Tornado

It will only be once the various systems have been tested at mainline speeds that it will be known if the engine is ok, Faults don't always show after the first couple of runs either, I still have concerns about the firebox, and the effect work done might have on the rest of the box, if it starts breaking stays on a regular basis, it will become clear, that something is still not right, the ETCS is still untested, and nothing can be expected to work out of the box, especially in an hostile environment such as on a steam loco , IMHO, the trust should have listened to the builder, and their experience of steel fireboxes, and built the engine with a smaller inner firebox, with more water space, it wouldn't have had that much of an impact on the power of the engine, and a new firebox, to an altered design should have been fitted instead of patching the old one, and changing stays for flexibles, clearly the firebox design was not right to start with, because the staying has had to be changed . it remains to be seen if the increased use of flexible saying reduces the amount of firebox issues?

 

Possibly, but that doesn't explain the wider messaging issues.

 

Is the fire grate 'problem' resolved ?
Now here's me thinking out loud...............It's approaching the festive season, quite a few 'specials' (rail tours), I would have thought that if it had been fit Tornado would have been in demand and earning some much needed cash. But it's not out there earning so the question has got to be asked..........WHY ?

 

The last time I visited the Trust's website a few weeks ago the last news was dated 9th Sept.
I have just checked this morning and found the following two updates. No idea when they were put up though but didn't see them last month,

https://www.a1steam.com/tornado/news/tornado-details/october-etcs-update
https://www.a1steam.com/tornado/news/tornado-details/november-etcs-update-2

Dave B

 

Yet you confidently asserted " The loco. is still not 'right'. "

You can't have it both ways - you can't state categorically that there is something wrong with the loco, and then disclaim all knowledge when asked what. What we do know is that the loco has been running, and it has further booked duties at a heritage railway - so clearly someone is willing to put their name on a piece of paper to say it is fit to run. That's a signature that actually has legal consequences, so I suspect rather more trustworthy than what appears to be just becoming a frenzy of people saying "it's not right" without ever stating what is actually wrong.

In this latest overhaul, there seems to have been a considerable degree over-promising on dates, such that the loco is well behind the schedule that was originally communicated. That I think is a justifiable criticism, but is hardly one that is unique to Tornado - most heritage railway loco overhauls take longer, and cost more, than is initially said. But even accepting that fact, I don't see where the evidence is to extrapolate from an over-running project to an assertion that the engineering is sub-standard, which is the implication of saying "the loco is still not right". It's clearly right enough to be running on the Nene Valley.

Tom

 

I think you can certainly say it is "not proven". The loco has been subject to unannounced delays with unexplained failures, huge amounts of silence on critical matters, information release in odd bursts.

Compare to the responses from other railways, and you see the inconsistent level of detail supplied. "Here is 13micron thick layer of unobtanium that we are using to make this specific part of the new control system" vs "the boiler is not quite right".

I want to see it on the mainline hauling long trains at speed. To me at the moment they are either fixing teething troubles that (on their previously-advised programme) should have been fixed, or they are fixing symptoms not causes.
And they don't have the excuse of the engine being a hundred years old.

 

Maybe Victor's "right" was ironic...

 

Back in your box Victor.

 

Did any Covenantors get an email notification for either of these updates? This one certainly didn’t.

 

Spoke to a relative who is a Covenantor and they haven't had an email about them either and he said those updates weren't on the website when he looked 2 days ago.

Dave B

 

Although does make the Swanage trips at £345 with stock which is probably the U, but often a Bulleid, seem very reasonable. Although it is only an 11 mile round trip rather than 15. But both are the same in the drive one way fire the other idea.

 

I've just checked my e-mails: and the answer in this covenantor's case is 'no'. I even looked in the 'trash' folder.

The most recent e-mail communications I've had are:

• The Mikado Messenger issue 108 (14/10/24)
• A1SLT - buy a print of 60009 on the Forth Bridge (25/10/24)
  
• A1SLT - Tornado in steam at the NVR this December (1/12/24)

 

Likewise here. No email received and the messages were not on the website last night.

 

A bit of me thinks using Tornado to T&T Bahamas on the Christmas specials is an opportunity missed - along with 60007 (if it's still there of course)

The updates do make interesting reading if you're into electronics...

 

Just not good enough is it?

 

60007 is still there.

Dave B

 

It is, to borrow a phrase I first heard nearly forty years ago, "sub-optimal".

 

Now there's a "Santa" in the making...! Is 60007 over-wintering along with 60163 at Wansford, I wonder? Reminds me of when John Cameron would stable 60009 there

 

Or possibly underpriced

Tom

 

It's all a bit like this scene from The Naked Gun Film: