Tyseley Open Day 24th October

Thought it may be useful to update you all on expected attendees at the Tyseley Loco Works Gala on Sunday 24th October.

Loco's expected to be in steam 4965 Rood Ashton Hall, 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, 5029 Nunney Castle, 9600, 45305, Peckett No1.

Loco's on display not in steam 4003 Lode Star, 45593 Kolhapur, 6201 Princess Elizabeth.

Loco's under repair 7029 Clun Castle, 4936 Kinlet Hall, 3850, 7820 Dinmore Manor, Austerity Fred, 4121, 4110.

Modern Traction D1015 Western Champion (expected to be running), 47773 (D1755) The Queen Mother, 50033 Glorious (may be running), 86259 Les Ross, 50021 Rodney, 13029,

Hopefully something in there for all tastes, hope to see some of you there,

Regards
Bob

 

Bob

Any idea what will be working the shuttles? Is there any chance of having that Peckett put on a passenger train, perhaps using 9600 to provide braking?

Cheers

Jonathan

 

Hope to be down Bob, looking forward to it!

 

Usually the shuttle Loco is changed regularly throughout the day.

Looks quite a decent line up so i'll probably pop down for a bit, i don't envy whoever has to do the shunting prior to the event with 45305 and stock arriving from Buxton the previous night.

 

HI GUYS A LINK TO ALL THE LOCO THAT MAY TURN UP FOR THE TSYELEY OPEN DAY
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=162674603760018

 

dont forget its tyseley open day tomorrow

 

The elegance of the Star is much better seen in these photos than when it is inside a museum.

Am amazed though to be reminded of the WOODEN footplate on the front of the tender. Its difficult to see how this could have worked in service with the constant wear from the fall plate. Is this authentic??

If only we could ........................................ (no don't go there just now).

 

There is something about the proportions of the Star which give it real elegance. Not sure what it is - smaller cab? lower tender? smaller buffers?

And before you start ranting, I'm not saying the others are ugly either!

I worked at the old Swindon Museum for a year and you couldn't swing a cat between the exhibits. Lovely to see it in a bit of space, even on a photo.

Richard

 

Have to agree, the star looks so well balanced, and so much better in the open

My shots from the afternoon are here

http://www.aligrieve.fotopic.net/c1909963.html

regards
Alistair

 

Presumably you looked in the cab? Do you think standing, leaning across the reverser for 4 hours or so, Pad - Ply - was 'elegant' for the driver? Or the layout for the fireman a good idea? Especially on a cold, wet & windy night? The layout for the crew is truly, truly awful. Stuffed and mounted is the best place for it as a warning to other steam loco designers.....terrible. Never mind the crew, it looks good though...... :-(

Alan.

 

The cab layout is fairly typical of the period & (reverser aside) is not that unlike a 28xx/53xx or other similar sized locos - an experience which some of us as locomen actually prefer!

Why do we prefer it? - it seems quite natural driving on the RHS & MORE natural firing from the LHS (yes I've frequently done both). The GW fittings are generally v easy to operate & there is no need for brute force or bruised knuckles by the end of the day. Everything is where you would expect it to be - no blower valves directly above sources of flame for example. There is no unecessarily loud noise from GW injectors unlike, for example, the monitor ones & (chimney noise apart) it is possible to get the loco to sit quietly. Whilst the cab roof does not extend back that far a purpose made storm sheet keeps out the worst of the rain & during the summer who wants to swelter in a noisy steel box when the open top version is available?


Yes the reverser does come a long way into the cab but without trying it the driving position comfort can only be guessed at.

It would be rather nice to try this one out & see just what it is like - but I suspect that will never happen.

 

Had a great day at the open day on sunday,nice to go around Tyseley again,first time i have for around 10 years,since we used to regularly do the Shakespeare's.

My photos are now up:

http://mark-walker.fotopic.net/c1910542.html

Cheers,
Mark

 

Here speaks a man who appears to have never actually worked on the footplate of a GWR engine doing the job it was built to do. If you had Alan, you would not have made the comments about the layout for the driver or fireman. They are actually very easy engines to fire, particularly engines with the No 1 boiler such as the Halls and stars, you really have to do little more than point the shovel in the right direction and slide the coal in. Castles do in all fairness need a little more energy. the injector controls are all to hand as are things like the damper handles, which let's face it do not need constant manipulation anyway. The injectors work faultlessly unlike others such as the LMS vertical ones, and the dreaded faceplate injectors which many engines of similar age had - they were still fitting them to Gresley A1's in 1923! The injector steam cocks can be opened by quite literally spinning them with one finger, you can't do that with a Stanier loco (much as I love them!).

On the driver's side all the brake controls are easily to hand as is the blower, unlike many engines which have the blower handle above the firedoor, and nobody ever made a more precise and easily controlled regulator - try a shift heaving and mauling on a Gresley Pacific or a 9F. So I do not see a valid reason for your comments. Sure they are better driven standing up, but then most other engines of the age were because it was believed in those days that making the driver stand made them more alert. That is a matter for debate, but what is certain is that 100 years ago, these were the most technologically advanced loco's in the land, and the enlarged version which was called a Castle was still good enough to trounce the much larger Gresley pacifics in the 1925 exchanges, and I believe that one recently put up a performance in the North Country which reasserted the fact that there are still very few loco's with a 30 sq ft grate that can match them.

With regard to crew comfort, there are, I believe 4 seasons in a year, and you can get by quite comfortably in 3 of them with GW engines like Stars, with only winter being a bit of a problem. There again the wonderful cabs of Bulleids and A4's, much loved and praised by the enthusiast fraternity have to be endured in Summer to get the full story, and you can do far more on a GW engine to keep warm in Winter than you can to keep cool on a Merchant Navy in Summer, and I have to say from personal experience that 56 miles tender first in a blizzard on a Jubilee is not the greatest treat in the world. The performance of the simple GWR storm sheet has to be experienced to be believed, they actually work quite well, the only weak spot being heavy side winds, but there again, many other engines of different railways suffer from this just as badly.

Sorry Alan but you will have to put up a far better reasoned argument if you wish to convince those of us with a little knowledge of GW engines, that you are correct.

Bob

 

Having made the mistake to cab Blackmore Vale at Railfest on a boiling hot summers day i can fully appreciate your comments on Bulleid cabs!, it's a bit unfair comparing a Star cab to Loco's that came 20 or 30 years later anyway, in terms of crew comfort when it was outshopped, it's not as though other railways looked after their crews any better at the time, the GNR Atlantics or even the Stirling Single leave a lot to be desired crew comfort wise.

 

Bob. You have a PM.

Alan.

 

Yes quite right! Everyone wines about GWR locos but never actually says the good points!

 

Seems a bit odd to quote that nearly 3 years after it was written....?

 

It was wise words he spoke!