Rain water & engine rooms

[tomparryharry]

Our foundry test department had is own depot compressor.  Although new, after a while, it failed. The fitters had a look at it.... "It's knackered, get a new one...."  A new one duly arrived. "Can I have the old one?  Yes, but it's no good. Ok, I'll strip it for spares". 

 

On the appointed day, I arrived to pick up the old compressor. I tried to lift it... J H Christ! it was full of water! The shift fitter was installing the new, as I took out the old. "What are you doing? Draining the Res, said I. What! there's a drain on it? Yes, I replied" Well, I'll be *^**^, said the fitter, I never knew you had to drain them...."

 

I'm happy to report that my old compressor still works a treat....

[tomparryharry]

Deleted

Edited October 1, 2020 by tomparryharry
deleted duplication

[BR60103]

The GG1 on the Pennsylvania RR had air filters on the side. They started failing one year. Turned out that there is a certain type of frozen rain or mist that sits at a certain height. The height was the same as the air intakes and the ice was the right size to get through the filters.

If you look at pictures of these locos, you can see that the filters on the hoods have changed position.

(remember "The wrong type of snow"?

[The Stationmaster]

7 hours ago, BR60103 said:

The GG1 on the Pennsylvania RR had air filters on the side. They started failing one year. Turned out that there is a certain type of frozen rain or mist that sits at a certain height. The height was the same as the air intakes and the ice was the right size to get through the filters.

If you look at pictures of these locos, you can see that the filters on the hoods have changed position.

(remember "The wrong type of snow"?

It can also be caused by a certain type of snow (but not the 'wrong kind' Terry Worrall explained on 'Any Answers').   This other 'wrong kind' got into the body of Eurostar Class 373 power cars because it was so fine and frozen.   Once inside it was no problem until the train entered the Channel Tunnel and the ambient temperture rose causing the snow, which was all over the place, to melt and start interfering with various electrickery type things - several trains duly stopped, in the Tunnel (for quite a while).

 

Simple answer was a revised winterisation package with much finer filters and that cured the problem.  Until a few years later when exactly the same thing happened again because the new technical management had dropped the ptrevious winterisation instructions.

[Fat Controller]

8 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

It can also be caused by a certain type of snow (but not the 'wrong kind' Terry Worrall explained on 'Any Answers').   This other 'wrong kind' got into the body of Eurostar Class 373 power cars because it was so fine and frozen.   Once inside it was no problem until the train entered the Channel Tunnel and the ambient temperture rose causing the snow, which was all over the place, to melt and start interfering with various electrickery type things - several trains duly stopped, in the Tunnel (for quite a while).

 

Simple answer was a revised winterisation package with much finer filters and that cured the problem.  Until a few years later when exactly the same thing happened again because the new technical management had dropped the ptrevious winterisation instructions.

I still remember walking into the Control Centre at 05:00 on the day of the great freeze, to see the tunnel blocked with failed E* in both tunnels. I think the first commercial movement eventually ran around lunchtime. I spent my shift drawing a new timetable every hour, then scrunching it up and throwing it away about half an hour afterwards.

[The Stationmaster]

45 minutes ago, Fat Controller said:

I still remember walking into the Control Centre at 05:00 on the day of the great freeze, to see the tunnel blocked with failed E* in both tunnels. I think the first commercial movement eventually ran around lunchtime. I spent my shift drawing a new timetable every hour, then scrunching it up and throwing it away about half an hour afterwards.

You were not alone in drawing up new timetables that day, and rapidly filling waste paper baskets as you went  

[caradoc]

On duty in Glasgow Control one Sunday morning some years ago, an Up Virgin Trains HST came to a stand on the Edinburgh/Carstairs route with a PC reported to be on fire, so much so that the Fire Service were summoned. Virgin Control begged me to ensure they did not spray water onto the roof of the PC as it would wreck the engine; IIRC by the time the Fire Service were on site and the OLE was switched off the fire had died down and no (serious) damage was done. 

 

[The Stationmaster]

22 hours ago, caradoc said:

On duty in Glasgow Control one Sunday morning some years ago, an Up Virgin Trains HST came to a stand on the Edinburgh/Carstairs route with a PC reported to be on fire, so much so that the Fire Service were summoned. Virgin Control begged me to ensure they did not spray water onto the roof of the PC as it would wreck the engine; IIRC by the time the Fire Service were on site and the OLE was switched off the fire had died down and no (serious) damage was done. 

 

Judging by HST PC fires which I have seen you don't really need the Fire Brigade to wreck the engine, a serious fire can manage quite well on its own

[Firecracker]

On 01/10/2020 at 01:31, tomparryharry said:

 Well, I'll be *^**^, said the fitter, I never knew you had to drain them...."

 

I'm happy to report that my old compressor still works a treat....

I can tell a tale along those lines - workshop compressor many years ago stops having any reservoir capacity.  But nothing comes out of the drain.  Boss suggests to my oppo who's attacking it that the drain might be blocked and suggests a welding rod held in a set of mole grips may offer a solution.  No one checks what pressure the tanks at.  I didn’t see the episode, I was out at the time, but I returned to a looney tunes-esque stencilled outline of someone’s lower body on the wall in bright orange, an orange floor, my oppo had gone home to get changed and the boss had gone for a sit down until he got his breath back and he stopped laughing.

 

Owain

[Firecracker]

On 01/10/2020 at 12:50, caradoc said:

On duty in Glasgow Control one Sunday morning some years ago, an Up Virgin Trains HST came to a stand on the Edinburgh/Carstairs route with a PC reported to be on fire, so much so that the Fire Service were summoned. Virgin Control begged me to ensure they did not spray water onto the roof of the PC as it would wreck the engine; IIRC by the time the Fire Service were on site and the OLE was switched off the fire had died down and no (serious) damage was done. 

 

Wasn’t one of the Deltics damaged in preservation when the fire brigade dumped a load of foam into the exhaust to deal with an exhaust fire?  

 

Owain