35018 British India Line

I get that completely, just as I would love to see 60007/9 together at KX.

Oddly enough, the first MN I ever saw was at Carnforth in May 1964 (I think)...35012 came over from the Leeds direction on a special, turned on the shed then headed for Carlisle over Shap. We young spotters were very impressed!

 

I look forward to hopefully getting a chance to see or ride behind it should it come down south. Hopefully that steam issue will get fully sorted soon and we can look forward to hopefully having 2 reliable Merchants on the mainline.

 

35018 listed as possibly hauling RYTC's Scotsman from York to Carlisle on 20th April

 

This is Day 2 of GB XI being advertised as a single day tour, which has for a while been advertised as 35018 over the S&C then the 2 Jubilee's from Carlisle onwards.

 

Wind assisted, I believe.

 

I venture, a good, stiff Southerly blowing the cobwebs off the fells. Looking forward to a repeat in future.

 

Without incurring the wrath of @IamDaniel, is anyone able to say what they understand the current status of 35018 is ie more testing or now released to traffic?

 

Looking forward to a trip or two... hopefully not too far off now

 

The mobile cloud takes a train . . . . not much hope of the fireman helping the driver spotting signals!
(NOT MY VIDEO - others available on Youtube)

 

Almost sounds like it's missing a beat, as well as leaking steam badly. If it was Scotsman everyone would be complaining about conjugated valve gear.

 

Surely its a cloaking device to spoil photographers pleasure ......... ?
Seriously though, not wise to send it out with that leak unfixed, from a safety perspective. Its hard enough to see forwards from a large boilered loco without avoidable further degradation of sight. If it occurs on the road, fair enough, you have to cope but as @BigAl said, choosing to run it like that could be asking for trouble, just bizarre. Can't think of another occasion in recent memory of a loco turned out with such a prominent fault for a mainline trip.

 

That signal looks like it was designed by Apple!

 

Seriously though, that leak is not going away, and as others have said it could make the job of sighting lights on the fireman's side a problem, I'm assuming the fitters at Carnforth are doing everything they can to effect an permanent solution ,i wonder if Derby 1 can offer an insite to why this leak is so perstistant ?

 

The leak is spoiling what is a magnificent achievement by all the folk who have had a hand in bringing it back to life. I feel sure the Carnforth men will sort it eventually. There are always 'teething problems' on any major job, but the leak seems to be very elusive.

 

Presumably work has been done between each run to date, with confidence that the leak will be cured next time out?
The LHS seems tight enough so the technique used on that side must sound?

 

Not sure which is worse the steam leak from the loco or the hot air from the keyboards.
Surprised it's allowed been allowed out before 26D and Martin 1656 have signed off its paperwork.

 

Driving (and firing) on a locomotive with a significant steam leak is a total pain in the . . . s, I've been there got the T shirt however my experience was only up to 25mph, I pity those that have to put up with it at the higher speeds on the national network. Whilst you may think its a load of hot air, some us do have genuine safety concerns.

 

+1 from me and ditto your comments. It wouldn't have left shed with that fault in my time as a driver and that was only 25mph heritage line too. That may represent excessive caution on my part but I was taught to treat the daily fitness to run exam with extreme diligence because you carry the can if things go wrong.

 

I'm not making a case for the right or wrong of it because a leak is not optimal, but I would think there are more sets of eyes on these tours than just driver and fireman?