apprentice, set the valves on 4472 before it went to Australia.

 

I hear on the grapevine that Galatea suffered some middle cylinder problems last week, which is why she was replaced on the SSE at short notice last Thursday. Does anyone know whether this is correct and what the nature of the problem is? AFAIK, she's still at York. Presumably, there's some work going on to get her fit for next Wednesday's double-headed Fellsman.

 

For the last 3 weeks (inc. today) the Fellsman has run with 47 580 as train loco, effectively double heading with the steam pilot. This is of course due to the fire risk, which I thought would have diminished by now. It will be interesting to see what happens with next week's train.

 

Really interesting obituary... Not sure she's really the 'only woman to ever have been on the footplate of Scotsman' though! I wonder if she did much more of the valve setting work-only ever heard of her in that one article...

 

She worked with Bill Harvey for many years - I can recall that the pair of them set the valves on NELPG's Q6 in the early 1980s.

Steven

 

Does anyone know if 45699 is back to good health? There was a comment on the "Scarborough Spa" topic saying that Galatea was stopped at York with a problem.

Thanks

46118

 

I hope that I'm wrong about 5699 needing a boiler lift to get to the Middle Cylinder for repair work if needed.

 

When 5699 was at Tyseley Brian Oliver's group thought it likely a new centre cylinder would be required to be cast as the steam chest was paper thin. I expect there are repair techniques that can be used these days.

Dave

 

"That'll be alright won't it?" - I'm sure you can get away with that on some components but not a cylinder casting! they must have replaced or repaired it surely...

 

And who in Brian Oliver's group at Tyseley was suitably qualified and able to make such evaluations????

 

Since Galatea's failure on the SSE at the end of July, RTC have added her to the line-up for The West Highlander (Glasgow-Dumfries-Preston). Now, I know it sometimes looks like RTC don't check the availibilty of locos before advertising them, but I wonder if we can use this as a reliable indicator this time? I don't suppose anyone from WCRC is going to comment publicly, so as usual we'll just have to wait and see, and hope that 46115 enjoys a spell of reliability.

 

RTC don't mention 45699.
Our train will be hauled by an LMS Royal Scot class, two LMS Black 5’s and LNER K1 class steam locomotives

 

45699 is a maybe see post 214 on this thread http://www.national-preservation.com/threads/rtc-daytrips-2013.38713/page-11

 

From RTC website latest news : -

27-Jul-2013

The West Highland Steam Express has been confirmed and we only have a few seat remaining. So book now to avoid disappointment. Please see below for a glimpse of the Locomotives being used.

Saturday 21st September - Preston to Glasgow - 46115 "Scots Guardsman"

Sunday 22nd September - Glasgow - Fort William 61994 "The Great Marquess", Fort William - Mallaig & Return 62005 "The Lord of the Isles".

Monday 23rd September - Fort William - Crainlarich 61994 "The Great Marquess" Crainlarich - Oban & Return 45407 & 44871 "Black 5".

Sunday 24th September - Glasgow - Preston vis Dumfries Provisionally 46115 "Scots Scots Guardsman"

 

Well, if the cylinder was replaced some foundry has managed to keep the whole project well and truly under wraps. WC are secretive for good reason but keeping a new cylinder pattern and casting quiet to say nothing of the machining would be some achievement since none of the work would be done in house and as we all know the preservation world tends to be just a little bit "leaky". So my vote is for no replacement, however there are people at Tyseley who would detect an over thinned cylinder casting and they have been on the scene for years. Brian Oliver's group may not have had the skills themselves but they were not in isolation. Depends who was listened to. Or on someone wanting to listen. If 45699 does a 46100 and disappears for a period we will know one way or another.