SVR General Discussion

Perhaps they do, but I expect most fires do not take hold until a train travelling at 25mph is some way past the scene

Jon

 

Having been out on the line today from 1000-1815 I’ve witnessed no delays or signs of any fires ,but did hear about the ban late afternoon.

 

There were 2 in the afternoon. One at Tenbury wall and one at Dropping wells farm. The driver on 1501 commented he has seen more lumps in a lidl curry compared to the coal he had in the bunker. Just, dust.

 

The fact the fire brigade were called out twice yesterday would indicate some of the fires were beyond the ability of the crews with fire beaters.

 

Unlikely that the crew of the loco starting the fire will see it. It’s usually the crew of the next train who can stop at the spot. However, by the time they get there the fire can be well and truly alight.

 

A previous (volunteer) fire officer actually had most (if not) of the fire beaters removed as he was of the opinion SVR crews should use them.

 

Wrong to like that but it’s very true.

 

In addition to not much rain, there's a lot of dry vegetation to catch and the coal that railway has at the moment is very prone to sparks.
The SVR isn't exactly in the fire service's good book at the moment.

 

I have the photos from my Father regarding the coal, volatile is a bit of an understatement.

 

Certainly, you want a surprising number of different things in coal to burn in a locomotive fire box. What went on essentially was that it was choice selected stuff: selected out of a lot more for ash content, clinkering, sparkiness, friable to dust or not, burning well but not burning so hot the firebars failed, the right size, how reliably available at what price? Now there just are not the quantities on hand any more to choose from.

There are ways of working round on the railway going without one or two of the desirables but it gets increasingly difficult as more and more going missing. At least you want a good understanding on the footplate fireman and driver - you can cool a fire by allowing too much air under it - and dampers well maintained, well fitting, readily adjustable. (A rocking grate and a hopper ash pan do no harm.)

Bigger work rounds:

Various new fuels: typically as briquettes - eg "yellow coal" essentially the press cake you get now which is now pretty suitable to fire with whether because it now squeezed
so hard that that it is beyond livestock digesting it, or more oil out means less nourishment left or just that there is cheap plenty of it. These are yet to settle down.

Blending different fuels - different coals whether washed or washed out fines, different things into briquettes, or on the engine slack and logs is a classic in coal shortages.

The Gas Producer Firebox which you can break down into its component effects:
Steam into the ash pan under the absorbs heat in the fire but not to putting it out in the "water gas reaction" reaction basically heat absorbed splitting the water into Hydrogen and Oxygen both as gas. The lower fire bed temperature means that you can use coal that would clinker were it hotter. The gases produced burn very well above the fire bed and to ensure that's where they burn you severely limit the air through the fire bed. With less air drawn through the fire bed various smalls or fines that would drawn right off the gate and straight through the tubes into the smokebox never lift at all - so more of the fuel burnt in the fire and less fire throwing. The gas over the fire bed burns producing radiant heat - as you would get from a yellow/white hot fire - which both gives excellent heat transfer to the metal of the inner box and means any fines that do lift off the fire bed are much likelier to burn above it. You do need air into the firebox above the grate. The various beneficial effects all pull together and undoubtably it works but it seems where it has been used to have usually become discontinued. The exception is the Whistlestop Valley Railway formerly the Kirklees Light Railway but still uphill from Claydon West and still with steam under the grate on a variety of locomotives - see the old site: www.martynbane.co.uk

 

Any ideas what was named today?

 

43366 and 66799. No idea what the names are at present though, but the staging in front of the shed has GBRf and Modern Railways magazine logos on it, and the HST was on a MR sponsored railtour, so that's probably a clue.

 

Reported on Twitter as:
66799 - Modern Railways Diamond Jubilee
43366 - HST40 (with "Celebrating 40 years of High Speed Train services on the Cross Country network") in smaller font below the name

 

Cheers people.

 

Modern names, not exactly on a par with the likes of Mallard, King Edward II, 92 Squadron etc are they.

 

Indeed. But commemorative names also have their place.

 

Maybe not to your liking but it’s nice to be able to commerate things. Especially when it’s people involved with what you do.

DB have used names on their locos to honour the likes of Messers Gimbert and Nightall, possibly of no significant reasons to mean anything to anyone unless you live down the road from me.
Then there’s those who fly in Chinooks and are very well recognised on 66723’s nameplate…

In all seriousness I’ve gone through my latest platform 5 and there are some decent names around, intertwined with some names to massage customer relations.
If you want sensible names you could hardly say letting 43051 carry its nameplate around for at least 6 years after the Duke and Duchess of York were divorced was a sensible name could you?

 

And what, pray, is the matter with "Heinz 57 Varieties" if that's what a loco hauls?

I'm glad that (a worthy commemoration of Alan Meaden aside), the Corris have stuck with established company tradition.