60009 The Talisman: 15/9/18

I really should have been on this but just not possible this weekend

 

A great day out with with 60009 yesterday - an A4 on home turf from the Cross to Newcastle. Thanks to those who filmed it - it filled the gap that as a traveller on the train I didn't get to see.
I had the opportunity to speak to John Cameron at Newcastle who seemed to have had a great time on the footplate.
It's a shame the engine will end up in a museum next year but his decision - and thanks for the many opportunities to see and ride behind it over the years.

 

Thank to all involved for a Very Good day

 

It all certainly made a great day-early birthday present for me, I can tell you...

 

Yes, but Deltics do not compare with A4's. An A4 holds the world records for steam speed. A Deltic doesn't hold any world records as far as I know. That said, each to his own. There seems to be a following for Deltic. But it is a diesel for goodness sake!

 

Great to see and film two locomotives which ruled the roost on the ECML for many years. One slight disappointment was that neither train carried the Talisman headboard.
As a relatively young lad I remember The Talisman as one of the charismatic named trains on the east coast route, along with The Elizabethan, The Fair Maid and, of course, The Flying Scotsman, and would have loved to have seen 60009 carrying the Talisman headboard.
The Bon Accord?? Presumably John Cameron’s choice and it’s his loco so fair enough.

 

55009 sported a 1A06 headcode. I wonder if that was the Talisman.

 

No.9 was often seen with a Bon Accord headboard in early preservation at Lochty

https://www.flickr.com/photos/29644579@N07/8475614683

 

That's the way a Streak should look. Clean, but not too clean.

 

1A06 was indeed the head-code of the Talisman - more specifically the Down Morning Talisman, departing KGX around 8.05/ 8.10 am in the Deltic era. Scroll down a little way through the Eastern Region segment of the following "Named Trains"site.......

http://www.davidheyscollection.com/page39.htm

.....and you will see a nice image of D9009 sporting this head-code on the Morning Talisman while passing the now-closed box at Shaftholme Junction north of Doncaster.

Hope you find this, and for that matter the contents of this website, interesting

 

As somebody too young to see steam on the mainline in the 60's, the Deltic resonates more with me than an A4, at least I saw them in squadron service.

I agree the A4, is some piece of kit, in terms of engineering, the Deltic is more than its match, geared to get express trains up to 100mph, quickly, twin engine, to get you home, in case of a problem, a maintenance menace, maybe, but so was any steam loco.

Would never get close to 125mph, unless geared accordingly, and 100mph running was the remit at design.

As you say, each to their own....

 

Nice video, must have been lively on the footplate as she is wiggling about a fair bit!

 

Its the NOISE, the blessed noise. Those twin Napiers on full howling thrum are almost primeval in sound.

And the "burned oil" smell ain't bad either

 

When Deltics were introduced did they not have a better power-to-weight ratio than anything else on rails apart from electric locos?

 

Deltics are awesome IMO. I class them as honorary steam locos.

 

Short answer. No. Chapelon compounds produced 40ihp per ton of locomotive weight. A Deltic weighs? Well 99 tons according to sources, though there will be some variation I suspect. I'll leave it at that.

 

Yes Deltics were fine machines. My own max was 106 mph at Otherington with a late running 1010 Edinbugh to KX in August 1966. 14 on for 550 tons

 

Would never get close to 125 mph?

A number of drivers and second men found that the speedo needle on a Deltic stops a little after the 120 mph mark - at or close to 125 mph.

If you need an example, get a copy of Railway World March 1997. After suppressing the run for nearly 20 years, John Heaton devotes two pages to it. He knew the gentleman who timed it. It was the last run of a sporting Gateshead driver. The load was 10 and 125mph was claimed going down Stoke bank.

I have heard first hand of the speedo hitting the limit and I have seen other competently timed and credible 120 mph runs. My best was 112 mph on load 8, but that was all the driver was prepared to do on the flat that day; he wasn't interested in doing something spectacular going downgrade.... D9000 did 113 mph in the preservation era for Virgin Trains and I've had 111 mph on a charter with 12 on.

 

Taken from Wikipedia;
"The ultimate Deltic performance came on 2 February 1978 with a run on the 07:25 from Newcastle to King's Cross. In some respects the run was set up (the driver was about to retire) but the speeds were record breaking. The locomotive was 55 008 The Green Howards, it was hauling 10 coaches (343 tons gross), and on the leg from York to London it achieved a timing of 137 min 15 sec. This included various signal stops and other enforced speed reductions; the net time is estimated at 115 min 45 sec, an average of 97 mph start to stop. The train achieved 113 mph on the flat between Darlington and York, 114 mph at Offord and 125 mph whilst descending Stoke bank."