RMweb Gold big jim Posted January 27, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 27, 2020 28 minutes ago, Swindon 123 said: After applying the handbrakes on all the wagons, the train was sat on a 1 in 100 gradient, walking back to Crewe Junction SB, arranging assistance, and then having to go and conduct the driver on the assisting loco from Gobowen to Shrewsbury, because he didn't sign the road, and then shunting the whole lot into Coton Hill yard, it was something like 4 hours before I finally got got back on the failed loco, so it had cleared by then. Needless to say, once shunted into Coton Hill, I'd had enough and went back pass to Hereford. Paul J. Yep, it’s not the easiest to assist something that fails between shrewsbury and Gobowen, I had to do it a few years back when a freightliner 66 came to a stand just past leaton crossing heading north, I had to go from chick to shrewsbury, back to the train at leaton then drag it bang road back to shrewsbury, Leaton crossing under local control etc, as the 66 was still running I dragged the train into the platform at shrewsbury, isolated the class 60 (which was now on the rear, and got the 66 driver to draw the whole lot forward into coton hill, there must have been something seriously wrong with the 66 as it couldn’t even drag the train into the yard so I had to deisolate the 60 and push the whole lot in From the rear, the 60 not even breaking into a sweat! then after all that lot to get back to chirk you had to go past chirk all the way To Wrexham to change ends and come back again, I remember telling control it was going to take the best part of 4 hours from leaving chirk to getting back and they didn’t believe me, they said it should be doable in an hour and half, sure enough just after 4 hours after leaving I got back! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cb900f Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 (edited) The water pressure switch (4-8 psi) actually worked on water pressure not level, on the Eastern region we called it . Low water level was indicated by a bright blue fault light on the drivers desk with no loss of power. With 47s liking to rock and roll the Mowbrey float switch in the header tank would bob up and down and the fault light would keep brightening and then dimming on the desk. Adjacent to were ROPS (run oil pressure switch) and SOPS (start oil pressure switch). Yes I have spragged a pressure switch (MAPS main air pressure switch) ) but as I have never smoked I broke a tooth off of a comb and we cleared the main line. Pete Edited January 28, 2020 by cb900f seems to have disappeared from the text it doesn't like W O P S 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerzilla Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 HSTs often kept going if a power car failed. I saw an HST pull away from Didcot Parkway in this condition, with one car utterly silent. Goodness knows how late it was at Paddington, because acceleration was best described as "leisurely". The timetable was messed up a bit that afternoon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pH Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 1 hour ago, rogerzilla said: HSTs often kept going if a power car failed. I saw an HST pull away from Didcot Parkway in this condition, with one car utterly silent. Goodness knows how late it was at Paddington, because acceleration was best described as "leisurely". The timetable was messed up a bit that afternoon. About twenty years ago, we travelled as a family from Glasgow to Truro by train. One power car failed while the train was standing in Birmingham New Street, but we continued on with only one power car working. With a full train, speeds were not high, but we kept moving. We pulled in to Taunton, to be faced with the whole passenger load of a previous train which had been failed there. Everybody got on, but the passageways were full, people sitting on luggage etc. (One of our sons wondered out loud when we could expect the pigs and live chickens in baskets.) Fortunately, at Exeter fitters got the dead power car going again, and quite a few passengers got off, so the rest of the journey wasn't quite so bad, though very late into Truro. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Foden Posted January 27, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 27, 2020 Oddly enough my memory of a journey between Sheffield and Leicester around 2002 left me quite impressed with how capable our HST set performed with only one power car. We left Sheffield on time on two engines, lord knows what happened but after a slightly longer ten minute stop at Chesterfield my dad noted that the rear power car was dead in tow. Yet we were only a few minutes late into Derby, and bang on time into Leicester, where the set left still with the lead power car doing all the work onto St Pancras. Fortunately the train was pretty light, and at the time I think the line between Sheffield and Derby was still sub 100mph running, but the single power car performed pretty well, and although getting to speed out of Chesterfield and Derby took a little longer, it left me quite in awe at what a single Valenta engined HST could do. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
royaloak Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 2 hours ago, rogerzilla said: HSTs often kept going if a power car failed. I saw an HST pull away from Didcot Parkway in this condition, with one car utterly silent. Goodness knows how late it was at Paddington, because acceleration was best described as "leisurely". The timetable was messed up a bit that afternoon. A HST power car cant take full power until about 35-40 mph so until you get to that speed it will be leisurely, once above that acceleration is reasonable, last time I had a OEO set I actually made up 4 minutes from Taunton to Reading, I was trying to keep the deficit to a minimum and was very surprised when I noticed I was making time up so kept things as close as possible to line speed, it was fun. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LBRJ Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 9 hours ago, The Stationmaster said: Jim you forgot FHD (For Home Depot - to deal with) Most of our units repair books seemed to consist of pages of FHDA or NFF on alternate pages. Or the classic "unable to recreate fault on depot" - which when it concerned something like a connecting door that howled like a banshee at 60mph was never really that much of a shock 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold adb968008 Posted January 28, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2020 (edited) I think one of my best fail examples, was for the simplest of reasons... 13th April 1991... All was going reasonably to plan.. 47580 brought us from Leeds to Bristol TM, where it went to shed for a drink... 47805 was brought forth for the short hop from Bristol to the WSR... only someone for forgot to put fuel in the 47... and 47805 expired just west of Taunton station... and the only loco for miles around was Tauntons station pilot... which was duly summonsed and gronked up to Bishops Lydeard... i wonder what those guys on the bridge were thinking ? 6106 and 5572 took us onwards, 53808 took us back, where a freshly summonds 47468 was waiting and 47580 was waiting again at Bristol TM before heading home https://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/90s/910413vt.htm The train ran to BRSR (BR Std Railtour time) throughout, and duly arrived 90 minutes late and got back 2 hours late. Edited January 28, 2020 by adb968008 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted January 28, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 28, 2020 13 hours ago, The Stationmaster said: Jim you forgot FHD (For Home Depot - to deal with) Translates as "... and don't send us this old heap of carp again". 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted January 28, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2020 16 hours ago, Rivercider said: One of our supervisors, a former Southern man, mentioned that class 73s on diesel were also prone to leaks and overheating, Oh yes, when they were using the 73’s to Ludgershall via Laverstock on supply trains for the resignalling stores there we had drivers request to come into Salisbury twice so they could let it cool down rather than failing on Porton bank The days when any qualified staff could help out with a shunt still, now they insist on their own ground staff which means they sit there a lot longer! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
25901 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 4 hours ago, St Enodoc said: Translates as "... and don't send us this old heap of carp again". Bescot lol Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted January 28, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 28, 2020 28 minutes ago, 25901 said: Bescot lol Any depot other than your own. When I worked at Eastfield, it was Haymarket. Later, when I worked at Haymarket, it was...guess where? 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium keefer Posted January 28, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 28, 2020 Some repair books and record cards: http://locodocs.co.uk/ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted January 28, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2020 8 hours ago, St Enodoc said: Translates as "... and don't send us this old heap of carp again". It could be quite amusing when it had been entered in the Repair Book by a Fitter at the loco's home depot (yes, it happened) 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
royaloak Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said: It could be quite amusing when it had been entered in the Repair Book by a Fitter at the loco's home depot (yes, it happened) You could always tell the good or bad locos by how often they were re-allocated. 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
caradoc Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 In 1992 the Class 47 hauling the Royal Train, en route from its overnight stabling location on the now-defunct Coltness branch to Glasgow Central, conveying HM The Queen to the Gulf War Service at Glasgow Cathedral, failed. Cue much frenzied activity in Glasgow Control, concern if not panic from the BT Police, and very bad publicity for BR. IIRC the train ended up being propelled by the second loco on the rear into Central ! The cause of failure was traced to a defective triple pump, for which I believe a poor fitter at Bath Road was held responsible. Still, if you leave maintaining diesel-electrics to the Western Region......... 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold adb968008 Posted January 28, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2020 (edited) Another photo I have is of a failed 31, being pulled by a class 40... So what ? it was taken in early 1987 and it wasn't D200, and it wasnt on a preserved railway. If I can find it i will share it, but 40145 went down towards Radcliffe to recover a rolling stock delivery to the ELR consisting of a few mk1’s. the 31 had given up close to Hag side threatening the rest of the evening 504 service... 40145 dragged the train into Buckley Wells, dropped off the 31 and gave a stunning performance to the Buckley Wells crowd as it crossed back onto the ELR side of the crossing (BR still owning the BQ side if the road). This 33 got a bit of help as you can see too in 1988.. sorry for the picture quality, but you can imagine when I heard the western kick in, I didnt have much time to react... (i dont think the 33 really failed though.. ;-) but the western well shove it certainly did setting up the display line that morning.. Winchfield 150. Edited January 28, 2020 by adb968008 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roythebus Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 On 25/01/2020 at 22:01, Edwin_m said: I believe failure of the electric ring for the kettle was a common reason to fail the loco. I was reading on another forum that most of Manchester Piccadilly was blocked because one of the new units failed having allegedly had some beverage spilled into the electrics under the desktop. So the British railway still runs on tea! I understand from professional train drivers' fora that the "boil in the bag" "drivers" don't make tea, they buy coffee. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roythebus Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 Possibly the most bizarre failure I had was working a VEP into Waterloo one very hot sticky afternoon, there had been storms around. Twickenham box had been hit by lightning. As I ran into Waterloo there was a loud CLICK from the back of the cab and all the MCBs on the panel tripped out, including the EP brake! Of course being fully conversant and used to using the Westinghouse brake stopping in the right place wasn't a problem. I still had the line light, but no MG running, no compressors. So wandered up to the foreman 's office and told him there was a problem. the fitter was summoned and came down to have a look. not only had the MCBs tripped, they'd melted. A visit to the brake van found the main isolator had burnt out too. The unit was a complete failure. quite why these things burnt out at that exact moment is a mystery that could only be put down to a power surge elsewhere caused by a lightning strike. Luckily I had an 8 car unit so the whole lot went back ECS to Wimbledon Park. 2 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dagworth Posted January 28, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2020 11 hours ago, keefer said: Some repair books and record cards: http://locodocs.co.uk/ I've just found my own writing in one of the repair books! Andi 2 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Davexoc Posted January 28, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 28, 2020 6 hours ago, caradoc said: In 1992 the Class 47 hauling the Royal Train, en route from its overnight stabling location on the now-defunct Coltness branch to Glasgow Central, conveying HM The Queen to the Gulf War Service at Glasgow Cathedral, failed. Cue much frenzied activity in Glasgow Control, concern if not panic from the BT Police, and very bad publicity for BR. IIRC the train ended up being propelled by the second loco on the rear into Central ! The cause of failure was traced to a defective triple pump, for which I believe a poor fitter at Bath Road was held responsible. Still, if you leave maintaining diesel-electrics to the Western Region......... If it had run on the Western for Her Maj', there would have been a train loco, a loco running in advance, and another behind, or at least strategically placed spares. And all would be clean and preped as the train loco. The relevant breakdown crew would also be sat on their train ready to go as the Royal train passed through their patch. Maybe the budget had been cut by then.... Don't think I ever had any problems with the triple pumps. Compressors, fuel leaks, low power and wheelslip problems were common, with alot of wheelslip problems being attributed to poor traction motor brushbox assembly when refurbished. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
APOLLO Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 14 Feb 1970, off to Grantham from Wigan to spot Deltics. The Chesterfield to Nottingham leg was (for a couple of miles) behind Brush 4 D1522, which expired at Clay Cross. Two EE Type 1's D8076 & D8034 were luckily nearby light engine on the adjacent slow lines, and in 15 mins were coupled on & took us on to Nottingham. We got to Grantham on time and saw a few Deltics. Blimmin cold that day !! My Lord, nearly 50 years ago !! - seems like last year !! Brit15 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted January 28, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2020 14 minutes ago, APOLLO said: 14 Feb 1970, off to Grantham from Wigan to spot Deltics. The Chesterfield to Nottingham leg was (for a couple of miles) behind Brush 4 D1522, which expired at Clay Cross. Two EE Type 1's D8076 & D8034 were luckily nearby light engine on the adjacent slow lines, and in 15 mins were coupled on & took us on to Nottingham. We got to Grantham on time and saw a few Deltics. Blimmin cold that day !! My Lord, nearly 50 years ago !! - seems like last year !! Brit15 Happy days ... 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 4 13 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Welly Posted January 29, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 29, 2020 ^^^ Is that the initials of the fitter or a very curt acronym? 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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