P2 Locomotive Company and related matters

It was the signaller not reading his daily notices to give us the green back onto the main line at Morpeth as soon as we entered the loop for the water stop hence we were held up by the Edinburgh stopper.
60163 would have comfortably beaten the Jag without the need for 90mph.
Still Top Gear was a car programme and it was one hell of a day!

 

Thanks for that - grabbed with get_iplayer

 

ITV were also at the works last weekend:

http://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2...ound-project-to-bring-p2-mikado-back-to-life/

Foxy

 

Complete with the usual media clichés / howlers.

 

Be fair, they have a 2/3 minute bulletin to get the story across, if you want an in depth review of the P2's and their history I'm sure James May and BBC4 will have the in depth hour or so documentary you desire in a few years time! Look at this way, it's a decent bit of publicity for a group who forced large slice's of humble pie down quite a few doubting Thomas's throats! Fair play to the A1 trust they know how use the media!

 

They certainly do, it was even on Look East as they are having a road show in Peterborough on February 14. The only howler was referring to it a a P2 train.

 

That's a bit harsh, I thought it was a pretty good piece.

Tom

 

The guys who do these pieces for fill in's are under strict time pressures, I know, they have done a couple of interviews with me at late notice for a project I am involved with.

The pieces are normally unscripted, they are on site for 15-20 mins max, the reporter who has no real prior knowledge, is expected to become an expert immediately, the tape is then pulled together in the cutting room into a piece for transmission.

A everyone says, any publicity towards the general public, is great, and it is free of course.

 

And it was on national television too, how much would that have cost as an advertisement?

 

The headline was the old cliché: "Full Steam Ahead". They then referred to: "....to bring one of Britain's most powerful passenger steam locomotives back to life" as though it was an existing locomotive being rebuilt. We then had: "Only six Mikados were ever built in Doncaster in the 1930s before being rebuilt and scrapped in 1961 - before being scrapped". Nonsensical language which can only leave puzzled those who don't know the history of their rebuilding as Pacifics before eventual scrapping. If Mark Allat was quoted correctly he didn't really help matters by saying "having eight wheels was unique". Finally it gives the impression that "Mikado" is the name of the class instead of its just being the popular word for the wheel arrangement. In my experience people who are skilled in one discipline can understand the basics of another one quite readily but press and television reporters seem able to say things that do not, on reflection, make sense. We all know how they seem often unable to distinguish between a train and a locomotive. Yes, it was good free publicity but the great British television watching public would still be left a little confused.

 

Have you asked them?

 

From my experience, I'd say that most of the great British television-viewing public probably wouldn't give a monkey's... Most people at best will be blissfully ignorant of railway terminology and history, and be disinclined to learn about it (or anything else of an informative nature) in any detail before switching channels to watch such masterpieces for the brain-dead as the glut of z-list reality shows and get-rich-quick DIY crap.
TV and radio reports contain news of "train stations" on an almost daily basis - They seem to be trying to alter railway terminology and making their version acceptable in some ill-informed way. Same with the railway industry... What happened to the good old days of Permanent Way and Signalmen? We now have a world of infrastructure and signallers... all gobbledygook to me I'm afraid!

Richard.

 

No, this is just part of the BBC's daily efforts to Americanise the English language. Pin back your ear holes they are at it all the time. Listen for hunkering down" and "airplane" which are currently in vogue.

 

I think James May said after the episode aired that he only beat Tornado by about 10 minutes.

 

Getting back to the subject in hand, the latest WS update shows the final frame stay going into place - it took Tornado nearly eight years to get to this stage and even then the tender frames hadn't been started..... let alone the cab and smokebox.....

https://www.p2steam.com/2017/01/31/frames-fully-stayed/



Foxy

 

Really impressive work, but no surprise really, they seem a well drilled, well led team doing the job.

Look forward to more updates shortly.

 

No surprises really - possibly the most well oiled machine (That's the A1 Trust I mean) in preservation in terms of GSD (get stuff done).

The A1 proved it could be done, the P2 is breaking new ground in the design and manufacturing more so. The increased speed of manufacture is a combination of reputation leading to increased donation and standardization with Tornado's design.

On wheels by the end of this spring? Totally possible. I look forward to seeing it in the flesh.

 

Don't know, the outset was 20 years ago.
Expect NR will see her as any other 8p, On paper she is almost identical to Blue Peter , Similar to a Duchess. Whether these locos, together with perhaps Tornado and Duke of Gloucester, might be considered 1 coach better than say a King/Princess/ A4 or even Merchant Navy is likely to spark a lively debate...

 

While not wanting to be in the firing line for any of that debate, I might suggest that the P2 has one significant advantage over all of the above, namely weight on coupled axles; I'd guess it must be around 80 tons. So it's less likely to get stuck at slow speed by slipping to a stand, like the recent incident with 6233 and a flyover. Whether it will be capable of more drawbar power in the 30-75mph range is a different matter entirely and much harder to call, but just as important for how well it times trains on the faster main lines.