Tornado

A week of running at the Bluebell will prove a useful bedding in exercise.

 

It will be interesting to see Tom as we've got tickets for the Monday and are booked on an afternoon train. We received the Bluebell's email over the weekend saying that a decision is going to be made this week confirming if the visit is on or off but haven't heard anything thus far. I'd imagine you guys will want to know sooner rather than later for administration and operational purposes and what entails potentially afterwards with said decision.

 

Tornado Railtours have just posted on Facebook that they anticipate repairs will be completed in June with a period of running in to follow and a loaded test run with a view to resuming public duties on the RAF 100 railtour in July.

 

And the link from the A1 Trust page for those that are not members of Facebook:

https://www.a1steam.com/2018/05/11/tornado-repair-update-2/

 

Or have no wish to engage with Facebook...

 

The trust have done it again,,,,,,,,,they're keeping the public informed of the facts, no room or opportunity for speculation there.
Top marks to them ........and our thanks.

 

Just admiring a pic of the not so old gal and I found a straw to clutch/ something to speculate about. At the front, In the middle of the fall plate the cover for the valve spindle is prominent, mounted on a cut out is, I believe, an oil feed to the end of the valve spindle/ gland... quite an exposed position. If that were to take a direct hit ( bird, small object kicked up by an oncoming 100mph train) could that be be a problem ?

 

That lubricates the spindle only, not the valve head, which is the part that seized. And those oil boxes and pipes are quite substantial; unless the bird was a pterodactyl, I can't see it doing much damage!

 

Just supposing that that location were vulnerable - is it not more likely that such vulnerability would have been discovered in the 1950s when multiple members of the class collectively ran tens of millions of miles, rather than in the 2010s when a single example has run 100,000?

Tom

 

So it might initially appear but I think some of relevant statistical parameters will have changed since the 1950s and that data are not comparable.

 

It is quite common not to have any specific oil feed to the front spindle bush on inside admission locos. Lubrication of the bronze bush is sufficient using the waste oil from cylinder and valves which is carried out with the exhaust steam.

 

From the Bluebell website ( .com)

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

“Due to the ongoing repairs of 60163 ‘Tornado’, sadly it will not be visiting us as planned for the 25th – 29th May. However, we are pleased to announce that 60163 ‘Tornado’ is being rescheduled to visit Bluebell Railway on 3rd – 7th August 2018. We are just finalising the details of the new visit now and will be announcing them shortly. All customers with bookings for the event in May will be contacted by our Customer Services Department as soon as possible.

However, we are pleased to announce that Paddington™ will still be visiting us on the 28th and 29th May, and that the Teddy Bear’s Picnics will still go ahead on the 26th, 28th and 29th May, with one of our own locomotives heading the trains”

 

DB Cargo issued an Initial NIR about Tornado on 10th May. The joint investigation between A1ST, DBC & Insurers has looked at: inspection of all 3 valve chests and piston valves, measurements of valve heads, spindles and valve chests. NDT of components. Testing of lubrication system.

Justification for advice:-
To advise owners, maintainers and operators of heritage steam locomotive of the importance of correct assembly and operation of steam chest components (valve head ring gap setting, liner boring/alignment and valve head machining) and correct assembly and operation of the lubrication system (lubricator internal components and regular oil supply testing).

 

I'm sure we will all find out in due course .....

 

Highlighting correct operating procedure is not the same as attributing blame. Often the procedure is highlighted to ensure all relevant parties are aware of the relevant stipulations.

 

I think the saying is: The truth will out

 

The design has not deviated that much (if at all) since 1948 and the introduction of the first A1 so I would challenge the assertion that the data collected and information known on the class since its inception “isn’t comparable”.

Failure of the middle valve gear on the Peppercorn and Thompson Pacifics were so rare as to be negligible, even when run down in the 60s.

I’m not saying they’re bomb proof but the reliability of the divided drive set up with three sets of full walschaerts gear was without equal under BR, by a long way.

The Peppercorn A1 class had the highest mileages between classified overhauls, cost the least of the inherited express passenger locomotives to operate (going by the 50s reports on the different classes) and proved their worth by some way, only being displaced and replaced by diesels on their former duties.

It is not as if the A1 Trust haven’t given up all information at every stage including diagrams and photographs? You write as if there is something more heinous at work here.

Exactly. Calmly await events?

 

I was not referring to the loco data. Tom suggested that any vulnerability to impact from an extraneous source would have been identified when the A1s were in front line service. I think it possible that changes to the operating environment since then could have made comparison with historic data difficult.

 

But to an order of magnitude there’s probably a five hundred-fold difference in total mileage run by the Peppercorn A1s during the pre-preservation period relative to what Tornado has done since being built. Collectively, it would have taken the whole class about two weeks of running to accrue the same mileage that Tornado has accrued in ten years. It would take a pretty big change in the relevant statistical parameters to make it plausible that an incipient risk of bird strike would have an effect now that hadn’t been previously detected during their time in BR service!

Tom