Steam Locomotives

SydneyRoverP6B

SydneyRoverP6B

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Apart from P6 Rovers and all things cycling, I also have an interest in trains, and steam trains especially. I have attached 4 You Tube clips, the first of which is here in New South Wales, about 70km (say 40 miles) from Sydney. The grade is 1 in 33 and the locomotives are former NSWGR 38 class. There were 30 in the class, the first 5 were streamlined. 3801 with a mass of 201 tons and 3830 with a mass of 200 tons represent the first and last of the class.

The next three are equally as good but for different reasons. Be sure to turn your speakers up nice and loud.. :D I hope you will enjoy.!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9giByro ... 1&index=15

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwNE8w9V ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-NIk5hA ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIbMcJ3j ... re=related

Ron.
 
I own up to bias here too! I've been involved with steam since I was a wee lad.

I particularely appreciated the twin Garretts - as much for the glorious coaching stock as the virtuoso performance of the engines. But the NSWGR was more spectacular than I anticipated and ran them a very close second. Boxpok driving wheels on the locos?

My steam highlight was probably a guest firing turn on 9F 2-10-0 Evening Star between Banbury and Oxford. An easily maintained 75 mph with 13 on. So easy to fire and such a smooth ride. (We'd previously had it up to 92 - but we didn't own up to that on a 5' wheeled freight engine!) Lowlight was having to cope with the servicing arrangements for 4079 Pendennis Castle when I was in charge at Gloucester and it was en route to Bristol Docks for Export to Australia. It just about defined for me the incompatability of steam with a modern railway! Best stunt was when I was in charge at St Phillips Marsh and I ran a test run to Taunton with two HST Power Cars. There were no coaches around so I ran them back to back. To get the engines to work I did 0 to 90 to 0 sprint and stops all the way to Taunton. After a while the driver got the idea and I managed to teach him how to hold the brakes on until the engines were already developing full power. I'll not divulge the 0 to 60 time, but it was compettitive with a P6! (For comparison a lone class 87 electric can manage 0 to 60 in around 8.5 sec)

Those were a good few years ago. Today in Britain there are a number of locos that could give the 38's a run for their money. The star is undoubtedly Duke of Gloucester, a total dud when in regular service, but now developed to its full potential by its new owners with revised front end and grate area draughting and heavily modified Capprotti valve gear with revised cam profiles. But that's only for high days and holidays. The UK must now be nearly alone in having a daily service steam service to match the videos you posted. On the 25 mile Welsh Highland Railway in North Wales, a fleet of ex South African NGG16 Garretts are hauling packed 10 coach corrider trains on a line that includes around 7 miles of 1in 40. I'm told that restarting northbound from Nantmor requires full regulator and full gear from a stand. Needless to say steam sanding is the order of the day!

Chris
 
Very nice - I cant pretend to know a lot about steam engines, but we do love seeing the steam engines on the Great Central Railway here in loughborough :)

Rich
 
Hello Chris and Rich,

Glad you liked the videos, and I must say Chris that your railway days did sound most impressive.

Yes indeed, the 38 class do sport Boxpok driving wheels,..5' 9" in diameter. They were made in Canada, and were the only part of the locos not produced in Australia.

In 1988, 4472.."Flying Scotsman" came to Australia, and toured with 3801. This video shows the two locos double heading a train in Brisbane alongside some narrow gauge Queensland Railway locomotives. The railways in New South Wales are built to the British standard gauge of 4' 8 and 1/2", whilst those in Queensland are narrow gauge..3' 6". The only standard gauge line in Queensland is the short section that runs across the border to Brisbane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd-PgQu4hBg

Ron.
 
My favourite: German Baureihe 01 Express Pacifics. Here you can see a double pack on the Schiefe Ebene in Northern Bavaria, a legendery gradient from Bamberg to Hof, with 157.7 meters altitude difference within 6.8 Kilometers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiHpswWPPOk

Gorgeous, aren't they? Also note the Baureihe 64 Tank on pushing duty.
 
Hello Junkman,

The German locos do look pretty spiffy... :) I have two Fleischmann locos that my father purchased in the late 1960s. A main line engine which looks very similar to the lead locos in the clip, and a tank engine which also looks very much like the tank engine banking at the rear.

Excellent stuff! :D

Ron.
 
SydneyRoverP6B said:
Hello Junkman,

The German locos do look pretty spiffy... :) I have two Fleischmann locos that my father purchased in the late 1960s. A main line engine which looks very similar to the lead locos in the clip, and a tank engine which also looks very much like the tank engine banking at the rear.

Excellent stuff! :D

Ron.
Click to expand...

Hello Ron,

You can easily identify them by looking at the running number. The first two (or three after switching to the UIC computer readable numbering system) digits are the Baureihe (class, verbatim 'build-series').

The 01 must be arguably the most powerful non-compound steamer ever built. Under normal circumstances, it hauled 12 - 14 UIC 26.4 meter carriages @ 125 kph in scheduled duty. They were restricted to this speed because of their 20 ton axle load. In tests, they reached speeds in excess of 150 kph.

Cheers,

Christian
 
Some stunning videos above :)

Watching the Beyer - Garratts working hard sent shivers down my spine.
Somewhere I've got a working model of an LMS 2-6-0 0-6-2 Beyer Garratt in OO/HO scale, I really ought to dig that out sometime. I've not had the time to do so much with railways in the last few years :(
 
The North Yorkshire Moors railway holds a couple of classic events during the year.

Theres a sixties weekend where everybody dresses in 60's clothes (I go in my normal clothes - no one noticed :shock: ) and a classic weekend where Sparky was on display last year.



100_5509.jpg


100_5491.jpg


They had the 'Sir Nigel Gresham' there last year

Richard
 
rockdemon said:
Three Thousand Five said:
You can't beat a bit of steam! I've put some of my railway pics on flickr here (diesel as well as steam)...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21403537@N00/sets/

Nidge :wink:
Click to expand...


Great to see your pics. Was an awful day they tore down the Bowstring bridge in leicester recently.

If you're ever over loughborough way again and fancy some rover company let me know!

Rich.
Click to expand...

Thanks Rich, glad you like 'em. I've not been over to the GC at Loughborough in my latest P6 purchase yet, when I do I'll let you know. The remains of the old Hawker-Siddely factory round the corner from Loughborough Central station makes a good backdrop for P6 pics :wink:

Nidge
 
Another slant on this thread...

If classic cars were steam locos, what would a P6 be?

My suggestion is a Standard of some kind, a 5MT perhaps. Not ancient & of pretty good standing. Initial thoughts were A1s, but these are probably more suited to Humbers & the like! Am I being fair? :D
 
Has to be a GWR Castle (double chimney, 4 row superheater version)! Intelligent performance wrapped up in dignified clothing! Plus a tad over-complex and a surprisingly ancient heritage.

Chris
 
quattro said:
The North Yorkshire Moors railway holds a couple of classic events during the year.

They had the 'Sir Nigel Gresham' there last year

Richard
Click to expand...

Ahem ahem ahem scuse me! No.60007 is "Sir Nigel GresLEY", after its designer! =)
 
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