Great Western Coffee Shop

Thought some of you out there may be interested in this test run that took place last week.....after all its on the original GWR worked MET Line from Bishops Road (Paddington Suburban to any youngsters out there) to Farringdon ;D ;D ;D

http://youtu.be/i33KnnY6e24

More information can be found on the District Dave website here http://www.districtdavesforum.co.uk/index.cgi?action=display&board=ssr&thread=18772&page=1

..... and Sarah Siddons.  The steam locos used by the GWR were condensing engines based at OOC.  All that needs to be done is to put the links back it at Padd from the hot n  cold to the reliefs, at Faringdon to Snow Hill tunnel and Liverpool St to Spitlefields and then there would be little need for Crossrail  :o ;D 

Nowt like going full circle  ::)

But they didn't condense all the time :o
The equipment made the locos very difficult to drive and so drivers regularily didn't condense.

What a splendid idea. Even the platform ends at Paddington still have the curves for the connection.

I've often wondered why LUL prefers to send half empty A stock into wildest Bucks and Herts rather than carry serious passenger flows out West (including Heathrow).

Weren't the Mersey Railway locos condensing, also?

OTC

When I was a fireman (on 2ft 6in, not 4ft 8 1/2in) it was considered very bad form to be wasting steam from the safety valve.  Coal is expensive.

Have you tried using the Met/Circle line in the peak.  Of course you could get through trains onto the line - but you would have to get rid of the Circle/Hammermith & City and Metropolitan Line trains first.

I have read elsewhere that the loco was deliberately left to blow off heavily as the video was principally of a test to establish if a steam loco with the safety valves lifted for an extended period of time was going to send the fire detections systems in the station haywire. Another reason why the test was conducted in the wee small hours.

Interesting point. And maybe - and I'm not being sarcastic - the blowing piston rod glands were to test for any issue with the third rail.  There's ceratinly a lot of steam everywhere.

...or it could just be because the loco's a knackered old sack of spanners ;)

Exactly the same at 2' 3". Fine art to take loco from lighting up to first off without lifting the valves. Nearly 3 hours of TLC to get there.

Happy days.  :)

The GWR electrification scheme of the 1920's would have seen through trains from Maidenhead and High Wycombe to the City, some drawings I have seen shows the Maidenhead - Wycombe line doubled ............. to optimism of that eara

Yep. I used to commute via Moorgate. I just noticed how the (seeming) majority of trains were heading North at Baker St and weren't full, wheras the occasional H&C and Circle trains were heaving.

I suspect that some could go to Ealing B instead, or even to Greenford or LHR. Lines 5,6 out of Paddington could have dc (transformers permitting) and there's space for 6 tracks to Ealing B except under the North London Line bridge to Acton E junction.

The importance of this is that it would give us (F)GW customers better access to Londres Midi (for Paris etc) and also to the new Euston for HS2


Regards,

OTC

I am certainly looking forward to 2013 with regards to Steam on the MET and on the district line as well.

My first thought was that it was to give the overheads a good steam cleaning...  ;D

Where is Londres Midi?  I assume it must be south of the river with a name like that (Le Midi = South).  Is it a politically corect name for Waterloo? How does this help with access to Paris and HS2?

SPX.

I agree the French doesn't quite equal "Midland", even if if does match Brussels.

Hence the "correspondance".

OTC

Bruxelles-Midi is in Flemish Brussel-Zuid (i.e. Brussels South).  There is also a Bruxelles-Central / Brussel-Centraal (Brussels Central) station. 

Steam again on the tube Met this summer

http://londonist.com/2014/06/heritage-steam-trains-run-on-the-underground-this-summer.php?

The main problem with condensing is that it heats the water in tanks and makes the injectors difficult to operate. As injectors are the most vital part of a steam loco, apart from Brakes, if they fail the fire has to be thrown out. Which would not be easy on a four rail elecctrified line Underground!

Ex LM Fowler 2-6-2s and ex GN N2's could condense to Moorgate on the widened lines.