Tornado 101.6mph run 15th May 2017 Prt1

[Applause] they said it couldn't be built they said it shouldn't run at school I reckon that magic hundred-mile-an-hour is going to be in the back they said the steam age was dead Oh fifteen kind of it this is the story of how tornado with tamed and taken a steam locomotive on a mission tornado a peppercorn Class A one Pacific arrived in Doncaster it's a spiritual homecoming the class was designed in the town now it's base camp for a thrilling railway adventure it's traveled up from London along with Hugh Parker one of the team of volunteers who keep it on the rails if you are sitting where I am you'd feel the heat coming out of there is that very hot indeed once the light managing the fire is an essential tool if there's locos being cold we light a small warming fire and take as long as we can to bring it round interesting to allow the boiler to evenly and even off the footplate er there's a need for elbow grease cleaning isn't just for cleaning sake all the oil and grease from the axle boxes and from front end all that has been thrown back over the rods so again just checking the center of the wheel where it joins the axle to make sure that there's no sign of movement here the pressure is on tornado needs to be in the form of its life we're very confident that this engine will will meet the challenge without a problem three days from now the team will attempt a 100 miles per hour run no-one has driven a steam engine not 100 miles an hour in this country since 1967 we are moving into an environment where we are asking people to do something that they'd been trained for but they haven't physically done it will be a test of man and machine and while it has all the hallmarks that thrilling tale from an adventure annual there is a serious point tornadoes bread and butter living is made by running excursion frames around the country thousands rode behind it when it's stormed along the roof of England on the settle to Carlisle well we have since the back end of our century run steam at 75 miles an hour but as we will be aware the route network has got busier and busier and busier there are more fast Express trains there are more commuter trains there are more freight trains at 75 miles an hour with the fact that steam doesn't accelerate as fast as modern electric train we are starting to run out of places that we can run the locate and to make it commercially viable it costs hundreds of thousands of pounds to run tornado every year it's essential they can please passengers and still fit around other trains a plan has been devised to prove tornado can run regularly at up to 90 miles per hour starting from Doncaster the loca will halt a test train up the East Coast Main Line pausing its York to take on water then they'll press on northwards steadily increasing their top speed to hit 90 just outside of Newcastle they'll stop and examine everything making sure tornado is running perfectly after turning round they'll - South with permission to try to 100 miles per hour this is part of a test to show tornado is safe even when exceeding the speed limit we want to run regularly at 90 miles an hour we need to show that the locomotive operate satisfactorily attempts and over that speed it's 99 but the point of a hundred came from Network Rail whose comment was if we're going to authorize you a 99 we should authorize you 100 mile an hour and not leave like a batsman of the trees the tornado story itself is remarkable every original locomotive of its type was scrapped this left a gap in the family tree of East Coast Main Line motive power to fill it a group of enthusiasts Club together to build a brand meaning Tata start up again working from a converted carriage shed in Darlington they spent 18 years machining and making the part by the time the last bolts were tightened in 2008 the bill enter three million pounds but their efforts very hard as the first new steam engine built for Britain's main line since 1960 it certainly caught the imagination this engine is named tornado and may God bless all who are lucky enough to locomote behind her since then it has become a steam star but to keep its place on this coastline running faster is essential and back in Doncaster tornado won't be going anywhere unless it passes the crucial fitness to run examination every tap tells a story every cranny could conceal a show-stopping problem a few faces an anxious wait we've got an independent examiner from DB cargo our train operating company who is auditing our own engineering procedures so I've got my own engineer going around the engine making sure that everything is safe and secure we check all the pins for security cackles split pins they're all secure no loose legs there's nothing loose 36 hours before the run everything needs to work processes I'm beginning to feel happier and out of sight can't mean out of mind the locomotive is reversed over an inspection pit we've got three sets of valve gear on connecting rods on the outside of or examining them this is the middle of again that's flying around fair speed in here ready to want to make sure the knots and the flip things are in place for those as well really the inspection lasts for most of the day eventually though they have in their hands a piece of paper steam and speed in our time tornado is good to go this is all about confirming that the locomotive is safe and in a fit condition to be running on the mainline and we're all quite excited and looking forward to having a crack about 90 mile an hour on Tuesday night we are going into an element we've never had the laker at that speed so as much as we can predict what it will do and we can measure what it will do we don't know for sure so this is where there's an element of excitement but also caution as tornado accelerates air will be drawn faster across the fire making it burn hotter the fireman will need to feed it faster if you the boy the pressure up and make him obscene the driver will need plenty of power at his disposal but as the metalwork moves ever faster if anything overheat it's game over the lubrication systems are absolutely critical this is a five-figure endeavor if you take into account all the money we've spent so far on getting here ready to do the test it's a six-figure endeavor so we have to know we have to succeed going further faster has been a recurring theme through railway history the legends slumber in the Great Hall of the National Railway Museum but before them all came rocket as soon as rocket wins the Rhine Hill trials speed becomes a major ingredient people want to travel places the railway gives you the ability to move long distances but you don't want to spend forever doing it and especially in third classes there were then it's quite an uncomfortable thing so improving the journey time is really important a century later speed was the epitome of railway endeavor in 1934 Flying Scotsman was the first locomotive to be officially driven at 100 miles per hour four years later the world steam speed record was set by Mallard at 126 miles per hour it has never been beaten this is where we turn speed from a phenomenon for people into a science a rolling laboratory called a dynamometer car was used to record accurate performance data for the first time there's an umbilical cord between the locomotive and this car that's feeding back all sorts of variables you need to understand what's going on whether it's the track that you need to improve to make the train go faster the braking that's also something that was measured in this thing the ability of the Train to slow down from speed to stop so I despite the advances by the late 60s team was done swept away by modernization retaining the Brazilian our times are key to a hundred miles an hour it's sad to think that superb locomotives of the king and coronation clouds must be superseded drivers who know their ways and moods and if the engines lived are nursed a victim good mind southern region in 1967 there were numerous occasions where bully Pacific's were clocked a hundred miles an hour plus because they wanted to go out in a blaze of glory and the timings allow them to do so to prove steam can still cut it at speed the obsession with measuring continues the tornado is being cabled up like a moon rocket these are the accelerometers track measuring vertical loads and that one there is very lack of lateral loads stability matters tornado will naturally move from side to side but too much and that's known as rough riding it might be the track or it could be a problem with the loco meanwhile the wheels and the rods which connects them will rain force downwards just like the blow of a huge hammer we've been able to balance tornado much more thoroughly than any other steam engines ever been able to be done and that means the tornado at 90 miles an hour produces or less family than an a4 such as world record-holder Maillard at 75 miles an hour but we also have to look at this is nearly 170 tons of loco when it arrives on to reach the deflection forces and so on are very important indeed as vehicle moves what amount if columns exactly negative forces think at Wang Zi Dux 1g upward against gravity so that point you increased rate so if we're getting to that sort of situation report possibilities vehicle might form stables and actually only jump off the track so that's a no-no obviously but as part of the safety process we have to go through the criteria to make sure that take to operate and it doesn't actually exceed those levels the data gathered on the test might help other steam engines run faster in future to and the heritage world is watching steam railway magazine are holding their presses hoping to be first with history this is really a big story so we can't really underplay er reporter Tony sweeten will join the train writing his coffee on the move I've written about these things now for the best part of 20 years never done anything quite like this I cannot think of another locomotive anywhere in the world another steam locomotive anywhere in the world that will regularly run at 90 miles an hour yes I think it will make it the fastest in the world at least on a regular basis Green mainline but the East Coast Main Line is faster still the modern electrics have a top speed of 125 miles per hour even as a special one-off tun let alone the new planned maximum of 19 tornado will be outpaced at Network Rail's London headquarters word of the test train has reached the very top the railway is the heart of the British economy it creates economic growth it creates jobs they create houses and people have to travel in order to do that but that's travel through necessity and we would like people to also Kindle their emotional than they matrix I'd and actually feel that the railways is for them and that they're connected with it and there's nothing like a steam locomotive to do that you're old like me you remember them when when you were young if you're not old like me it's just something quite extraordinary when you see asleep locomotive passing by the engines now ready all the maintenance is done all the preparation is done we just need to get out there now the time has come to hand over the star act to the train operating company DB cargo the only thing now is waiting for the train crew and then we an experienced boot blade crew has been hand-picked to meet the challenge everything is going much faster things happen more quickly so their reactions are probably going to have to be quicker they're going to have to react to how the engines performing what it's demanding of them the run is taking place at night the railway isn't as busy then but it's also being kept a secret so there isn't a problem with crowds of onlookers we'll see how we do going north we might run without the diesel on the back as the gloom gathers the whole team comes together for a last briefing any questions excellent that is correct answer cheers guys they've got all right and then the men of the hour arrive of a footplate crew ahead of them 230 miles of high-speed running into the night and behind them a tender full of eight tons of coal it's a bit special huh yeah she'll be good though we'll just see we can do it I think no problem there I can kind of see any problems you know a moment years in the making has finally arrived

Channel: David Robinson

Views: 127,846

Keywords: Tornado 101.6mph run 15th May 2017 Prt1

Id: 4HB6Tx-7v8E

Length: 15min 0sec (900 seconds)

Published: Mon May 15 2017