The status of this project is unknown.
71000 is maintained primarily for running on the National Rail Network. Seven years of experience have highlighted problems which steam traction brings to the system and our Trust has sought to eliminate or minimise these, where this is possible. At present the greatest concern is taking water, which is usually necessary once or twice in each direction on a railtour, and sometimes more. The important factors are:
- The capacity of the locomotive's tender dictates at what point in the journey water needs to be taken. This is not always the best place for the operation to be carried out efficiently and can cause time to be lost.
- The average time needed to take water, in the case of a large locomotive, is around 40 minutes, with the support crew laying out hoses, or a little less if the equipment can be already in position. The journey time is thus significantly increased, and operating difficulties can be caused for Railtrack.
- The availability of water from fire hydrants has decreased dramatically in recent years. Often the flow from those remaining is not fast enough and road tankers have to be used. This introduces problems such as variations in pumping speed or pressure feed, or failure to deliver anything at all, mechanical breakdowns and the logistics of getting the vehicles to some locations.
- If the train is delayed, for whatever reason, overrunning the water stop time is likely to compound the problem and cause more time to be lost. Alternatively the water stop might have to be cut short and it may then not be possible to take enough water to ensure reaching the next stop safely.
- The increase in traffic on the railways is such that the availability of water stops may well be reduced in time.
After a great deal of discussion, we came to the conclusion that the best way to improve the situation would be to carry extra water in another vehicle in the train.
Our Objective And The Most Suitable Type of Vehicle Needed To Achieve It
We have had to decide whether our objective should be to reduce the number of water stops or to eliminate them altogether. After much discussion, we concluded that it would be most logical and practical to carry enough water to eliminate stops en route one-way, during a journey. This would mean only taking water at the stabling point/depot where the locomotive is serviced for the return journey (if it is to return). We then considered the following factors:
- Railtours vary in length, but are usually around 100 to 150 miles one way. The but would also need to take into account standing time, amount of water to be carried would need to be sufficient, not just for the duration of the railtour, light engine movements and similar operational requirements.
- The weight of the water would increase the total train load but this would be alleviated by the fact that the amount of water carried would decrease throughout the journey.
- Similarly the length of the vehicle is important if any train length restrictions are likely to be encountered.
Using the standard (former British Railways) water consumption calculation for Class 8 locomotives of 50 gallons of water to the mile, we determined that the operating range should be set at 200 miles, with a sensible reserve of water still in the tender.We thus determined that the most suitable type of vehicle would be a second tender, as opposed to other options (essentially coaching stock variants or wagons) for the following reasons:
- There is a precedent for such a vehicle. In 1966 a second tender was acquired for 4472 "Flying Scotsman" and ran with that engine for several years.
- It could carry around 6000 gallons of water, which, combined with the 5100 gallons in the main tender would give a total of 11100 gallons. This would give the required operating range of 200 miles with 1100 gallons of water in reserve.
- It would be relatively short (little longer than a third of a coach length), something which might address any train length restrictions.
