D9016 / 55016 Gordon

Almost typically for me, its the last day of our Florida Keys holiday, come back on the day after..

 

Q about Deltics . They always look HUGE to me, how gauge friendly are they ?

 

Well, they're RA5 which makes them pretty much a 'go anywhere' loco, rather like the 37. The blue livery looks lovely when clean but only emphasises the bulk of the things - the original green livery (preferably without any yellow panels) conceals their size well. As for their size restricting where they go, I can't help but maybe guycarr360 can help?

 

There are not many places (if any) where they can't go, they're even welcome on the Standedge route.

Dreaming I know but, apart from the cost involved, would it be possible to build new engines, drawings must still exist. They did the East Coast route proud for many years.

 

They are very light on their feet, as the weight of them is lower than comparable power, increasing RA.

Also have as much tractive effort on 1 engine up to 40mph, as with 2, in a lot of respects, baring reliability, way ahead of their time.

 

Hi @Victor

Was discussed at infinitum on the FB page, the problem is liners, getting them re-chromed, which costs an absolute fortune, together with no supply of pistons being available.

There are enough triangles (blocks), phasing cases, fuel system etc.., its the liners that are the problem, the last company to refurb them closed recently in Newcastle, with the end of RN contracts.

Ex marine units, have proved unsuitable for rail operation, vibration being the issue.

Generators etc.., can always be re-wound, traction motors are ex 37 units, same for bogies etc....

It needs somebody to do a rebuild of a unit soon, the only unit done in preservation, is in 55016, did not have its liners refurbished, and is reported to have a liner leak.

Was done at Paxman's under contract, would expect the tooling and knowledge is disappearing slowly, to ever undertake a full rebuild.

 

Blind assumption here but one would think that JH has a plan other than just "fingers crossed they don't break any time soon."

 

If his rebuilding of the steam loco's under his custody is concerned, you would expect so, and an A1 job would be the norm.

I think 2 working units of the 4 in the loco's, with another broken down to components at martin's works for rebuild was the last info, together with some marine units etc.. Also £25k of main bearings and piston rings were part of the deal.

 

Can you explain the reasons for that please?

 

Was explained by Martin Walker, after the unit they fitted failed, it was not a direct swap, needed adapter plates etc... to marry up with Generator etc...

After a short period, liners leaked again, being the reason given.

 

Wouldn't it be grand if there were 2 or 3 refurbed units 'on the shelf' somewhere.
I can't help speculating that there's going to be a bit of close co operation between the teams at Barrow Hill and Crewe. I hope so.

 

Thanks. So the adapter plates caused a different vibration resonance that led to premature liner failure?

 

Its a hard one to say, don't know for certain, it may have something to do with the age of the engines used, they were not new at the time of installation.

Came from a scrapped PT boat in USA if I remember correctly.

 

I think a lot is down to the age of the rubber seals on the liners, which were I understand problematical in service.

Sawdust.

 

D9000 worked through to Ramsgate regularly on summer Saturdays in 2000. There was also a tour in March 1978 hauled by 55007 Pinza which visited Dover, out via Chatham, back via Tonbridge. Kent is one of the most restricted parts of the country when it comes to gauging. On the steam front, almost anything above class 5 apart from Bulleids, Brits, Blue Peter and Tornado is prohibited. If a Deltic can work the full length of the London, Chatham & Dover & South Eastern lines without any issues, I wouldn't think there are many places it can't run.

I agree that they look huge, however. I went over to the Bluebell for the Deltic gala last October and took a picture of D9002. As it came nearer, it quite took me aback just how massive it seemed as I watched it approach through the viewfinder - and no, I wasn't anywhere too close - i.e., where I shouldn't have been!

 

I think that, although the Deltics do indeed look huge, they don't swing about as much as many steam locomotives, so the kinematic envelope is still quite small.

 

Is that the one that visited Sittingbourne? That was a good day!

Simon

 

I think the huge appearance is something of an optical illusion: at least if Wikipedia is to be believed, a Deltic has the same height and width - to within fractions of an inch - as a class 37, and the bogie is in the same position relative to the buffers (The Deltic is somewhat longer).

I think they look huge partly because the bonnet is quite high, and they have a correspondingly low windscreen - taken together, it gives them something of a hulking appearance. That is accentuated in profile - at least in the green ones - by the white window surrounds which emphasise that the side windows are much lower than the bonnet. I suspect a scale drawing of a Deltic and a class 37 together would show the effect quite well.

Tom

 

It's at times like this you need a copy of British Rail Main-Line Diesels by S.W. Stevens-Stratten and R.S. Carter to hand...

( @240P15 you may find that a book worth looking for to get an idea of relative sizes of British diesels of the era; the 1st edition of this book dates from 1963 - then it covered Classes 15, 17, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 33, 35, 37, 40, Warship A1A-A1A, Warship B-B, 44, 45, 46, 47, 50, 52, 55, D8400-9, Falcon, Lion, Kestrel, DP2, 73 and 74. Later version from the mid-1970s expanded upon this.)

 

My first experience of a Deltic, at the Edenbridge photo stop, as a youngster. And a moment that changed my life. For the next three and a bit years I chased the things everywhere.