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What can one deduce from locomotive wheel arrangements?

I have just realised the 70013 Oliver Cromwell is a 4-6-2 together with a tender, doh :facepalm:. It makes for one long loco.
Sadly I think we have now seen her run her last on the main line

6345.jpg
 
She is getting an overhaul - heard her go by on a foggy Sat am in St Albans , I was digging out ans scraping 2 cars for work reasons.....
 
She was patched up after her Norwich run. Her main line certificate has expired. Will she ever run on a mainline again or be confined to heritage lines.
 
StoneRoad said:
Mind you, white wall tyres turn up on a few restorations and not just engines ...
Click to expand...

Of course ,and you would know all about that. :thumbs:

Even official shots of new (humble) wagons for the Welsh coal trade , had white painted tyres on a £100 wagon. Not long for the workday work of the valleys ....
 
Someone from a local steam railway told me that they grease the track on corners to reduce the wear on the tyres. Tyres in this case being the metal wheel rings shrunk onto the wheels.
 
weltweit said:
Someone from a local steam railway told me that they grease the track on corners to reduce the wear on the tyres. Tyres in this case being the metal wheel rings shrunk onto the wheels.
Click to expand...
They have special squirty machines that do it automatically. The rails, not the tyres.
 
existentialist said:
They have special squirty machines that do it automatically. The rails, not the tyres.
Click to expand...

Track lubricators - work well when (a) Someone remembers to replenish them (b) they "squirt" onto the rail edge , not the running surface.

In the bad days of Railtrack , and having grave concerns about some of their neglect , I took a walk out south of Kenton on the Watford DC lines as both we and the Bakerloo line had several trains not stopping properly at South Kenton and the reason was immediate - the grease was being applied to the rail head, effectively making a skid pan. Matter rectified and emergency sand applied. Strong conversation to follow ......
 
weltweit said:
Someone from a local steam railway told me that they grease the track on corners to reduce the wear on the tyres. Tyres in this case being the metal wheel rings shrunk onto the wheels.
Click to expand...

Works out incredibly expensive if you do not track lubricate at key points - there are examples where severe wheel set damage had happened on both the big railway and the preserved ones.

Wheelsets are incredibly expensive and there can be a long lead time for delivery when a significant number need changing. There have been bad experiences in the past. Not something you can bodge up in a garage.
 
davesgcr said:
Works out incredibly expensive if you do not track lubricate at key points - there are examples where severe wheel set damage had happened on both the big railway and the preserved ones.

Wheelsets are incredibly expensive and there can be a long lead time for delivery when a significant number need changing. There have been bad experiences in the past. Not something you can bodge up in a garage.
Click to expand...

Nope, I agree ! - you need some specialised kit, first of all to roll the tyres, then shrink or press them on and finally a dammed big lathe to turn the profile and then turn the axle over to do the one at the other end ...
Hard enough on minimum gauge, it must be a mammoth job to do enough for a whole train !
 
StoneRoad said:
Nope, I agree ! - you need some specialised kit, first of all to roll the tyres, then shrink or press them on and finally a dammed big lathe to turn the profile and then turn the axle over to do the one at the other end ...
Hard enough on minimum gauge, it must be a mammoth job to do enough for a whole train !
Click to expand...

Clever WSP (Wheel slip protection) and sanding makes it a lot easier (and trust me , no engineer !) , but various fleets got knackered after major rail replacement after Hatfield as a result of hard rail and old wheel sets , plus the aforementioned failure of Railtrack to worry about track lubrication whereas share holder value was their critical morning report to all.

Then there were various organisations went shopping abroad for cheaper wheel sets , as opposed to buying Sheffield stuff. Buy cheap , buy twice.
 
Yep ... no argument from me. The foreign stuff was a real false economy.

Tis a mucky job re-filling flange greasers, nearly as bad as greasing fishplates ... (glad I don't have to do it now)
 
StoneRoad said:
Yep ... no argument from me. The foreign stuff was a real false economy.

Tis a mucky job re-filling flange greasers, nearly as bad as greasing fishplates ... (glad I don't have to do it now)
Click to expand...

We once had an alert driver who spotted a possible "bomb" near Watford Junction , job stopped , power turned off and bomb squad from Northwood there in no time - they looked from a safe distance and did a controlled explosion - drum of point grease - splattered the whole area. Placed there for overnight greasing of the junction ....took us hours to get the service back.
 
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