Tornado fails on ECML

[roythebus]

Reports came in earlier that Tornado had failed whilst working on the ECML. A person I know who is very closely with the loco could not say too much except to say that the loco had suffered damage to the middle cylinder and is now on the Neve Vally Railway for repairs. He added that staff from the A1 Trust, DB and Network Rail acted in a very professional manner ind ealing with the incident.

 

An unconfirmed report on a Facebook rail group says that the loco hit something on the track near Sandy.

[newbryford]

https://www.a1steam.com/2018/04/14/the-ebor-flyer-update/

[chris p bacon]

It failed right in front of me, Sat at Stratford brook just South of Sandy station blowing pressure off for a while, there was some debris from the loco further back in the 4'

[cal.n]

I do hope for A1SLT’s sake that the incident wasn’t speed related, but I fear this could well the end of 90mph running.

 

S*** happens on the real railway and regularly does, but when it’s the first public high speed run with arguably the most popular loco suffering such a public, catastrophic failure on the fast line of the ECML, it will be seen as much worse than, say a HST putting down in a similar manner. Unfortunately in this case, 90mph running did more harm than good in terms of disruption to other services.

 

I really feel for all those at A1SLT and DB after the success of the 100mph test run. Hopefully any damage to the inside gear can be fixed. It must be especially gutting after the heavy overhaul during the winter

[chris p bacon]

By co-incidence the place where Tornado stopped was pretty much the exact place where approx 20 years ago an axle on a Mk4 shattered at 125mph and derailed, ripping up about a mile of track in the process, the subsequent relaying shut the Up & Down fast for 2-3 weeks.

[beast66606]

66744 rescued it at Sand and took the train to Peterborough where Tornado and 66744 were replaced by 66106.

[Mallard60022]

66744 rescued it at Sand and took the train to Peterborough where Tornado and 66744 were replaced by 66106.

66106 was seen rushing south at Retford from Donny yesterday and speculation had it as a Thunderbird. 

Sorry but I CBA to go and see the 'remains' of the train Down in the p.m and Up in the late afternoon.

Quick thanks to roythebus for posting here rather than in Preservation. I have this thing about Tornado being talked about in 'preservation. It is a new locomotive not a preserved/restored item.

I suspected it might go to The NVR as it is so handy for Peterborough. I await the news as to how this happened and in a way I hope it was from an external source and not a stress failure of the loco part(s) involved especially if the part was 'mine'.

Such a huge shame as it could well, as mentioned, put the mockers on high speed running on the ECML.

I still am not sure why they don't use Sundays for these 'extra specials'.

Good luck A1ST 

Phil

[Corbs]

For anyone who didn't read the link.

"At this time the cause of the damage is not known but is not thought to be speed-related."

[Oldddudders]

For anyone who didn't read the link.

"At this time the cause of the damage is not known but is not thought to be speed-related."

 

And if I were in their shoes that is what I would say too. 

[Boris]

After this bit fell off it?

[DougN]

Looks like a pretty important bit....

[Mallard60022]

Looks like a pretty important bit....

....and quite a big bit, so probably not 'mine'! Bet that made a bang when it flew off.

Phil

[russ p]

After this bit fell off it?

 

Looks like if that had gone in other places like under the wheels could have caused utter devastation.

[PatB]

After this bit fell off it?

 

Ooh! They'll be needing the big hammer and the b*stard file on that .

[Worsdell forever]

Ooh! They'll be needing the big hammer and the b*stard file on that .

 

I think they'll need the big welder out, you know, the one with a nail in place of the fuse...

[Nearholmer]

When you see bits on the track after an incident, it can take a fair bit of detective work to decide whether they are part of the cause, or part of the consequence. Whatever that bit is, it does look as if it might have a large heat-affected zone on it, though, which, if I’m right, suggests something happening over time, rather than instantaneously.

 

We shall have to wait and see.

[uax6]

Whats also clear is that there must have been quite a large bit of metal flailing around still attached to either the piston rod or the driving axle, that may well have done some extensive damage to the loco on its own.

Not knowing much about the valve gear design, can anyone identify which bit it actually is please?

 

That blueing of the steel must mean that some quite large amount of heat was present, so perhaps a bearing failure?

 

Andy G

[LMS2968]

There are actually three parts there: the lower end of the combination lever, broken off at the top below the valve spindle; part of the crosshead drop arm; and the union link between them. The two pins at the ends of the union link are intact with nuts still fastened. I'll agree that the top end of what was the combination lever appears to have been blued by a prolonged heating.

[uax6]

So, looking at a diagram off the web (http://msts.steam4me.net/tutorials/anim_walsch.html ), that gear is going back and forth. I presume that each cylinder has a full set of valve gear, not shared across cylinders?

 

Andy G

[rodent279]

That looks, to my untrained eye, like some sort of catastrophic fatigue failure, caused either by excessive heating, or some pre-existing flaw. Hopefully a one-off, without long term consequences.

Edited April 15, 2018 by rodent279

[LMS2968]

So, looking at a diagram off the web (http://msts.steam4me.net/tutorials/anim_walsch.html ), that gear is going back and forth. I presume that each cylinder has a full set of valve gear, not shared across cylinders?

 

Andy G

The A1s and A2s had a full set of gear for each cylinder. The A3s, A4s and V2s had conjugated gear for the inside cylinder, driven by rocking beams from the outside gear.

[uax6]

Does make you wonder whats happened at the cylinder end of that lot, hopefully its not going to be too extensive or expensive to repair.

 

No one likes to see that sort of failure, and thankfully no-one was hurt.

 

Andy G

[The Bigbee Line]

Maintaining rail vehicles is a serious undertaking. Something happened here and the investigation will find out why it happened.

As a relatively new loco it has no old components. So it will be interesting to see the cause. Good to see that all the pins were still in place on the parts found on the track.

I feel sympathy for the guy that did the last inspection as that’s where the “finger pointers” go first......

Armchair Engineers need to go under a vehicle to see what’s actually involved.

[Steamport Southport]

Maintaining rail vehicles is a serious undertaking. Something happened here and the investigation will find out why it happened.

As a relatively new loco it has no old components. So it will be interesting to see the cause. Good to see that all the pins were still in place on the parts found on the track.

I feel sympathy for the guy that did the last inspection as that’s where the “finger pointers” go first......

Armchair Engineers need to go under a vehicle to see what’s actually involved.

 

I reckon that parts of the valve gear are well over twenty years old since they started building it in 1994.

 

 

 

Jason

[Mallard60022]

I reckon that parts of the valve gear are well over twenty years old since they started building it in 1994.

 

 

 

Jason

Yes, however it has only been running and on the main line since 2008/9.

Phil