Railway Mania Podcast Ep.21 - Narrow Gauge, Not Narrow Minded (with Ben Powell and Rob Rossington)

[Trestrol]

Another good podcast thanks.

[Corbs]

Cheers

[Corbs]

​RAILWAY MANIA PODCAST

EPISODE 16

THE EXHIBITIONISTS

Click here to listen to the episode:
https://youtu.be/NstsoP3GHIc

The ongoing global pandemic has seen the cancellation of nearly all model exhibitions across the country. To keep the spirit of the event season going, several 'virtual exhibitions' have been organised.

This episode, I sit down with Andy York, Phil Parker, Debbie Wood and Howard Smith from the World of Railways team to talk about their upcoming second virtual exhibition, plus the highs and lows of real-life exhibiting.

HUGE thanks to the team for coming on the podcast, be sure to tune into the show on 7th and 8th November 2020 at:

https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/

​

[Corbs]

Not one, but three new episodes!

Episode 19

DEUS IN MACHINA

Historian and author Anthony Dawson joins us to we talk about the circumstances surrounding early railways, particularly the Liverpool and Manchester, and the role that nonconformist religion (e.g. Quakers and Unitarians) had in this new technology.

Watch/listen here:

https://youtu.be/9VeRcXnPGCc



Episode 18

INTO THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Spring is here and it's time to get some fresh air. Joining me on this podcast episode is Garden Rail's very own Phil Parker. We're going to go into the ways you can get started with playing trains in the garden, from flat pack kits to live steam Garratts and everything else in between.

https://youtu.be/3QrjXpGdahg



Episode 17

BACK TO BULLEID

At the height of World War Two, the Southern Railway introduced its first pacific tender locos, the Merchant Navy Class.
Bulleid was always seeking to push the envelope with locomotive development, and the 3-cylinder Merchant Navy was packed full of features and innovations to enable more power, different maintenance regimes, and to lessen the effect the locos had on the permanent way.
The locomotives were extremely powerful and capable of incredible performances, but drew criticism for several issues, notably fires which broke out within the air-smoothed casing around the boiler, a tendency for high coal and water consumption, and the restricted visibility from the casing.
Between 1956 and 1960, British Railways extensively rebuilt all 30 members of the class, removing the distinctive casing, and replacing the Bulleid chain-driven valve gear with three sets of independent Walschaerts.
11 rebuilt Merchant Navies still exist today. 35011 ‘General Steam Navigation’ is one of the preserved members, but the owning group has a rather different plan to the other members of the class. ‘Number 11’ is going to have the rebuilding reversed, and be returned to its as-built condition.

https://youtu.be/0mbQkWY-oW8

[Mickey]

Funny I was only watching a dvd on the Bulleid paifics two evenings ago featuring life long railway enthusiast Ron White and even the late Dick Hardy made an appearance talking about the 'spam cans' when he was shed master at Stewarts lane Battersea on the southern region and I wondered how long it would be before someone or a group of Merchant Navy enthusiasts would want to rebuild a Merchant Navy back to it's original condition?.

Ron who was seen visiting the GCR at Loughborough and had rebuilt West Country Boscastle light pacific to use as a example for the dvd went on to explain various things about Bulleid pacfics for example on the original un-rebuilt locos they originally had a raised tender guard that ran the entire length of the tender that inhibited the drivers and fireman's vision from the driving cab when travelling tender first so it was cut back on the rebuilds. The locomotives steam reverser came in for some criticism so the screw reverser was probably a better option. The locomotives sanders were only fitted to the centre and rear driving wheels on the original un-rebuilt Merchant Navy's and coal consumption was rather on the high side plus the chain drive and oil sump were a fitters nightmare and were both always giving problems with chains stretching and oil continuously leaking from the sump with the potential of starting fires which those locos occasionally suffered from. Bulleid's own original valve gear on the original designed Merchant Navy's was changed to Walschaerts valve gear on the rebuilds although the 'slide bars' remained an original Bulleid design feature on the rebuilt Merchant Navy's as they were on the West Country & Battle of Britain light pacifics plus on the Merchant Navy rebuilds the driver could actually see the road ahead from the driving cab without having the side sheets inhibiting his view as they did on the un-rebuilt locos in original condition. Several good features that were mentioned by Ron in regards to Bullied pacifics were the injectors being all grouped together on the fireman's side of the footplate instead of being placed on either side of the footplate plus the overall cab layout was also praised by Ron as being one of the better cab layouts on British steam locos plus also the good riding qualities of Bulleid pacfics in general came in for praise which was down to the design of rear pony truck underneath the cab. One little issue of note was the original 'horseshoe' plate attached to the smokebox door that locomen considered to be 'unlucky' so the southern had to 'fill in' the bottom of the horseshoe plate to keep the footplate men happy.

[Hatfield Shed]

... 35011 ‘General Steam Navigation’ is one of the preserved members, but the owning group has a rather different plan to the other members of the class. ‘Number 11’ is going to have the rebuilding reversed, and be returned to its as-built condition...

One wonders how this group are placed in potentially obtaining access from those that have track fit for the resulting locomotive to run on, especially given the very recent change in the management of the national trainset's layout?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57176858

[Corbs]

... 35011 ‘General Steam Navigation’ is one of the preserved members, but the owning group has a rather different plan to the other members of the class. ‘Number 11’ is going to have the rebuilding reversed, and be returned to its as-built condition...

One wonders how this group are placed in potentially obtaining access from those that have track fit for the resulting locomotive to run on, especially given the very recent change in the management of the national trainset's layout?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57176858

Certainly it will be an important factor, keeping an eye on how its smaller cousins such as 'Tangmere' fare on the mainline will be crucial I imagine.

[rockinjohn]

Hi Mickey&Hatfield just found this thread better late than never,an observation that has remained over the years was the dep.end platforms that the West Country expresses used @ Waterloo the track awash with oil,from the unrebuilts & it was rare for any locos BB /MN &Standard 5MT amongst others to get a clean start with much slipping from the oil on the rails,once alongside the signal box after departure all was well,only saw one fire under an unrebuilt @ the Buffer stops there,but I think a fire on one @ Brighton Station required the local fire Brigade!usually the oil bath ignited from dropped boiler cladding,on another note the chain drive could cause strange valve events @ times,Can only agree with Hatfield, why would you do this retro conversion beats me &mainline running if ever would be by more luck than judgement,also liked the comment on the Horeshoe on the smokebox Mickey, never heard that one,but Bullied a man ahead of his times by the Leader class& (the turf burner) would it have been a success if an oil burner as proposed?jj

[Mickey]

...also liked the comment on the Horeshoe on the smokebox Mickey, never heard that one

I got that from a dvd that I was watching about the Merchant Navy pacifics jj also it was said in the same dvd that Bulleid didn't like or didn't think much of the rebuilding of the Merchant Navy's although personally I thought they looked a lot better after rebuilding although the West Country's I thought looked alright in either un-rebuilt or rebuilt condition.

[rockinjohn]

Think (most) of those long distance West Country departures changed crews @Basingstoke,so Nine Elms(70A)men played the main part although we did enjoy seeing the Exmouth Junc.(72A)W/C &MN class members in the smoke,It really was a work of heart watching those drivers get away with all the wheel slip&coaxing that occured to get on the move,Summer Saturdays the ACE would have multiple deps.which I observed sometimes having bought a Clapham Junc rtn as I think some platforms needed a ticket, platform or otherwise to gain entry,for the best view,Vauxhall station platforms gave a good view of arrivals &departures all @ a reasonable speed.& by Clapham Junc.things were kicking on up&down train wise.

[Mickey]

I know what you mean jj I have around a dozen southern region steam dvds which I have acquired over the last 10 or so years that feature plenty of arrivals and departures at Waterloo during the the 1960s up to July 1967 and the end of steam on the southern region which feature plenty of steam action in the shape of Merchant Navy's, West Country's, Standard 5s along with Ivatt tanks on ECS workings to and from Clapham Junction and the dwindling number of Lord Nelson's and Arthur's and a few Maunsell Us & Ns with views of Waterloo, Vauxhall, Clapham Junction and of course Nine Elms shed which is all very interesting to watch. I have had a interest in southern steam since the very early 1990s after acquiring a video cassette of b&w film footage of mostly steam departures and a few arrivals from Waterloo station between 1965-1967 although some of the film footage was shot at Vauxhall station which got me interested in southern steam.

[rockinjohn]

Yes pity you would have missed all the day to day steam events, in fact, I actually witnessed the first day a Sulzer type4(D19xx) was rostered for a Southampton Boat Train,also in my last post I mixed up my Salisbury stop crew changes with Basingstoke sorry to lead astray.jj

[Mickey]

Not a bad little run between Waterloo and Salisbury behind a West Country along the old LSWR west of England main line with maybe Bert Hooker on the front or any other Nine Elms drivers & firemen for that matter. Distance wise probably equivalent from Kings Cross to Peterborough give or take 7 or 8 miles further more to Salisbury.

That Salisbury stop going Down road jj on my dvds you would always see a couple of blokes up on the tender 'pushing coal forward' with shovels which I presume was a regular thing at Salisbury when any Down express stopped at the station.

SR locomen were the salt of the earth.

[rockinjohn]

Hi Mickey yes the shed cleaners would come down to meet these trains &shovel coal forward on the crew change who still had a fair journey in front of them,not sure about the up direction,nearly always water there or Basingstoke which I visited a couple of times always a Pacific or decent but unclean 4-6-0 in steam for the possible straggler that couldnt reach the smoke,strategic placement? bit like Hitchin/ Colchester or Rugby that come to mind or that (30A) B1 that stood in Romford yard(civil eng)?I dont think I ever saw a dbl header on the Southern in London ever or the G.E.either,I remember talking to the crew of a 4-4-0 that for a period piloted trains over the limit XL?on the Midland they said it was a very rough ride in front of the Jubilee speeds up in the late 70's they didnt do much except get pushed along&hang on!jj

[Mickey]

Yeah that's right jj two Salisbury shed cleaners up on the tenders of Down expresses that stopped at Salisbury going Down road to help shovel the coal forward in the tender are featured on a small number of bits of amateur film footage that was shot at Salisbury during the 1960s that features those cleaners doing that job on various southern steam dvds.

My first visit to Waterloo station was during the summer of 1964 on route to a holiday on the Isle of Wight with my parents (forget Spain and the 'Costa del Fortune' people were only a couple of years away from going abroad to those kind of holiday destinations in Europe besides the sunny Isle of Wight was a much better place to be heading for still having a steam operated railway system on the island in the shape of ex LSWR O2 0-4-4 tanks in 1964) mind you I was only a youngster at the time but I remember seeing a ex LMS Ivatt 2-6-2 tank of Nine Elms shed on the stops at Waterloo after bringing in a train of ECS up from Clapham Junction which was a good start to a holiday in the UK. I remember seeing a small number of Bulleid pacfics during the course of that holiday although the mode of transport from Waterloo down to Portsmouth was by a ruddy EMU?.

A O2 0-4-4 tank after departing Ryde Pier Head station and running into Ryde Esplanade station in 1964 when we were on holiday on the island - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/isle_of_W ... 4385_1.jpg