60163 Tornado on The Severn Valley Venturer, Thursday 8 September 2016

We do appreciate our authentic signalling and the work put in by S&T. There is one spoiler however, not usually noticed. It is the new led illuminated NR signal at the exit from the SVR to NR. At night its rather noticeable. It does however allow a smooth transition onto the main line. The short stop at Kidderminster NR station was to let the SVR staff to get off the train

I trust you all had an enjoyable time

 

Having a fully signalled main line connection it would make sense to use it more.

 

Passing Whitnash:

Tornado by chris bridges2, on Flickr

 

Accelerating past Culham

Love the Oxford through road shot - very nice

The Severn Valley Venturer by Stephen Dance, on Flickr

 

Never fails to impress does this loco, just glides along at will doing what's needed with minimal fuss ! Thanks to all who
were involved ! Hope you enjoy the coverage.

 

A couple of shots of Tornado at Lapworth and on Eardington Bank. As well as two shots from her turn on the Pullmans on Wednesday, seen at Bedwyn and Woodborough.

 

My last ever guards turn on the SVR was taking a Chiltern special from Marylebone to Bewdley not long after the new signalling had come in. At the time we had several Chiltern guys with dual competency. On the ecs back to Stourbridge we left Bewdley and with the exception of the up distant at Kidderminster, we had green signals all the way to Stourbridge.

Another on that springs to mind is bringing 60007 back from York one day, we split the engine and van off the train in bescot yard and carried right the way through to Bewdley. I had a phone call a few days later from the SVR guards inspector asking why I had filled the journal out all the way from York!

 

This was my first run with 60163 since 2013 when I travelled on the excellent trip to the Bluebell. One thing I did notice on Thursday was that 60163 does seem to be more vocal since I last travelled behind her (not complaining, she sounded magnificent on Thursday!). Was she "re-tuned" during her last intermediate overhaul?
Her acceleration still blows me away too. 60163 and 71000 both really demonstrate the awesome power they have available with impressive acceleration on ML charters.

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

 

Some photos from Thursday -

Accelerating away from the Banbury stop, Great Bourton.


Hagley


And like everyone else I made it to Eardington...can only imagine how busy that field will be when Scotsman is running.

 

Here is my brief video from the SVR on Thursday with a bit of typical Bulleid slipping and some barking Manor action:

 

Mmm, 34053 still slips on dry rail with the sanders on as she passes the camera. Back in the summer the wife and myself were on the sunday diner which was held at Bridgnorth for some 30 minutes after departure time because 34053 had stalled on Eardington bank running tender first, and had to set back to take a run at it. Still, we were in pleasant surroundings, even if 34053 had messed up the timetable somewhat. I notice that the loco does not have back sanders, but in practice did the Bullied pacifics ever have back sanders? probably not.

Apologies, off-topic drift.

46118

 

I'm sure the guys that carry out the maintenance would love that excuse/reason for having to carry out repairs to an engine......

 

Rebuilt Bulleids should have back sanders applied to the rear of the driving wheels. 34053 appears to have the sandbox filler for that position (just aft of the the nameplate) and during the clip in question only appears to have sanders on ahead of the leading coupled and driving axles, so I would say it does have a degree of back sanding, but less than is present when running chimney first. The weight transfer and valve events may be less favourable when running in reverse as well.

 

Bulleids were known for slipping. In part its due to torque reaction unloading the driving wheels. Think how a motorcyclist does a power wheely. On a pacific the loco sits down on the trailing truck going forward and the bogie in reverse.

There is also the topography. Both platforms are curved with uphill exits. Some drivers manage better than others

 

And TV has less trouble than SKP, or seems to at any rate.

 

I agree with the above, ie TV is the more sure-footed. However all SVR working loco's are carefully weighed at each axle on the load cell at Bridgnorth, so maybe SKP's propensity to slip is due to something else, maybe just a small difference in valve events/timing? That's one for the technicals amongst us.