Modifying existing locos

would there be any scope for modernising preserved locos do you think? Bigger tenders/tanks/bunkers perhaps? Higher boiler pressure? Bigger cylinders? Roller bearings?

 

There is always scope, but you have to aks is it worth it and is it what the owner should be doing, the answer to these will depend on many factors. If the owner is a museum that is set up to preserve the loco I would say generally no, if the aim is to just having it running then may be. Ideally there should be a look at other locos of the same class, we don't want to end up with none of that class looking as they did.

 

Some of these mods have already been done, the bigger tender idea is evident on "Repton", many tender tanks have had their capacity maxed out for operation on NR and I guess a certain A3 running with an A4 boiler counts as a big mod! Coal is rarely the issue, water is much more important!

Foxy

 

How about building a bogie tender with more water capacity. (just idle musings, it doesnt really matter how practical it is

 

You mean like 825, 777 and 850 are all currently running with? I am sure there will have been other examples over the years in the UK and it was pretty standard for at least a part bogie 8 wheel tender in Europe.

Steven

 

I think the mod to Repton's tender was done whilst it was in America/Canada (can't remember which).

 

Has 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe had a self cleaning smokebox fitted or was this fitted in BR days?

 

Repton's tender was defaced in America. Why the new tank was built in the same manner is beyond me. It looks utterly hideous.

 

it would be nice to see more locos with tornado style lighting

 

I am not totally sure that 30926's tender was extended in the USA. The extension to the present tank (built after the loco's return to the UK) was made at a time that mainline running was being considered to increase coal capacity - arguyably not the same issue on the NYMR but still useful, as is the extra protection from the elements when running tender first! (Ask any crew who had the the S15 in reseverse in a down-pour or blizzard!

I am sorry if some observers don't like the appearnce!

Steven

 

Afraid i have to disagree there, it works on 60163 as a product of the 21st century but on anything else it would be hideous.

At the SVR gala in the dark everything looked lovely and authentic with traditional headlamps, then Tornado came round the corner with the floodlight gantry from St Andrews...

Battery lamps currently in use on the Mainline are sufficiant so why go to the cost of thousands of pounds of modifications when it's not a requirement ?.

 

inspection lights á lá SR pacific would be a good idea I imagine

 

My view is that modifications that improve the engine but don't alter its external appearance are OK and might well be beneficial. I'm thinking of features like self-cleaning smokeboxes, rocking grates, and roller axle boxes.

Regards

 

But not original thinking as it's only following what BR did to quite a number of A3's

 

Thanks Martin - I have a feeling the current version is slightly different and sticks to the design that did run with a couple of locos in BR days as you previously noted. The picture in the US looks as though it may be even higher sided.

I tend to agree with David - I am all for modifications to make operation of the loco easier. I know a major complaint of crews who end up disposing at Pickering at gone 19:00 or 19:30 (depending on the timetable) is having a loco that doesn't have a rocking or drop grate or hopper ash pan. I have also heard the alternative view that the lack of such kit is part of the heritage of steam and if you start modifying, where do you stop (big ringfield motor in the tender?).

Some of the modficiations are so well concealed that they can end up being missed. A few years back, a Moors driver who also drivers for a TOC as a living careful bailed out a loco with the fire irons. The Duty Fitter, who had had his fill of being told how things were done on by professional railwaymen during the course of the day, stood and watched. When the job was done, he asked "is that how you professional railwaymen do it, then? Us amatuers do this" and duly unlocked the rocking grate, put in the handle and dropped the last bit of fire with a couple of sharp moves of the rocking grate!

Steven