Tornado

Does this mean divorce?....the other woman?

 

Do you do ovens as well?

 

I probably did, at (an equally grubby) Waterloo, more moons ago than I care to recall! The Mid Hants had a good old filthy-up, as a one-off special event, some years ago (de-tuned Bulleids, with all-too authentic BR trademark streak of deep grime atop the boiler) and more recently, the W&L had a distinctly scruffy Earl for a "BR-era" goods photo charter.

In the case of the latter, certainly, the W&L FB page revealed that state was rectified in very short order ..... volunteer cleaners likely needing to be kept on a leash until the second the charterists were safely off the premises! I suspect the larger unclean stud at Ropley may have taken a day or three longer to be returned to pristine condition.

Both highly atmospheric events for those 'of a certain age', but methinks clean kit preferable, any day of the week.

 

I remember I had a talk with a retired norwegian driver (of steam locomotives), currently working at the norwegian railway museum. He used to clean and polish "his" steam locomotive with diesel oil(!)
'It gives an excellent clean surface' he said.

Knut

 

We use car polish on cylinders and everything above the footplate and duck oil on wheels and frames. The smokebox is normally just given a clean with paraffin. Paraffin or oil was the usual cleaning agent in steam days, if they ever got cleaned. This is the finished job

 

Apart from the cleaning materials, clearly a lot of love lavished on that loco.

 

Always.

 

Good lord what a shiny locomotive!! Even Simon Cowells teeth pale beside this!

Knut

 

You're certain it was his teeth? Mr Cowell may merely have been tying his shoelaces.

35028 does look the part tho'. Lovely job.

 

Just want to give a massive thank you to anyone on here that was involved with Tornado today. I was on one of the driving experiences with the engine, driving it along the entire line with 6 coaches, and it was an incredible experience, recommend to anyone whatever their traction preference! Big thanks to my driver (Andy) and Fireman (Paul)

 

Coverage of the GCR's East Coast Weekend with Tornado:

 

And they're off: https://www.a1steam.com/2022/01/27/...z4f5T3bY8rWyBtuZ2J7i9GjiRCjdOOpQ4R3WaAU-9_UYw

 

No time wasted there then.

 

With the overhaul of 60163 Tornado now well and truly underway, for a little bit of fun and making some rough calculations, I decided to make another Tornado doing 100mph video to see what Tornado would be like hitting that speed, which she proudly boasts to this day in real life. I hope you enjoy the video.

 

Sounds expensive....

 

Surprised nobody has commented on the boiler in A1 Tornado, going away to Meinegen for overhaul, as the first of the 2 replacements has been delayed during Covid.

The time to overhaul the existing is shorter than the timeline for the new boiler, so they have made a sensible decision to overhaul #1.

#2 into the P2, and i suggest #3, required as and when in the future, saving cash in the short term???

News - The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust

 

It takes the pressure off Meinegen to complete #3 too, of course, which may well help them.

As long as nothing untoward is found when #1 is opened up, of course...

But in any case, it's another smart decision by the A1 Trust.

Funny, isn't it - we still refer to Tornado as a new-build, but here we are with her now undergoing her second full overhaul. Tempus fugit...

 

Tornado has now been in service longer than the original Peppercorn A1s were

 

Not quite, although so far it's true that it's lasted longer than one of them.

It's been in service for something like 13 years and 6 months (this week) since it was out-shopped from Darlington to the GCR on 19th August 2008. That's longer than the life of one A1 in BR service, No 60153 Flamboyant, which was in service for only 13 years 2 months and one week from August 1949 to November 1962, but so far that's the only one that Tornado has beaten.

The second-shortest life for a BR A1 was No 60123 HA Ivatt at 13 years 7 months and 3 weeks, which was withdrawn in October 1962 following a crash the month before. This was the first of the class to be withdrawn. 60163 will be beating that one soon.

60145 was the longest-serving, at a couple of days short of 17 years 3 months.

I've not done the sums, but the average life of that teenage class looks to have been over 15 years, maybe even over 16. I'll be having a look at that.

EDIT. I've just done those sums. The average lifespan of the 48 Peppercorn A1s was 15 years 10 months and 21 days, so Tornado's got a couple of years to go to meet that.

 

Indeed. I took my then 3 year old son to Loughborough when he was starting at nursery school. Now he's looking at university choices, I definitely don't think of him as a new build...