Darlington Trip

For those of you who don't already know, last weekend I went to Darlington to attend the 25th anniversary of the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust (remember my earlier post, London and North Eastern Railway Peppercorn class A1 60163 Tornado?) and to see the locomotive I'm sponsoring, no. 2007 Prince of Wales. I had to fly on Easyjet because they're the only airline brave enough to accept 15-year-olds and so then we had to choose between the Fiumicino (Rome) and the Galileo Galilei (Pisa) airports. The schedules worked out better at Pisa, so I flew out frome there. I was to meet James Gibb (an English mathematician who comes to Todi every so often for a few weeks; inevitably we have become good friends) at London Luton. I would spend my two nights in England with him and his lovely wife at their house, and on Saturday he would take me to Darlington and suffer several boring (according to him) talks...and then he would take me to York to go spend some time at the NRM. When they told me, they also told me I had to figure out how to get to Pisa by myself. I ended taking 4 trains and 1 bus there, and 3 trains and 1 bus back. With 8-15 minute changes. I'm going to give you what my darling mother calls a "picture essay".

The dress code for the convention was suit, tie, etc. so I wore my jacket and the lesser of my two nice black shirts on the journeys to and from London, and the greater shirt in Darlington.

I look huge and intimidating in these photos.

That's better.

As you can see, I left in the morning.

Following are my modes of transport:

Fiat 500 F

Umbria mobilità regionale:

Automotrice FCU ALn 776 n0. 009- built by Fiat

Half of one car... a quarter of the train

This is the regulator barrel. Each slot corresponds to a motor, or gear if you like, and the further up the slot the regulator arm is, the more power is applied. You can see the arm to the left with a black knob at the end.

one car

the other car

 Regionale Veloce:

the inside of a car

 Intercity: the loco and cars are from the '80s

class E. 402A no. 033 

Compartments! Remember them?

yup, from the era when you could see the tracks rushing past when you flushed the loo

part of a poster with(from left to right, increasing number of stations visited, decreasing speed) Frecciarossa, Frecciargento, and Frecciabianca

my compartment

Note the fact that the window on the other side of the corridor aligns perfectly with the compartment. Also note the compartment controls above the door.

Each person has their own reading light

At the front of the train looking at the loco through dirty glass.

coupler

you can see a tread on the buffer for workers (cleaning, maintenance, etc.)

brake hoses

Nice use of parallelograms!

pantograph and cyclops headlight

electrical connection

you can see the pilot down under the buffer-beam.

The rungs are for cleaning/maintenance.

the other buffer with tread

 Trenitalia regional train:

Each car was divided into three seating areas with exit areas between them. This is an end seating area.

the exit area

the middle seating area

This is a plane I saw at the airport. Note the rear wheels an the steps built into the doors of both the cabin AND the hold. When do you s'pose this is from? '60s? '80s?

My plane.

On Saturday James and I went to Darlington to attend the convention. We missed a train, but if I were to inform you that it was ALL HIS FAULT I wouldn't be allowed to tell you his name. So I won't. By the time we arrived at the Mercure Darlington King's Hotel (where the convention started) half an hour late (I'm not allowed to tell you whose fault that was either-or that it was the same person who'd made us miss the train), they were already in 1994 of their year-by-year history of the Trust (starting in 1990). After that they gave a few presentations on finances, fundraising schemes, design, Tornado's recent overhaul, etc. Then they provided us with transportation to Darlington Locomotive Works, where we had lunch, oohed and aahed over the frames, and listened to some more talks.

Great idea, right?

Front window of the upper deck of the double-decker bus

The entrance of the Works

machined driving wheels

Note that the tires aren't on yet.

leading and intermediate axle box top and bottom

photo albums

smokebox dart

Copy of the original plans for no. 2001 Cock o' the North.

smokebox end

firebox

cutaway view

Note the N° 2001 buffer beam mark

another cutaway

view of the backhead

hole for buffer

flush bolt next to a hole for another bolt

'nother bolt hole with hand for scale

bolts

graph depicting the movement of various components of the motion 

model station with engine yard and track

no. 60147 North Eastern.

frames as seen from the smokebox end

rail with boards covering pit

door

rafters and ceiling

The axle boxes will go in these holes to help distribute the weight.

The footplate has been moved forward to expose the drag box. Mark Allatt (chairman of the board) is the one in the middle. Note that most of the people present are white-haired old men. I was the youngest person there by about 20 years.

drag box

The drawbar will be attached here.

The inside frames changes to double frames at the cartazzi axle.

the podium at the Works

footplate and steps trail fitted at the smokebox end

I caught some men using the drivers as a table.

There was an old brake van coupled to an LMS 24 ton tank wagon on a siding next to the Works.

spring buffer

screw coupling

brake hose for continuous braking!

the Instanter coupling on the tank wagon

stretched out

Note the number of axles.

Brake- when the wagons were sorted in hump yards someone would have to jump on the brake lever of each one and vary the amount of body weight applied to slow them down just the right amount.

This pin holds the brake lever down to keep the brakes applied- a form of parking brake.

This beam at the bottom of the photo is the brake lever.

Instanter coupling almost coupled. Rotating the middle link 90° shortens the chain to fully couple the wagons.

Screw coupling coupled. Nowadays the coupler leaves no slack.

No, the camera was NOT turned upside-down. Evidently the majority of metal used for railroading during this period was not steel. Really makes one think.

one outlet

Note the rivets.

another outlet

A tread on the buffer- remember the one on the Intercity loco?

the manway coverplate.

valve for outlets

view of the brake van from the top of the tank wagon

beautifully machined corner on the frames of no. 2007

photos (coloured after capture) of Sir Nigel Gresley and some of his P2s and an A4

Sir Nigel Gresley standing next to the A4 locomotive named in his honour

Some more pics of (and from) the bus:

And we're back at the station!

Note the rivets.

This is James. Talk about stereotypical retired mathematician!

Again, note the rivets.

Note that the shield includes locomotive no.1 Locomotion.

On the way back, we stopped at York to go to an M&S and the NRM:

the outside of the NRM

This is the largest set of driving wheels ever successfully used.

A locomotive that's been cut open to expose the innards.

a stationary engine

a cutaway replica of Rocket

 One of the original six double Fairlies built for the Ffestiniog railway! 

firebox door

the cab (driver's side)

At this point, my camera died, so as an extra bonus, I'll give you some pictures James took:

I look really good here, don't I?

station at York

Evening Star, the last steam locomotive built for the BR.

Jumbo

self-explanatory

Apparently I was the only one who went in between the frames

Mallard

Darlington station

Model train set in the Works

Just one last note: the trip back was much the same as the trip there.