Tornado

While I'll be the first to agree that speculation is fun, designing the cure when you don't even know what the problem was is somewhat eccentric!

 

Oh, are we saying the cause was the eccentric now?

Tom

 

What? The cause was Hermod? I'm inclined to give him the benefit of doubt as English is not his first language but that is going to too far.

 

Did they run so fast being non dieselised at the rear end?
Mass induced strain and fatique grows very fast with speed.

 

This was posted on the A1LST's main website yesterday. More details of the damage and repairs necessary. Good to see Jeremy Hoskings's offer of help.

Tornado – a further update
20/04/2018

Following Tornado’s failure on ‘The Ebor Flyer’ at Sandy on Saturday 14th April 2018, the locomotive was hauled to Peterborough by GBRF class 66 No. 66744 Crossrail, removed from the train at Peterborough and immediately transferred to the nearby Nene Valley Railway where it was taken to their principal maintenance location at Wansford. ‘The Ebor Flyer’ then continued its journey to York diesel hauled. RAIB were notified on the day and ORR are aware of the incident.

The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust would like to apologise to anyone whose journey was disrupted on Saturday, be that on ‘The Ebor Flyer’ or on service trains affected.

On Sunday 15th April, in the presence of one of DB Cargo’s appointed independent steam locomotive examiners, a thorough pit inspection and strip-down of the immediately affected components was undertaken. What we know so far is that the front valve on the middle valve spindle seized in the valve liner. This caused significant stresses to the combination lever which failed, causing the loss of the lower part of it, allowing it and the union link to flail which in turn caused the lower part of the drop link to separate from the crosshead. This is almost certainly due to a lubrication failure in that area, although the exact cause of such a failure is not known at the present time and investigations continue in this area. We are also examining all components and reviewing all relevant records and design and installation drawings. The nature of the failure suggests that even at 75mph the incident would have occurred. All damage thereafter is consequential and would readily explain how parts of the inside valve gear became detached in the manner they did.

The Trust is carrying out its own investigation and working alongside DB Cargo, our certification body and our insurers.

The locomotive is being carefully dismantled and as well as the obvious visual exams, NDT and other techniques are also being used.

Independent of this, The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust has secured the services of First Class Partnerships (FCP) to provide an overview and independent opinion on both the immediate causes and effect of the failure and the wider impact on the future main line running of No. 60163 Tornado.

As to repairs, the locomotive will require the valve liner to be honed or bored, and a new valve head and rings fitted. A new combination lever, union link and crosshead are also needed. Other items will require inspection and possible repair, but a full list hasn’t yet been produced and agreed. Jeremy Hosking’s Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust has kindly offered to lend us the combination lever and the inside union link from Peppercorn class A2 No. 60532 Blue Peter as these are likely to be the longest lead time items to make. We would like to thank them and also the other suppliers and contractors who have contacted us to offer help. It is too early to quantify the total cost but that of the replacement of the known damaged parts is around £20,000. Tornado is insured, but not all items will be covered – we will know more in the coming days. However, our understanding of the information available to date is that the breakdown was not speed related and could have occurred at any time.

The Trust is humbled to have received messages of support from across the country, internationally and from senior rail industry partners. Such messages are very encouraging as the Trust looks to recover from the disappointment of the events of Saturday 14th April.

Because we did not deliver the day out we hoped to for passengers travelling on ‘The Ebor Flyer’, we have given each passenger a voucher with discount off a future Tornado-hauled railtour. Furthermore, we are looking at the option of re-running the train in the future with a repaired Tornado and will ensure all passengers on ‘The Ebor Flyer’ get the first chance to book tickets.

Following on from this, we have postponed our visit to the Midland Railway Centre (Saturday 21st April 2018) and we have also postponed ‘The Ynys Môn Express’ which was due to run on Saturday 28th April 2018, a date is yet to be confirmed as to when this tour will be rescheduled. Additionally, we regret that we will be rearranging the Tornado Team day that was due to be at the Nene Valley Railway on Saturday 12th May 2018 – again a rescheduled date will be announced in due course.

You can support the work of The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust by becoming one of our monthly Covenantors and donating from £10.00 per month towards No. 60163 Tornado. This is our core fundraising initiative and we have around 1,200 people who regularly donate towards the maintenance and upkeep of Tornado. For more information on how you can support the Trust in this way, or to make a one-off Donation, please click here, call 01325 460163 or email enquiries@a1steam.com.

 

Strangely, according to Peter Townend, on the odd occasions when the inside motion gave trouble on the pacifics, it actually was the eccentrics which caused it....

Good to hear they can borrow bits off Blue Peter. I'd have though the crosshead is going to take a fair bit of time to make as well. but even if the BP one would fit, it has to be matched to the piston rod taper, so might be better to be left alone.

 

If it had that nice Mr. Gresley's conjugated gear only the 2 to 1 levers and pinion would have suffered from the consequences of the seizure <GD&R>


Of course I don't know that, I'm only having a laugh. As someone said, all loco designs are a compromise . Here's hoping they can get it all repaired quickly and it doesn't prevent more fast runs. And thankful nothing worse happened from the consequential damage.

 

Maybe - that's if the conjugated gear was the weak link. If not all three valves would have been effectively stationary and both combination levers on the outside gear might have given up the ghost...

Well, we hope nothing worse from the consequential damage. I'm sure they'll be taking a very good look at anything the hardware flailing around might have hit. As they say in the statement, other items will require inspection and possible repair.

 

I see that A1 Team event up to 12 May are cancelled - but is she ATM still on the cards hopefully to go the Bluebell?
(5 weeks time)
thanks

 

I’d noticed that timescale as well. At this moment, I haven’t seen any communication to suggest anything other than that the visit is still on, though presumably the situation is still somewhat fluid.

Haven’t seen any obvious contingency plans either, except reproduction Tornado nameplates being trial fitted in secret to the S15... (*)

(*) Only joking!

Tom

 

thank you James -

i know we have 5 weeks but in heritage mainline steam speak there seems an awful lot to do and will she need mainline test run(s) before she RTS?

commiserations to all at A1 - a big blow to the start of her 10 year birthday celebrations - hope a fix is found asap

 

Reading the post of @1020 Shireman tallies with what I was told on the day of the tour by Graeme Bunker-James before I left it at Peterborough on the return journey: I believe that there has been a mutual sharing of expertise and components going on with the owner of Blue Peter already.

It'd also explain the number of people in orange boiler suits all over Tornado on the Sunday afterwards at the NVR.

 

The amusing thing is there must be a fairly significant percentage of people who might not actually notice the difference...

 

One A1SLT trust meeting I attended it was mentioned that at some preserved lines, some folk mistook Tornado for Flying Scotsman, and it was also another reason for the P2 being built in its original form so that it wasn't mistaken for Mallard, but became recognisably unique.

The chance of the former would increase were 60163 painted into BR Green.

 

Bot Tornado is so much prettier in her current shade. Far too much "British Railways lined sludge green" about these days as it is. I always thought Blue Peter looked best as 532 rather than as 60532....

 

And on that matter, you and I are in perfect agreement! I love 60163's current livery and may she stay in that for a long time although I know there will be complaints from some of "but BR Green is how we remember her". However... I much prefer Scotsman in BR Green!

I'm a great fan of that transitional British Railways period - see 34081 for another example. IMO, there's too much BR lined black around...

 

Livery froth!!! There are far more important things to discuss.

 

Or speculate upon...

 

Being born in 71, I don't remember BR green. In my formative years, preservationists were busy painting their new toys in the pre-nationalisation colours that they remembered so fondly, returning things to "how they ought to be". Or in entirely original liveries (K&WVR brown Yankee tank and red Ivatt 2-6-2 spring to mind). Whatever, the 70's and early 80's seemed to be about painting out all memory of nationalisation. Many really hated BR-after all, it was BR that abolished steam, closed branch lines etc etc

 

https://www.a1steam.com/four-more-liveries-fro-tornado/
If the A1 Steam Trust wants something a tad different, maybe it could consider one of the above liveries? North British Bronze Green or Great Central Green would look lovely, not so sure about the other two.