Rother Valley Railway

When was the turntable last used ?and what was the last steam engine to be turned on it? , was hither green used to stable any of the mainline tour engines during the Network steam on the southern days ?

 

I'm fairly sure Tornado used it around 2009 when the loco's mainline career began.

 

Just posted this afternoon is a picture of the Turntable in situ - plus some details of the next steps. See Turntable and the Pit -18.1 | RVRailway News

 

If as hoped the RVR does get the green light, to relay the missing section, i wonder what the first Mainline loco will be to turn on the turntable, after bringing in a very special private charter train, to Robertsbridge, whilst the tour runs to Tenterden behind two Terriers , my money is on it being 70000

 

Interesting they put the deck in before the outer rail and wall. Is it planned to come out before that is done or not?

I suppose that given you are making the ground fit the deck you do have to have it in place. I wonder what the tolerance on the outer wheel is? Assuming the central pivot is strong enough, the outriggers shouldn't be dealing with any lateral forces, just the downwards force of the mass on top.

 

I could imagine it being 35028 or 34067 on some kind of pullman service!

 

Something I’ve never really thought about (aka most engineering is probably more subtle than you initially think). A 65’ turntable is (fag packet …) 20 metres diameter, 10 metres radius. Given the thermal expansion co-efficient of steel, that means the radius would grow by around 1.25mm for every ten degrees rise in temperature. Say 5mm increase in radius between a very cold winters day and a heatwave summer. I guess there must be at least that allowance in the guide wheel / guide rail interface!

Tom

 

Yes, I was going to ask about that in response to the previous post about whether the middle pivot mount was attached to the edge works.

Then you wonder how expansion in the outer rail itself is dealt with.

Why do they even have a rail at all? Wouldn't it be better with a plate and a flangeless wheel?

Turnables, the bumble bees of railway engineering...

 

I think you will find it is Flangeless wheels on the outer supports..

 

You are right. How fascinating, I could have sworn they had flanges, but now I can't find any pics to back up my hunch. Assumption being the mother of all foul-ups...

 

The outer turntable ring rail support wheels. Pictured before its removal from Hither Green to Robertsbridge. Hope that helps. Mike

 

I thought that too

 

Thank you, Mike, for helping us along with the detail. May I ask, is there any plan to board over the outriggers, as per its Cannon Street incarnation, or to keep the pit open?

 

Turntables aren't precision bits of kit apart from perhaps the centre bearing. Assuming a rail head of 2.75" the 'table could grow by over 5" before it became a problem. Railways have coped with expansion of steel ever since their inception, which is why we have the tradition of a 1/4" gap between 60 ft rails and this 'table is fairly close to this dimension. The same gaps in the rail joints provide the solution to the problem of ring rail expansion. Of more concern would be slight variation in the radius of the rail around the circumference but even civil engineers can build to the necessary tolerances to avoid this problem occurring. Even if the support wheels were flanged, there would be enough tolerance between flange and rail to cater for a reasonable degree of relative movement.

 

What sort of load might two Terriers be expected to manage up Tenterden bank?

 

That would be a lot of timber- and a lot of money- doing not very much. However, it would, I think, be unique in Britain. It also mitigates one of the major risks with turntables- that of someone falling and injuring themselves.

 

In British Railways days, max train length for enthusiast and hop picker specials of 6 coaches, with a terrier on each end. Double heading was not allowed due to strength (or not) of the bridges.
That said the final pre-closure special, struggled and came to stand on Tenterden Bank. Its occupants were very lucky to get to Tenterden by some accounts.
The problems with through specials if/when the line is rebuilt, will be the length of the shunting neck/bay platform at Robertsbridge, as direct running on and off the branch onto the down main is nolonger possible, due to the lengthening of the platforms from 6 to 8 cars when the line was electrified. Bridges are no longer the problem they were.
That said the through working I would like to see on a regular basis, would be the Brighton Bell set (+ a 73) on a London to Bodiam working (to visit the castle - or change trains to Tenterden) following by a return to London via Ashford and the Kent Coast to give time for the wineing & dining.

 

5 mk1's, or the equivalent.

 

Are people not getting a bit ahead of themselves here talking about through trains? We haven't had the obligatory livery debate about the turntable yet.

Peter

 

I tried to jokingly convince somebody that if the RVR extension failed, then the turntable could be used by other heritage railways. They could load their locomotive onto a low loader, have it taken to Robertsbridge and turned on the turntable before returning back to the heritage line of origin.