Tornado

I am the wrong person to be commenting on this, tbh, but I do know it is correct to say that the metal we use today does not have the same makeup as that used in the boilers originally. Our CE can describe this better and I would prefer to defer to him.

 

Sounds like you've been having the same conversations regarding boiler plate as we have.

 

But what timescales are we talking about, hasn't this been known about for years?

 

Probably very similar!

Yes and no, I think a few changes to the requirements for water treatment in London in particular have caught a few by surprise, ourselves included most likely. As I say, I am not best placed to make comments on it and would prefer to defer.

 

That prompted me to see what they are saying on the news page, which took me to
https://www.a1steam.com/tornado/news/tornado-details/september-etcs-update
where I read "The tender electrical systems are now nearly complete. All the locker and gauge lighting is in place and working, and the GPS tracker has been wired up and tested. Only the wiring to the front piston valves, brake strainer and underframe lighting is left to add."

Tornado, like most steam locos built in the last hundred years, does have piston valves, but not front or back ones, so I am wondering what that sentence refers to.

 

The sentence appears to be talking about tender systems, so would these pistons be part of the braking arrangements on the tender, and not the piston valves that are part of the valve gear on the locomotive?

 

Presumably yes, but I'd still like to know what they are.

 

Might they be parts of the air braking system, isn't the engine and tender air braked? and operates in air braked mode when not working stock, ?

 

Could it be poor wording and refer to solenoid valves to operate the brakes from the ETCS kit?
Pat

 

Roger Ford's Third Law?

 

I love those. Take out the one instance of the word "railways" and they're broadly applicable across the engineering world.

 

I think the most accurate thing that can be said is going to be, " It will be ready, when its ready,

 

I call that the 'Religious Holiday Syndrome'.

I used to have a regional boss who was a lay preacher, and not at all well versed in engineering.

He would set deadlines for particular major projects that weren't based on the engineering progress at the time, or what was a reasonable date if we all got our skates on internally, and the people who were totally outside our control, such as local authority planning departments (good luck with that lot) also became unusually productive.

His deadlines for projects tended to be 'This one had to be ready for the next stage by Easter' or 'That one must be complete by Christmas'. They never were, and rarely could be for a thousand practical reasons, but that was beside the point in his view.

 

The important point being missed is that there is no mention of which Easter/Christmas, remember that we have one every year.

 

The Tornado Telegraph, received today, suggests that all is proceeding well and the boiler is back in the frames. A little bit of snagging but apparently to be expected. How does this fit with the rumour mill from a week or so ago

 

Indeed...work to be done, still,. ...strange a few days ago on here several were saying otherwise..."boiler doesn't fit"..."Boiler material..welding....measured wrong" et al. Some folk have vivid imaginations. It looks superb BTW.....

 

Can I just say, I'm happy that everything appears to be well, and progressing,
Someone did suggest to me that there was some internal distortion found, possibly related to cooling and heating cycles, and that may lead to concerns about the material over the longer term, how modern materials differ to the specs they replaced, It seems they may have been mistaken,

 

It is nothing to do with religion, it is most companies desire to set targets, or often set by people on themselves or bosses just thinking you are taking too long. Religious festivals, just happen to be convenient dates that do not move (Easter accepted never have gotten that one).
Worst example I experienced, although there were many, was when we were selling off two of our workshops to two different companies along with all the staff. The target became "must have it done by Christmas" (convenient date, most people off for the week after). So in the week before Christmas many late nights & trips to our London lawyers, culminating in a whole day and night for me and two whole days and night for my boss. He was so exhausted at one stage he had to go and sleep on the floor under a table in a conference room (bonkers). I just remember 04:30 in the morning dead beat watching the snow fall and a lamppost outside the window moving in the wind. And also the fact there there were so many others in the legal offices in the small hours doing exactly the same thing.
Of course we never did "have it signed by Christmas", both were the end of January.