Great video, brought back memories of my childhood when the sound of these pulling out of the station near my house on full power was as normal as breathing. The fact that the IC-125's endured for so long despite being introduced as a temporary (10 year) stop gap, is in no small part down to the superior engineering of the Paxman engines. A bit of nerdy trivia to support this - the Paxman Valenta was used (in sets of 4) to power the Royal Navy type 23 Duke class anti submarine frigates during the 1980's. The Navy's Invincible class carriers, including HMS Ark-Royal was fitted with 8 Paxman Valenta's. Yes you read correctly.....8 of the screaming ba...tards! The Valenta's predecessor (the Ventura) was used (In sets of 4) for electricity generation on the Royal Navy's type 42 destroyers during the 1970's and 80's (including the I'll fated HMS Sheffield & HMS Coventry that were sadly lost in the Falklands war. My work partner served for many years in the Navy as an engineer on type 42 HMS Liverpool. He says he hated the Paxmans, but then he drinks black decaf coffee instead of tea! (weirdo ☕😎). Thanks for making and sharing this video. Younger people may not appreciate just how important the HST's were and just how much they pulled British Rail out of the sh..t back in the day.
managed 12 years of VP engines in both forms on MML pre may 2018 timetable journeys to/from work. now with CV19 restrictions no need to travel. i suspect if and when i do travel it will be emu’s ….dull. love the video.
Great video thank you for the insight. An enthusiast's dream job. If I was to do this (for free) it would alow proper techs like you to do something more complicated. It's funny how people hated the HST because it ousted the beloved Deltics but now they're going everybody realises what a fantasticpiece of British design and engineering these fabulous machines are. Only ever seen de-mounted HST engines tested before (at Crewe). The engineer was moaning that he hoped the customer (for the engine , one of the Virgin franchises) wouldn't mind that their engine was being abused by all the visitors getting to try the test rig. Some real ham-fisted 0 to max in a split second punishment ! The walk through brought back memories of Crewe open day during the time they were building the 43's. We got chance to do the walk on a nearly complete power car and I remember it being a bit of a tight squeeze past the cooler group. Like how all the tech turns into an analogue pen and grubby notepad at the end. I'll certainly miss the Paxman scream, even the 56's are going yank now. Waiting at Tollerton you could hear them leaving York Station!! Do the 222's get load banked as they are diesel electric just the same ?
I used to work on the 222s at Central Rivers , I never saw them get load banked , we would measure the crankcase blowby with a manometer with engine at full revs , cant remember what full revs was , probably 1500 or 1800 rpm , wasn't full load on the engine but we could tell if the was a broken piston ring in there . When I worked there they had problems with them dropping valves and breaking piston rings
I too work at the Depot where this power car is being tested and you can hear them on full chat from the other side of the depot. I will miss those weekends tests when the last EMR units leave us.
Great vid! It wouldn't be that hard/expensive to set up a datalogger to measure all those temperatures continuously. Wouldn't even need to have a load bank then, you could collect the data whilst the engine is in normal use. You draw the data back to HQ using GPRS over the mobile phone network. Obviously no point now, but it still would have been cost effective to do ten years ago. Wouldn't have minded seeing some of the actual load bank. I imagine that must be quite a piece of work on its own, to accept and get rid of all that energy.
Is it possible to distinguish the noise of the various components that accompany the diesel? For example, is it possible to hear the sound of the alternator, compressors and cooling fans? Or is it all melted and indistinguishable?
@Wesley Holmes There's something about this Locomotive I really like and I can't quite figure out what it is. My theory is that it's Britain's most Beloved HST and it's 24 Litre V12 Diesel engine sounds amazing and it just looks cool. For some reason I always preferred this Locomotive in the GWR Livery and the CrosscountryTrains Livery.
1700V @ 780A. Three cables going over to the load bank. Is this 3 phase Delta? Whichever way it is this is a lot of heat in the bank. Air cooled? One monster fan heater if it is.
I can't remember the maths I think it was 1790v x 780amps and the cooler group would take 225 hp yes it was air cooled , it had 2 big air flaps that opened up on the roof everytime you powered it up . We used to set them at 2250 to 2300hp
@@wesleyholmes4360 If that is simple DC then that is nearly 1.4 Megawatts. If its classic 3 Phase AC then I'm getting 2.4 Megawatts. This is between 2000 and 3000 Hp, so I am wondering if your 225 Hp is actually 2250 Hp?
@@davesawyer497 yes the engine and alternator was rated at 2250hp, it was the cooler group that would zap 225hp from the engine . The cooler group had a big hydraulic fan cooling 2 radiators
@@wesleyholmes4360 Thanks for that. This makes more sense. Westcode Rectifiers is about a mile from my door and they build some serious diodes. I suspect they might have a hand in this power train.
Good, I was involved in selling them to Porterbrook/ Midland Mainline. I think it's a great engine designed by Dr Nigel Ramsden, a real professor character & a tiny team of good engineers. They were good days.
Nice one I think there is only 2 Paxmans left in the fleet now , gonna miss working on them engines , they are all getting replaced by modern hybrid trains now
I didn’t know that any of the Paxmans had survived ! I thought they had all been swapped out for the MTU power units. I know this is not a Valenta Paxman engine, they definitely have all gone except in the prototype & wiki is saying that this, 43073 has now been swapped to an MTU power plant.
I needed to know why don’t dig a tunnel and do an extension for the main line Train so that they can extend the unused abandoned underground stations. Why couldn’t they use the part D78 Stock train doors on the sides and also restructure the front face of the A60 and A62 stock and that includes the class 313, class 314 and class 315 remix and make them all together and also redesign them an overhead line and also make them into Five cars per units and also having three Disabled Toilets on those Five cars per units A60 and A62 stock trains and also convert the A60 and A62 stock trains into a Scania N112, Volvo TD102KF, Volvo B10M, Gardner 6LXB, Gardner 6LXC and Gardner 8LXB Diesel Engines and also put the Loud 7-Speed Voith Gearboxes even Loud 8-Speed Leyland Hydra cyclic Gearboxes in the A60 and A62 stock, class 313, class 314, and class 315 and also modernise the A60 and A62 stock and make it into an 11 car per unit so it could have fewer doors, more tables, computers and mobile phone chargers. A Stock Trains and also having 8 Disabled Toilets on those A stock trains. why couldn’t we refurbish and modernise the waterloo and city line Triple-Track train tunnel and make it bigger and extend it to the bank station, making it into a Triple-Track Railway Line so those 4 European countries such as Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden to convert the waterloo and city line Triple-Track Train tunnel into a High-Speed train? The Third Euro tunnel Triple-Track Train line to make it 11 times better for passengers so they could go from A to B. then put the modernised 11 car per unit A Stock and put them on a bigger modernised waterloo and city line Triple-Track train tunnel so it could go to bank station to those 4 European countries such as Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden. The modernised refurbished 11 cars per unit A stock could be a High Speed The Third Triple-Track Euro Tunnel Train So it is promising and 37 times a lot more possible to do this kind of project that is OK for London Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden. oh by the way, could they also tunnel the Triple-Track Railway Line so it will stop from Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex so that the Passengers will go to Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden and also extend the Triple-Track Railway Line from Bank to Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex Stations so that more people from there could go to Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden Easily. Why couldn't they extend the Piccadilly line and also build brand-new underground train stations so it could go even further right up to Clapton, Wood Street and also make another brand new tunnel train station in Chingford could they extend the DLR? All of the classes 150, 155, 154, 117, 114, 105, and 106, will be replaced by all of the Scania N112, Volvo TD102KF, Volvo B10M, Gardner 6LXB, Gardner 6LXC and Gardner 8LXB Diesel Five carriages three disabled toilets are air conditioning trains including Highams Park for extended roots which is the Piccadilly line and the DLR trains. Could you also convert all of the 1973 stock trains into an air-conditioned maximum speed 78 km/hours (48 MPH) re-refurbished and make it into a 8 cars per unit if that will be alright, and also extend all of the Piccadilly train stations to make more space for all of the extended 8 car per unit 1973 stock air condition trains and can you also build another Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive Companies and they can order Every 17 Octagon and Hexagon shape LNER diagram unique small no.13 and unique small no.11 Boilers from those Countries such as Greece, Italy, Poland, and Sweden, can they make Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive speeds by up to 117MPH so you can try and test it on the Original Mainline so it will be much more safer for the Passengers to enjoy the 117MPH speed Limit only for HS2 and Channel Tunnel mainline services, if they needed 16 Carriages Per units can they use those class 55’s, class 44’s, class 40’s and class 43HST Diesel Locomotive’s right at the Back of those 18 Carriages Per Units so they can take over at the Back to let those Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive’s have a rest for those interesting Journeys Please!!, oh can you make all of those Coal Boxes’s 16 Tonnes for all of the 117MPH Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive’s so the Companies will Understand us PASSENGER’S!! so please make sure that the Builders can do as they are Told!! And please do something about these very important Professional ideas Please Prime Minister of England, the Prime Minister of Sweden, the Prime Minister of Germany, the Prime Minister of Italy, the Prime Minister of Poland and that Includes the Mayor of London.