Isle Of Man Steam Railway

Thanks require 8 and 12 so hopefully atleast one tomorrow.

 

Visited yesterday covering all of the lines as far north as Laxey.
An enjoyable day, but 19 years after I last visited two things stood out:
1)How run down Douglas itself appeared with many empty premises -shops and former hotels.
2)If it relies on the motorbike and railway events then some promotion of the later would be useful. From the steam railway to the horse tramway and return absolutely no adverts or direction signs seen for either. Even on arrival at the steam railway it has ''station'' but no railway for joe public.

 

Sign of the times.

 

Unashamed plug warning!!!
Isle of Man Railways have announced next year's operating dates and special events. One of the criticisms made in previous years was that IoM Rlys made the announcements too late for U.K. (and overseas) visitors to get the 'early bird' fares - so no excuse this year!
2018 scheduled services
Steam Railway - Friday 9 March to Monday 5 November 2018

Manx Electric Railway - Friday 16 March to Sunday 4 November 2018

Snaefell Mountain Railway - Thursday 29 March to Sunday 4 November 2018

Douglas Bay Horse Tram - Tuesday 1 May to 29 October 2018


The usual two main Heritage events are 'Rush Hour on the Railways' from 30th March to 2nd April and the 5 day 'Manx Heritage Transport Festival' from 25th to 29th July 2018.
A very special event this year is MER 125 from 1st to 8th September.

I'll try to post further details of these events as they are released or you can follow the Heritage Railway Volunteers on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hrviom/
Cheers,
Ray.

 

Nice one Ray, the volunteers are once again pleased to have been asked to contribute towards these events and although we cannot give details at the present, we hope to match last years efforts at the very least, and hopefully better them.

 

A very successful year for all the railways on the Isle of Man (apart from the odd motive power shortage and a bit of a 'whoopsy' on Snaefell) - let's hope to build on this next year. The end of season figures released by IoM Rlys show:
Steam Railway 147,892 single journeys (up from 115,537 in 2016) - a 22% increase.
The Manx Electric and Snaefell Mountain Railways had increases of 5% and 27% respectively. The horsetrams, in the 2nd year of Gov't operation, showed a 6% increase. Please keep checking for details of the 'Rush Hour on the Railways' over Easter, the 'Heritage Transport Festival' at the end of July and other special events. Hope to see you on the Island in 2018.
Cheers,
Ray.

 

As promised in the 'other' IMR thread the details for Rush Hour on the Railways over Easter have just been released see attachment below. I think there is something for everyone including a photographers' mixed train, shed tours and pay and play on the MER. Hope to see you.
I'll post details of the Heritage Transport Festival (end of July) and MER 125 (Sept) as soon as they are available.
Ray.

 

Excellent thanks for sharing, have booked on the Monday photo special and shed tours. First visit to the island very much looking forward to it.

 

Hope you enjoy your visit but beware as it is catching - I visited for the first time in 1967 and I ended up living here. I'm volunteering on the Steam Railway on the Saturday and Monday so make yourself known. On Monday I'll either be stewarding on the photo special or doing the shed/workshop tours - possibly both!
Cheers,
Ray.

 

(Dulplicated post ..... I hate my android sometimes!)

 

Heritage Railway [Issue 237] reports that the SVR has "successfully tendered" for a contract to construct 5 new boilers for the IMSR. It also makes mention of recent overhauls of the boiler for "medium" BP No.13 (that superstitious "12A" claptrap really gets my goat!) and Dübs built MNR No.4.

"Small" BP No.8 has a boiler which AFAIK is in fair order, but I'm unsure about those on (IIRC, currently working "medium" locos) Nos. 10 & 12 ..... and "medium" No.4 is currently OOS, as is "medium" No.11, currently undergoing rebuild (I'm guessing two of the five boilers are for these locos).

I'm ruling out the sectioned "small" No.3 (I believe now owned by MOSI), or the skeletal and IMR&T owned remains of No.7 (off island) and Port Erin Museum exhibit "large" No.16 (as too original to touch, last I heard). I'd assume the same is true of "small" No.9, as it retains it's sloping smokebox and bell mouthed dome, not forgetting the asbestos. "Small" No.14 (MNR No.3) was in private ownership on the island, last I heard..... and the ex-CDR railcars don't need boilers!

So, to the obvious question ......

Are all 5 for "medium" locos? If so, is something long inactive (with or without asbestos) heading for the workshops? Actually, if one of the new boilers is for a "small" loco, will "Sutherland" and "Fenella" be seen double heading the dining train at some forseeable point in the future?

Or is it simply that the present boilers are all getting tired?

 

On the basis that 'batch construction' is cheaper, and probably they will appear over a couple of years, then 3 or 4 for 'planned maintenance' with the other as 'spare' for use in a few years time..., unless someone is planning an extension?

 

"Here I am, brain the size of a planet and you hate me. Call that job satisfaction? ‘Cos I don’t.
God, I’m so depressed. Life! Don’t talk to me about life.” –Marvin

 

Sure, batch building is cheaper per unit, but three spare boilers? Has the IMR ever enjoyed such luxury? I know the IoM railways had a good year in 2017, but unless all the boilers on the BP's currently in service are reaching the end of the line simultaneously ......

 

There is more than one type of boiler being ordered, and I think delivery is spaced over the next 4 years or so.

As I understand it they are primarily replacements for the batch of Chatham Steam built boilers which have proven to have very unsatisfactory life spans (at least one has been pulled to bits for a new firebox at under 10 years old!).
I think at least some of the boilers to be replaced are ones currently in service which are expected to be condemned at the next 10 year overhaul.

The keyhole design of the BP boilers where the firebox doesn't fit out through the foundation ring makes fitting replacements fireboxes comparatively expensive, and I suspect that has factored heavily in the decisions to replace rather than overhaul.

 

Thanks for that. The fog begins to clear .... Oh, the unbridled joys of keeping veteran locos in service!

Any idea please? ..... Was one or both of the two boilers mentioned in HR 237 as being overhauled (successfully?) by the SVR from the offending "Chatham" batch? Plus, how many were supplied to this design?

Suddenly, No.11's protracted overhaul and No.4 waiting it's turn in the queue, the chance of seeing any of Nos. 1, 5 or 6 in steam again looks distinctly less likely again. Ho-hum! Still, at least there's the new diesel to ..... Oh, wait a sec ......!! What with one thing and another, loco-wise, they've been having a bit of a time of it over on Mona's Isle.

Do I recall some sort of issue with a new boiler design for the BP's during Mr Sheard's tenure under the old IMR Co.?

..... and I always thought the issue on old BP designs was with the frames!

On the bright side, from what I can glean, carriage restorations look to be progressing healthily enough.

 

I think the boiler which has just gone into 13 is a Chatham boiler which has been overhauled by the SVR. As far as I know, there were 3 brand new Chatham boilers (but I stand to be corrected). 12 and 10 currently have Chatham boilers although 10’s ticket has expired and is currently out of the frames (not sure whether the railway intend to overhaul it or wait for one of the new ones from the SVR).

4’s boiler is nominally still the 1968 Hunslet boiler fitted during Lord Ailsa’s management of the railway although it has been refurbished a few times since (by Chatham at one point, I think) so how much Hunslet material remains is debatable. It’s currently at the SVR to have a new firebox fitted and I’ve read it’s intended to have it back relatively quickly (I.e. this year) but I guess it depends what the SVR find when they open it up. The other Hunslet boiler first used in 1971 has just come out of Kissack.

 

Delighted to learn No.4 is on a 'fast track'. Possibly, only old No.1 is a more iconic member if the fleet.

Given the constraints of the boiler envelope, is the 'Chatham' design's solution to the firebox issue noticably worse than that of Hunslet (or BP), or is it simply that the boiler design is a pain in the a*** and always has been? No wonder no-one want's to take No.16 in hand!!

50 years (on and off) for the Hunslet boilers isn't bad going and tallies pretty well with those supplied to Blodge and Pendre in the 60's and 70's. Of interest, do IMSR conditions call for any form of water treatment?

 

Some footage attached from a very wet photographers special on Monday. Full gallery and video from my 6 day visit to the island to follow later in the week (or maybe next week after a trip to Beamish).

 

I don't think there is much Hunslet built material left in No4's boiler, I think Chatham more or less built it a new one.

As I understand matters, there are two issues with the Chatham boilers - one is that they fitted steel fireboxes, and steel fireboxes worked very hard tend to have short lives. I don't think it's revealing any great secret to let on that the current batch of boilers are also getting steel fireboxes, although to a slightly better design. Sadly, I suspect that the costs of copper fireboxes are too prohibitive to contemplate (in rough figures, there would be the best part of £30k of copper plate in one, before you started looking at actually flanging and assembling it - a new copper inner firebox would probably cost around £45k just to have sat on the floor ready to fit).

The other issue with the Chatham boilers is that they tended to seam weld up all the riveted joints, had screwed and welded all the side stays etc. This puts a load of extra weld stress into the plates, makes it all too stiff and thus prone to cracking from the expansion/contraction stresses. It also make changing the inner firebox a particularly difficult job, as instead of just unpicking the rivets to get the throatplate out, one has to somehow undo miles of welding without damaging either plate.