Bluebell Motive Power

Until recently a similar system was used on the NYMR. Drivers filled in their ticket using standard mileages for different tasks. However, this is now taken from the control log. Which ever way is used, the record is fairly accurate.

 

Would it not be simpler just to attach a GPS tracker to a locomotive?

 

Or a speedo from a pushbike

 

The current system works, and the drivers have to fill in a ticket anyway (it has other reports on it as well, not just the mileage).

Tom

 

The recording of mileage is not all about distance actually run.
Shunting for example, still adds to wear and tear, especially to the reversing mechanism, even if the distance run is small. Some parts of a steam loco will be deteriorating with time in steam, regardless of distance covered. Some parts will be wearing out according to how many times a loco is prepped or disposed.
Using mileage run to get an idea of overall wear is only ever going to be an approximation.

 

Honestly considering the group working on No. 27 are going to such lengths to restore it to working order, I would have it would be a no-brainer to have them work on Stepney next, seeing as it sounds like by most accounts it'll need that similar level of work done to get it back into good order anyway. I'd hate to see Stepney forever sidelined considering it's historical significance, to the whole of the preservation movement, as well as the Bluebell Railway itself. I realize the need for an engine of it's size on the Bluebell has been significant lessened in recent years, but at the very least I reckon Stepney would make a perfect candidate for a kind of roving ambassador for the Bluebell going to other railways.

That being said 488, I do feel is equally deserving of being restored, and again it's an engine that clearly is gonna need the same level of extensive work as No. 27.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone have much an idea just what the group will do once No. 27 is finished? Or indeed if they'll actually be working on any new project at all for that matter.

 

What is simpler than a pen and paper? Cheap, too.

 

Surely that would defeat the point of installing the RO mechanisms? I thought RO was there to treat boiler water before it was added to the boiler to remove the need to add tannins and soda to the tank to treat the water once it entered the boiler?

 

Is there any idea when Birch Grove might be overhauled next or is she too knacked currently?

 

Ideally we need three medium engines (we are short of that at the moment ...). H class next; I strongly suspect the Dukedog after that, then who knows - toss up between E4, C class or potentially turn the O1 back round (which is likely to be near / at the end of its ticket by time the H class and Dukedog had been done).

Tom

 

do you know what work she need though? I imagen if its alot then it will be one of the others.

 

The E4? Not off the top of my head; fairly extensive firebox work though I suspect, given what she failed with last time. But that is increasingly par for the course.

Tom

 

Am I correct in thinkimg 473 still carries an incredibly old LBSC-built boiler?

 

Define "incredibly old". It carries a boiler with the same ID that it had in LBSC days; how much of the metal is original is another question! (Judge for yourself from this 1990s photo: http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/locos/vt/473/bn33_2_99.jpg)

There is some nicety to the ID of the boiler which I forget now. I think it might be that the boiler it now carries was the same one that was built (as a Marsh-era replacement) for the loco: after doing the rounds of boiler swaps, it ended up back on the loco before withdrawal). It isn't the original (1898) boiler, as this photo shows: (Note the dome-mounted Salter safety valves as originally built).



Tom

 

I very much doubt that RO will produce 100% pure water but it will depend on the quality of the feed water and the specification of the RO system. In any case, oxygen will be introduced into the water when the locomotive is filled, so tannin will still be required. From Wikipedia:

"Each branch of the United States armed forces has their own series of reverse osmosis water purification unit models, but they are all similar. The water is pumped from its raw source into the reverse osmosis water purification unit module, where it is treated with a polymer to initiate coagulation. Next, it is run through a multi-media filter where it undergoes primary treatment by removing turbidity. It is then pumped through a cartridge filter which is usually spiral-wound cotton. This process clarifies the water of any particles larger than 5 µm and eliminates almost all turbidity.

The clarified water is then fed through a high-pressure piston pump into a series of vessels where it is subject to reverse osmosis. The product water is free of 90.00–99.98% of the raw water's total dissolved solids and by military standards, should have no more than 1000–1500 parts per million by measure of electrical conductivity."

 

A couple of updates:

84030 - https://www.bluebell-railway.com/brps/2mt-project/#latest

34059 - https://www.bulleidsociety.org/News/Latest_News.html

Tom

 

And reminds me that I need to complete my BLUEBELL BATTLE OF BRITAIN LOCOMOTIVE GROUP 500+ CLUB 2022 application


See - https://www.bulleidsociety.org/34059/34059_500_Club.html for more details.

 

Deleted - duplicate post

 

Looks great, be nice to see Archie running as missed her in the last operational period.

Is she effectively having a full heavy general- as she must have run minimal milage last time round?

Chris

 

From what I understand from what I've been told, R.O. plants produce water of a known 'Quality', for want of a better word, which can then be 'Treated' if and as necessary. I've been told that a lot of water goes to waste.