Brand New Steam Loco Now Operational

RobertInOntario

Active Member
In England, the new steam engine, Tornado, has been steamed up and is operational!:mrgreen:

This is extremely exciting news! This is a completely new A1 Peppercorn Pacific loco and has been built from scratch. It's built as closely as possible to its 1948 specs. I've been tracking this project off and on, and it seems that it's almost done -- they still have to raise several thousand pounds to ensure that it's fit to run on the mainline. I think it's the first steam loco to be built in Britain in some 50 years.

At any rate, these two videos pretty much sum up this news. Again, as a steam buff and as British railways enthusiast, I'm very excited about this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7538348.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7537462.stm

Here's their website as well. I'm hoping to go to England in 2009 so maybe I'll get to see it? :mrgreen:

Enjoy!

Rob
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
Apparently, there are several discrepancies from the original where they had to depart from the 1948 design, either for economical reasons or because of modern manufacturing techniques or availability of products and/or trying to make it fit to run on a modern mainline. I still think it's an amazing feat and I'm not enough of a purist to be upset by these changes.

I just wish they would make a new CNR Hudson, Northern, U-class or Pacific here in Canada!
 
Tornado

Yes, it's an amazing achievement!
If you go to Youtube and enter Tornado A1 into the search facility, several recent videos come up, including some of the trials taking place now on the Great Central Railway.
Tornado is currently in Works grey, but will be repainted soon into the first livery the A1s carried after building. At regular intervals over the years, Tornado will be repainted in to the various liveries carried by the class over their lifespan.:thumb:
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
Yes, it's an amazing achievement!
If you go to Youtube and enter Tornado A1 into the search facility, several recent videos come up, including some of the trials taking place now on the Great Central Railway.
Tornado is currently in Works grey, but will be repainted soon into the first livery the A1s carried after building. At regular intervals over the years, Tornado will be repainted in to the various liveries carried by the class over their lifespan.:thumb:

Yes, I think it's incredibly exciting -- thumbs up to the Brits for doing this! It will be neat to see it in different liveries. I've also been watching it on Youtube as well as on a British MRR forum. Maybe I'll even get to see it next year when we plan to visit England?! :mrgreen: Take care, Rob
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
Thanks for your feedback.

It's interesting that there are several details where they had to depart from the original design either because certain materials are no longer available or because those skills/techniques are no longer used. Apparently (for example) the tender has been welded together, not riveted. Many products or items had to be purchased from other countries as well (that would not have been the case 50-60 years ago). I can dig up some of these details if interested. I think this has upset some of the purists but I find it interesting all the same. It makes me proud to be [at least partly] British! :mrgreen:

Rob
 
They also had to make Tornado one inch lower than the original, as the UK rail authorities couldn't guarantee mainline running otherwise! Seemingly the height of bridges etc has lowered slightly in the post-steam era!!
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
They also had to make Tornado one inch lower than the original, as the UK rail authorities couldn't guarantee mainline running otherwise! Seemingly the height of bridges etc has lowered slightly in the post-steam era!!

Interesting -- thanks.

I wonder, though, how other/similar steam locos (such as the Flying Scotsman) cope with the new, lower bridges? Maybe Network Rail was just erring on the safe side.

Cheers,
Rob
 
Hi Rob and everyone
Tornado now painted into green. Again Youtube should provide some pictures!
Hope you get over this year Rob - I may do - depending on funds!!
 
They also had to make Tornado one inch lower than the original, as the UK rail authorities couldn't guarantee mainline running otherwise! Seemingly the height of bridges etc has lowered slightly in the post-steam era!!

I realize this is ambiguous! Of course the rail authorities haven't 'lowered' bridges (d'oh), but the requirements of high speed running have meant that ballast beds are much deeper and so the track is in fact higher.
Of course, that amounts to the same thing when you're trying to get a steam loco under a bridge.....:eek:ops:
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
Hi Rob and everyone
Tornado now painted into green. Again Youtube should provide some pictures!
Hope you get over this year Rob - I may do - depending on funds!!

Thanks, Meirion! My son & I just viewed some videos on Youtube and Tornado looks great in green!

BTW, there is an excellent feature article on Tornado and it's story in the current TRAINS magazine. Sure hope I can see Tornado in person one day.

Cheers,
Rob
 

nkp174

Active Member
If she's in green, maybe we can convince one of the A4s to again masquerade as the silver fox (?), I really love the early white & grey scheme!

I'm really looking forward to the Bluebell's LBSC 4-4-2 project!
 

Kanawha

Member
Lets restore a Big-Boy and Allegheny to operating condition. There are much worse ways to spend millions of dollars.
 

nkp174

Active Member
Lets restore a Big-Boy and Allegheny to operating condition. There are much worse ways to spend millions of dollars.

I wonder which would be more difficult, acquiring a lease on...and raising the funds to restore...a 2-6-6-6, or actually operating it.

The axle loadings on it are unbelievable. A big boy has 12 axles on which to distribute its weight, but an Allegheny only has 10 axles and has more weight to distribute*. I wouldn't be surprised if even the old C&O mainline isn't up to the standards needed to operate one. Even if you had the run of the railways, it would be tough to operate it. The same difficulties for total weight hold for a big boy, but they probably wouldn't be as great (it wasn't as much of a freak, and most of them are located in places that would be more accommodating to big locomotives).

Interestingly, both C&O 2-8-4s and UP 4-8-4s can exceed the 79mph speed limit on normal CTC (non-cab signaled) railroads...and both can pull more cars than is practical for excursions even through the mountains...even if neither is as cool as their big cousins.

A few years ago, a tourist line flirted with the C&O 2-6-6-2 in Baltimore...but obviously nothing came of it...and it has nothing in common with the 2-6-6-6s other than: they hauled coal on the C&O, they were built in the 1940s as coal burners, and they had 12 drivers.


*There is quite a story on this...there are a few books that deal with the subject...here's one place on the internet to deal with this story...
http://www.steamlocomotive.com/allegheny/index.php?page=co
 

Triplex

Active Member
The same difficulties for total weight hold for a big boy, but they probably wouldn't be as great (it wasn't as much of a freak, and most of them are located in places that would be more accommodating to big locomotives).
Weren't both Big Boys and Challengers built to an axle load of 67500lb? Lots of modern locomotives were substantially higher (74000 and 75000 lb/axle for N&W and ATSF 4-8-4s, IIRC.) The only power I know that comes close to the Alleghenies (heaviest batch 84000 lb/axle) are GN's heaviest 2-8-2s (over 81000 lb/axle) - do any of those survive?
 

Fluesheet

Member
Weren't both Big Boys and Challengers built to an axle load of 67500lb? Lots of modern locomotives were substantially higher (74000 and 75000 lb/axle for N&W and ATSF 4-8-4s, IIRC.) The only power I know that comes close to the Alleghenies (heaviest batch 84000 lb/axle) are GN's heaviest 2-8-2s (over 81000 lb/axle) - do any of those survive?

That's interesting, Triplex - I was unaware that many locomotives (excepting the Allegheny) exceeded 75,000 lbs or so per axle, let alone 80K. Thanks for that data point.

NKP, have you read the book on Lima (forget the name now - I'd borrowed if from my father) that had a section that dealt with the Allegheny's weight? Quite a few shenanigans were apparently pulled on both Lima and C&O official's parts to create the appearance that the locomotive was not overweight...

Matt
 

nkp174

Active Member
Weren't both Big Boys and Challengers built to an axle load of 67500lb? Lots of modern locomotives were substantially higher (74000 and 75000 lb/axle for N&W and ATSF 4-8-4s, IIRC.) The only power I know that comes close to the Alleghenies (heaviest batch 84000 lb/axle) are GN's heaviest 2-8-2s (over 81000 lb/axle) - do any of those survive?

Right. Cooper bridge ratings will vary depending upon 1) total weight 2) axle loading 3) distribution of weight over several axles. The most trouble doesn't necessarily come from the total engine weight, but rather when only, say, 4 of the heaviest axles are over the bridge same span.

So, on some bridges the Alleghenies and Big Boys might have a similar rating, but the Alleghenies will have freakish ratings on far more because of their axle loadings.

Matt, if it was the big blue one with the Daylight on the cover, that would be the classic general history of Lima. A fine book. Same thing for me, I read my dad's copy.
 
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