industrial Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Today I went up to the Chasewater railway to see the revamped Trojan. The one that is on trial up there is No 923 which was the one that was never delivered to Port Talbot Works. As built they were good machines if you forget about the electrics and other minor problems, such as poor cab layout, brake shoes etc. The electric problem was mainly due to having 4 computers but they were not talking to each other and if one showed a fault the other 3 also came up showing other faults as well even thou there was no faults at all. They have now only have got one computer which controls everything with two sets of controls, also dynamics braking as well to come over the brake shoes problem and when you apply the brakes they stop almost dead. Here are some photos for starters. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Barry O Posted April 4, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 4, 2012 Nice Hunslet plate courtesy of LH rebuilding it to get it to work. Shame that it hasn't got a Hunslet plate on the front - is there a big one on the back of the cab? It may have been easier to buy some more Bo-Bos from Hunslet in the first place? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debs. Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 "There`s tidy for you!" ......would make a nice model too. Doubtlessly, very able and handsome; but I`m not sure about that shade of blue, though? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWR-Fanatic Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Great Photos. Seeing these, ! wouldn't mind having one in N gauge as a shunter on my layout. Would look rather neat I think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenton Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Still a big ugly lump. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
industrial Posted April 4, 2012 Author Share Posted April 4, 2012 Well the next two locos are at the LH works and in the next few days will start having this work done on them as well. Also here are some more photos for you. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
industrial Posted April 4, 2012 Author Share Posted April 4, 2012 Some more photos for you. More to come tomorrow including shots inside the cab as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steadfast Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Fantastic stuff - cheers for sharing that. Doesn't half look weird in blue! Don't like the revised cab windows, but they would have been so much easier to cut out than the original style on my model! Interesting that this one has never worked at Port Talbot, presumably it'll be South Wales bound soon. With 2 other at Hunslet, I guess this: http://joalder.smugmug.com/Trains/Days-Out-2012/Margam-Swansea-Tonna-and/22098562_gW3KWR#!i=1763754965&k=RdrSn2L will soon be history! Thanks again jo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Michael Edge Posted April 5, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 5, 2012 Nice Hunslet plate courtesy of LH rebuilding it to get it to work. Shame that it hasn't got a Hunslet plate on the front - is there a big one on the back of the cab? It may have been easier to buy some more Bo-Bos from Hunslet in the first place? Frame and bogie design look exactly the same as the original Hunslet locos to me, so why shouldn't they put "HUNSLET" plates on it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
industrial Posted April 5, 2012 Author Share Posted April 5, 2012 This one should be going to Port Talbot for the first time next Thursday. The cab was designed to put in all the features that the drivers at Port Talbot wanted in there to make life easy for them. These first show the advantage of the large drivers windows as the window frame has been moved, yes the cab has lost the unformatted that it had. You will not see many of these when the engine is at Port Talbot. This shows the driver (the man with two hats) in the sitting position. The seat can be slid out of the way and consort moved nearer to the side window which can now be opened at the drivers end so it is possible to drive the engine when you are leaning out of the side window. Just realised this is my 1000 posting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
industrial Posted April 5, 2012 Author Share Posted April 5, 2012 Here are the last photos unless anybody want more detailed shots and I will send them to you if you drop me a PM. This shows one of the consorts that is used to control the machine. On the back is the start button and above the control keypad for the level crossing gates and the points at Port Talbot so the driver can stay in the cab and also doesn't have to stop and start the train, also it will also control the points as well. Next is the wipers controls so you can set one or both on at the same time. Then the emergency stop and finally the information panel which can be changed more of this later. On the flat panel is first the parking brake then the desc control and this is set that only consort is in use at one time. Next the brake leaver which is now mainly used for parking the engine than stopping the engine. The washers and the sand buttons you should know all about. The neutral button is so the engine is out of gear. The direction leaver is one of these touch contact switches. Next the constant speed control where you want the engine to go at a set speed. The Vigilance button is a form of dead man button and if no controls are moved it will sound a buzzer and if not reset the engine brakes will go on. And the last lever is for the speed and dynamics braking. It has 12 notches for speed and again each time you push the leaver it will go one notch and if you pull it back the dynamics brakes will come on (very hard at that). In the middle of the leaver is the horn. This the main display the driver will see. The main ones for your information is the one in the near bottom right which is showing 0% this is where you see how many notches you are using but you can see that there is a 0 but the engine is doing 12.2 MPH ie the engine is costing down hill. The top right hand side is for the brakes and when fully on it is 4.6 Bar.The HD bar is green but when the dynamics brakes are put on this turns to red. The desk will show green for the one in use and red for the one out of use. This is another lot of buttons as well and the buzzer for the vigilance control. The colour lights for when using the remote control. When I am driving the engine. All the computers are/ will be fitted with a modem so any faults can be sorted away from the machine. Ie if you are on holiday you will be able to sort out the problems. Yes it will be possible to drive the engines using a remote computer as well. Another feature that might not go down so well as the engine performance fuel used will be recorded so it will be possible to tell the best and worst drivers as well. There will be a good chance one of the engines that is just going to have its refit will be at the rail-feast at the NRM as they have requested (demanded) that one of them to be there, but the cab will have to be taken of to get it in there and then put back on again. They want it there so to show that Great Britain can still build the best and the most advanced engines in the world. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruston Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Why do they have a computer in them? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RThompson Posted April 6, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 6, 2012 just curious, what engine/engines does this have? I'm assuming something like a Cummins isb6 that will be computor controlled? A lot of those buttons in the cab can at least be sourced easily if ever needed as they are used on certain buses. I'm sure the speedo/RPM is off a Optare Versa but these have only been used for a year by them now! sorry but i notice little details like this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
industrial Posted April 7, 2012 Author Share Posted April 7, 2012 Still a big ugly lump. A bit like most main line classes these days, a working lump. The sloping front dose not help. just curious, what engine/engines does this have? I'm assuming something like a Cummins isb6 that will be computor controlled? A lot of those buttons in the cab can at least be sourced easily if ever needed as they are used on certain buses. I'm sure the speedo/RPM is off a Optare Versa but these have only been used for a year by them now! sorry but i notice little details like this. It has got a 720 KW (V12 I think was said) (1001 HP) caterpillar engine. Why do they have a computer in them? So a man with a spanner will find it harder to repair. Being more serious it is down to getting the best performance out of the engines and using the least amount of fuel to move the train. Also it should be more easy to find where the faults are so getting any repairs fixed faster. Also the cooling fan is so powerful that they reckon it will be able to lift a man up when it is on full power. When it was tested in the workshop it started taking the tiles of the roof. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
archerymoose Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 The original did not have electrical problems and also did not have four computers it was controlled by a single PLC with redundant processores and had two HMI driver stations, the control and the loco operations matched the received specification from Port Talbot to the letter, the fact it has been changed is a reflection on the specification and not the original design. The new desk layout is what we wanted to provide in the first place but was rejected by PT in favour of what they got. It had dynamic breaking from day one As for the engine it is a V24 CAT engine This Loco during its original trials at Scunthorpe pulled a load up the steepest incline with a safety loco and went over speed while in automatic mode, this was a very powerful loco for its size and was more than capable of doing the work required of it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 There's more on the problems that had to be solved in an article here: http://www.therailengineer.com/2012/05/15/transforming-trojans/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
archerymoose Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 There's more on the problems that had to be solved in an article here: http://www.therailengineer.com/2012/05/15/transforming-trojans/ Yes I have read this article and it is just PT justifying the change, the fact is the loco met the design brief and specification as provided by PT, they had a big input in to the design including cab layout and the operator station design and the requirements of the control system including the use of a PLC. Some of the operational issues were caused by not following the operations manual and the insistence of leaving the control system fully powered up with the engine off. Bit like leaving your car switched on with all the lights turned on and the engine off, if you expect the battery to be ok when you got back in to work the next day then you should not be allowed a car. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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