D9009 Alycidon

Very clean exhaust under load up shap.

 

Brilliant. Thank you for posting.

 

For years from 1964 I could see them almost daily and from 1973 to 1978 I could hear their wonderful roar on night trains as I lay in bed. I loved the Deltics, a thing that couldn't be said about most diesels of the time. They used to push out a fair bit of blue when pulling away from a station or a signal stop, but I don't recall seeing as much blue or white exhaust as I have on some of the preserved Deltics I've seen running in more recent years. Once they were up to speed I don't remember their exhaust looking much different to other diesel-electric main line locos of the era, a bit of slight bluish haze that you didn't see with the EEs or Brushes, but no clouds of white and no trail of exhaust behind the loco. The first time I saw the dense exhaust being pushed out by a deltic after a good number of years away from the scene I was surprised at how much visible exhaust was being pushed out.

Fair enough, this shot of D9009 in 2012 on The Elizabethan is shot against the sky, but this is more how I remember Deltics looking in their prime, at speed with no visible exhaust. When I saw it again in 2016 I was surprised at how much stife it was pushing out, when I could see the exhaust literally a mile away. I thought something was wrong!

EDIT: I don't have many photos of diesels from the 60s. Steam was vanishing and after August 1968, so did I. Film was expensive and slide film even more so and also very slow (ISO 64), so shutter speeds were slow too. I've dug out this shot of a Deltic southbound at Longhirst Station in 1967, late July/early August. From the size of the nameplate it's a Finsbury loco. I've lost the details, but I think it's Tulyar from memory. It's going at speed, passing the Longhirst 'Prize Length' sign on the hut and there's that slight haze further back.

 

Excellent post Alan,I think its the Cambois air that makes them clag!

 

Personally, I would blame all the crap being put into the diesel fuel....

 

Last time I saw something coming out of North Blyth looking like that, it was an Ivatt 4MT on a rake of coal wagons! Never ever saw a diesel putting that stuff out in the old days.

 

I put together a slideshow of my Deltic photos from the 60s to 80s
Maybe of interest:

 

Thanks. Just like I recall. Very nice set.

 

Too much veg oil and not enough cetaine, less bang for your buck requires more pedal to the metal, more exhaust. There is an argument that you can put less paraffinic lube oil (smoke generator) in the fuel if it has some vegoil, but the latter gums and makes more smoke if combustion is incomplete, and smells like a bad chippy well in need of some fresh frying oil! Stick to paraffinic.

 

Just turned the volume up full and wallowed, the wife shouted afterwards "a Deltic I take it?" Very knowledgeable lady on railway matters! Thanks for sharing wonderful stuff!

 

Was on that trip!!!
Halted at Hitchin i think on way up, after and exhaust fire, a common problem, and one that has recently been resolved with exhaust drains.
Tootling about at low throttle settings does them no good, as oil residue build up in the collector drums, and eventually combusts.
I think 9009 has had either new or refurbished drums, hence the clean exhaust at full throttle.
That is where they are meant to be, for extended periods, hence the clean emmision.

 

Am I imagining it or is she running on one engine only? Exhaust seemed to only be coming from the left hand side?

Simon

 

A it of good news from the DPS, https://www.thedps.co.uk/blog
A lot of hard work has gone into getting #9 fit again and we enthusiasts are grateful to all involved. Here's to 100mph on the ECML.

 

One problem with Deltic was the exhaust 'pong' penetrating the coaches on the overnight sleeping car trains. They couldn't eliminate it so did the next best, viz, an additive to make it smell more pleasant. This done by way of the additive being in Redex-Type pump-container (remember them - 1d per shot of this with your petrol for upper cylinder lubrication?) from which a proportional amount was added to the fuel tanks on filling. They certainly had them at the Kings Cross station depot, and I expect at Edinburgh too. Incidentally, London to Edinburgh with a Deltic used some 600 gallons of fuel.

 

#9 is out and about today, https://www.pathfindertours.co.uk/events/the-capital-deltic-reprise/
So far so good, running well.

 

That's an almighty shove from 47826 on the back! I know the tour is running late but a Deltic on two engines doesn't really need that much assistance.

 

I heard but didn’t see the tour as it went through Grantham; the Deltic was definitely the quiet loco


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55009 Drops down Stoke Bank this morning .

 

Victor's pacemaker will start four stroking if he sees that....

 

D9009 being heavily assisted away from Hitchin this afternoon. Luckily being stuck behind a stopper from Cambridge meant I managed to beat it from Meldreth and actually get a shot of it in sun.