Flying Scotsman

Okay then. But some folk with an academic qualification might get a little bit twitchy.

 

Dont think Rileys have the original optical kit, have only ever seen ' piano wires' , but sighting and levelling lasers to use in conjunction are not expensive these days

 

When it was used for the A1 the SVR had it.

 

Thought the A1 Frames/cylinders we're done, with the use of said kit, at Tyseley ?

 

All the final optical stuff was done at Darlington when the motion was fitted.

 

The kit has been in use at Bridgnorth for many years as far as I understand it, Ray Tranter used to make use of it.
I wonder how the SVR managed to obtain this equipment and who should be thanked for having the foresight to make the decision to make the purchase?

I too believe that Ian only uses more traditional methods but I just don't know for sure. He gets results though.

 

On the subject of optical alignment, this expanded version of K.J. Cook's Presidential Address to the Inst.Loc.Eng. might be of interest:—

Swindon Engineering Society Lecture No. 228: The Steam Locomotive : A Machine of Precision, by K. J. Cook. Read 25-10-1955. (7.62MB pdf.)

P.

 

I understand Flying Scotsman was next in line for rebuilding after Great Northern by Thompson into a A1/1 maybe with new frames this would be the way to go!!!!

 

Batten down the hatches, folks - this could be rough!!!

 

I can only assume you're on drugs.

 

One thing that struck me was the improvement quoted for time between overhauls on a WD 2-8-0 by doing major overhauls to a much higher standard of accuracy than the machines were originally constructed to...

 

There should be little surprise with regard to what could be achieved by using the tools and methods described. Sadly too many believe that locomotives were incapable of improvement or rather were not worth improving. True the basic designs were not the best but there is not a single design that would not benefit from a better standard of alignment setting and so on.

The question is;
How well does the workshop practice at your preserved railway workshop compare with what is put forward in this paper?

 

given the availibility of lazer measuring devices for reasonable costs these days it should be if anything easier to line up centre points and datum marks today to a greater degree of accuracy than before but it would be interesting to find out if any workshop use such means to set up centres or still use mk 1 eyeball because they think its better.

 

thats what i meant piano wire, using line of sight

 

I think piano wire would brake just like any other Stringed instrument. I play Violin and a part of maintaining the instrument is removal of the string and replacing it with a new one.

 

Piano wire lasts far longer and is put under a far greater stress than a violin string. The piano wires are run over a metal frame and the tension they are put under is massive, but are very robust, hence why you rarely see one break. They have been known to blind people when they do.