9F Locomotives - Restrictions on Network Rail

No, but ideas should not be dismissed because they cost money. One just waits for the railway enthusiast fairy godfather.

 

Yes, but there is "cost money" and then there is "cost money". To run a 9F on Network Rail again, you are basically asking, over a significant section of track (all the lines you want to run, plus all the lines to get there and back from a suitable depot, plus all the likely diversions, loops etc - several hundred miles at least), that Network Rail undoes forty-odd years of track work and infrastructure upgrades, returning to old fashioned pointwork; removing axle counters; re-installing track circuits; redesigning signalling safety systems to rely on track circuits rather than axle counters etc. Then on top you are also requiring that they commit to maintaining that old fashioned infrastructure for the indefinite future, including the ability to maintain what would be in effect legacy equipment. And all so that a niche within a niche within a niche hobby can see a 9F running at more than 25mph. Are you serious?

There's a place to see a 9F operating - it's called a heritage railway. The national network isn't a heritage railway, and I suspect the average commuter awaiting the 07:36 to work each morning would be mightily peeved by attempts to make it revert to such.

Tom

 

Presumably chanting the eternal (and infernal) mantra "wouldn't it be nice^ and waving his placard! It is wearisome to realise that after sixty years of railway preservation the cold hard fact that things don't happen without much hard work and money has failed to sink in in certain circles.

PH

 

I don't think anyone is seriously suggesting that any of these ideas could happen (other than raising the running rails to match the check rails) but posting on here is just like chat in the pub. It's all hypothetical and the more the night goes on, the better the ideas get, along with the ale to match.

 

In summary, we had 92220 for a number of years for which I am thankful and we are the envy of the world when it comes to mainline steam, just enjoy it. There's no point in trying to resurrect a corpse.

 

It seems tome that NYMR trains to Whitby might be a realistic option not only for 9F's but for some other locos that might not otherwise manage to get on the National Network

 

..... were it not for the fact that there isn't a 9F based on the NYMR, or owners queueing up to take their 9Fs there. Having had one for a while, though I'm sure another would be made welcome if offered!

 

... or a realistic outlook.

 

The owner of the previous 9F based on the NYMR (92214) was seriously contemplating seeking a derogation for the loco to run on the EVL and could think of no reason why it shouldn't be. Unfortunately, his decision to sell put an end to that possibility.

 

Conclusion: if and when one of the preserved 9Fs is offered for running on the NYMR, it would be worth looking into the possibility of running it to Whitby. Any wider running on NR seems far too problematic to deserve serious consideration, though we can have fun with a purely theoretical discussion of what would be involved. Under present rules, their 5' driving wheels would just qualify them for a 60 mph speed limit, and they would be much more powerful than anything else subject to the same limit.

 

There is a wider issue of course over the future of 'main line' steam.

The early BR approach of 'approved routes' had IMHO much to recommend it. Clearly the idea of maintaining a secondary route with more generous clearances & suitable 'facilities' paths etc so that steam could run over it with the minimum of preparatory work would surely be worth investigating. This would obviously need funding, sadly no longer from the EU but possibly Tourist Boards/post EU Regional funding/whatever might be possible

 

I'm not sure going back to the 1980's idea of approved routes is viable now the market has shifted to more daytripper orientated than enthusiast, can't see Newport and Holyhead being too popular a destination if substituted for Paignton or Weymouth, suitable routes and popular itinaries are rarely one and the same anymore.

 

I think that you have missed my point here Tom. By this point in the debate I was talking about research into the practicality of fitting flanges to the centre driving wheels to see if, after all, these would be compatible with current trackwork. The objective would be therefore to see if alterations to track can be avoided.

 

There is a big difference between an engine being able to get through a curve, and to get through it happily on a regular basis. The 8F got around the curves on the West Highland Extension line, but it wasn't very happy about it.

 

Ditto for 60007 running to Whitby - once and probably never again!

 

Cautionary tale from Wroclaw, Poland:




- if it can happen to a Kriegslok (Ty2 1035), then a 9F sitting twiddling its injectors whilst waiting eternally for a mainline ticket is easy prey for a budding Damien Hirst...

 

I raised this precise point, Steve, during a previous incarnation of this topic. Yes, it was just before the sale of 92214 was announced. That was definitely a job stopper!

 

Feasibility study needs only the will and the means to coincide. Lets hope it happens one day.

 

Is this what happens when you put the wiggley bits together in the wrong order?

Peter

 

"only" How W.I.B.N. Hos about another of my favourite sayings i.e. "Get Real"?

PH