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Chris Tarrant Extreme Railways


darren01
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  • 3 weeks later...

I thought last night's was brilliant - I real insight into the countries he visited and REAL steam.

 

I would certainly fancy a few days in Bosnia photographing a real working steam loco in 2018 - anyone planning a visit?

 

Maybe John Raby?  I'll ask him.

Edited by TEAMYAKIMA
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I thought last night's was brilliant - I real insight into the countries he visited and REAL steam.

 

I would certainly fancy a few days in Bosnia photographing a real working steam loco in 2018 - anyone planning a visit?

 

Maybe John Raby?  I'll ask him.

 

The armoured train was fascinating too - just left exactly where it was disabled as a monument.

 

And the trip through the Montenegro valley and the final descent into Bar were quite awesome.

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I had to chuckle when he was describing how the engineers came up with a solution on how to get their locomotive around the necessary curves on a mountain route.

Various pictures of articulated locos were shown, including a Double Fairlie. All these ideas were dismissed.

What was the earth shattering design the engineers came up with? Putting the coal & water into a separate truck. A tender!

Sans pareil, Locomotion, Rocket anyone? :jester:

 

If you ignore the sometimes inane comments it was OK.

 

Keith

 

Edit: Spain next week.

Edited by melmerby
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If you ignore the sometimes inane comments it was OK. Spain next week.

Yes, OK about sums it up. It was just a bit too civilised and not as good as some of his earlier programmes in less developed parts of the world.  However, there's more train in Mr Tarrant's programme than in Mr Portillo's which is a Good Thing and I really get the impression that Mr Tarrant is a genuine enthusiast.  Looking forward to Spain tonight.

 

DT

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What was the earth shattering design the engineers came up with? Putting the coal & water into a separate truck. A tender!

Sans pareil, Locomotion, Rocket anyone?

No it wasn't. He was describing an Engerth which I am sure he said. If you've ever seen the workings you will see it's very different to a conventional set up. I'm on my phone on the moment so can't do a link. I am sure wikki will have an entry.

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Yes, OK about sums it up. It was just a bit too civilised and not as good as some of his earlier programmes in less developed parts of the world. However, there's more train in Mr Tarrant's programme than in Mr Portillo's which is a Good Thing and I really get the impression that Mr Tarrant is a genuine enthusiast. Looking forward to Spain tonight.

 

DT

To be fair Portillos prog is more of a travel programme as it uses Bradshaws which give descriptions of the places visited. So I don't expect much of the trains. Edited by Hobby
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Good one on Spain.

Nice variety of trains on offer and you can see how Spain has changed from importing TGVs for it's first AVE services to building it's own Talgo trains to use.

Fair bit of history as well.

 

 Keith

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No it wasn't. He was describing an Engerth which I am sure he said. If you've ever seen the workings you will see it's very different to a conventional set up. I'm on my phone on the moment so can't do a link. I am sure wikki will have an entry.

According to Wiki, the Engerth type is more like an articulated tank loco...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engerth_locomotive

 

Odd!

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It can be and it can also involve a tender, the idea is that some of the weight of the tender is transferred to the driving wheels on the loco thus increasing adhesion, so the loco isn't just hauling a dead weight around with it. That's how the Mh Class 760mm gauge Engerths work. So not so odd but a useful way of increasing traction.

 

Here's a (not brilliant!) photo of the chassis of an Mh class we say on the Pinzgaur recently:

 

evrYfvi.jpg

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No it wasn't. He was describing an Engerth which I am sure he said. If you've ever seen the workings you will see it's very different to a conventional set up. I'm on my phone on the moment so can't do a link. I am sure wikki will have an entry.

It wasn't very clear that what he was describing was any different from what had gone before.

Unfortunately his sometimes over jocular presentation doesn't help.

 

Keith

Edited by melmerby
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Yes, I just watched it again and see what you mean, though he did say "articulating the loco with the tender ... so that the full weight pushed down on the driving wheels..." which is different to the conventional engine/tender combo or tank loco... They key thing with the Engerth system is that some of the tender weight is transferred to the driving wheels, rather than a simple drawbar seen on most loco/tender combinations, so allowing the loco to have more adhesion whilst still being able to get round sharp curves and heavy gradients of that route, I suppose trying to put a full technical description into such a programme would have given most viewers a "woosh" moment! This is what he was describing, taken from the Wikki page:

 

"The distinctive feature of the Engerth design was an articulated tender as part of the main locomotive frame. Some of the weight of the tender therefore rested on the driving wheels, improving adhesion, while articulation allowed the locomotive to navigate the narrow curves of mountain railways."

 

Certainly not what had come before and whilst it may have looked at first glance like a tank loco it wasn't! ;)

Edited by Hobby
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That railway in Rio Tinto looks interesting, I'm thinking a long weekend to Spain is called for at some time to visit.

 

I have had haulage and seen locos on an Austrian narrow gauge line that use the Engerth sytem of articulation.  If you think that is strange try to get your head around the Klein-Lindor system - locos look normal but the axles move!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klien-Lindner_axle

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That railway in Rio Tinto looks interesting, I'm thinking a long weekend to Spain is called for at some time to visit.

 

See here:

http://parquemineroderiotinto.es/

 

Keith

 

11 Euros for a steam train ride doesn't seem a bad price.

 

Here is the Garratt that you could see in the background:

https://goo.gl/maps/LHktvWGNGiv

Edited by melmerby
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The gauge changing train was a wonder to watch, a whole train done in about a minute

 

 

 

Although for me, there were alarm bells going off in my brain when they mentioned the wheels were not on axles. I have no idea of the forces involved in keeping a non-axled wheel in its mounting while cornering at 200mph, but I wouldn't volunteer to ride on a train with that set-up. 

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Although for me, there were alarm bells going off in my brain when they mentioned the wheels were not on axles. I have no idea of the forces involved in keeping a non-axled wheel in its mounting while cornering at 200mph, but I wouldn't volunteer to ride on a train with that set-up. 

Talgo type trains have been operating for many years without a problem (1968-)

 

See this demo:

 

Keith

 

The Variable gauge trains are relatively modern but Talgo axle-less trains have been around for a long time.

They were originally designed for their light weight.

Edited by melmerby
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Talgo type trains have been operating for many years without a problem (1968-)

 

See this demo:

 

Keith

 

The Variable gauge trains are relatively modern but Talgo axle-less trains have been around for a long time.

They were originally designed for their light weight.

Lot earlier than that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talgo suggests patented 1941 and I can remember Talgos when I was a teenager, so mid 1960s.

 

I enjoyed it - could have been an entire series. He was dismissive of the broader gauge, but not only does that improve stability it makes Spanish trains a lot more comfortable. I thought it wonderful when I first travelled on it in c1961.

 

The modernisation is incredible, although I did travel the last year of steam hauled trains from Port Bou to Barcelona, they were electrified a year later.

 

One item mentioned, but only about the Rio Tinto operation was that before pack mules were used. Spain had no inland transport of note before railways - they didn't have a canal age like Britain and much of northern Europe. So railways were an incredible development.

 

 

Paul

Edited by hmrspaul
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