A Day of Steam, Tornado, Tangmere, and Hemerdon Fail. 020815

[@savodent]

Being an ex Southern Railway man, The 'Spam Can' is a light pacific and not intended for the South Devon banks. One or two videos on You Tube showing the same class of loco stalling on these gradients. Time for the preservation groups to realise this. Footage is excellent.

[@chuffedtobaz]

Thanks for sharing a very full and comprehensive day making the most of Tornado's final hauling of the 2015 The Torbay Express, the sun finally shining on the righteous, with excellent following round the bay of both locos. Looking forward to the return of Tangmere in the pristine condition we're used to seeing her sooner than later. Baz.

[@moormanpete]

chuffedtobaz Thanks Baz, a record of what I think you will agree was a very good day . Pete

[@DeafIaint]

We have seen, in other KZbin footage, Tangmere romp over the top of Hemerden Bank with 9 on , admittedly in drier conditions.

[@conradxzavier4913]

Sorry to be off topic but does any of you know of a trick to log back into an instagram account..? I somehow forgot my login password. I would love any help you can give me

[@elijahmustafa5589]

@Conrad Xzavier Instablaster :)

[@conradxzavier4913]

@Elijah Mustafa thanks for your reply. I got to the site on google and Im trying it out atm. Seems to take quite some time so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@conradxzavier4913]

@Elijah Mustafa it did the trick and I now got access to my account again. I'm so happy:D Thanks so much, you really help me out !

[@elijahmustafa5589]

@Conrad Xzavier Happy to help :)

[@richardderry3465]

I rode behind 60163 on Sunday, she is a beast of a machine, told unofficially she made 62 mph at the top of Whiteball Summit on the return journey. Great day out.

[@moormanpete]

Richard Derry Hi Richard, Glad you had a good day trip, weather brilliant and Tornado performing well as usual. It was also a good day all-round for Baz and myself, great for filming and a pleasure to see the engines performing apart from the end that is, shame about Tangy.....Pete

[@robertwilliams624]

Why does Tornado need a "pusher" when Tangmere does not?

[@Steamclips]

Hi and thank you for posting some nice footage of the days events and what is probably the most informative clip of the unfortunate stall on Hemerdon. Steam pressure is obviously not a problem as it blows off soon after stalling, adhesion is not a problem either as there was no sound of slipping on your recording, therefore there must be something wrong with the loco. I calculate that a BoB in good nick would only need 80% of full tractive effort (27000 to 28000 lbs) to pull 9 coaches + full tender up a 1 in 42 bank and so I look forward to what the "ground crew" find when she gets back to base. I also wonder why it took 2 hours plus to effect a rescue and clear the mainline!!! Alan

[@moormanpete]

Steamclips Thanks for your comments Alan, clips of Tangmere spoilt by overgrown vegetation, last year that was a clear view. We had a few short heavy showers before arrival so track could have still been wet, unfortunately I was a little to far away to record any slip, I was informed later by someone who was in the field and he said the engine tried 3 times but slipped and was pulled back by the weight of carriages behind. As you say full story will be told eventually. By the way a relief 47 was coming from Bristol and it was reckoned that it would take at least 3 hrs but the Gronk came to the rescue from Laira so at least the main line was cleared and passengers allowed to get home. ....Pete

[@Rosie6857]

Steamclips I fully agree with your observations except I'd say 26,000 lb would be enough. The stall is incomprehensible until we know more.

[@Rosie6857]

+Steamclips Having had a few thoughts about this, I'd guess that the most likely explanation is that the reverser got stuck and could not be moved to full gear or at least to a longer cut-off. It's steam-operated and a very unreliable device, to put it politely. There are many references to it in the literature, and from drivers, and none of them are complimentary, you could say. This load (9 - 330 tons) has been taken up Hemerdon by a Spam (34023) in steam days (1957) from a stop at Plympton and reached 22 mph at the top. It's a truly brilliant all-out thrash, but one can calculate that with one extra coach it may not have made it at all. The limit of 9 is high and seems in keeping with a tradition from GWR days on Hemerdon that there should be very little to spare with the full load. But Tangmere would have come a cropper this time even with 6, I'd say.

[@bw_digitalphotography]

Wasn't the merchant navy the first air smoothed Pacific by bullied? because the merchant navy, the battle of Britain and west country classes all looked exactly the same

[@bw_digitalphotography]

Wasn't the merchant navy the first air smoothed Pacific by bullied? because the merchant navy, the battle of Britain and west country classes all looked exactly the same

[@AndreiTupolev]

I was wondering if someone had managed to film what must be the working of the year, well done! "Too many carriages" would have had nothing to do with it, it's taken the same load over there several times before at a cracking pace.

[@moormanpete]

+AndreiTupolev Sorry about the delay in replying Andrei, as you say she has done Hemerdon many times before so I think it was a combination of problems with possibly the engine and weather, we had heavy showers before the incident. Just a shame I was not further over to my right on the bridge but spots there were taken, also the track side undergrowth now seems to encroach further onto the track making the once just viewable bend now out of sight. Many thanks for your post.....pete

[@robertjones-eb4xo]

Blimey never seen an old class 37 Diesel fail here ! What a let down for steam .

[@bw_digitalphotography]

+steamclips 7:07 did it's chime get stuck open again :P

[@moormanpete]

+GWR 5049 - Not sure to be honest, I do know it was deafening as it went past me.....pete

[@richardharris8229]

Judging by the darkness on its return to Plymouth, who/what took the stock & passengers after it arrived back to Plymouth?? Surely all those passengers have places they need to be for the following day

[@moormanpete]

Passengers had the normal service Bristol train delayed and waiting for them to continue their journey Richard, steam was over for them that day.

[@b.r.buckeyeman460]

Not a lot of clearance between Tornado's funnel and the footbridge in the opening shots.

[@moormanpete]

+B.R. Buckeye Man - Yes it does look that way, although close to footbridge I suspect it is due more to the angle of my shot if you understand. I may of course be wrong in that assumption.......pete

[@b.r.buckeyeman460]

+moormanpete Thanks for replying Pete, she made it under anyway, really great shot,cheers chris.

[@johnfellows2867]

Chimney please, it's not a ship !

[@thebrummierailenthusiasts5329]

quite a long whistle by 60163 pete

[@moormanpete]

Long time since I have been on here, no action these days as you can gather. As to the whistle I thought first of all it was for me to move but later found out it was because the whistle was stuck, a regular occurrence at that time it seems, made me quite deaf for a minute or two. Hope you enjoyed the video, Pete

[@thebrummierailenthusiasts5329]

@@moormanpeteI know it is

[@benjowett6366]

why didnt the Gronk give a push over the top, much better than returning

[@moormanpete]

Ben Jowett Hi Ben, No idea on that one, maybe due to problems starting at Plymouth they decided not to take the chance ??....Pete

[@tonylee-delisle7954]

I was on the Tangmere on that day. It was my first long steam trip As you saw we were hauled back into Plymouth and then transferred to the delayed 20.00 service to London via Bristol. I am just glad it happened on the return journey. We actually arrived back in Bristol only 30 mins later than planned. The problem was attributed to a combination of an inexperienced driver, a wet track and too many carriages.

[@moormanpete]

Tony Lee-Delisle Hi Tony, shame about your first long steam trip. Pleased to hear you were not delayed too much and only 30 mins late getting into Bristol, I guessed you would all travel back on that train. Now you can say 'I have been stuck on Hemerdon Bank', not many people can say that....Pete

[@Rosie6857]

That doesn't explain anything. There was no slipping on the bank, an inexperienced driver would know enough to use full regulator and I assume he did and the load was the same as when Tangmere simply roared up the bank. The steam pressure was well up (the loco blew off shortly after stalling) and it is rather obvious to me that the reverser could not be persuaded into full gear but was stuck at about 45% which is simply not enough. The steam reverser is Bullied's idea and had a wide reputation for being unpredictable, impossible to set accurately and for drifting and the valve gear itself is very unsound. Bulleid cost BR quite lot when these engines were rebuilt and I'd call him a self-indulgent nutter.

[@derisleybrittain]

Superb 💖💖💖🤩🤩🤩🤣🤣🤣🥳🥳

[@KINGANDCASTLE]

Southern engines were never designed to work these routes. Further details from Mr Churchward.

[@SwiftWolfYT]

The tangmere failed to run, so it had to be taken back to Plymouth by another locomotive :/

[@richardhelliwell1210]

08s have some power!

[@moormanpete]

Richard Helliwell Hi Richard, Don't see them very often these days at Plymouth Station being as now based at Laira so made a nice change to see one again performing, shame about the reason for this though. As you say powerful little work horse .. Regards Pete