Swanage Railway General Discussion

One of the crane's has appeared in Swanage so I am guessing the work on New Barn Bridge may be imminent.

 

Noticed this on Friday at Norden Gates on the way to some nice lady sticking a needle in my arm.
I think it is new (I do not have a picture to hand but there may have been an old one there before) and it is also slightly at divergence with the gradient profile I have for the line which the railway published in a gala programme.

 

There is a great video on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=765265827459004

 

I believe that the work to replace the waybeams at New Barn bridge is due to take place today, hard to believe that i was at the controls of the same crane(FBC1) replacing cross girders ans installing the new waybeams 36 years ago! Hope the gang out there today take a moment to spare a thought for us pioneers from those early days, especially those who are sadly no longer with us . Wish i was with you all there today and at the controls of FBC1 again, Cheers all, Bish.

 

Thank you Colin. I too was on that train, what a memory! I will never forget the look on the faces of passengers waiting at Earlsfield as went past on the fast line. They had seen Clan Line 4 to 5 minutes before and then this train following. Total astonishment!

 

maybe what you hoped for?

Which platforms at Waterloo are they at?

 

And if I recall lunch at the Square on the odd occasion.....
2/3 pile out of the front of an ex PO van and grockles heard to say "OMG they let workman here"....with that 4/5 get out of the back.....Happy days

 

Platforms 14 & 15

 

My dad took this one of the U from the bridge yesterday. Interesting initials on the gauge.

 

Well it looks like a GWR loco at the moment with absolutely no protection from the elements for the crew...

 

From the way the gauge cocks are set, I am guessing it is a hydraulic pressure gauge.

Tom

 

Well I hope they aren't planning to steam it at that sort of pressure.

 

Something that's just occurred to me and I'm curious to know the answer to - I have it in my head that the U is right hand drive but that some Us were built left hand drive, and the same was true for the Ns (no idea where I got this idea from so could be nonsense) - is the N the 'correct' hand drive for an easy boiler swap onto the U? Or if it wasn't, how complicated is it to convert a boiler regulator from right hand drive to left hand drive (or vice versa?)

 

Six times the working pressure plus 5psi isn't it?

Tom

 

True

True

True

Cant remember either but I think the earlier SECR batches were RHD and later SR ones LHD

N 31874 is also RHD

The boiler is the same. They are symmetrical. The regulator is double handled so can be worked from both sides of the cab. Not sure if they go the other way on a LHD. Maybe someone from the Bluebell can tell us. RHD U goes anti-clock to open.

 

It's a good question, I've never thought about it before. On the Bluebell, 1638 is RHD and 1638 is LHD.

AFAIK, on the LHD locos, the regulator opens clockwise, i.e. lift to open. That means the regulator linkage must be reversed inside the boiler, but I've never seen inside to look closely.

A couple of photos:

RHD
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SR_U-Class_at_Horstead_Keynes_(cab)_(9131804004).jpg

LHD
https://davidheyscollection-static.myshopblocks.com/images/cm/27efd080ae49e28d088de953906e04d8.jpg

There are a couple of obvious differences on those boilers: notably that the steam heat control valve is on the fireman's side and the blower on the driver's side - so they swap over on the two boilers. They come through boiler mountings on the same side, but if you wanted to swap a boiler from RHD to LHD, you would have a bit of internal rearrangement to do within the same basic physical structure.

(Incidentally, as a bit of an aside - the Q class is LHD, but the tender currently with No. 541 is originally from an RHD loco - so the handbrake is on the wrong side, i.e. it is on the driver's side).

Tom

 

Swapping the linkage in the dome to work the valve in the opposite direction is easy. The additional problem will be with the regulator handle which on these locos is handed.

 

Ambidextrous?

Simon

 

I hate to correct you Tom but I'm sure that both 1618 and 1638 are RHD. Indeed as far as I know all the Us were RHD as were all the Ns except for the last few of the final batch, Nos 1400 - 1414. Of these , certainly 1400 to 1405 were RHD and at least 1408 to 1414 were LHD. With quite regular tender swaps over the years on the Southern it was quite common for locos to receive wrong handed tenders as you have with 541.

That's my understanding, but I'm happy to be corrected

Peter

 

I think you're right - for some reason I had it in my mind that they were opposite ways round, but looking at photos of 1618 (a loco I last saw about 500 years ago, it seems ...) the reverser reach rod is on the right hand side. Mea culpa.

Tom