Swanage Railway General Discussion

does that mean that as a long time supporter i am restrained from giving my viewpoint?
If you read SLL news you will be aware how a freshly outshopped loco had to be taken out of service after very few operational trips.
Should that not be enough to make anyone ask the question. Why??
Why the silence.? A couple of years ago a "
heavy shunt" took two locos out of service and it was made known to supporters
As a supporter i was surprised that the Herston Carriage Shed project was postponed ,especially after many notices that this was a matter of great urgency AND the fact that I had to get on here to obtain that information!
Not hitting anyone with anything just requesting that those responsible make information available to those who are consistent supporters of the cause.

 

It has already been reported in at least one of the railway magazines so it is not a secret.

 

who said it was a mistake? do you know something that the rest of us dont

 

As @Paul42 has said, details have been published elsewhere if you really wanted to know. But do you need to know every time something goes off plan? Do you need to know that the buffet ran out of teabags on the 15th of Julember? No. So why is this any different? The SR has already taken measures to have the loco repaired and investigate/prevent the issue from happening again. Let the SR management get on with their jobs!

 

The causes of the flats on 34028 is part of an internal investigation and has been reported in the railway press. It’s results and learning points are for the railway and it’s staff, not for the general public. The railway hasn’t asked its supporters for cash to sort the problem out, perhaps it was covered by insurance. You don’t know, I don’t know, but I don’t feel entailed to know either. Like you I’m a long standing supporter of the railway, both physically and financially, that however doesn’t give me the right to insist on being told things that are of no concern of mine.
You have been bashing the railway rather relentlessly on here to be honest. It’s getting boring. No matter how people try to explain things to you, you clearly know best.

Of course no one would of wanted this damage to occur, of course money to repair it would be better spent elsewhere. But, railways are railways, the unexpected happens and you going on about how, you weren’t told, you should of been told just isn’t realistic.
Events like these are subjected to careful negotiations between the railway and owners and you can’t be part of that.
There isn’t unnecessary silence, it’s important to the owners and railway that events like these are subject to careful investigation and resolution, not everyone needs to know.

The shed is happening, but like a lot of things in life at the moment is has hit delay.

The chairman of the SRT is easily accessible via email, why don’t you email him rather than try and get your answers off National Preservation.

 

Because to make something stop moving you usually have to apply some sort of friction to slow it down and stop it?

 

A dash of openness and honesty would seem to be the remedy. does one have to subscribe to the railway press to learn of these things. I know the Railway has a Press Officer and surely news.Good or bad, should come from that source...and I'm afraid comparing trashed tyres to teabags is a very false analogy!

 

The need for tyre turning has appeared in the railway press and most of us know what wheel flats are, and how they occur, so what do you really want to know? Who was driving and whether they have been reprimanded or otherwise punished?

 

Given the evidently costly and inconvenient stopping of this (or any other) loco, I honestly doubt either the line, or crew on the day, would be blind to the need to ensure no repeat of whatever led to what is, even with the braking systems on modern stock, a fairly commonplace occurrence.

We should also be mindful of the fact that the running seasons of our heritage lines has extended well beyond the leaf and ice free "bluebell to blackberry time" operations of the 1950-1970s. If anything untoward had occasioned these wheel flats, it would have been a notifiable incident. AFAIK, this isn't the case and feel sure if there is anything by way of recommendations to amend working practices, again, this will be made known.

In the absence of any public crucifixion, an understandable thirst for blood knowledge is understandable. I certainly wouldn't deign to compare the 34028 situation with the baying crowds of the ancient Collosuem an eager six year old on Crimbomas morning.

 

"Trashed" is quite a strong accusation? Have you seen them?

Perhaps more productively, have you considered offering help with the railway's communications? You seem to be very exercised by how to improve it - so rather than making it the problem of the "they department", why not try to be part of the solution? A lot of the work is something you can do remotely; there is lots of admin that always needs doing; and perhaps you might begin to understand the pressures those at the sharp end of running a railway are under.

Tom

 

You are entitled to your viewpoint, as you are to present that viewpoint. And as are those who encounter a viewpoint to form their own opinion of the view - and of the person presenting it.

I am a (very small) shareholder in SLL, I also received that news. I put it down to "stuff happens", and am quite content that appropriate actions are underway to fix it, and to deal with the possibility of a recurrence. That's enough for me.

 

Swanage Railway's peak summer season timetable has not yet been publicised, so far as I can see, but there are normally two trains running daily for the entire six-weeks school holiday period.
Two locos daily, plus an available spare, is the absolute minimum of course but that would leave the railway open to massive risks if something untoward happens to one of the three.
Locos need scheduled wash-outs/maintenance/etc. and so the railway tends to like at least four working locos available. Therefore the arrival and use of 34070 Manston will be somewhat vital in 2022 I would have thought.

 

They were not "trashed tyres" as this implies they became "trash" - i.e. rubbish or fit only to be scrapped. They were evidently not rubbish as they could be made properly circular again by the simple use of a ground lathe. Hyperbole does not help your cause - whatever it is.
Incidentally, wheel lathes are used across the UK on a regular basis to ensure tyres on all sorts of vehicles (locos, units, coaches, wagons, etc) are turned into a circular state to resume normal working. Wheel lathes are used in the USA as well I believe.
US, along with Australian Railways, have also used carborundum reprofiling brake blocks to remove wheel flats rather than using wheel lathes.
It's a never ending job when you have steel wheels on steel rails.

 

Whilst at university, I remember standing in the corridor by the guards compartment of a 4VEP running briskly between Feltham and Twickenham. It was only as we came under the bridge that the driver obviously remembered that it was one of the few Reading trains that included a Whitton stop. For those in the know the sudden clicking of relays gave some warning to grab hold of whatever was to had as we stopped with part of the rear of 8 coaches on the platform. Passengers having boarded the train continued very gingerly to Clapham Junction where the set retired, injured to join the queue waiting for the lathe at Wimbledon. Whilst not the normal cause - the fact that there was a queue (and indeed the need for a lathe with the volume of use it had) is indicative that wheel flats are a relatively common (if highly undesirable) occurrence.

A similar effect was the result of the driver of a Merrymaker or similar from Weymouth running through Wareham experiencing the advanced starter drop a coach-length or so in front of him. Having made a full emergency brake application, ground to a halt, and established that there was nothing worse at play than a snapped signal wire, I think that train got as far as Southampton before the constant thumping of wheel-flats on almost every vehicle led to a similar cancellation many miles short of its destination.

Neither of these accounts is to say that the flats on '28 were not the result of some form of mishap, but that the need to visit a lathe is not necessarily the result of misadventure or negligence. (But I'm no sure that either were the cause of any form of public pronouncement other than the announcement of the need for passengers to make their own way onwards, before the engineering staff began cursing the operating staff...)

 

.... plus the Crompton as a longstop!

 

Not sure if my 'little grey cells' are still working properly but believe you might have connections with Hornsey depot.
If not - my apologies. If correct, how is the queue in your ground lathe work programme? Could it cope with 6ft 2 ins driving wheels perchance as it's good to know what might be available if needed in the future.
We had/still have (?) some coaches with 'flats' but some spare axles/wheels have been reprofiled this Winter with coaches subsequently being lifted so that bogies could receive attention and have the faulty wheelsets replaced.
I know that, many years ago, 60103 Flying Scotsman (6ft 8 ins drivers) departed Southall to use the ground lathe at Ilford but have no idea if their equipment is still the same.

 

Of course - and, if further necessary funds can be raised quickly, then a very shiny D6515 might also dazzle us this summer!
http://www.71alocogroup.co.uk/71A_news.htm

 

I've literally never seen a class 33 cab interior that clean!

 

Way too nice to spoil it by putting a driver in it
Pat

 

Looking good. Hopefully it will be Hot Dog’s turn for a new coat of paint next, otherwise D6515 is really going to show it up.