Flying Scotsman

Totally agree with you John about the educational element. The NRM got it right with the last overhaul with Ian Riley outshopping the A3 in her final BR condition. This was the best condition for Main Line operations.
But what do the NRM do about the looming 100th Birthday celebrations of their most famous asset? Trespass has become a real thorn in the side of Scotsman's Main Line operations. I wonder if the change back to LNER 4472 condition (with a single chimney?) could be a move back from Main Line operations with the focus more on Heritage line visits? This would allow them to keep the A3 in a relatively accurate condition for the era it is trying to represent.


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Ah, those were the days when Scotsman's boiler was fitted to a Weltrol for carriage heating ...

 

The report says that Scotsman could go to the Strathspey railway which I find interesting as:
1. I can’t remember a Pacific ever visiting it.
2. Is it not too heavy with similar weight restrictions to the West Highland line?
I would love to see it with a single chimney and no smoke deflectors in LNER livery but in the modern safety conscious world can it still perform in that condition?

 

The last time Flying Scotsman had a single chimney I was barely a year old (I was born in 1991), so I and possibly other younger members of the forum, never got the chance to see the loco in her 'classic' look as it were (although I saw the loco in Apple Green with the smoke deflectors as a 8 year old) so I'm very much looking forward to it (assuming Trackside is correct of course) as I prefer the look with single chimney.

The upside to those who like the current BR appearance, again if the article us correct, you won't have to wait too long to see the loco like that again.

 

Whilst I'm not 100% certain. I feel that there's a single chimney/blastpipe version of the Kylchap chimney/blastpipe too. In turn it should help with the performance of 4472. I son't have issues with her appearing with the double chimney arrangement and carrying LNER colours, as Humourist ran in LNER colours with a variety of smoke deflectors/blinkers, before settling on the same style as fitted to Blue Peter and Tornado.

 

Like this please ...



Every subsequent rebuild progressively took away from the original beauty of line.

(PS - while I realise it was Trackside magazine that had the scoop, wouldn't this mini-thread, and discussing about the loco's future, be better in the Flying Scotsman thread?)

Tom

 

That i agree with.

 

After reading the article I thought it was a bit odd that 60103 is only returning to her 4472 guise for a relatively short period. Are the NRM funding the livery change by staging photo charters I wonder? I was expecting a longer period back in 4472 guise due to the change of exhaust which is not a quick job (or are there two smoke boxes in existence to facilitate a quick change over?)

Regarding Trackside magazine, I finally took out a subscription at the weekend after deciding not to renew my Steam Railway subscription which has now expired.

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Well one railway with a full rake of teaks no longer accommodates charters so unless a certain GM and staff decide to change their collective minds it won’t happen there will it?

 

Although as the NRM say it is all still speculation, if it does prove true presumably, with the tight overhaul schedule, that suggests the chimney and blast pipe are close to or have been completed?

Quite enjoyed the new issue. I subscribed to Trackside a few months back, but my Grandad usually gives renews my Steam Railway subscription for Christmas to go with his own.

 

I think that could be something to do with the fact that there is performance concerns with the single chimney. However if these are less than feared then who knows what will happen in 2024 and beyond.

 

Not intending to set any hares running, it said it: "will not [..] accommodate any privately-run photo charters". Whether that's 'any photo charters' I've never asked, though I can think of somebody who will have done

 

IIRC the NRM identified the problem of drifting exhaust hence on H&S grounds alone the original style of locomotive may not pass legal muster. I recall that the NRM tested different concepts which proved that the German-style windshields were the most effective solution to that problem hence may be unwilling to create a problem by returning to the original faulty specification - including single chimney.

 

There was never a problem with the A3s until they were fitted with double chimneys

 

They ran it on one or two Scarborough's without the deflectors and the smoke caused issues. Not aware of any testing with a single chimney.

 

And earned a rebuke from Peter Townend , I recall he wasn’t happy about saying something like ‘why on earth did we fit them?’
Would a certain David Ward still have had a say at the time? I believe he wanted 46100 to appear without deflectors in LMS Red at the same time until it got a similar thumbs down for the same reasons by those who took on 46100.

 

Faulty specification, who says so? They ran for decades with a single chimney, and without those awful windshields. I saw her go through Kettering a few times in the sixties,and travelled behind her a few times in the 70s/80s in that guise, and it always seemed to perform faultlessly. I would suggest single chimney, no deflectors and brunswick green is how most spotters of the late 50s early 60s remember the class. My 55 and 62 combined volumes both show that not all the class were thus fitted, so I assume the authorities were not totally convinced of the benefits of the "modifications"

 

I thought "windshields" were on the front of road vehicles. BTW no A3 or any other B.R. loco was ever painted "Brunswick green". They were B.R. Loco green which was the same as GWR mid-chrome green. This notion of Brunswick green is a misnomer perpetuated by enthusiast magazines. I'll get off my soap-box now.
Ray.