Test Run FAILURE for 70000 Britannia? 16/05/24 

Cheers yes hopefully it’ll be back soon! 🍻

Cheers Nige yes let’s hope so!

Britannia has always been chronically unreliable as long as I can remember. I don't understand why anyone bothers with it, it's a crap design anyway.

@@richardharrold9736 not sure thats completely fair. Since part of Jeremy Hoskings fleet, 70000 has had good stints in traffic without issues. Just the issues of late have seamed to be big ones vibrations and suspected bearing issues (on last mainline ticket ) and these issues coursed by a fractured crosshead last year. 70013 had a good time on the mainline on her last ticket with not many issues that I can recall. The worst one I can remember was the failure of the con rod big end shell, just passed Diss on the GEML, but she still limped the train into Norwich without being replaced by a diesel loco until being officially failed at Norwich, where repairs were undertaken on site before being moved on by her own steam. Norwich men loved the Brits when they had them. The biggest locos they had before were the B17s, B1s and B12/3s .

@@James_Rivett I can remember Hosking had never-ending trouble with the driving wheels breaking their keyways and slipping on the axles. That damn thing has never been right. I suspect 70013 was better built - but the Brits are a poor second-best to a rebuilt Bulleid, and in terms of two-cylinder Pacifics, the old German 01s are 25 years older and conspicuously more successful.

Not sure it was never ending. Movements happened just twice as far as I am awear, after the tyres had been turned or replaced but took a long time to rectify. Was also issues with the cannon boxes, and roller bearings on tender and loco bearings. The movement of wheel on the axles was a issue for the class in BR days after Bill Harvey changed the valve events to give them better power distribution. Seams it worked too well, as they had to be worked as "single drivers" to Doncaster to have new axles made, I believe this was rectified by replacing the pressed riddles design for a Doncaster design. Also the Lner square drive for the return crank had to be replaced by a Crewe type fitment of 4 bolt pattern. There's quite a few differences between 70000 and the production Brits, which is one of the reasons she was picked over for 70013 for preservation instead plus 70000 was worn out and 70013 had not long had a heavy overhaul at Crewe (the last BR owned steam loco to have done so). As the prototype, 70000 also had frame differences, and seams she spent a lot of time having issues sorted out I. Her working days One could argue that considering the extravigent costs to rebuild the merchant navies, and some of the light pacific, into something more conventional, when almost new, the rebuilt bullied pacfics needed to extremely fantastic machines. (the MN are class 8 so have a bigger punch). German loco technology was well ahead of ours even in the 1930s, but unfortunately that nation was run by a poor Charlie Chaplin lookalike. During the 1990s on the S&C runs, the NRMs V2 green arrow (which is a class 6) was out stripping the brit and keeping up with the other Pacific despite having smaller wheels and less power. At least while part of the Hoskings fleet, any issues will get sorted. It's not like a charity owned loco where everytime there's a issue they have to raise the money to fix it.

​​@@richardharrold9736one funny story about 70013. My best friends grandad was a loco driver out of March shed (having started as a cleaner in 1946). He use to Volunteer at Bressingham. Being a total Gresleyite, one day he upset thh late Alan Bloom by apparently saying Cromwell was nothing more than a "updated Stephensons Rocket" Compared to the 3 cylinder locos he drove and fired.

Cheers Steve, yes not quite the shots we had in mind today, as you say it didn't sound right on the second shot so likely not the test run LSL were hoping for

@@RailwayTavernBig shame really as Britannia was going to be doing the Lakelander if she passed 😟

@@TheStephengthompson yea exactly, could they put Blue Peter on that or will we end up the slightly too usual appearance of an SR loco I suspect

Lucky spot Garry! Yea hopefully they can get it fettled quickly, whatever the issue with the motion gear it won’t be beyond the LSL team I’m sure

@@RailwayTavern Britannia has always been a bad example of a mediocre-at-best design, it's never been right as long as I can remember. Sometimes the best bet is to give up and stuff and mount the bloody thing, and put your resources into something more worth investing in (like a Bulleid Merchant Navy).

@@richardharrold9736utter rubbish.

@@richardharrold9736 Brits used pass by my house daily on the Great Central hauling express fish trains as well as passenger services, never heard of a single failure. The footplate lads at Annesley rated them very highly as did the Immingham lads.

@@nimbus44767 not rubbish. That loco has never been right. It's been failure after failure after failure.