Great Central Railway - News and "Stuff"

[Flying Phil]

The ArtfulBodger said:

toastyhamster said:

Looks great Phil.

I have a really dumb question. I know steam boilers can't be made from stainless steel (well they could but they'd never get a boiler cert), but why not use stainless steel in wagon use/more generally in railway stuff that rusts? Cost? Ease of use? Also, why are connecting rods etc stainless?

Cost, pure and simple.

Goods wagons were not and still are not expected to last a lifetime - making them out of stainless won’t extend their useful service life nor make them more economical to operate.

That is a good question and there are several answers, as already outlined, but another aspect is that we are trying to keep a historic collection of wagons running to showcase 1950/60's freight movement. They are steel bodied and they do get rusty.....and that is part of their charm(?). In BR days their useful life was about 25 years before rebodying. In our limited, unloaded, infrequent use they are lasting a lot longer.
Incidently, Coupling and connecting rods on steam engines are not stainless - just polished high grade steel.

[Flying Phil]

The floor is now out and new steel plates on order. The pry bar was in use to help remove the last section.


...and it has another use....... to make dropping the bottom half of the axlebox a one person operation!

[The ArtfulBodger]

spikeyhead said:

If it's so great, why don't we make cars from it. If Mercedes used if for the bodies of Sprinters they'd become the perfect van.

As said before Cost.


Google Delorean Motor Company

Why would Mercedes want to build everlasting vans? A van is usually required to work hard for 5 years or so then considered a write off from a company point of view.

[Flying Phil]

Meanwhile back in the shed we were able to remove our brake cylinder.....it is a bit bigger than a car one!
We had to take it apart, clean it up, install new seals, re-assemble and put it back under the wagon.
Here are the works - essentially the piston (centre) sits in the cylinder (left) which sits in the dome (Right). Then a vacuum is created by the locomotive in the train pipe which keeps the brakes Off. If air is then admitted in the train pipe, or the pipe breaks, then the vacuum retained in the dome means that air pressure will apply the brakes...so it "Fails Safe".

Edited by Flying Phil on Thursday 4th November 09:03

[Flying Phil]

We were riding in the GCR "Veranda" carriage yesterday. This did receive some critical comments as it was a std Mk 1 carriage when it was converted. However it is really popular and does enable a very close up view of the engine working hard!

[Flying Phil]

We have a nice visiting locomotive at present.....

[mcdjl]

Flying Phil said:

We have a nice visiting locomotive at present.....

Does it have any public running planned?

[Bluemondy]

Looking forward to the winter gala on the 29th first time i've been in a few years.,

[Flying Phil]

mcdjl said:

Flying Phil said:

We have a nice visiting locomotive at present.....

Does it have any public running planned?

It was hauling public trains this weekend and has been doing Driver experience running mid week. It is scheduled to run next weekend Jan 15/16th for an "East Coast Weekend" with a Deltic 55019 also running.
However Tornado is then scheduled for planned overhaul, so is not running in the Winter Steam Gala.

[Flying Phil]

The Winter Gala was a great treat - we had two visiting locomotives, one of which was large and green....



It was warm in the cab....

[pherlopolus]

Great article in Steam Railway, finally got round to opening my subscription copy!

[Flying Phil]

Thanks Pherlopolus
Our latest wagon is finished bar the numbers...

[pherlopolus]

I need to pop over on a running day

[Flying Phil]

Numbering completed - on both sides, Fitness to Run exam done, so this wagon is now finished.

[Flying Phil]

Other news from the GCR is that the A60 bridge is to be refurbished this year. This has been carrying the Gypsum trains but was closed to all trains last year due to corrosion. There has been a lot of "discussion" between the various parties as to how to proceed but recently it was resolved and the final fundraising is going ahead. Now £30,000 has been raised, of the £110,000 target - in about three weeks!

[toastyhamster]

There's other "stuff" to be done/corrected before trains can run though I think? Will everything be ready if the bridge is sorted this year?

You've reminded me to sort my donation.

[mcdjl]

The a60 bridge is on the northern part and links the heritage line to the main line. The gypsum trains run about half the length to East leake from the main line but haven't for about a year after since masonry fell on the road. That bridge still needs linking across the factory car park and to the new bridge over the mainline.
Network rail are doing a separate inspection on a bridge in East leake over night in the next few weeks.

[toastyhamster]

Yeh, I meant on the northern section specifically, I thought there were some ORR findings that needed addressing, or has all that been done?

[mcdjl]

toastyhamster said:

Yeh, I meant on the northern section specifically, I thought there were some ORR findings that needed addressing, or has all that been done?

I think there are organisational issues, they didn't run on the northern part at all last year but covid may have had something to do with it as well.

[Flying Phil]

Well one wagon has gone to join the running rake and we have another to replace it in the shed......we have already done a bit of work!
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Edited by Flying Phil on Friday 18th February 15:06