Ivan has a new machine!

......And here it is! A Piaggio MP3 3-wheel scooter:

Ivan's new (to him) Piaggio 3-wheel scoot

Many decades ago Ivan took a motorcycle test and therefore had a full motorcycle licence. As with all of us, over the years his driving licence has been physically renewed from time to time, and at some stage his entitlement to ride a motorcycle disappeared from it. He only noticed this when he got back into biking a few years ago and fancied something bigger than his Honda SS50 (50cc bikes can be ridden on a car licence). DVLA at Swansea were as much use as a chocolate teapot in tracing back his 'big bike' entitlement, saying they have no record of it. Strangely Ivan's wife, who has never sat on a motorcycle in her life, has mysteriously acquired a full 'big bike' entitlement on her drivers licence! 

Civil servants, eh? Don't you just love 'em? They screw up, and then they 'have no record' of it!

Ivan has no documentary proof of his 'bike' entitlement, so is powerless to challenge DVLA's incompetent self-serving indifference. That left him with three possibilities: Restrict himself to bikes of 50cc or less, take the time-consuming and expensive 'Direct Entry' full bike licence course and test, or think 'outside the box'. He chose the latter, with a Piaggio MP3 450CC three-wheel scooter.

These trikes can be driven on an ordinary car driving licence, so Ivan found one for sale on eBay and purchased it. Today we enjoyed an outing to the Churnet Valley Railway at Cheddleton for him to get used to it. We gathered this morning at Malc's, and to keep speeds down while Ivan became familiar with this unusual steed, Malc and I used our little Honda C90s.

Malcs house this morning; his C90 on the left, Ivans MP3, Ivan, my C90

I led on the outward journey, onto the Alderley bypass, down the A34 to Congleton, then a 'small lanes' route cross country to our destination. Out past Congelton railway station to Hightown, Dane-In-Shaw, and over the saddle of Bosley Cloud before bearing right for Rudyard via Biddulph Common and Brownslow. From Rudyard we found the diminutive Devil's Lane up and over the moor to Longsdon, onward to cross the Caldon Canal and its feeder from Rudyard Lake (canalised here to form the canal's Leek arm) and the Leekbrook to Stoke 'Moorland & City Rail' line at Horse Bridge, and into Cheddleton 'the back way'.

At Cheddleton Station, after securing the bikes, we walked down to the workshops where ex-BR diesel electric locomotive 47524 was undergoing restoration. This engine entered service with British Rail in 1966 and was withdrawn from service thirty years later.

47524 undergoing restoration in the Cheddleton workshops of the Churnet Valley railway

47524's restored engine room with the massive diesel engine and alternator removed so the locomotive's structure can be properly accessed

The boiler of S160 locomotive No.5197 nearing restoration completion in the workshop. It was a 'Driver Experience Day' on the railway for my 60th birthday, driving No.5197, that first got me involved with the Churnet Valley Railway. Followers of this blog will be aware that I have been a qualified signalman at Consall on the railway since early last year.

5197's firebox, with thermic syphons (the large pipes) visible 

The other end of the boiler - the smokebox tube plate 

Outside in the yard is 5197's restored frames, smokebox saddle, and cylinders on temporary wheels 

Two Polish tank engines were acquired for the railway and one of them is almost fully restored in the yard. It has successfully steamed to Froghall and back, but its air compressor isn't yet working so it has only a hand brake at present. These engines are too large for the UK loading gauge so during the restoration the width across the cylinders was reduced by eliminating lagging space between the cylinders and cylinder casing, and the bunker modified so it will fit our railway. The class 47's central roof section can be seen on the flat waggon to the right of the locomotive.

The simple footplate of the Polish tank engine

The only train running today was a Photo Charter, and it soon appeared at Cheddleton in charge of the hired-in N7 tank engine 69621 from the East Anglian Railway Museum, which has been a Cheddleton resident for a couple of years now. This loco will be out of boiler ticket in July this year, so won't be in service on the CVR for much longer. The N7 stopped in the platform and we visited the footplate for a warm!

Here's a short video of the N7's air pump operating. The loco has only air brakes as it was designed to run with air braked stock on suburban services out of Kings Cross and Liverpool Street. It also has an ejector to provide vacuum so it can work vacuum braked stock, such as ours on the Churnet Valley.

Click here for video

'Sophie' approaches Cheddleton. The photographers wanted to take pictures at Leekbrook so the N7 and train were shunted into the bay platform to allow resident Class 33 diesel loco 'Sophie' and train to be run from their parking place north of the station to a position south of the station to allow the Photo Charter to reverse out of the bay, and proceed northwards to Leekbrook. But then the sun began to shine and the photographers decided to go the other way - to Oakamoor. The track between Froghall and Oakamoor may soon be lifted (don't ask!), so this may well be the last train to make that trip.

While the above shunting was taking place, Ivan borrowed Malc's tool kit to tighten a loose mirror on his machine

We followed the same route home, except that from Congleton we used Giantswood Lane to Hulme Walfield and Trap Street to the Holmes Chapel road at Jodrell bank and a fuel stop at Chelford. A pint at the Bird In Hand at Knolls Green was called for, and while enjoying that a small group from Stockport Walkers, who had been walking round Tatton park, appeared. I used to walk regularly with them in the Peak District after I retired in 2008.

The little bikes and Ivan's trike were soon tucked away in their respective garages - just before the rain started! On Monday we have a trip to Crich Tramway Museum planned - and on that outing Ivan's new steed will be accompanied by Malc and I on our big bikes and so will be able to 'stretch its legs'; I might even take the mighty Griso!

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On the buses! And another look at APT.

Crewe Heritage Centre this weekend are holding a vintage bus event and I decided to go along for a look, and to have another poke around the prototype Advanced Passenger Train they have there. I recently managed to get hold of a copy of 'Advanced Passenger Train; A Promise Unfulfilled' by L H Williams through Cheshire Library inter-lending, a book long out of print, and I wanted to have a closer look at the train armed with my new knowledge.

A near-full Virgin Pendolino from Wilmslow whisked me to Crewe, where the vintage Routemaster bus operating a free shuttle between the station and the Heritage Centre rolled to a stop just as I emerged from the station.

Please click on any picture for a larger image.

Upper deck of the Routemaster at Crewe station

Rail House, Crewe, from the upper deck of the Routemaster

The Routemaster at the Heritage Centre ready to return to the railway station

Not too many buses on display, and some of them not that old!

View of Crewe station from the observation window of the old Crewe signal box at the Heritage Centre. Look carefully (click to enlarge) and you'll see the Routemaster on the road bridge in front of the station

A southbound Pendolino passes the Crewe Arms as it enters the station

General view of the Heritage Centre site from the old signal box balcony

A4 Pacific locomotive 'Bittern'. This engine is frequently used on steam specials.

A look at Bittern's corridor tender, enabling crews to be changed during non-stop runs from London to Edinburgh back in LNER days.

A promise unfulfilled; the only remaining prototype Advanced Passenger Train (APT)

Standard class interior of the APT. Compare with that of the Pendelino in the picture at the end of this post

The rather spartan drivers' cab, complete with second man's seat insisted on by the rail unions of the time, an issue which caused massive delays to the APT - Experimental project. The APT-E was built with single-crew cabs.

I had my sandwiches in the first class carriage of the APT; here, a train of VSOE (Venice Simplon Orient Express) Pullman coaches passes, southbound on the West Coast Main Line, topped and tailed by class 67 diesel locomotives. This train had dropped off Grand National-bound customers at Runcorn (for onward travel to Aintree by coach) and was returning to Crewe for servicing before returning to Runcorn later to pick up the passengers after their day out at the 'National'.

The train ran in service with two power cars in the centre, and six passenger coaches either side of these; a total of fourteen coaches. It was effectively two separate trains, separated by the power cars with catering in both 'trains'. The power cars do have a narrow corridor through them (shown in the picture above) but only train staff, not passengers, could use these.

The Heritage Centre has placed information sheets in the power car to explain how it operated (click on the picture to make the text legible in a larger image)

The traction motors are mounted in the power car body, with cardan shaft drive to bogie-mounted gearboxes to minimise the un-sprung weight for a better ride at high speed and less wear on the track.

One of the 4 traction motors per power car (nearest the camera). The ducting for the the traction motor blower is mounted on top of the unit. The transfer gearbox to drive the cardan shaft is the blue section on the far end of the motor, and the section beyond that is the hydro-kinetic brake.

Hydro-kinetic brake nearest the camera, the transfer gearbox in blue, and beyond that the traction motor with its blower trunking

The non-powered bogies carried hydro-kinetic brakes on the axle. The large drum with vanes fixed to it internally rotates with the wheels and has a vaned 'stator' inside it which does not rotate, a form of torque converter. To apply the brake, a glycol / water mix is pumped into the drum by compressed air causing drag between the non-rotating stator and the rotating drum, and the liquid pumped to radiators to dissipate heat. As the train slowed, final braking was achieved by wheel-tread friction shoe brakes applied by compressed air.   

A power bogie showing the cardan shaft drive from the body-mounted traction motor to the bogie-mounted gearbox

An external view of a power car. Each power car was fitted with a pantograph to pick up traction current from the 25Kv ac overhead wire, but only the leading one was used. If both pantographs were raised, the first one would set up a mechanical flex (a 'wave') in the overhead wire which would cause the second one to bounce on the wire. The 25Kv ac power was supplied to the other power car by cables, and it was this need to cable-connect the high voltage between the power cars that necessitated the power cars to be adjacent. On today's Pendolinos safe and reliable coach-top cables connect the non-adjacent transformer cars in the train again with only one pantograph raised, and modern technology allows all of a Pendolino's traction equipment (transformers, motor drive electronics, and traction motors) to be mounted under the train's floor so they don't impinge on the passenger space. Like APT, Pendolino uses (under) body mounted traction motors driving bogie-mounted gearboxes through cardan shafts. 

I returned to the railway station on the lower deck of the Routemaster

One Routemaster seen through the door of another

The Routmaster's driving cab

A Virgin Pendelino took me home to wilmslow, a modern version of what the APT perhaps should have been. The APT was a brave attempt to provide British Rail with 150mph tilting electric trains running on the West Coast Main Line. The project started with APT - E (E for experimental), a gas turbine powered 4-coach train of revolutionary construction. It was designed by engineers from the aerospace industry using lightweight but strong aluminium construction and tilting bogies to reduce the sideways forces for passengers on curves. APT - E was followed by three electrically-powered prototype trains (APT - P) which actually didn't inherit a great deal from APT-E (different tilt system, power, and traction system). British Rail management forced APT-P into service long before the trains were developed enough for that. Although they suffered from unreliability due to their not being sufficiently developed, they were fast and an APT - P still holds the London to Glasgow rail speed record despite a modern Pendolino having a go at the record a few years ago (APT - P also holds UK rail speed record of 162.2 mph for conventional, as opposed to High Speed, rail).  The unreliability gave BR management and Government the excuse they were looking for to 'pull the plug' on APT (instead of completing developing it into the reliable train it by then nearly was) and concentrate instead on the successful but conventional HST (High Speed Train), or Inter City 125 based on the non-tilting Mk3 coach of steel construction with a maximum speed of 125 mph and much lower acceleration rates than APT.

APT - E went to the National Railway Museum in York. One of the ATP - P sets is this one at Crewe (its second power car is with the NRM at York). The other two APT - P sets were scrapped.

The bulky electrical equipment of the time was not in APT's favor, with the requirement for the adjacent power cars to house it, which divided each unit into effectively two separate trains whereas on today's Pendolinos all the equipment is below floor level and the two transformer cars distributed in the train use a 25Kv coach-top connection to the single raised pantograph. The under-floor mounting of the traction motors on Pendolinos allows for most of the train's wheels to be powered, rather that just those of the power cars on APT. This gives better acceleration and resistance to wheel slip on gradients than on APT.

In addition the APT's hydro-kinetic brake was far from ideal, being impossible to control with enough finesse to prevent wheel slip, and continuing to cause drag after brake release due to residual fluid still in the system. The regenerative brakes of modern electric trains, made possible by developments in electronic technology were not available in APT's day. Regenerative brakes provide retardation by the traction motors operating as generators, recovering energy to be put back into the overhead wire as current for other trains to use rather than dissipated as heat as the hydro-kinetic and friction brake does.

However, APT has a far more pleasant interior than the Pendolino (see the picture above). It has a spacious, airy feel compared to the cramped claustrophobic Pendolino interior, with its tiny letter-box windows. Compare the picture below with that of the APT interior above.

Pendolino interior - cramped and claustrophobic compared to APT

So probably the ideal train for UK main lines today would be an APT with modern traction and braking technology. If the UK government of the 1980s had more vision and belief in rail's future, and had backed APT instead of burying it, perhaps that's what we'd have by now instead of Italian Pendolinos.



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Visit to MoSI on a wet Saturday

It's been a while since I last worked a rostered turn as fireman at the steam railway at the Museum of Science & Industry (MoSI) as my recent firing turns on the roster have been cancelled though no driver being available.

I decided to go to MoSI today to see how the railway was doing. I was amazed to discover just how short of drivers the railway is. Some have moved away, and some have retired as they are getting a bit long in the tooth. Those of us very experienced firemen who have done a great deal of driving alongside a passed driver are keen to be passed out as drivers ourselves, but since we lost our Railway Officer to a job on The Big Railway some months ago, that process seems to have stalled. I understand that the Museum is about to advertise to fill the post of Railway Officer; presumably the difficult funding situation in the Science Museum Group has prevented this happening sooner.

Click on any picture for a larger image.

Waiting for the bus at Manchester Piccadilly station this morning in the intermittent rain, I took this picture of the station approach. The 18 storey tall white building in the centre is 111 Picadilly. It was built in 1966 across the Rochdale Canal (there's actually a canal basin and a lock in the basement of the building). It used to be called Rodwell Tower, and I started my career in IT there with Burroughs in 1970 after a horrendous false career start in a bank! If you click on the picture to enlarge it the Co-Op CIS building can be seen in the background between the trees. When it was completed in 1962 it was the tallest building in Europe! The left-most of the two buses in the middle of the picture is the Number 3 free bus, which I will use to get from here to within a few hundred metres of MoSI.

When I arrived today I found Peter and David as driver and fireman, and Richard as guard. The loco crew in particular were having a hard time of it in the rain and cold winds on Planet's exposed footplate (the loco doesn't have a cab), and I joined them for a run up the line and a chat.

Before joining the MoSI train crew, I had a look around the Power Hall. The largest engine in there is this massive twin-tandem-compound mill engine, made by Galloways of Manchester.

I took a ride with the crew on Planet's open footplate in the rain. Here, fireman David changes the points at Ordsall Lane ground frame so we can reverse down the Pineapple line. 

Ordsall Lane ground frame is adjacent to the main line railway between Deansgate and Salford Crescent. It is usual, when main line trains pass the MoSI steam train here, to exchange whistle and hooter blasts. Here a Trans Pennine class 185 unit from Manchester Airport to Glasgow Central complies with that tradition.

Peter, our driver, prepares to reverse down the Pineapple line as the 185 goes on its way. This section of  railway has recently been electrified as part of the Northern Hub rail improvement scheme.  

Peter drives us back up the Pineapple line to Ordsall Lane ground frame. Lots of steaminess in the damp atmosphere. 

David once again does the honours with the points so we can reverse back down to Liverpool Road station for the passengers to alight and the next ones to board.  

Meanwhile another Trans Pennine 185 unit passes on its way to Manchester Piccadilly

I went down to the railway cabin for a brew and a chat with Operating Officer Bev. Before leaving, I made a billy of hot tea for the train crew and took it up to them. They were certainly in need of it and most grateful!

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First day of spring 'Beer By Train'

Class 323 electric train of Northern Rail at Manchester Piccadilly

We last did this on 3rd November 2011, the famous Leeds to Manchester real ale trail. High time for another go. This was our itinerary:

Outbound to the start of the trail:

Wilmslow depart:          10:17

Man Piccadilly arrive:    10:43

Man Piccadilly depart:   10:57

Leeds arrive:                 11:52

Inbound on the trail: 

The pub to pub train options increase as the day goes on, depending how long you spend in each pub. The highlighted trains (in red) are the ones we actually took. 

Leeds dep.	12:55	13:25	13:55
Dewsbury arr.	13:06	13:36	14:06
Dewsbury dep.	13:36	14:06	14:36	15:06
Huddersfield arr.	13:45	14:15	14:45	15:15
Huddersfield dep.	14:26	15:26	16:26	17:26
Stalybridge arr.	14:43	15:43	16:43	17:43
Stalybridge dep.	16:46	17:18	17:46	18:18
Piccadilly arr.	17:05	17:36	18:05	18:37
Piccadilly dep.	17:27	17:30	17:38	17:55	18:30
Wilmslow arr.	17:43	17:46	18:02	18:10	18:46

Scarborough Taps, Leeds

A local Northern Rail class 323 train took us to to Manchester Piccadilly where we caught a Trans Pennine Express to Middlesborough as far as Leeds, our first destination. These trips are nothing if not consistent and the first pub stop of the day was the Scarborough Taps just across the road from the station

John, Malc, Ivan, Peter, me, and Frank in the 'Taps' waiting for lunch. Sid, from North Wales, a 'Beer By Train' virgin like John, Ivan, and Peter, took the picture.

Trans Pennine Express (TPE), which provided our transport today between Manchester and Leeds, and back to Manchester. These quiet, fast, comfortable trains are in danger of going south in 2015 when the TPE franchise expires. Chiltern Trains have approached the train leasing company to take them after that date.

After lunch and a couple of pints of excellent ale we returned to the station for the 13:25 train to Dewsbury. Frank, Ivan and me reached the platform only to note the absence of Malc, Peter, Sid, and John. Our Trans Pennine Express rolled in a couple of minutes early, and left on time, still minus the four missing members.

Those of us who are Beer By Train veterans remember the infamous Ray Bull. On that trip he got another pint in at Dewsbury shortly before our train was due to depart for Huddersfield, so we left him behind. On arriving at Huddersfield, there was Ray on the platform, pint in hand, having caught a later but faster train which had overtaken ours!

The West Riding, Dewsbury

Today, something similar happened. The four miscreants had gone off piste. They had spied an earlier local train and boarded that. They arrived on their 'all stations stopper' ancient scrap-yard-dodger train a few minutes before we rolled in in our comfortable express! They just had time to get pints in and do a 'Ray Bull', greeting us on the platform with raised glasses as we arrived!

At Dewsbury Ivan got religion, and is here being comforted by a nun over the evils of alcohol. It didn't stop him falling asleep on the Stalybridge - Manchester train at the end of the day and waking up in Birchwood!

After imbibing a pint or two at Dewsbury, and rescuing Ivan from itinerant nuns, we proceeded by our next Trans Pennine Express train to Huddersfield where the many railway paintings there, and the railway memorabilia collection was admired as we supped a couple more pints of their excellent selection of real ales.

Head of Steam, Huddersfield

Next move was to Stalybridge, with just time for one pint and a sausage roll there before the final Trans Pennine train of our day took us back to Piccadilly. Where we lost Ivan.

Stalybridge Station Buffet

Frank and I sat together on this leg and saw Ivan board at the far end of our coach. We waved him to come and join us but he sat down where he was. On reaching Piccadilly (our train was running a few minutes late) we had about a minute to make the 18:08 connection to Wilmslow so dashed off the train and up the stairs. Our connection had gone, and by then Peter, Malc, John, and Sid had joined us on the Piccadilly footbridge. Where was Ivan? Frank and I had assumed he was close to the others and would get off the train with them (he was at their end of the coach), but the others hadn't seen him and assumed he was with us. 

We said our goodbyes to Sid who was off to catch a North Wales train home to Colwyn Bay, and sought the next train to Wilmslow, the 18:30 Arriva Trains Wales to Carmarthen. We'd just settled in our seats when my phone rang. It was Ivan, "I'm in Birchwood", he said. "No one woke me up! The next train back to Manchester is the 18:50". I did a quick calculation. He'd be delayed about an hour in total. "Get on that train, then on to Wilmslow, we'll see you in an hour or so in the Bollin Fee".

The Bollin Fee, Wilmslow

The final pint of the day was being enjoyed in the Fee, together with a well priced evening meal and we were expecting Ivan to walk in at any moment when he phoned. He was at Manchester Oxford Road station!

Why was he there? Why wasn't he in the Fee by then? I'll find out when I see him. I hope he got home OK!

Postscript: He did! Not far behind us.

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