Pictures of steam locos

Heres one from last weekend. Not steam I'm afraid, but that's the way it goes.

First Great Western local service from Exmouth to Paignton. Consists of Class 153 & Class 143. Taken across the Exe from  the Dawlish Warren Nature Reserve.



The following pair are from a mate of mine and are the 2 x 08 shunters from Laira Depot. I have permission to post them.

Sorry lads, didn't manage to get to either one of the specials. Had an invitation to visit Berry Head instead. However, the Royal Duchy did not go too smoothly and no doubt the organisers of the trip will be getting a very hefty fine from Network Rail for a 2.5 hours delay which in effect closed the Paddington to Penzance line in the Up direction and also disrupted the Down Line from Totnes to Plymouth for an hour or so.

All was going well until Tangmere and 9 coaches set off from Plymouth on the return trip to Bristol. It had been raining for a while and it was going great guns until it got half way up Hemerdon Bank when it lost all traction (The Bullieds are well known for slipping). The train had to be rescued by one of the 08 shunters from Laira and towed back to Plymouth North Road so the passengers could be de-trained and transferred onto an HST (which because of the incident was already running 2 hours late and had to have a Special Stop Order placed on it for Yatton to drop off the tour passengers). A West Coast Railways Class 47 was eventually dispatched from Bristol, which got into Plymouth about 11pm to tow Tangmere and the empty coaches back to Bristol.

Must admit though, the 08 did well in dragging Tangmere and 9 coaches all the way back to Plymouth. Probably the most work it's done in ages.

To make up for this I'll put up a pic of a great little Sail Trawler I took from Berry Head.

Lowestoft Trawler No. LT472 'Excelsior' now used as a sail training vessel.

Thanks for the post - your description brought back memories of Southern region Bullieds as they took off form North Road past the signal box station towards Mutley.  Plenty of rattle and slippage.  In stark contrast to the Western region Kings and Castles…. ah memories

Here are a couple of vids outlining Tangmere's Woes.







To put all this in context it had just poured down, and as we all know, water, diesel, oil and traction are not in the same equation

Hope you like them

Having seen the videos the explanation is clear - too many carriages for a single loco - somebody hadn't done their homework.
Nearly all ( if not all ) the express passenger services from Plymouth that I witnessed as a young boy, were double headed.

Tangmere is a regular down here and mostly she manages all right with 9 on, in both directions. In fact she's been known to blast Hemerdon in the down direction (The steepest side) at 29mph. The wet and greasy rails were against her this time. I have also seen the A4's, Tornado and even a King spin like mad as they get going from Platform 8. I think in view of last weekends episode Network Rail will probably insist on two locos in future. If they do then it will spoil it a bit as the Diesel will always be Leading Engine, which sort of half negates the idea of a Steam run.

Thanks Mick, interesting videos.

Probably a really stupid question, but are they allowed to use sand nowadays?

Also, surprising how much pulling power the little 08s have.


Ed

Yes Ed they are. I don't know about HST's but the Frieght Locos seem to have sand boxes.

To make up for last weekend here's a little somthing I took this afternoon at Dawlish Warren. It's a Class 153/150 combination with a Barnstable destination board on its way to Paignton.





More later.

No. 60009 Union of South Africa is on the Royal Duchy this weekend (Sunday). Let's hope that doesn't fail like Tangmere did. Will see if I can get some shots of it coming into and leaving Plymouth.

It's a Gresley LNER "Streak" Mike - it won't fail …………..built in't north ……….cheers:cheers:cheers

Thought it was wup North Peter!

Only if you're from Retford Derek ………….:cheers

Did you make it out here this year ?  Great weather - until now ………………

Well, 60009 duly appeared and went past as expected but it was 23 minutes early at Dawlish Warren. Twenty minutes early at Dawlish, Ninteen minutes early at Teignmouth but 70 (seventy) minutes late as it staggered into Newton Abbot having undegone a catestrophic failure, so we will never know if it would have breasted Hemerdon with 8 on or not.
Here's a pic of it  thundering through Dawlish Warren




Sorry Petermac. A Castle would have made it all right.

Apparently she suffered a hot box and had to be withdrawn. Latest I have is that she has been towed to the South Devon Railway at Buckfastleigh for repairs.

Great pic Derek, sounds like they drove her too hard?

How does the driver know if he has a hot box on his engine then? They don't have sensors I'm sure, just intimate knowledge of the engine and a feeling that something is wrong? Or does she suddenly come to a shuddering halt?

Just idle curiosity… I might do some googling.

Marty

Apparently after cooling off for most of the day she went on to Totnes under her own steam, very slowly. She is currently at The South Devon Railway undergoing repairs.
She had been scheduled to run up to Bristol yesterday but that was cancelled so it must be a bigger job than first thought.

Yes - a great photo  :thumbs

You must be a rough lot down there - you seem to be eating steam locos. :shock::shock:

These locos have done tens of thousands of high speed miles in their time but half a day cruising in Devon is enough to break them …………..:Red Card

I too wonder how, from the cab, they know there's a hot box.  Maybe it's the smell of burning oil and metal - pretty distinctive and easy to distinguish from just "hot", or maybe they develop a sort of "loping gait" as one side tightens up, or maybe it just starts to smoke ……  Whatever, I'd guess it will cost a bit more than replacing a worn tyre ……………. 

A pity - I was sure the Tykes would conquer that bank …………….:???:

Perhaps next time Petermac.

On the Mallard record breaking run, they had some sort of 'smell' indicator if the bearings got too hot (which they did and it limped in to Peterborough!). Were they not a standard fitting on Gresley Pacifics then??

Cheers
Ron

Wash your mouth out !!!  There never was, and never will be anything "standard" about the great man's A4 "streaks" ……………:It's a no no:cool wink

I didn't know about that sensor on the Mallard Ron.  I do know she nearly burst her poor heart and had to be taken out of service.

A "smell indicator" - sounds like a good idea but I wonder,  a) what it was smelling and b) how it worked ………:roll:

I will investigate further Peter! :)

Cheers
Ron