Ebor Flyer - A1ST and Tornado: 14/04/18

Tornado has arrived at Wansford...

James

 

While its true there was a fair degree of disruption to services north, they did manage to shuffle traffic round the blockage, even the train most effected, ie directly behind the incident, manged to arrive at Edinburgh a mere 30 minutes late. and two local trains were cancelled. Mostly stuff was back on track and to time by 12:30ish. Not a bad effort by Network Rail really when your main fast gets blocked solid.

 

Amazing to see it already at Wansford on the NVR although the cause is of course very sad.

I am sure the A1 trust will be both professional, thorough but also efficient in getting Tornado back out on the mainline.

 

Oh no..

 

Some people have a cup half full, some half empty and some don't even possess a cup!

 

Finally made it onto the Beeb.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-43770175

 

One interesting point there, which is worth noting. The story was quite neutral (“had to stop at Peterborough” is getting off lightly in the mainstream press) and had a quote from Mark Allatt at the trust.

Perhaps the lesson here is that it’s worth having a strategy in place for when negative things happen. Rather than letting the story be written by others, if you put a press release out, and make people available to talk to the press, it can minimise bad publicity.

 

On another tack again the class 66 is not able to keep to the expected timings for Tornado - and from the short experience this morning of accelerating from appx 50 mpg check/tsr at Hitchin (not sure which) to crossing the 9o mph line before Biggleswade makes me think that she would have had no difficulty with the planned schedule. Perhaps on another day we will find out!

 

Well, in making the best of it, I have to say 90mph steam in the morning, and a reasonably good booze cruise around Kentish Town makes for a pretty good day out. Hopefully repairs can be arranged in quick time and investigations highlight a way forward. Godspeed to the 60163 team.

 

I'm afraid I fail to see any more positive outcome from this possible than moving on, the public hopefully forgetting about it and Tonka, some months hence, resuming its job... at 75mph.

I very much doubt 90 will happen again, and this only adds weight to the arguments made by some in the rail industry for making primary routes such as the ECML out-of-bounds to steam.

Naturally, s*** happens with service trains, and the modern rail industry is prepared to overlook it as long as it doesn't happen too often - but one of our most prestigious flagship locomotives suffering a catastrophic, violent failure on its inaugural public high-speed run, at its newly permitted maximum, will be magnified far beyond a mere diesel spillage by the authorities and the mass media. I think it's naïve to pretend otherwise. It couldn't have happened at a worse moment or place, and the PR fallout, both within the wider rail industry and for the general public, is/will be disastrous. Huge delays, thousands of narked-off passengers, TOCs due compensation (which, if I understand the situation correctly, NR has to pay?), and all caused by possibly the most serious such failure since the infamous 'Blue Peter' Durham incident (the consequences of which were so serious, and so very nearly so much worse, that I'm surprised main-line steam survived it at all).

Sorry to be so pessimistic, I'm gutted for everyone involved, and (short of serious human failings coming to light) they all have my profound sympathy, but I can only see this as a disastrous set-back. Possibly game over in some respects.

 

Dear L class (old Brighton joke), I hope with all hope you are wrong and I worry you may be right. Let’s hope RAIB’s glass is half full (though that might be out of character for that organisation). In all seriousness has there been any word from any authority??

 

Oh well, if you want to think that way, then fine. There's two arguments here- the 'let's mitigate the risk by not allowing these things to happen at all', and the 'let's see what they can do better next time'. I suspect the latter will prevail following a thorough investigation, unless wider issues are found.

 

I've heard nothing that isn't on t'interweb already. I very much hope I'm wrong too. My ultimate dream would be to ride behind an unrebuilt Merchant Navy on the SWML at 100+, but I fear today has made that an altogether more remote prospect...

 

Here is a recently uploaded video on YouTube which shows the broken part on the track in close up:


Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

 

Having viewed most of the videos uploaded so far today, is it just me or is there an audible mechanical clanking in those shot just before the failure? Could be imagining it, but...

 

I can’t see RAIB doing a full investigation. There was no injury/ death/ severe damage to rail vehicles.

I am sure DBS will raise an NIR about the defect, to alert other steam operators and owners about the issue.
The components will be subject to testing and a full report will be provided to interested parties.

ORR and NR will take a close look at everything due to the increased speed over 75mph

 

It could have happened between Welwyn and Woolmer Green or Holme and Yaxley. Even the four track section between Stevenage and Hitchin would have been worse with the Cambridge trains as well.

I thought the service recovered very well, all things considered. I make it around 400 delay mins northbound plus at least one, possibly two cancellations or part cancellations southbound. As far as I can see the worst affected train lost 50 mins. So, from that point of view obviously it's not good but important to keep in perspective. Wires down at Retford will give you a lot more delay mins than that!

 

Hope you are right. Someone will point out a large-ish lump of metal fell/flew off at 90 mpg and landed in the adjacent four foot. A containable one off unique to Tornado and some sort of defect or a reason for wider concern? Perhaps all other A1s in preservation should be stopped?? (Fingers crossed)

 

Its a prospect that was so remote it never even makes fantasy world, let alone ultimate dream!