Jump to content
 

Peterborough North


great northern
 Share

Recommended Posts

41 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said:

The 2000 performed well for most of their lives, most years having the second or third highest reliability. First was the Type 1s and second or third along with the Type 4s was the Type 3s, which I think is testimony to the sound engineering design by staff at English Electric. True they were on their upper limits performance wise on both the ECML and the WCML.

 

Many can look at the romance of steam locos with rose tinted glasses. Quite a few years ago I was chatting to a Carlisle driver who had experience of steam  locos, the various classes of diesels and electrics. He said on a nice summer day with a light Birmingham- Glasgow train it was lovely being on the footplate of a Princess Coronation but on a cold frosty morning with a heavy sleeper behind give him a class 87 topping Shap at 100.

 

Yes, crew comforts ! I was once a guest at an ASLEF dinner when an ex-LMS man and an ex- GWR driver were having some banter about their respective regions steam locos until the LMS man said “ Ah but on those cold windy nights at hanging around at Oxford you always wanted to leave your draughty cab come and sit in our Class5 cab! “ 

 

I wasnt knocking the overall reliability of the class 40’s, but with the benefit of hindsight of the cost of the investment of throwing them in the deep end of front line ECML expresses when steam was doing just as well , since it was only a matter of four years of so until the more powerful Deltics and class 47’s were available. I know it is easy to be clever with hindsight , but there were some massive blunders with the Modernisation Programme. It was the same with the Western , with the huge cost of the Diesel Hydraulics, that were withdrawn after a fraction     

of their potential economic working lives. I agree it is to be clever with hindsight though.. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
5 hours ago, great northern said:

 

One example, two recorded sightings in summer 58  on or near Welwyn viaduct. One was three eight car quad arts going South behind a 9F just after August Bank Holiday, and the other a train consisting of 20 something condemned brake vans. Would there have been specific paths for those? I doubt it. Obviously I don't advocate trying to run either, on the grounds of impracticality, unless we've come into a lot of money, which I haven't.

No, we should never do that!

 

B46360E6-2647-4546-B92E-CCE9CE151599.jpeg.255edbd0d343794df0ac54193f407f36.jpeg

 

(Sorry about the lamps - it’s normally on freight and they’re superglued in place!)

 

Andy

  • Like 15
  • Funny 1
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
7 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

The 2000 performed well for most of their lives, most years having the second or third highest reliability. First was the Type 1s and second or third along with the Type 4s was the Type 3s, which I think is testimony to the sound engineering design by staff at English Electric. True they were on their upper limits performance wise on both the ECML and the WCML.

 

Many can look at the romance of steam locos with rose tinted glasses. Quite a few years ago I was chatting to a Carlisle driver who had experience of steam  locos, the various classes of diesels and electrics. He said on a nice summer day with a light Birmingham- Glasgow train it was lovely being on the footplate of a Princess Coronation but on a cold frosty morning with a heavy sleeper behind give him a class 87 topping Shap at 100.

In my experience (Scotland, 1970s/80s) the Type 4s were let down by some of the electro-mechanical parts, most notably the load regulator which needed frequent adjustment. EE did a much better job with the Type 3s.

  • Informative/Useful 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

30 minutes ago, great northern said:

Just spent two hours going from Fort William to Mallaig. Very pleasant, and quite relaxing.

Same here. Done the route many times - at least twice behind 5407 - but not for a few years. But found I still had a pretty good idea of what was round the next corner which was quite satisfying. Mrs 4479 stood it for about 5 mins before declaring it to be 'ard going - 'are we going to be watching THIS for two hours? There's not even any commentary!'

 

Must be a 'man' thing.

  • Like 1
  • Agree 1
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
1 hour ago, LNER4479 said:

Same here. Done the route many times - at least twice behind 5407 - but not for a few years. But found I still had a pretty good idea of what was round the next corner which was quite satisfying. Mrs 4479 stood it for about 5 mins before declaring it to be 'ard going - 'are we going to be watching THIS for two hours? There's not even any commentary!'

 

Must be a 'man' thing.

I was lucky enough to get paid for travelling between Glasgow, Oban, Fort William and Mallaig, night or day, passenger or freight, about twice a week in late 1978. What a way to earn a living...

  • Like 5
  • Agree 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
10 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

Same here. Done the route many times - at least twice behind 5407 - but not for a few years. But found I still had a pretty good idea of what was round the next corner which was quite satisfying. Mrs 4479 stood it for about 5 mins before declaring it to be 'ard going - 'are we going to be watching THIS for two hours? There's not even any commentary!'

 

Must be a 'man' thing.

I got a bit fidgety towards half way through, but then realised that the more spectacular scenery was still to come and stuck with it.  I wouldn't want to watch things like this too often, but occasionally, and especially if they are railway related, I enjoy them. As to commentary, given the false jeopardy which has to be injected into otherwise watchable programmes I think the lack of it is no bad thing.

  • Agree 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
8 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I was lucky enough to get paid for travelling between Glasgow, Oban, Fort William and Mallaig, night or day, passenger or freight, about twice a week in late 1978. What a way to earn a living...

Didn't the amount of enjoyment depend on the weather conditions?

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
14 hours ago, great northern said:

Another of my occasional attempts at reproducing a prototype image. I've tried this one before, I think, but I fancied another go.

 

 

geograph-2461325-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg.e4a9539fa960afb50e25b02b832f1487.jpg

So, here is Ben Brooksbank's original photo of the Little Barford coal. Followed by my attempt.

 

 

1831510367_137651.JPG.0dd4ad9d0788300a069136de2591054c.JPG

Let down by a lamp again, and I couldn't get the platform signal sharp, nor add any exhaust. Not too bad though?

 

 

 

 

Gilbert,

 

In your picture I can see a signal with the distant on and the home off, whereas on the prototype shot there’s doesn’t seem to be a home. What’s going on there?

 

Andy

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
22 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

Gilbert,

 

In your picture I can see a signal with the distant on and the home off, whereas on the prototype shot there’s doesn’t seem to be a home. What’s going on there?

 

Andy

Yes, I did a double take at first Andy, but the simple answer is that the home is hidden by the exhaust from the locomotive.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
1 hour ago, great northern said:

Didn't the amount of enjoyment depend on the weather conditions?

Not really Gilbert. I enjoyed every trip, regardless of the time of day, type of train, weather or anything else. What more could a young bloke just out of University ask for? (well, quite a lot actually but you get my drift...).

  • Like 2
  • Friendly/supportive 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
25 minutes ago, great northern said:

Yes, I did a double take at first Andy, but the simple answer is that the home is hidden by the exhaust from the locomotive.

I did consider that, but it didn’t look thick enough. Anyway, mystery solved in which case, it’s a remarkably good recreation.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
16 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

I did consider that, but it didn’t look thick enough. Anyway, mystery solved in which case, it’s a remarkably good recreation.

That's why I had another go at it Andy. I just need a lower quadrant arm on the platform signal now, I think, though I still haven't been able to establish exactly when the change was made. Other than that, everything else seems to be nearly in the right place.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, great northern said:

That's why I had another go at it Andy. I just need a lower quadrant arm on the platform signal now, I think, though I still haven't been able to establish exactly when the change was made. Other than that, everything else seems to be nearly in the right place.

On the forward project plan...

Link to post
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, great northern said:

More coal, running Class F behind one of our borrowed 02s.

 

 

606976319_1139831.JPG.eb6df79aaaf3f590d4a4c12da89f9841.JPG

And as we really like an 02, don't we, here is 63983 in close up.

 

 

1410273292_1239832.JPG.32ed275f6ad246b3ac71d42ba633b471.JPG

I forgot the dusting brush again, but I just can't see these specks with the naked eye.

 

Before you mentioned it it genuinely thought those specks on the smoke box and running plate were specks of ash . Looks very realistic to me !

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...