Misc steam railway, traction, station and rail-related news

[hash tag]

This has been round Kent twice today. On its way back to london

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She is beautiful. I went on her earlier this year!
When up close and personal, they feel like they have personalities, living, breathing powerful beasts.
My (our) worry is younger generations coming through to help with their preservation Etc.

 

[Judelo]

Heritage vehicle events - London Transport Museum
Today and tomorrow, possibly the last steam (and electric Sarah Siddons) on the underground. Says sold out despite it having been £150 a ticket Apparently is running late all day today due to a fault earlier with one of the locos.

Discussion about it here:
Steam on the District 2019

 

[editor]

I love these kind of walks:



Fascinating history - Royal Navy Propellant Factory, Caerwent - Wikipedia

 

[editor]

I think I'd enjoy an afternoon watching these trains go by. Four pannier tanks in a row!

 

[StoneRoad]

Thanks for posting those editor

Almost all of my journeys over the Lickey were diesel hauled ...
One night the display of sparks from the 37 thrashing up the bank were spectacular !

 

[editor]

Welsh rail fans are lapping up the introduction of class 37 hauled trains for the Valley lines. And why not?



Pics (c) Jeremy Segrott from Railways In South Wales FB group.

 

[editor]

Lovely!

 

[hash tag]

I didn't want to start a new thread for this. Anyone ever seen it before, anyone know what it is?

 

[Smangus]

pizza van?

 

[StoneRoad]

hash tag - looks to be based on a Sentinel. The figure and what I can see of the plant.

Can I have a lend of that image and I'll go away to find out ?

 

[existentialist]

I didn't want to start a new thread for this. Anyone ever seen it before, anyone know what it is?
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DVLA has it as an ERF steam lorry, which is stating the bleedin' obvious.

 

[Dogsauce]

‘J’ reg is quite a late reg for something like that (early 70s I think), so maybe some kind of custom build from then? Front looks like an old tramcar.

 

[StoneRoad]

hash tag

Yes, Sentinel (- ish)

ERF/Sentinel steam waggon 'Typhoo', built in 1990 reg no JCN 898J.
Top speed of 50MPH.
Freelance design - The engine and boiler are from a scrapped Sentinel shunting locomotive, and the chassis parts are from an ERF waggon

 

[hash tag]

Wow, that's fantastic that you know that, well impressed. . I have never seen the likes before and yes steam loco converted to wagon to run on roads

 

[cybershot]

A big kettle to make Typhoo tea?

 

[existentialist]

hash tag

Yes, Sentinel (- ish)

ERF/Sentinel steam waggon 'Typhoo', built in 1990 reg no JCN 898J.
Top speed of 50MPH.
Freelance design - The engine and boiler are from a scrapped Sentinel shunting locomotive, and the chassis parts are from an ERF waggon

It's a very strange wheel arrangement. I'm assuming the rear wheels are driven, so the fronts must all be about loadbearing.

 

[StoneRoad]

Not as strange as a DG8 - that has steered twin front wheels, and doubles on both the back axles for load bearing.

Note that the weight of the boiler is carried on the front wheels, and the drive chain !


SSW - at Corbridge show par StoneRoad2013, on ipernity

 

[existentialist]

Not as strange as a DG8 - that has steered twin front wheels, and doubles on both the back axles for load bearing.

Note that the weight of the boiler is carried on the front wheels, and the drive chain !


SSW - at Corbridge show par StoneRoad2013, on ipernity

Hefty lumps, aren't they?

 

[StoneRoad]

That's true - I wouldn't like the tyre bill for the DG8, not only are they massive - there are a dozen on the wheels. plus a spare or two ...


And, no power steering !

 

[existentialist]

That's true - I wouldn't like the tyre bill for the DG8, not only are they massive - there are a dozen on the wheels. plus a spare or two ...


And, no power steering !

You begin to see how that stereotype of the brick shithouse truck driver comes about...

 

[editor]

#offtopic

 

[cybershot]

So train enthusiasts, why does the uk rail system go to shit when it’s extremely hot or cold?

 

[existentialist]

So train enthusiasts, why does the uk rail system go to shit when it’s extremely hot or cold?

Because continuous welded rail expands and shrinks according to temperature. They can pre-stretch the rail to some extent to accommodate it, but (obviously) they don't want to go to huge trouble and expense to stretch it to accommodate temperatures that only rarely ever get reached. If the expansion goes beyond limits, the rail has nowhere to go except sideways, and it is not a good thing for high-speed trains to hit a bit of spontaneously wiggly track, hence the speed restrictions.

It's basically a materials science problem, not a "UK railways are crap" problem. In countries where higher temperatures are more likely to occur, it's worth the bother of setting up the rail to accommodate those temperatures.

 

[hash tag]

It has got nothing to do with using the cheaper option for track bedding then?

 

[davesgcr]

It has got nothing to do with using the cheaper option for track bedding then?

Of course not - there are deep ballasting arrangements and a lot more to pin down the track and to allow a certain amount of "movement" , as well as clearly understood and properly measured track quality checking arrangements.

Rails are stressed and de-stressed according to the climatic tolerances. Quite scientific really - with extra checks done on very hot days by manual patrols etc.

A lot of the grief today has been less track - and more overhead lines "sagging" - they are also tensioned with ballast weights and pulley wheels to allow them to move a bit. There is a subtle balance to keep the pantograph on an electric train skimming along nicely - it looks and feels like it was a bit challenging today.

And not just in the UK either - the much vaunted (and basically skint SNCF and our other European friends) have also struggled today in this blast of heat.

You can , of course, have a perfect railway - but it costs.

 

[hash tag]

OK. That's not how R4 explained it earlier. They also said a fire had brought some overhead lines between Euston and Midlands.

 

[davesgcr]

OK. That's not how R4 explained it earlier. They also said a fire had brought some overhead lines between Euston and Midlands.

That was an OLE flashover at Camden -again sagging OLE I suspect. You do not f==ck around with 25Kv.

The West Hampstead one caused some quite severe vegetation fires.

 

[weltweit]

Coefficients of Linear Thermal Expansion

I was just looking at this page to see if I could work out the expansion of steel rails in mm per whatever, but in fact there is a very relevant photo right on top of this page.

 

[editor]

Sccchweet!

Transport for Wales is looking to extend its use of Class 37-hauled trains into 2020.

TfW Commercial and Customer Experience Director Colin Lea told RAILthat the locomotive-hauled trains on the Rhymney Line “are doing very well” at the moment, and are proving to be popular with passengers.

“They are filling a gap and providing critical capacity on the peak flows. We’re looking at dispensation for them to continue a little longer,” he said.

“We were expecting the ‘769s’ to be here by now. But they’re not and we needed a short-term capacity uplift on the Rhymney Line, which is very busy."

https://www.railmagazine.com/news/network/class-37s-to-stay-in-wales-into-2020

 

[weltweit]

I went to a country show. A couple of them actually