Isle Of Man Steam Railway

Great to see a mixed formation on the IMR, thanks @black5 .

Nice to see that the Foxdale Coach is still looking as smart as when it first returned to traffic. That paint job stands comparison with the best anywhere.

Does anyone please know ..... was the wear issue on "Fenella's" valve faces sorted out (the loco seems to have been much more visible over the last year or so)? It sounds better than it did a few years back, though with a softer exhaust than Nos.4 & 10-13. And ..... how does 'Fenella' compare with it's larger stablemates for coal and water consumption?

Also, does anyone know the current state of play with "Caledonia"? .... and I didn't mention asbestos once! Cheers.

 

Many thanks for that post. re: welding, you state "they tended to weld up all the rivetted joints". Does this refer to the builders or the IMR altering a rivetted design? If intended as a maintenance saving, it seems to have been a questionable decision. Isn't hindsight marvellous!

 

They were still riveted - but then instead of caulking the plate edges either side of the rivets to seal them, they've been welded up instead.
This has been a common dodge for bits that are hard to get at when the boiler is in the frames, or which don't want to play when caulked up, but attacking an entire boiler on this basis isn't usually a particularly clever plan. I think it was rather a Chathamism - I suspect they weren't overly good at riveted joints, and so resorted to bodge artistry...

 

Presumably one with which insurers are satisfied though. This explains a lot about many comments on the Chatham boilers I've happened across.

 

The insurers won't care - it's not dangerous, and some seal welding is common practice - for example, on a lot of locos you weld the corners of the backhead and throatplate to the foundation ring, as these are common trouble spots, and if something upsets them and they leak in service it's usually the devil's own job to get at them with a caulking chisel to shut them up again.

Doing this to every seam on a boiler however is definitely not best practice - while it won't make it blow up, it will probably shorten its working life, and also it makes it a total cow to perform subsequent repairs.

 

Yes, Fenella's valve faces were refaced a couple of years ago and her performance improved markedly. Just last week she took the heavy 6 coach dining set out and a couple of times last year was the only loco available for traffic. Caledonia's boiler is due back this month. Although there is still some work to do on the chassis the loco should be out for the Heritage Transport Festival at the end of July. As you may know the rebuilt boiler earmarked for No.11 went on No.13 over the winter and its chassis along with No.4's boiler have both gone 'across' for rebuilding. Loco's 12 & 13 were out on the service trains today with No.8 and Foxdale brake on a special. Participants on last Monday's workshop tours were able to see the rebuilt bogies for No.21.
Cheers,
Ray.

 

Noticed in a Douglas shed tour image was one of the ex-CDR railcars ... with metalwork around the cab area. The last photo seen (a few years ago now) was of a decidedly skeletal unit.

Enquiry: Has any additional work restarted, or (as seems more likely) was it simply a case of one of the pair being a bit further along than t'other when work stopped?

 

The latter, I think. I only remember seeing the one car in September last year, full (ish) metal cab and body. I reckon that they would make a useful winter service vehicles ...

 

You are both quite correct. The bodywork of one of the railcars (19? the one facing Douglas in the area beyond the running shed) was further ahead than the other (currently in the carriage shed) before work was halted. Whilst the bodywork was largely completed (at not inconsiderable expense) and the engines overhauled no work has been done on the power or trailing bogies. They also require the gearboxes to be overhauled and a full rewire - and the list goes on. Some years ago a quote was obtained to complete the work but it was decided that the cost was not justified at that time. Personally, I believe that they would not only be an economical way of providing a service in the 'shoulder period' but are sufficiently unusual to become an attraction in their own right, particularly with heritage diesel fans. Of course if anyone has a couple of hundred grand that they don't want I'm sure IoM Rlys might be persuaded to complete the restoration!
Ray.

 

Well they found £500,000 to buy the Cabbage which has barely worked in the 4 years it has been on the Island and apparently another £200,000 to get it in a position where it might be fit to run. It seems to me that money would have been much better spent on the Railcars.

 

I'm not aware of the exact figures spent on No21 but I can think of several better (IMO) things, including the railcars, on which the money could have been spent.
Ray.

 

They might be better things to spend the money on. But they won't fix the problem that No21 was bought for. They only thing that can do that is some other diesel of equal capability.

So you might think that money could be better spent on the railcars, but the reality is that money doesn't exist for them. It only exists to buy a standby diesel because that is what they needed.

Tim

 

Given the hassle with the Cabbage thus far, at two quid a pop, 350,000 lottery tickets would possibly have proved a better investment!

In yachting circles, repainting a vessel green is considered unlucky. Perhaps the IMSR diesel picked up some unsavoury nautical habits en route to Mona's Isle? Whatever, I'm rather glad it's not me who'll have to justify spending enough to get the Donegal railcars back into service with enough change left over to have "Mona" and a carriage or two fully restored (or .... "Sutherland" and the Schöma* plus a carriage or two). Isn't hindsight marvellous?

*Ooh .... it just occured .... are we allowed to mention the Schöma? Oh well, too late now!

 

That is if you accept that they need such a standby diesel. The last 4 years would probably indicate that they do not and the railcars could have done a decent job of rescuing passengers from a broken down train. However from memory of Tynwald debates etc subsequently the requirement for a standby diesel was really just a smoke screen, what they really wanted was a diesel to pull the dining train. having spent several hundred thousand converting the carriages etc for this there was no way Govt would vote funds to buy a new loco to pull it so instead they came up with an argument that they required as a standby etc. knowing that was much more likely to get the funding.

 

Remember the Shoema was a colliery shunter and most of its problems of 'hunting' and over revving the engine resulted from trying to keep up line speed when replacing a steam loco. As a station pilot/shunter it was fine and if, when replacing/rescuing a steam loco, it had been accepted that time was going to be lost it wouldn't have blown the engine (twice?) and would probably still be in service. I don't have anything against having a 'thunderbird' diesel nor on its use on the diner train as it saves a crew member and reduces prep/disposal time - whether there will be 'customer resistance' to the use of No 21 on it remains to be seen. I can't help thinking that the choice of manufacturer and some aspects of design could have benefitted from more in depth study. Just my 2p worth and does not necessarily reflect the views of any organization to which I belong.
Ray.

 

My photo gallery from my long Easter visit... http://preservedrailway.weebly.com/rush-hour-2018.html

 

The steam railway sheds had a close call last night. Fortunately it seems that a member of staff was still on duty and the fire brigade were able to extinguish the fire quickly https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/train-shed-fire-in-douglas/
Ray.

 

Looks like they either were very lucky, or had a sensible late watch in place.

As an aside, it was pleasant to be able to access the link given and read the article without being bombarded with so many ADs that it was unreadable. Some "news" sites from the mainland could learn lessons there.

 

That was too close for comfort. Looking at the uphill battle our very own @Nigel Day has just won to return a fire damaged 'River Esk' to full health, I shudder to think what effect a serious blaze would have - before considering what might happen, should any conflagration engulf adjacent buildings.

With railway and bus stations, workshops and sheds all within a stone's throw, there's potentially an awful lot of kit, both expensive and/or irreplaceable at risk.

Whatever the cause turns out to be, this one's been a wake up call rather than a disaster, but reminds us how thin is the line between those two outcomes. I'd imagine the IMR (which by extension means the IoM Govt) won't want to continue relying on luck as a component of fire policy.