Tornado

Has vanished from their website so maybe it already has been?! Pathfinder's cancellations have been off the scale this year.

 

Personally, I doubt you'll see them this year.

Can't imagine West Coast have the amount of engines it needs to run these air braked services of their own, Pathfinder and RYTC programmes, to spare Tornado with a rake of coaches plus diesel to commit to Aberdonians this summer.

I imagine Eddystone will ease the strain on the available air braked locomotive fleet somewhat, but it would be silly to include it in plans until a test run is undertaken at this point.

 

AFAIK the support coach for Eddystone is still being fitted out in Herston Works, although I guess WCRC may have a "spare" in their Mk1 "strategic reserve" at Carnforth.

 

Tornado seems to have been performing without problems since its reintroduction to the main line. Hopefully that will lead to it being let out on its own for some tours. It was not being pushed when I saw it passing through Lincolnshire on the GBXVII.

 

Using which stock to achieve that?

 

WCR have three genny vehicles - 17105, 6310, and 6312.

 

It seems as if Tornado has been working hard regularly since the overhaul was completed without any issues. Where have all the people gone who were being critical of the A1 Steam Trust and their management.

 

As keen observer, it is good to see all the hard work pay off with a reliable (touch wood) machine so far. Also a tad amusing to see how quiet this thread has become since it mainline ops resumed.

 

Certain members of this forum thrive on bad news.
And if there is no bad news, they make up their own bad news!

 

I wouldn’t worry if I were you. the next overhaul will roll around, and it will inevitably be problematic (because nearly all mainline steam overhauls have problems of some description, I can think of two camps where little was said, some black fives and a blue A4 off the top of my head) and they will be back to question not only the engineering, but the management.

The bottom line here is that this is not easy to do. Running a mainline steam loco is a frightening task. Overhauling one is a task reserved for those with a deep knowledge of the machine and mechanical engineering. Running one from a commercial perspective is a whole-nother disco.

Nothing, not one thing in this space is particularly easy. Modern engineering is extremely challenging to get right, and yet, there is no lack of critique from the sidelines when things don’t go exactly as they are intended to. Its not reserved to heritage steam, its everywhere.

Anyway, its good to see Tornado out doing what its meant to do, that is highly positive and long may it continue.

How many years away are we from it being the longest serving A1 in history?

What are the chances of seeing it in north of the border in the near-ish future? Has anyone asked if it would go to Strathspey like Scotsman did a couple of years ago?

 

There's nothing like the sounds of lessons (even obliquely admitted by the head honcho) being ignored...

 

Yes but...... now that it is seemingly working so flawlessly, what was all the delay about in the first place? I cant help but feel that the jury is still out on the ability of the current management. I know that the original team were a hard act to follow but the (? unnecessary) delay has lead to a considerable loss of confidence in the A1 Trust.

Just saying

Peter

 

Delighted to see that it finally came right, but still wondering at the cost.

I've worked on a few projects that have been a complete mess, but ultimately delivered (sort of) successfully, which has allowed the mess to be brushed over - while still leaving its traces all over the shop.

In this case, the cost of the project delays has been both credibility and the ability of the A1 Steam Trust to deliver on its vision.

It will be interesting to see how their fundraising recovers, both for the P2 and for the war chest that will be required for Tornado.

 

I think we are still here and still not that pleased about being lied to about a lot of aspects of what’s happened since the Ebor Flyer incident. Good to see it back in action though

 

The Trust were certainly very "economical with the truth" for a long while, but is there evidence of any actual lies?

 

What, when there was a legitimate mechanical failure and some tried to blame witchcraft, bad management and the cows coming home before accepting any of the highly rational and logical engineering explanations as to what happened?

Lets be more blunt, some will always find cause for grievance.

 

Go on, point us to the explaination of the out of square [grate?/ ashpan] then?
And the explanation as to how the boilers are (a) late, and (b) why this risk is falling on the trust, and (c) why the quality control let it happen unchecked.

Edit, can't remember which bit exactly it was. But new tech it isn't.
Edit 2 for "oit" read "out" - now corrected

 

The failure was bad luck, I was talking about what came after.

 

What, the rife speculation that metal fatigue (due to a stick valve) probably wasn’t the cause, despite the incontrovertible fact that it was the cause, of the failure?

Why is anyone living under the illusion that running these machines is going to go smoothly, or that the management are going to get everthing right?

This is barely a commercial operation, its volunteers and people who are passioante about a steam, not a FTSE100 business.

A lot of the criticism really needs a dose of proportionality adding to it.

I did, its a by-product of the welded design, and learning how things move at overhaul. The fact that it is back in the frames and certified by the insurers, says it all. Sure, its moved, but it’s safe. What more is there to say?

Why is it late? Is this a serious question in the context of a 130 tonne lump of 1930s engineering made in the late 2000s to run on some of the busiest and most dilapidated railway real estate in western Europe by a group of part timers and volunteers with an extremely limited pool of skilled people who know how to run and maintain mainline steam?

Why does any engineering project run late, even when there are $100B companies behind them? Do you think they don’t have quality departments? Do you think ither engineering companies don’t get things wrong?

Modern engineering is very, very difficult. It’s not making eggs, its genuinely extremely difficult to do, and do well.

The better question here is why the A1 group are being held to an unreasonably high standard? Its now out there are running, is that not what people want?

 

The standard is one of honest, frank, communication - not what we saw last year. And of course it's welcome that Tornado is now running. I doubt that I or @Bikermike are alone in wondering about the ability of the Trust to meet it's own, self declared, targets.

I've also worked on big projects, and I also know that they can go wrong. They've never recovered when those involved have kept going "it's all ok" as the declared plan is self-evidently unrealisable. That honesty would have been welcome - even if just as SLL* have done today to say "look, something's come up, and we're not sure we'll make the date".

* - to declare an interest, I am a very minor shareholder in SLL