Tornado

Re forging.

Better. Much better. Inclusions and impurities are vastly reduced from what they were in days of old.

 

Excerpt from an e-mail I received this morning from UK Railtours.

“Tornado came to a stop just south of Sandy with a broken combination lever. Investigations have so far revealed that this was due to the middle piston valve overheating and binding in the valve chest. The root cause is not yet fully clear, but it is likely that insufficient lubrication was an issue. Investigations continue to establish the cause of failure in the lubrication system and any contributing factors.

The locomotive has run many miles since winter maintenance with no obvious issues in this area. Whilst we have been asked if the higher speed was a factor in the failure, at present we believe it not to be. It probably occured slightly earlier in the journey than if we had been running at lower speed, but it would most likely still have happened.”

 

Why do you insist on calling Tornado 'Tonka'? I have never heard of anyone calling it Tonka, and find it rather disrespectful to those who built the loco and also to the RAF from where the name came.


Keith

 

Tonka is a common nickname for the Tornado. I’ve heard it used by both service and non service people.

 

I was wondering that.

Although I still have a Tonka truck that's at least 35 years old and still perfectly play-with-able, as my daughter would attest, so it's not really that disparaging a nickname.

 

Re: @Spamcan81's post [#4282 above], while the "Like" button seemed inappropriate, given the nature of the issue, the update is very much appreciated.

I'm with @Copper-capped on this one [post #4278]. A1SLT are a professional outfit who know what they're doing, so I'm content to await the result of their investigation before engaging in any speculation .... even if I can't quite shake off the tale of the day Jack Howey's favourite 3-cyl pacific misbehaved, thereby earning itself the 'punishment' of having it's middle cylinder permanently disconnected and being renamed "Bluebottle" for a few years.

 

New one on me, and I've been around her for a over decade - can't say I find it appealing.

 

Maybe to save the Tornado thread from froth, the "Tonka" side line could go to NGC / Things that wind me up - because the use of that name has already wound me up ...

Tom

 

The Tornado as in the aircraft. The loco is just Tornado and no, I've never heard Tonka used in reference to her either.

 

100% agree with what you say. I've tried further back to plead for an end to uninformed speculation but the armchair experts are probably tapping away at this very moment. The A1 Trust are probably the most open of organisations when it comes to information and have already put out a release on what actually happened. Might I suggest that rather than discussing pointless theories we stick to posting only what we hear from the official channel from now on.

 

Well we shall see, but a blockage or fractured feed pipe seem to me to be more likely root causes than a design flaw. There are of course numerous others, some of which would not restrict damage to the middle engine. The detached component makes me think there may well be other damage between the frames, and I would guess the A1 trust would like us all to be looking at our bank accounts.

 

I would say that if the valve lubrication had failed then speed would only have hastened the inevitable.

 

Not down to letting that May bloke make bits then. ?

 

Apologies Ian, I know nowt about winged beasties and didn't read your post properly

 

The RAF crews have almost always referred to their Tornados as Tonkas... a reference to the legendarily tough toys. I have a family background in aviation and thus have always used that nickname (the alternative 'Flying Flick-knife' is also found in the RAF, albeit more rarely) for the Panavia jets and thus by extension for no.60163. Some in the RAF suggest that the nickname is an ironic reference to the Panavia's early fragility and recent old-age frailty, but for the most part the type was reliable in service and thus it became a sign of affection. I have hitherto used it in the latter sense, in that 60163's reliability has generally been impeccable.

 

Still chugging away on the Ebor Flyer thread....
Thinking that they will have to take all that's left of the motion for the middle engine out for a thorough exam.
Somewhere with a wheel drop to get the forward drivers out of the way might be useful for working on the middle Cylinder/ valve.
Probably worth starting the 5 Yearly early but I imagine the Trust will want her fixed and out there doing 90 again ASAP to draw a positive and very thick line under the incident.

 

Obviously early days and little information as to how long repairs will take, but are there any thoughts about which locos might fill in for Tornado on upcoming runs? As far as I can see she has a fairly quiet schedule apart from the Ynys Mon Express on the 28th.

 

Well, it's already at somewhere with a wheel-drop, isn't it? Given Scotsman had a driving axle out there recently...

 

Flying Scotsman was craned when it had its centre axle removed at the NVR; it doesn't have a wheel drop.