Modifying existing locos

You need to thank the Germans for that innovation.
But yes it's a great idea on a cold dark morning.

 

It does this time around, but of course under its previous owner it had a A4 boiler.

 

It is surprising that the NYMR still drops fires in the evening rather than letting them burn out & dropping the dead remains next morning. Several of the larger railways have adopted the "drop in the morning policy" as it is considered to be much better for the boiler. Also with this policy the often troublesome rocking grate & hopper ashpan can be dispensed with in favour of a drop grate section (LNER idea) & swill out ashpan (WSR idea) with almost no moving parts & less fire risk issues.

Some recent modifications turn out not to be "improvements at all!"

 

Indeed, that statement about the NYMR surprised me, though I suppose every line has reasons for their own procedures. The Bluebell is definitely a "shovel the fire out in the morning" line. (And it is "shovel the fire out", not "drop the fire" - of the running current fleet, only 80151 has a rocking grate!).

I wonder as well about motivation; it's easier to feel motivated to do a good job cleaning the fire in the morning when you are fresh and it is cool, than I'd imagine it would be at the end of the day when you are knackered and the fire is hot. Which is not to accuse people of doing a less that satisfactory job - but it is easier to imagine corners being cut at 7pm than at 7am.

Tom

 

You have failed to mention whether the ashpan had hopper doors and whether they were open. Dropping a fire into an ashpan results in an ashpan becoming rather twisted and distorted. Maybe the driver was correct in his actions.

 

We've been here before std tank! Can't remember on which thread, though. There are plenty of locos which have a rocking section or drop grate that have a scrape or swill out pan. These give no problems with twisted and distorted ashpans. Gresley certainly liked this arrangement, as well. That notwithstanding, I prefer a hopper ashpan! And, knowing who the particular driver was, I doubt that he did what he did because he thought it the right thing to do!

As for dropping the fire on a night, I much prefer to drop my fire than shovel out someone else's heap of rubbish in the morning. Knowing that you can simply come on shed and virtually walk away doesn't give much incentive to run the fire down at the end of the day. I also know from experience that one man's small fire is another man's inferno and that, in itself, can lead to problems. The NYMR also has one person to light up in a morning and I'm sure that he would not be a happy chappy if he had several locos to clean out before he could light up and there would be piles of ash all over the shed instead of in one place. Probably require a 4.00 am start, too.

 

Mods? To main line locos?

Oil firing and bigger tender water capacity.

 

Why not go extreme and add a gas producing combustion system to a pannier or an ivatt then the svr wouldn't have to limit the load of 46443 to 6 coaches. Obviously you would need a cunning brain and lots of money but the Red Dragon has shown it can be done, more power and more efficient

 

Doesn't Tornado have other nifty lights as well to illuminate the valve gear outside and within? Useful when oiling up at 3am! It also seems to have lights to check the injector overflows when running at night, all controlled from the panel over the driver's head like an airliner cockpit. Certainly these would be useful and unobtrusive additions for other locos.

 

No thanks - the unecessary addition of modern lighting and a multitude of other gizmos as described above is one of the reasons that some have an aversion to Tornado - (whilst recognising the steam engineering achievement which this loco represents).

One of the important points about heritage railway steam is that it provides an escape from our current electronic, gadget obsessed, complicated world and offers time with nice basic traditional engineering - including paraffin lamps and all the other trappings. Oiling at 3am is just as easy (no such thing on a steam loco) using a head mounted lamp or with a decent torch.

The UKs fantastic stock of steam locos does not need defacing in this way!

 

Doesnt 71000 have a clock in the form of a gauge glass on the footplate ?
Subtle and not obvious unless your looking.

 

Erm... no... lol

What we do have is a degree of cab instrumentation lighting and cab space lighting, injector overflow lighting, running board lights, hand lamp plug in points and electric headlights - although these are nothing like what is fitted to Tornado and we seldom use them now.

Other things, aside from the coal pusher that are not BR fitment and could be considered modifications are superheat temperature gauge, improved tender access and increased tender water space, ground level water fillers and level gauges, duel spark arrester system, in cab tender water level gauge - worked via a bubbler system, the already mentioned steam operated coal pusher and some of the more significant changes was the fitting of re designed exhaust cams and a kylchap exhaust.

Air braking, AWS/TPWS and OTMR would be considered more of a necessity.

 

Wasn't there some modification/extra dampers fitted as well? The original arrangement was the major cause of steaming problems in BR days. I believe the original drawings had these but they weren't fitted.

 

No. 71000 had its damper space increased dramatically over the original drawings, part of the general re-draughting. I see that 60163 has also had its damper opening improved while the boiler was off last winter, it was noted that the A1 damper opening was smaller than an A4, despite the former's larger grate.

Foxy

 

IIRC A4 boilers on A3s is nothing new as it happened in BR days. Don't have the book to hand but in Peter Townend's book "Top Shed" I'm sure he wrote that the first he new about it was when his A3 tubes were all of a sudden too long for some of his A3 boilers - the A4 ones having a bigger combustion chamber in the firebox.

 

I think you'll find that the mod to Repton's tender is a one off carried out by its former US owner. I'm fairly certain that any mods carried out in BR days were quite different to those made to 30926's tender. I've asked my tame Schools expert for a definitive answer on this.

 

Spamcans have electric lighting all over the show - in the cab, running lights, one on the rear of the tender to aid coupling up in the dark and above the motion so 60163's display is nothing new.

 

The difference being that 60163 has high intensity led external lighting, nearly as bad as the headlights on modern (& modified older) cars with their horrible brilliant white/blue light which dazzles everyone especially when being tailgated at night, something which happens all too often. Hasn't 35028 had it's original electric lights modified with brighter bulbs in the original casings? Which means it doesn't need an extra removable battery light.

 

OVB must have learned well from LNER W1 10000, which also had electric lighting (at least over the coupled wheels).