Isle of Wight Steam Railway Loco updates

For anyone planning a visit to the IWSR this week, W24 Calbourne is in service starting today and will be in operation over the August Bank Holiday weekend for the Island Steam Show, our busiest weekend of the year with an intensive two-train service in operation. Today, Wednesday and Thursday W38 Ajax will be the second loco, W8 Freshwater comes into play on Friday for the Steam Show services.

I’ve attached a copy of the WTT, please note that the SO 1945 departure from Havenstreet is not a public service. The majority of trains do not stop at Havenstreet in the Down direction, this is to assist with crowd control on the narrow island platform.

Another bit of good news is that Ivatt 41298 is being prepared to undergo a steam test this week, it was moved out of the workshop yesterday afternoon and positioned over a pit ready for a gentle warming fire to go in today. Although this will be a significant milestone, there is still much to do before 41298 will be ready to join the working fleet. No date for an entry to service is being predicted at this stage.

 

41298 complete with smoke issuing from its chimney!

 

Congratulations to all concerned. The IoWSR has made great progress with this loco. Here's to a long and reliable working life!

 

A report and some pictures of 41298 being prepared for a steam test are now on the IWSR web site. I don't know how things went today, when I left the railway at lunchtime the boiler was not far off from being in steam, singing away quite nicely!

By way of a loco roster update, W24 is replaced by WD192 on Tuesday with W8 on Duty 2 up until Thursday.

 

Out of interest - what braking system will 41298 have: will it be air only, or air and vacuum? (Looking at the photo on the IoWSR website, it looks like there is a vacuum pipe, but would be interesting to know definitively).

Thanks

Tom

 

Clearly air is our main system so some form of proportional application arrangement (for the engine steam brake) will be required, I understand that the final design is a work in progress. The existing ejector/application valve is a midland style vacuum/steam proportional, I'm not sure if it is to be incorporated into the design or not, although all of the original fittings are currently in place.

 

I believe that the standard 2 used a different design of steam brake that would make the fitting of the air braking system les of a headache, i'm assuming the loco can be fitted with the same arrangement or are the ivatt locos just not compatible with their BR counterparts

 

41298 in steam and moving around in the platform at Havenstreet

 

1st time since 1967? so what shed plate will she carry, 70H or a fratton plate

 

From what I gather the full LMS vacuum/steam brake will be retained. There will be additionally a BR steam brake valve and the Westinghouse air brake valve, the air will be capable of working the steam brake proportionally in a similar manner to the Vac/steam.

 

41298 in steam and moving around in the platform at Havenstreet
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gwalkeriow/

Excellent news!! Well done Havenstreet. Can't wait to see her in service. A wonderful addition to the fleet. Any idea of time to service Gary?

Ian

 

So in effect she will be duel braked with both air and Vacuum systems, very handy for when the phone starts to ring with calls of can we borrow her for this or that week end,

 

Excellent news!! Well done Havenstreet. Can't wait to see her in service. A wonderful addition to the fleet. Any idea of time to service Gary?

Ian


More than likely its full return will be next season, the air brake system is only partially fitted and of course a full paint job. It may well do some running this year.

 

"71-something" at the moment, looking at the photo above

 

I'm intrigued at how this will be done? The Deeley (LMS) brake fitted requires the vac ejector to be operational all the time the loco is in use to hold the brake off. The BR gradual steam brake valve is also vac operated in combination mode so, even if the valve is running on air instead of steam, it will be vac controlled, so why fit it? Then, if the air system is used in the loco brake cylinder instead of steam, there's a huge pressure difference so I can't see that working. Surely, the only way to make things work is to fit a complete new air brake system, including air pump and an air brake cylinder and turn off the vac/steam brake system completely, if it is retained?

Edit: Looking at the photo, there is no vac pipe fitted so I presume whatever has been done doesn't require vacuum (unless it is running with no brakes!)
Oh, and in search of an answr to my mechanical intrigue, I forgot to offer congratulations on putting the loco back into steam.

 

41312 has air pipes, and worked Steam on the Met back around 2000. I've no idea how fully integrated the air system is/was (Met 1 seems to rely on air from another loco, but the steam brake does seem to operate proportionally). The only cab photo I've seen definitely showed the LMS brake valve, so any air brake valve was either out of shot or not present at the time. I guess it would have been set up to act like it had a distributor rather than a triple valve.

 

Air to vac translator valve between the LMS ejector and the BR steam brake valve? Only thing is, the vac (and hence the steam) would be proportional to the air at all times, including release, whereas the Westinghouse brakes on the island don't do graduated release.

 

If I have understood it correctly the steam brake cylinder will be supplied by either the LMS Vac/ steam valve when in Vac mode. When in air mode the BR steam brake valve will be used light engine and when in air brake mode the steam brake will be worked proportionally by the air brake system. Two separate systems with the steam brake cylinder common to both.

When running in air we don't want to have the ejector running as well.

I hope that I have that right!

 

41312 was through piped, for steam on the met , it needed a air fitted engine to provide the air, to operate the air brake, a brake handle and gauge was fitted to the pipes in the cab, this was how 31625 operated also.

 

What no one has said yet is "nice to see something of sensible size for trains of sensible weight for their purpose being restored to service". More please.

PH