Laira Tour - Laira Traction & Rolling Stock Maintenance Depot Tour with Flying Scotsman & Black Five 

Brilliant video and commentary, thank you for showing !

Thanks for such an interesting video ,very well put together

Very interesting video. As a young boy my father would take me to Laira and Mount Gould and watch the steam engines working around the sheds. Happy days and a bonus to see the Flying Scotsman and a Black Five. I had no idea Laira would help to service these beauties. Thank you.

Worked at Laira 1982 to ‘86. There was still a rail steam crane for use at breakdowns (as derailments were called) and a team of mechanical fitters would be sent to work on such incidents. They used hydraulic jacks mainly. Crane also used for removing some of the larger engine units. The HST shed had advanced filters to extract the fumes and also the heat from the shed when engines were run. The heat would be recirculated in cooler times to warm the shed. It was just a shame these clever units had been installed upside down and didn’t work. You could walk miles on a night shift through HST sets and back. When the units left the drivers would drive very slowly out but by the time the rear power car was halfway down the shed they seemed to forget and they really had picked up speed. Big emphasis on getting the units turned around and out. The modular systems for aircon units and to a certain extent engine and cooling units in power cars reduced downtime. The replacement of the DC generators by AC with solid-state rectification for the series-wound DC traction motors was a major advance in reliability and reduction in wearing parts. A Class 50 would have three generators each with a ring of brush boxes and carbon brushes running on copper commutation rings all needing cleaning and replacement. The HST was very well built and was cutting edge. Walking through the engine room when running was pretty loud, passing the radiator section more so when the roof fan was running full speed. Seems a long time ago, which it was.

I grew up with steam engines via this depot, along with my Ian Allen spotters guides etc., good to see the depot is going from strength to strength.

Interesting video, thank you.

Wow that's a pretty historic video now. Well worth recording. 👍👍👍

Very Good video, was fun to watch it live, thx DB cams!

I’d love a tour there

Nice One... well done good video...

Thanks for the post. I was surprised at what the do Laura.

How many litres of fuel (roughly) do the HSTs use each day?

WOW My FGW HST Ultimate Fan :D

Cracking video and id love to know the music used please its a quality beat.

Why did FGW HST Diesel Parts taking out

Great, than you. Could do without the music.