70000 Britannia

Does anyone know when Britannia's likely to be out and about next?

 

Still in Ropley yard today with its front driving wheel still missing.

 

i was told yesterday it needs a new axle

 

Blimey, she is going to be out of action for a while then. 70000 has had a her fair share of bad luck in the last couple of years.

 

It shouldn't be out of action too long if the axle problem is true. The South Devon Railway have all the facilities to remove the wheels from the old defective axle and press them on to a new axle. The main thing that dictates how long it will take is the lead time on the manufacture of the replacement axle, the assembly of the wheelset would probably take just a few days.

 

From talking to the lads at Ropley the other week, the "feeling" is...................... that she's going to be there for sometime yet (though they could be wrong) so, its likely the mods for the autumn gala could well be undertaken at Ropley....... time though will tell, and the SDR by all accounts are busy!

 

Maybe the clan could get some at the same time?

 

It is not as straightforward as you say. The roller bearings have to be removed from the old axle and put on the new axle, as well as the wheels.

 

Bearing manufacturers do not recommend re fitting of used units, so it may well be down to lead time from works.
Andy

 

Or they could revert to a plain axlebox - but in this day and age thats not forced to be any quicker/ less expensive.
the Clan Project could well benefit from the experience, as pressing wheels off and on Standard Pacifics is certainly an area for much care and attention...

 

Which would probably entail a re design of the axle also ?

 

Design work for fitting of plain bearings is already done. 70035-39 were built with plain axleboxes on the leading and trailing coupled wheels and 70040-49 had plain axleboxes on all coupled wheels.

 

Latest issue of the Railway Magazine that arrived in the post yesterday reports that 70000 might not be appearing as 70025 after all but as one of the other WR Brit's. I wonder which one she will appear as now if she is ready?

 

I heard a few months ago the problem was that one of the wheels had possibly slipped on the axle. A slight wobble was detected on a tour, and the visit to Ilford for tyre turning didn't fix it. Hence why the wheelset was removed for further investigation. Needing a new axle would explain why it's taking so long. Pressing a wheel off, repairing any damage, realigning and pressing it back on shouldn't take too long.

 

Shades of when the loco was new.

Cheers

Alan

 

Mr Hosking doesn't seem to have much luck with axles...

 

Thanks, Yes I had forgotten that 70000 had roller bearings, not just the plain type.

 

Taking a long pragmatic and probably contraversial view, the vehicle being built by the Clan Project will cope with a Brtannia boiler and cylinders better than the existing locomotives can / going forward, they in turn will have far fewer problems in future with lined up cylinders and a clan size boiler....

 

Interesting thoery, would you like to share you reasoning behind it?

 

So you have a good condition motor with a fair few miles on the clock and a refurb'ed 2 Litre Engine and a brand new one - same car - without an engine in ( but you can get a new 1.6 ), you want them both to last as long as possible wouldnt an engine swap be a good idea ?

The Clan Project loco is being built to the revised drawings for a later batch of Britannias and Clans. This order was delayed by steel shortages eventually cancelled. Changes to the construction of the frame in particular were drawn up in response to the fact that Britannia frames we're flexing (causing secondary problems) and cracking under the load from their cylinders.
This construction is a little bit belt and braces for a Clan which isnt capable of producing the same cylinder output as a Brit. and ( although not nearly as heavily utilised as most Britannias) the original Clans had very few mechanical problems
So on one hand we have a couple of original Britannias on original frames that will no doubt be fatigued from their breif but hard life under BR, on the other hand we have a set of brand new strengthened frames which even under a 250psi Clan that gets to go over Shap and the s&C every week for 30 years will never be worked as hard....