Anybody visited York to see the 6 x A4's all together?
Discussion
I popped up from London on the train on Wednesday this week to see all 6 surviving A4's together. While not a train buff by any stretch, I have had an interest in Gresley's fabulous A4's since childhood, no doubt fuelled by stories from my Grandparents regular trips back to Scotland via LNER route during the 30's to 60's in the heyday of steam.
Anyone else been, either back in July or this week?
Had camera issues, so hence using a photo from the net
Boatbuoy said:
Yep, I went back in July. It was jam packed and we had to queue for an hour and a quarter to get in, but it was well worth it.
I got there at pretty much dead on 10 when it opened, but there was a queue of 400+ already filing in. Only took about 5-6 mins though to get in.As you say though, worth the trip up from London to see something you'll never be able to see again.
Was interesting to get up inside and compare the footplate areas of one of the current working A4's (Dominion of South Africa) with Dwight D Eisenhower which was exactly as was after being retired in the mid 60's.
One of the support crew for D of SA was saying that they've had to spend over £30k in maintainance on her in the 3 months since she was last there at the July gathering. And that was even after the £1m+ overhaul she had last year. They arn't cheap toys.
aeropilot said:
I got there at pretty much dead on 10 when it opened, but there was a queue of 400+ already filing in. Only took about 5-6 mins though to get in.
As you say though, worth the trip up from London to see something you'll never be able to see again.
Was interesting to get up inside and compare the footplate areas of one of the current working A4's (Dominion of South Africa) with Dwight D Eisenhower which was exactly as was after being retired in the mid 60's.
One of the support crew for D of SA was saying that they've had to spend over £30k in maintainance on her in the 3 months since she was last there at the July gathering. And that was even after the £1m+ overhaul she had last year. They arn't cheap toys.
That's quite interesting to read as a few people compare the cost of the Vulcan flying and how better use the money could be spent on a steam train. As you say though, worth the trip up from London to see something you'll never be able to see again.
Was interesting to get up inside and compare the footplate areas of one of the current working A4's (Dominion of South Africa) with Dwight D Eisenhower which was exactly as was after being retired in the mid 60's.
One of the support crew for D of SA was saying that they've had to spend over £30k in maintainance on her in the 3 months since she was last there at the July gathering. And that was even after the £1m+ overhaul she had last year. They arn't cheap toys.
I don't know off the top of my head how much the Vulcan has cost so far per year on average, clearly more than £1m plus £30k x 4 but a far more complex machine, seen by more people (a massive amount of more people I would imagine).
Not that I'm trying to belittle the A4 at all, I am very glad we still have these wonderful machines - planes or trains... anything mechanical really - still being operated.
Yes! I went today with the boy, and we both absolutely thoroughly enjoyed it. We did the Science and Natural History Museums this week too, both of which seemed to have been dumbed down to chav level and are so poorly lit that you can hardly see the larger exhibits. The NRM is different: a railway museum containing railway exhibits. What a brilliant concept. Plus they open up their archive material in the basement and you can wander through shelves full of fascinating items that aren't displayed in an 'interactive' manner - you just wander around and gawp at the diversity and vastness of the artefacts. We had to queue for about 40 minutes to get in, but it was worth every minute.
I'm not really a railway enthusiast, but those A4 streamliners dispalyed together like that was a pretty emotional experience. they are stunning pieces of work.
Got to go in the cab of "Mallard", and to talk to an actual person (not an "re-enactor"
) who was a fireman on Mallard (at least in recent times).
I got all proud to be British again and asked him if it was correct that the highest quality coal for steam locomotives comes from Wales. He replied that it was true, but these days they import it from Poland becasue the Welsh mine was shut down. Left slightly deflated, but even so, if you have the slightest interest in engineering, go and see these locomotives while they are all in one place. Two of them will be returning to their homes in the USA and Canada early next year.
I'm not really a railway enthusiast, but those A4 streamliners dispalyed together like that was a pretty emotional experience. they are stunning pieces of work.
Got to go in the cab of "Mallard", and to talk to an actual person (not an "re-enactor"
) who was a fireman on Mallard (at least in recent times). I got all proud to be British again and asked him if it was correct that the highest quality coal for steam locomotives comes from Wales. He replied that it was true, but these days they import it from Poland becasue the Welsh mine was shut down. Left slightly deflated, but even so, if you have the slightest interest in engineering, go and see these locomotives while they are all in one place. Two of them will be returning to their homes in the USA and Canada early next year.
Edited by dr_gn on Friday 1st November 21:45
A couple of people I know have been to the NRM, and despite not having any particular interest in railways, they said how much they enjoyed their visit (both had young kids too). I guess there's just 'something' about trains that has a certian innocence and yet is really impressive at the same time.
We randomly dropped in on a physics lecture for kids yesterday, and the boy loved it - steam cannon, diesel engines, balloon races - it was really nicely done. Based on Newton's laws of motion, way better than some of the interactive nonsense museums serve up these days.
We randomly dropped in on a physics lecture for kids yesterday, and the boy loved it - steam cannon, diesel engines, balloon races - it was really nicely done. Based on Newton's laws of motion, way better than some of the interactive nonsense museums serve up these days.
Sadly I've not been able to get up there to see all six A4's, hoping to get to Shildon early next year when they're all there.
Re. Welsh coal - It is still available, but the imported stuff is cheaper. That said the imported coal (usually Polish or Russian) doesn't give anywhere near the amount of heat per kilo that the Welsh stuff does, as well as having totally different burn characteristics. Out of preference i'd use Welsh coal as it burns cleaner and gives more heat per kilo, but it can create lots of dust and takes more pre-planning (the Welsh stuff needs time to 'brew' on the fire, the Russian/Polish stuff lights pretty much instantly, but doesn't give as much heat).
Re. Welsh coal - It is still available, but the imported stuff is cheaper. That said the imported coal (usually Polish or Russian) doesn't give anywhere near the amount of heat per kilo that the Welsh stuff does, as well as having totally different burn characteristics. Out of preference i'd use Welsh coal as it burns cleaner and gives more heat per kilo, but it can create lots of dust and takes more pre-planning (the Welsh stuff needs time to 'brew' on the fire, the Russian/Polish stuff lights pretty much instantly, but doesn't give as much heat).
GTO Scott said:
Sadly I've not been able to get up there to see all six A4's, hoping to get to Shildon early next year when they're all there.
Re. Welsh coal - It is still available, but the imported stuff is cheaper. That said the imported coal (usually Polish or Russian) doesn't give anywhere near the amount of heat per kilo that the Welsh stuff does, as well as having totally different burn characteristics. Out of preference i'd use Welsh coal as it burns cleaner and gives more heat per kilo, but it can create lots of dust and takes more pre-planning (the Welsh stuff needs time to 'brew' on the fire, the Russian/Polish stuff lights pretty much instantly, but doesn't give as much heat).
I think "high calorific value" is the term? The Mallard driver said it used to come from a deep mine in Wales, and had a high...something...content.Re. Welsh coal - It is still available, but the imported stuff is cheaper. That said the imported coal (usually Polish or Russian) doesn't give anywhere near the amount of heat per kilo that the Welsh stuff does, as well as having totally different burn characteristics. Out of preference i'd use Welsh coal as it burns cleaner and gives more heat per kilo, but it can create lots of dust and takes more pre-planning (the Welsh stuff needs time to 'brew' on the fire, the Russian/Polish stuff lights pretty much instantly, but doesn't give as much heat).
I remember collecting bits of coal while on a disused railway line walk in the Peak District years ago. When we put it on the fire at home it was like turning the heating up to 11 - very noticably better than the household coal we used.
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