The Atlantic Coast Express 5th-8th September 2014

Someone's going to have to explain that comment to me, what do WCRC have against platform 19 ?.

 

Probably imagining it, but wasn't there an issue between 60019's tender and a set of points at Waterloo a few years back? Come to think of it, they have used 18 before.

 

from the Royal Duchy thread

 

Lazy old Braunton again!
I spent all Sunday and Monday agonising over going down to capture that scene. Its been one of my "must do"scenes of the year. I got a new dog on Friday, who is not yet happy being in my car, and 5 hours in the car in a day would be too much at this stage. Didn't want to leave her at home for 6 hours either so I let it drop.

 

read from Post 34 onwards.. described the event in real time.

https://www.national-preservation.c...gain-to-30th-october.26524/page-2#post-376256

over 2500 minutes of service delay.

 

Many thanks indeed for that excellent round up.

The one thing that stands out to me, yet again, is coal quality. With all that can happen with bad coal well known to even the station cat, why does this problem keep rearing it's ugly head? Aren't there reliable sources of decent coal in the UK anymore, or have we so totally destroyed our coal mining industry that it is just a lottery now? Yes, money must come into it, but doesn't the actual increased cost of getting decent coal outweigh the costs of significant delays?

Even with the coal problems you mention I am now glad, (I was concerned about the decision at times yesterday!), Tangy did bring 12 cars back without assistance. It shows to all the doubters that an original condition Bulleid Light Pacific can still handle that difficult route like they did in the past. Although I would agree in the past they were usually locos from Exmouth Junction and Salisbury who both had a reputation for knowing how to keep those difficult machines in good order. And the crews from those two depots knew how to handle them. But has anything changed today? I guess WCR know the locomotives they have and most crews regularly show they know how to get the best out of them. And when coal is bad too.

I did mention earlier here that these locos would sometimes handle the 09.00 ex Waterloo on 12 cars with very difficult starts from Templecombe and Seaton Junction. But yesterday was harder than that! 12 heavy cars these days I think, the trains are often 20 tons more than those of the 1960s, but I stand to be corrected. And then starts on the 1/90 at Honiton, straight onto 1/120 at Chard and finally straight onto 1/130 at Gillingham. On a train nearer to 13 cars in total weight than to 12 cars in old money. And if as you indicate those starts and the very hard climbs that followed were done with yet another coal problem then that is not only a real success for OVS and his wonderful albeit rather unusual design but also very much for the loco crews. All with, to my calculations, very little time loss against the loco. I still feel, subject to correction by Al, that from my armchair analysis having to be done on the run etc that the significant majority of the earlier delays between Axminster and Gillingham were down to the level crossing issue and that impossible timing out of Chard that would need a couple of Deltics on that load to have been kept. IMHO.

 

Sorry about the flash as the loco passed you, but the noise made as the last cars of the earlier train leaving sounded very screechy, so I mistook you on your perch for a Barn Owl, (aka screech Owl), and flashed away!

 

Unrebuilt light pacific on 12 all the way up from Exeter. Cant really be bad can it?

Is Tangmere forgiven now WCR?

Don


Don

 

Sounds like a wise investment.

Fag packet calculation, but five tons of coal costs around £1,000. Let's say "good" coal attracts a premium of 25%; that represents an extra cost of £250 - say 65 pence per passenger on a charter load of 400 passengers. Set against a typical ticket cost of approx £80 - £250 per passenger, it is a miniscule increase if it buys better reliability. The phrase penny wise, pound foolish comes to mind - always assuming that good quality coal is availabe of course.

Tom

 

Tangmere has been patchy in reliability terms in all of its main line heritage era career under 3(?) owners. It sat down on the WCML during its debut run under Mr Pickett, oil bath puncture etc under the next owner and we are all quite familiar with its tribulations since 2007 or 8.
It is unique on the main line, for which we should be grateful. Perhaps its uniqueness demands special care and maintenance that the cavalry, in the form of 35018 and 34016, may provide for.

 

Have to be fair though, Tangmere's been on the mainline for over a decade, with only small absences. it has also done some considerable mileage and number of tours in that time..
a few years back Tangmere did the first few days of the Great Britian nearly single handed from London to the West Country and as far north as Preston that week.

it's only fault is BRs'.. it's an unrebuilt not a rebuilt

 

A Rebuilt can't come soon enough for WCRC given they are slightly more standard (valve gear and reverser in particular), there is Braunton to an extent now, but she obviously isn't always available and commands a hire fee when she is.

Is there anything stopping you putting a standard reverser on a Spam Can if this giving iffy readings is the cause of a lot of the issues, or is it the chain link gear that dictates this ?.

 

Agree, I know costs are going up across the board, but if Tom has his sums right, that really is a drop in the ocean cost wise.

 

Yes, there is a lot of great expertise here from many people, yourself included Al, and we are sometimes maligned as the armchair brigade!

In my case I should emphasise it is NOT technical expertise. I used to joke that give me a mechanical object made of 2 parts to take apart, I would have one part left over when I re-assembled it. But that overstated my skills, so these days I say that give me a mechanical object made of 1 part and I will have one part left over when I re-assemble it. . I was one of the first members of the society that bought 34023 and down at Longmoor they very quickly worked my skill level out so I was first employed on such as toilet cleaning in the mess room, but eventually promoted to scraping similar types of substances off the underneath of 34023!

My interest has for many, many years been in recording SR steam loco performances. Mostly on the main lines out of Waterloo. I know what they can do, but not how they do it! Many, many timing logs. Vast amount of time studying logs, seeing what locos could achieve where I had not done a particular train or load, and seeing how different crews approached their work. Lots of time spent talking with crews about their work and achievements and lucky to get quite a few footplate runs at high speed on Bulleids. All of which many of us timers did back in those days.

Some lovely chats that have stuck in my mind. Top link Salisbury driver Sid Burton invited me onto the footplate at Waterloo when I was very young and he was working a 54 minute past the hour local back to Salisbury. Went through all the controls and how he used them, let me handle a few too, like the blower. I have no doubt that if I had been going beyond Woking, (he asked where I was going), I would have been back up there and maybe handling a few controls when the Bulleid was on the move.

That wonderful gentleman and superb engineman, (still recognised by surviving Salisbury men as the best of their era), Fred Hoare chatting to me after arrival about his love for the original Bulleids when he had been lucky enough to get 34002 on the up ACE. I mentioned that run earlier in this thread. So very, very sad we had a long signal stop at Brookwood. Because on 11 cars Fred would have had an on time arrival in London despite a very long tsr down near Hurstborne. He told me about a run when he had taken an unrebuilt Light Pacific up to 100mph at Broad Clyst, "Bryan, I was going so fast I could see right through the trees in the woodland down there". He had a long retirement I found out recently, living into his 80s.

And so it goes on! As I do so often here, so I'll shut up now and go back to my Owls. (Big sigh of relief heard. , but not from the Owls!).

 

We could have a big debate here but essentially the rebuilt engines are more conventional and therefore easier to drive and maintain. The unrebuilts are more difficult on both scores but analysis of many runs from the days of steam convinced me that they were the better engines freerer running and capable of enormous bursts of power. The run down on the RD on Sunday also showed what one in good condition could do when worked easily but still turn in a good performance.

Don

 

My only point was that easing 34067's workload can only help with keeping on top of things mechanically. The additional Bulleids mentioned may do so.