The Rail Enthusiast thread

[Rickshaw Phil]

A few pics from the SVR steam gala today. The purple Taw Valley (for the Jubilee) is driving people nuts but I quite like it.

It's somewhat more vivid than I'd been expecting when I first heard about the plan.

 

[rogerzilla]

It's somewhat more vivid than I'd been expecting when I first heard about the plan.

Yes, a shade darker would have been better. It's a tad violet.

 

[classic33]

View attachment 641168

The only one in service at present.

 

[rogerzilla]

The only one in service at present.

I think this was its first passenger run since the rebuild. It had a few faults that needed fixing on test runs last week. It is only in wartime black for the SVR gala, then it's back to BR express blue.

 

[Hover Fly]

Just watched Tangmere go through Lancaster It stunk! What are they burning nowadays?

 

[rogerzilla]

Just watched Tangmere go through Lancaster It stunk! What are they burning nowadays?

Anything they can get, since British lump coal is no longer available.

Eco-Coal trials are, AFAIK, not happening on the main line (Eco-Coal contains ground up olive stones at 50%), so it'll be some nasty Kazakhstan or Colombian coal, which tends to be smoky. So they pay to have it shipped thousands of miles, it costs more, and it's more polluting when used. Lose-lose-lose.

 

[robjh]

Ely, the other morning. Ely is an important junction where lines from East Anglia to the midlands and ECML cross the London to King's Lynn line, and it sees regular container trains to and from Felixstowe.

A Great Northern class 387 on a King's Cross service.

A class 66 heading from Felixstowe towards the midlands

and another one heading for the ports

 

[ericmark]

End of South Wales coal, with replacement in distance, seems ash is a problem, it builds up on fire bars and stops the draft. Each engine is different, and likely new fire bars will be required with different gaps.

 

[Andy in Germany]

View attachment 642925 End of South Wales coal, with replacement in distance, seems ash is a problem, it builds up on fire bars and stops the draft. Each engine is different, and likely new fire bars will be required with different gaps.

Perhaps a couple of these would work: no more coal supply issues and much easier for wheelchair access et c...

 

[ericmark]

Not really, people come to ride on the train because it is steam hauled. When some thing goes wrong and we are forced to use Diesel people are very disappointed.

 

[rogerzilla]

GWR engines were built with small fireboxes for burning Welsh coal with a very low volatile content. They won't run all that well on the foreign coal. LNER engines will do better, as they were designed to burn Yorkshire coal.

What is really needed is for the heritage railways to jointly buy and re-open a small mine for exclusive use on their lines - their annual requirements are miniscule - but planning permission will be impossible in the current climate (pun intended).

 

[Andy in Germany]

GWR engines were built with small fireboxes for burning Welsh coal with a very low volatile content. They won't run all that well on the foreign coal. LNER engines will do better, as they were designed to burn Yorkshire coal.

What is really needed is for the heritage railways to jointly buy and re-open a small mine for exclusive use on their lines - their annual requirements are miniscule - but planning permission will be impossible in the current climate (pun intended).

Hmm, even without climate change, I'm not sure about the ethics of asking men to do such a dangerous job so we can play trains. I appreciate it's probably even worse where the coal is coming from, especially from some of the places where it's imported.

Maybe we need to accept that we're trying to sustain the unsustainable, and either use waste oil or similar or accept that diesel or electrically powered trains are going to be part of the future.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Not really, people come to ride on the train because it is steam hauled. When some thing goes wrong and we are forced to use Diesel people are very disappointed.

Switzerland doesn't seem to have tourists turning away because their trains are electric, although I see your point.

Maybe the W & L could be a pioneering transport line once more, although it would require a bit of work at places like Mill Curves. On the other hand, Battery trams could run through Welshpool again...

 

[rogerzilla]

Oil-firing is pretty disgusting: it's heavy bunker oil, not diesel, and the sticky soot clogs the tubes. A standard way to deal with this is to throw a bucket of sand into the firebox when the train is in the countryside, turning the soot into a huge black cloud that's visible for miles.

 

[Cycleops]

This might not interest everyone but I've always had a fascination of American railroads and done some modelling of them thereof, but this come up on YouTube. I didn't think there would be any hobos left but seems there is, well, at least this one Hobo Shoestring. Fascinating guy and has a wealth of knowledge about the railroads and how they work. Used to be switch master in a yard.
Check him out:

View: https://youtu.be/yQJ5ZHv1N9w

View: https://youtu.be/X92SwfjAngc