46235 City of Birmingham

Yes. It is called the Freedom of Information Act:-

(1) Any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled—
(a) to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds information of the description specified in the request, and
(b) if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/ukpga_20000036_en_1

 

You would probably aim for a superheat temperature of 425 Deg/C today with maximum of 440 Deg/C. The oil quality is not the problem but rather the lubrication methods used. After all, your car happily deals with gas temperatures of 2000 Deg/C without needing piston rings or valves changing for many 10s if not 100s of thousands of miles. So, ask yourself the question. What is wrong with the lubrication systems and methods used on the locomotive I help care for?

Superheat temperature is not dependant on boiler pressure, as an example the fact that K3s with a 180psi boiler pressure frequently ran a higher superheat temperature than the BR standards. Problems with high superheat are more metalurgical being concerned with elements and header and particularly the joints between the two. Creep resistant steels may need to be considered.

This forum is about preservation, so with that in mind we are stuck with what we have, so to speak. Perhaps a new forum is needed for those who see the need to move forward if steam traction is to continue to put in an appearance on the national network.

 

It might need a bit more attention if you were steam cleaning the oil off the cylinder walls on every cycle though! I know a little about internal combustion engines, if damn all about steam, and there are quite few ways in which the steam engine seems to my ill educated brain to be a much more challenging environment to keep adequately lubricated.

 

2000 degrees C occurs only at the top of an IC engine's cylinders within the burning mixture, and the temperature falls away rapidly as the volume increases as the piston decends. The temperature doesn't, in any case, effect the cylinder walls so much as the head and, particularly, exhaust valve and seat, but the heat is rapidly taken away by the coolant water. This is not the case with a steam engine cylinder, which is lagged to keep heat in!

 

what a lot of people are foregetting is that a lot of work would need to be done to 46235 before it could run again (excluding the overhaul of the boiler). Its too tall to be allowed on today's mainlines, so the compromising task of somehow lowering its height would need thinking through. It wouldn't be fitting for it to be preserved only for it to run on a preserved railway cos it is too large for most and these things were designed for mainline.

 

how about asking Tyseley firstly if they would want to be involved with the city of Birmingham , the idea of MSC trainees learning heavy engineering skills is a very good one, and would be a better use use of young peoples time and plus some might even decide to take up voluenteering at tyseley afterwards but would think tank want to loan the engine out, who actually owns it?, is it part of the national collection? , being as it is owned by the city of birmingham, and in that by the tax payer, i would have thought that it would be part of the national collection, placed in the care of Think tank ? if this is the case, could another engine either GW, or LMS be loaned to take the place of the Duchess to release it so that tyseley could undertake a full inspection of the loco prior to any agreement to put it in working order

 

It's been thought through -- both the other preserved Duchesses have cut down cabs and boiler mountings. Possibly the Princesses as well.

Makes sense - it would be promoting the city of birmingham to the rest of the UK in the process. I'm sure a loco can be sourced from somewhere. I suggest MR Compound 1000 as I think that's unlikely to run again. But otherwise something ex-GW might be appropriate.

Or are Tyseley only interested in GWR engines?

 

I agree with the museum. City of Birmingham is a historic piece of railway history and should be left as it was when withdrawn. Perhaps, the nameplates could be borrowed for use with one of the running duchesses and then, hey presto city of Birmingham is back on the main line. It's in the dry. It's complete. Alot of restored engines 'out of ticket' are sitting in open air sideings rusting, waiting for their turn in the overhaul que.
Perhaps, although not the subject of this thread, the 3rd hughes crab should be found and dug out of the weeds and restored. That's been in 100s of pieces since withdrawal and more under threat than city of Birmingham, and just as important historic LMS loco.

 

Lion : liverpool museum

Lion locomotive on Vimeo

Duncan

 

The curses of a thread bump,

You've just responded to a post over 3 years old

 

Indeed it seems I have. :redface: My only consolation is the video link is far more recent.

Duncan

 

Re: the future of A2 Blue Peter ???

Blue Peter just looks so knackered, better to cosmetically restore it and swap it with city of Birmingham, overhaul that and have a loco on the mainline that's not had a turn yet..

 

Re: the future of A2 Blue Peter ???

Can't see C of B ever being released, tbh. As for BP, she'll be fine after the application of some tlc...

Mark

 

Re: the future of A2 Blue Peter ???

Much as I'd like to see 46235 out to play, Blue Peter has about as much connection to Birmingham as a German 2-10-0.

 

Re: the future of A2 Blue Peter ???

City of Birmingham wont steam again due to the narrow minded opinions of its current owners. I'm not sure if you are aware, but both Sutherland and Hamilton have had their boilers lowered in their frames in order to run on the national network. The current owners stance with 46235 is that it is the last unmodified example of its kind, and thus, like Lode Star, will forever sit in a museum...

After all, thats what they were built for I suppose (wait?)...

 

Re: the future of A2 Blue Peter ???

And why not? Afterall, it's not as if we are exactly short of being able to see a Duchess run on the mainline - so what do we gain by just making that available number three rather than two?

Tom

 

Re: the future of A2 Blue Peter ???

Lowering boilers in the frames that is a new one.