Bluebell Railway General Discussion

Well, it seems to steam OK ...

The oddity (it seems) relative to LNER practice is that in addition to the flap style door, it also has a baffle plate - AIUI, LNER locos with that design of door don't? So you have to be quite precise firing to the sides to avoid catching the edge of the baffle. But provided you build up the back properly, it seems to be fine on a very thin fire everywhere else. You have to be careful of a strip about a third of the way forward across the box where it tends to burn out, especially with this current hard coal - I think that probably aligns with where the ashpan reduces in depth over the rear axle causing a bit of funnelling of the air flow.

I seem to miss out on visiting LNER locos; the only one I've been on is Flying Scotsman. There's only so many turns to go round, of course.

Tom

 

That's why I suggested it was linked to his day off.

 

Oh yes they do - I've only been on a few (A1, A2, A3, A4x4, B1x2, J27, J72, K1, K4, N2, Q6, Q7 and V2) in my time and I can't recall one of them that didnt have a baffle plate in situ. The biggest problem is with a poorly fitting one that wants to fall in the fire if you try to open the big door - not that you would normally need to once you have left the shed. Perhaps your one needs a bit of trimming off the edges if it is getting in the way of firing down the sides of the box. That is not an uncommon problem.

Peter

 

Thanks Peter - I was misinformed I think the baffle itself is pretty secure, it holds on a couple of lugs on the outside so has a very precise alignment.

Overall, the loco has performed very well right from the off - something like 20 operational days in revenue traffic in addition to all the running in. We ended up missing one trip at Giants of Steam that turned out to be a trivial brake issue, but which needed some thought and a pit to diagnose - apart from that I think it has run with complete reliability in terms of delivering the days in traffic it was assigned.

Tom

 

I’ll hold my hand up and say I’m the one who provided the mis-information. In my mind I was convinced they didn’t but it is a good while since I was last on an LNER loco and Peter will have much more recent experience. My memory is obviously going.

 

Too many Mars bars does that to a man

 

I seem to remember a very pleasant afternoon on the Q6 last summer when the nice driver put me in the seat and did the shoveling himself. Its not that long ago Steve. As I recall the engine was absolutely on song that day - what a pity it fell apart next morning.

Peter

 

Having just read through the latest BN, one thing really stands out, as it gets mentioned in at least 6 separate articles- the railway DESPERATELY needs its Wickham Trolley back in service! What's required, does anybody know?

 

I believe the gearbox is broken. I’m not sure what the solution is.

Tom

 

There surely must be someone about who could rebuild a Wickhams gearbox?

 

I think the challenge of getting the right hand side is not just the baffle but a large heat shield immediately to the left of the firedoor, which makes it hard to get a good swing 'round the corner' if you see what I mean

 

Solved!

 

Yes, that was a close run thing for us. Just another 19 miles before the Q6 went bang.
As I said to Tom in a PM, it was a senior moment. I've shovelled the fire out of the Q6, J27 and other LNER locos many times and the first thing you do is remove the baffle plate so why I said to Tom they didn't have one will forever remain a mystery to me. Perhaps I was giving him the answer he wanted.

 

No harm done! In my defence, my experience of LNER locos amounts I think to one: Flying Scotsman; and for some reason I can't precisely remember the set up, probably because I didn't prepare or dispose it and it was a long time ago.

Tom

 

I have seen the Wickham at a restoration site...
Work is ongoing, mainly trying to redesign the system to hydraulic, as it is rumoured that a PW man did not understand the meaning of 'complete stop' before reversing...

 

Oh dear. At least it's being worked on, so that's something. Whoever was responsible, especially if he's read the latest BN, must feel absolutely mortified by now!

 

Having been trained on said Wickham the week before it failed, and having also seen the pictures of the failed transmission it did strike me as having some quite serious design flaws. This one arrived as part of a pair of machines, and I believe one of them broke fairly soon after acquisition with a similar failure mode.
Conversion to hydraulic drive using off-the-shelf components should help with availability in the long term.

 

Now that Bluebell has embraced the concept of diesel traction so wholeheartedly I'm surprised that so much effort is going into trying to resurrect an old Wickham trolly or two.Surely a more versatile multi purpose RRV (road rail vehicle) would be of much more use.

Peter

 

There is one - stored at the railway and owned by L&W, but the arrangement for use is mutually favourable as I understand it. https://www.lwcontractors.co.uk/case-studies/rail-plant-hire/bluebell-railway

There's also Britannia, of course! (Ducks and runs for cover ...)

Tom

 

When Timetable D is in operation do you need 2 crews for both trains? If it is one crew per train (driver, fireman guard and TTI) then that is a very long day for them. Has a 3 train service (not including dining trains and demonstration goods trains) ever been considered? There should be enough locos and carriages for a 3 train service to work.