West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Just like a modern F1 car that needs the tight tolerances eased by warming prior to starting. I have to say that sight of the Maybach V16 in the Williton shed during the gala was most impressive.

 

It was for this reason that the NB Type 2s were used initially on the S&D demolition trains. Once the connection at Templecombe was severed in May 67 the trains operated out of Bristol and the loco spent the night out at the railhead, returning with a loaded train the next day. This crossed the empty working at Evercreech Junction each day. The much despised NB locos were at least "cold starters" and thus more likely to reliably start after a night out in the wilds of North Dorset. Once Evercreech became the railhead in Nov 67 the working became an out and back in a day operation and Hymeks were used from then on.

Peter James

 

I believe all the hydraulics do. Certainly the Western Diesels fire up the Watchman heater for 40 minutes or more, depending on the outside air temperature, before turning the beast over.

 

P. S. On the Severn Valley, we've even installed a water heater on the Ruston 165hp shunters to help them start in the cold. (It's basically an immersion heater element plumbed into the water coolant flow that you can plug into the mains the night before you want the engine. It makes a world of difference to starting them)

 

Steve

 

I remember cold starting Balmorals original engines after winter lay up. There was no heating arrangements and it was very cold. It took a lot of compressed air and fuel - and was quite spectacular as the cylinder safety valves blew.

Do Sulzer & English Electric powered locos have a heater as well?

 

Any idea what loco is on the 14:00 dep from blue anchor onbank holiday Monday

 

There isn't a 1400 departure from Blue Anchor on Bank Holiday Monday in either direction! We are running the orange timetable on that day.

 

Next week ( Tues 29th onwards ) the WSR plan on replacing the DMU with a steam service.
It will be the 4F and 3 coaches (very Somerset and Dorset) .

 

KEN MATTHEWS

To all staff and regular WSR passengers.

Sadly Ken died in Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton on Friday March 18th with Doreen at his bedside.
Passengers and staff who were on the Railway on Sundays will have been familiar with Ken and Doreen as the regular buffet crew on the 10.15 diagram from Minehead. Throughout the day Doreen looked after the counter side whilst Ken would load up a tray with mugs, sandwiches and any items that he thought might be heading towards sell-by date and made his way through the train. On one famous occasion when a failed diesel loco meant that a train was due to be delayed at Blue Anchor Ken set off down the seafront with a tray and went selling to some rather surprised fishermen.

As might be expected Ken’s background was as a salesman. In recent years a long standing connection with southern Africa saw Ken and Doreen establish an orphanage in Namibia and much work went into fund-raising for that very worthy cause.

 

There was a post on WSR official website regarding trip from minehead to blue anchor for 50p as it's 40 years since the first train. This has disappeared now?

 

It can't be running now, as there is no mention of it in the Ops Notice sent out to staff today.

 

Shame, we were planning to visit for that. Will go didcot railway centre instead.

 

Well, you'll be missing 7828, 53808, 53809 and 44422 double-heading the 1525 from Minehead!

 

Neither Designs had heaters as original fit for UK Locos. A Sulzer in good condition will happily start in sub zero temperatures but the EE do not like cold weather. Our 33 is happily ticking over on all cylinders and smoke free after 4 mins in -5C whereas the 37 we had needed to be taken down the line to be started to avoid fogging out the town for 30mins in white smoke. Have a look on you tube for class 37s/40s cold start etc. The inline EE such as in DEMUs is a bit better but will still reignite its unburnt white vaporized fuel as a spout of flame from the exhaust in winter.

Same difference in Shunters, the Blackstone engine in class 10 starts in sub zero and clears its exhaust almost at once - try that with an 08 or 09

Paxmans were another design that was difficult to start when cold if they started at all.

Standby Power engines nearly always are preheated regardless of design as you want the engine to start and develop near rated power in less than a minute so the block needs to be at near working temperatures to avoid thermal stress. I had 30MW of diesels as standby reserve and they were all kept at 80C 27/7/365 days a year when not actually on line.

Locos including Sulzers in Eastern Europe all have preheat but they operate in temperatures well below what we experience here in the UK.

Brian

 

On any other railway that would be advertised as a gala.

A visit to the WSR or Didcot Railway Centre? Not a big decision. <BJ>

 

It's been described as a "Fowler Fest"
http://www.wsr.org.uk/news.htm

Steve

 

A gloriously sunny West Somerset morning this morning. I trust you will all be visiting over Easter - this might be the best day for weather but the station fires will be lit for a warm welcome on the other days of the holiday and the Spring flowers are out in force now as seen in this pic from yesterday...

Robin

 

A very long time since I've visited, I really must make the time somehow.

Won't be this weekend though as I am in Rolvenden Monday 09:25-19:10, and being my first RN duty since the latest signalling updates I shall have to book on early to read the box special instructions carefully.

 

Allo Robin Got A New Motor?