Drain Cocks

Whilst as the WSR gala this weekend i joined a train at Williton Headed for Crowcombe hauled by 45231.As most know the road to Crowcombe is against the grade with the engine working all the time .For the entire journey the drain cocks on the engine were open ,now i know the reason for drain cocks is to eject condensed water from the cylinders to prevent any damage as water does not compress .Why would the driver have the drains cocks open all the time instead of just a while whilst starting off from rest to clear any water that has condensed .Im sure that there is a reason for this so if there are any enginemen out there who could enlighten me please do and many thanks in advance .

 

Were the drain cocks open or were one or perhaps two stuck open? Black Fives (and other LMS locos) are fairly notorious for sticking drain cocks. They rely on the steam pressure to shut them and quite often it doesn't. They are also prone to getting bits stuck in them. It is annoying for the footplate crew when this happens as you can't do much to sort it out until you next stop when often all that is needed is a gentle talking to with a hammer or spanner.
If the driver has deliberately left the cocks open then he must have been having problems with the loco priming (water being carried over from the boiler), for whatever reason. Not unheard of but drivers usually try and get the cocks shut whenever they can, if only to cut down on the noise but more importantly to stop all the lubrication from being blown out.

 

I should have thought it was mainly due to a priming problem if the driver left them open for that long. That or they had promised a photter that they would. If I was the fireman I'd be annoyed if the driver had simply forgotten to close them but that's pretty unlikely.

 

I can vouch for that; it's been a recurring problem with 2968 for the whole time she's been in traffic. One reason is that bits break away from the valve rings and then go through the system, to get jammed between the faces of the taps. Usually it's just one side at a time; both sides together is unusual.

 

The engine arrived from Minehead with the drain cocks open ,the crew did nothing to try and clear any blockages whilst at a stand at the station ,so priming would seem to be the favorite cause perhaps ! .

 

Not nessesaryly, it can take a good while to take the taps appart and pick out the broken bits of piston ring, I would susspect that to have primen for the whole length of the line is un-likely, I would say that it is more likely that they were stuck.

 

At least one cock on this loco was blowing all the way MH - BL on the last trip yesterday - in the oft found LMS way.

 

Good ain't they!!! Myself and a driver spent aweek last year trying to pick all the bits out of 2986's taps, They would seat (If you were lucky) in the morning, only to Jam again by the end of the day.

 

Well, at least you don't get any hydraulicking!

To be fair, she did have a serious problem of breaking valve rings, the solution now hopefully found and PERMANENT repairs made.

 

This is true, how ever it was getting irritating when the daily prep was light the fire, persuade a cleaner to make a start on the cab, take the taps appart and pick out valve rings!

 

Carbon deposits breaking away can also be a problem for sticking taps. It's a regular problem on Austerity tanks too although nipping underneath and tapping them with a hammer can often effect a temporary cure rather than taking them down completely!

 

Lol, well, these were very definately bits of ring.

 

Ian, your eyes are acting up. The number I read on both the cabside and smokebox was 42968.

 

Hmmm... She's always been 2968 to me, too!

 

Having seen a couple of videos of 45231 at work at the Gala, as I'm sure many here have done, I too came to the conclusion that it was only one drain cock that was stuck. Once under way, only one of the four exhaust beats was accompanied by a blast from an open drain cock!

John.

 

Come on Brian, you know me, just keep bashing the keys and hope they are in there right place. I did get the number right, just not in the right order.

 

If you're hoping to be compared to Eric Morecombe, you'll have to wait a while!

 

Exactly like my singing.

All the right notes; but not necessarily in the right order!