"This is a stupid machine" says Lawrie. "I love it." And this is why such wonderful things have been saved. Please, keep that joy in the barmy and fun.
My school went to Alton Towers. I remember seeing the train from a distance thinking "Oh, cool, a steam train" and hearing it clatter up to the station was really confusing! It was a fun little train ride though.
I'm so glad that Altonia was saved. When the line closed at Alton towers all the stock and track was piled up in old car park and I asked how to buy it, but I was assured it was already purchased but the management wouldn't divulge who to.
It made me so happy and more than a little nostalgic to find this video. As a young boy in the 1970s I used to love riding on the train at alton towers. My Grandad was the master potter there and we'd go to the towers most weekends and we always had a train ride. This engine was part of my childhood. Wonderful to see it again and the fact that it's not rusting away in an old shed somewhere really makes me happy
I usually don't like steam cased locos, but this one does have a certain charm to it. Great job Lawrie. Also, should you ever get a chance to come to the US, make sure to visit the Hesston Steam Museum in Indiana. There's a lot of great mechanical marvels there.
Even machines that are named after men, like Oliver Cromwell and Sir Nigel Gresley, are still referred to as "she". Why that is is a mystery, but that's generally how it goes in rail preservation.
Most machines are referred to as female, likely goes back to the olden days where men operated said machines, and developed affection towards them, and thus deemed the machine female.
@@lmm that's honestly an interesting take. I thought it was because they were seen as beautiful, refined and elegant, but I've heard that part of the story too in some old railway books that I had many years ago
Yup, I remember that one from school trips to Alton Towers back in the '80s. It didn't sound anything like as sweet as that then though. It was very hit-and-miss whether you'd actually get a ride on it as it was often out of service, and even if it was in service it was far from unusual to see it stopped somewhere it shouldn't have been in a cloud of smoke or steam...
I think this all goes back to the this cooling tank thing isn't a very good idea in constant use! Amazing how warm it was after the little we did with it!
That looked as labour intensive to start up as a steam loco!! An awesome little thing though and you can really see your passion and childlike enjoyment of it.
@@lmm Yeah to be honest that was a bit of a rash comment, I've watched on tv how they set the boiler etc up and it looks hard work. I live down the road from the Shildon Locomotion Museum, don't know if you'll have heard of it and some of the steam loco's they've had in there such as The Flying Scotsman are monsterous machines.
Oh yeah, I've visited a couple of times. Some great stuff in there too! We'll be covering some steam engines in the future, so you'll get to see some of the work that goes into them!
@@lmm I live about 3 miles away from it. Look forward to the videos cos if it has an engine I'm there LOL. Away to a classic vehicle/memorabilia auction in Pickering this weekend.....I'll be like a pig in the proverbial!!!
Hahahah, glad you're enjoying it! The Moors are stunning - I'd be no good at an auction, I wouldn't be able to control myself, and end up with more tat and no money!
I suppose that's makes sense after it was re-engined 😂 Yes, it's rather aggressive. Feels pretty horrible going round. That said the rest of the railway is remarkably good for 2 foot.
2 Baguelys one automatic and one manual Lady of the Lake and King Arthur are at Wicksteed Park kettering. 1923 vintage . Both are retired as the rolling stock is now withdrawn.
I recently saw another video on the history of the Alton railway, and I'm pretty impressed to see their engine still alive and kicking. Most amusement park locos I've seen don't really have happy endings, especially fakers.
I remember once exploring the railway not long after it had been closed and finding Altonia parked up the line, looking kinda forlorn. Makes me very glad the loco's now found a good home!
There's a pair of these same locos at Wicksteed park in Kettering Northamptonshire. Lady of the Lake and king Arthur. Also some of the same style of coaches are there too.
this train should make *a comeback as a Park Orbital railway with stops along the circuit with covered and weather enclosed coaches which uses longitudal seating *Alton Towers Overground
I was disappointed when I realized this was a fake steam engine. I can vouch for the gwr comment ever tried to clean the smokebox on a 56xx it's parallel with the end of the running board.
I didn't even realise this was to do with Alton towers and I was pretty confused when I heard Alton towers in a train video, but that's so cool that you now drive the train that was in the park, I never got the chance to ride it but it's still nice to see where it went
Dear Lawrie I'm not much fan of the engine but the other engines you have been on I do love the steam locomotives I live in tennessee over here in the U.S. and we to also have 2 steam engines here at Dollywood called Klondike Katie and Cinderella and they are the most beautiful engines we have there's always something about steam engines that just puts goosebumps on ya and there whistles.
Some tweaking of the hydraulics would take away that snatch on driving off. Valve technology has come a long way a progressive metering valves would make it so much smoother. We call it whiplash,you call it character!
Lawrie's Mechanical Marvels Absolutely fun. As a driver all we do on it is drive. We have a maintenance team who checks the locomotive and engine in the morning as part of their checks. In the cab all it consists of is a throttle, deadman pedal and parking brake. (As well as the gauges for the amps, water temp and etc)
Hi Lawrie, what a great job, running all sorts of trains. Re this little engine, after watching you trying to oil the places such as the bearings boxes for the axles, and I am sure that you and many others have had this idea, why not mount a central oil reservoir where it would be easy to service and then run tubing down to all those hidden oil receivers. Cheers!!
Some locos do have this kind of setup, I suppose its the old idea of keeping something original or modifying it. I'll suggest it to the railway! Certainly would make life easier.
And just after you get the nozzle of the oil can in, you find there is not enough oil in the can, or it is held at such an angle that you cannot put any oil into the reservoir. So pull out the oil can, refill it and spend another few minutes getting the nozzle in. I know the felling.
I love firing Western engines, they're super bits of kit, but having oiled up a few, they are not friendly things to prep. Downside of inside motion I suppose.
I wonder if the design for the cooling system was inspired by the water jackets used on machine guns during the early 20th century. Some of the engineers at Baguley must have come into contact with these during the war.
just wondering, while you are talking about the carriages, my attention is some what drawn to the cafe looking building behind that looks like a tram body incorporated intot the canopy
Well spotted, indeed it is! There's a good article about it here: www.portsmouth.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/retro/portsmouth-tram-car-lives-to-fight-another-day-as-a-waiting-room-nostalgia-3292176 and more information can be found on our website oldkilnlightrailway.co.uk/trip-along-the-line/
It's in the pipeline to be reviewed! It's featured a little in what's broken now, but I will get round to reviewing it, probably the next day I have on it!
Lawrie's Mechanical Marvels hi Lawrie there is a railway in Tunbridge Wells called the spa valley railway and they have an rsh ugly class and it is stronger than a black 5 however 2020 is its last year in service before overhaul it is a Grate locomotive and after this pandemic is over could you review it as it is a beast of a loco and I am sure you will love it
She is a funny locomotive. I can imagine the story she'd have if she ever ended up on Sodor. 4:50 "All steam engines, diesel engines, locomotives in general were all female." The Fat Controller would like to have a word with you.
In my opinion, I don't think there's a specific rule for assigning the female gender to machines. I see it as a matter of taste whether you want a male tank engine or not.
I'd almost like to see what this would look like with this boiler-like water cooling tank, but without the steam loco style dressup. It would look like a little ugly industrial contraption I'm sure, which is the only possibly way it could become more endearing than it already is.
The cooling tank may stem ftom WW1 "Field Locomotives" operating temporary railways near the front where, what with bits of german metal "flying about" a radiator was a stupid idea.....
I think the simplex locos used in the trenches had radiators. I guess cause it allowed the whole thing to be smaller and significantly lighter for travelling on the poorly laid track.
@lmm They did. But with all the armour on to protect everything were difficult to operate, stifling to work in, prone to overheating and seceptable to damage.......that's why many photos you see show much of the armour stripped off unless absolutely essential...
@@lmm if memory serves me Trentham's locos were Arthur , Galahad, Lancelot, and the lady of the lake .My dad helped build them at Baguley's in the 1950's and i helped rebuild them there in the early 1980's
The old style Perkins badge on the front.... Not seen that since we (as an ex-Perkins employee) had a display in our heritage area at work in Peterborough. By the way not sure how many know this Lawrie but for a while there was an even older Perkins emblem design to the one on the train that resembled a star with a striking similarity to the Jewish star of David. Needless to say it didn't last very long due to concerns of what it might be representing afaik. Political correctness - not a new concept by any means 😁
Hi. I'm a little surprised that on a railway train intended for use by the public, albeit a toy, there is no apparent continuous braking in the coaches to ensure that, in the case of a breakaway, the whole thing stops instead of just rolling away. The coach ends seem to sport air brake pipes but they appear to be not in use. No air brake pipework on the front of the engine also suggests that through braking is not available. What measures to the operators employ to ensure safe operation in the case of an unforeseen train division?
It's not a toy. That kind of thought process leads to accidents. The Loco only ever operated, and continues to operate its train with Loco on the front. If you look you can see there is no coupling on the front either. The Loco works facing downhill, so it would be impossible for the train to break away. I think they're air braked but honestly can't remember.
@@lmm The railway can't run forever downhill. It may be on a dead end line now therefore hauling and propelling alternately but if it was on a circuit at Alton it must have gone uphill sometimes. Who oversees the safe running of private and miniature railways. I'm not criticising but having worked on the railway all my life I am fascinated by safety on private lines
I've no idea what it had at Alton Towers - though it was on a circuit then. Not knowing the layout of how it was and how long ago it was set up, I wonder if it was deemed necessary back then?
"all locomotives are all female" Proceeds to name his own locomotive after a blocke. So that's what British punk has become nowadays?! XD Screw the system but softly
It’s the home with a lot of rules and big rollercoasters with a few of the first world records the most famous is the smiler the first rollercoaster with 14 inversions
How tall are you? Judging by you _barely_ being able to fit in the cab, as well as the simplistic controls, I’m starting to think you *weren’t* kidding when you said this locomotive was designed for children.
Hello, Clovis, how's your belly for spots⁉️ By the way, in view of your sexist comment, does Sir Nigel Gresley know it's a woman⁉️ It would seem we live in difficult times for the gender-specific, therefore, poor Cletus must be in a considerable quandary‼️. My Grandad says he remembers this "train" at Alton Towers, but he also claims to have played drums for The Beatles, and my Grandad's name isn't Ringo - whoever he was⁉️ So, I'll leave it up to you to decide. All in all, Clovis, a great video, they just keep getting better and better. Until they start showing some of Cletus' animal porn, you're the best show on RU-vid‼️👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Heya, not bad thanks, how're you holding up? Yeap, she knows she's female. As does Oliver Cromwell. I think Cletus is always in a quandary - this basically his default state. Wow they lost Beatle! 😂 😂 😂 Thanks buddy, glad you're enjoying the videos. And you don't want to see that 😂
@@lmm I'm holding up just fine, thanks for asking.💀💀💀 This gender-bender thing with trains explains why The Flying Scotsman wears a skirt. I've always wondered about that‼️💃🏼💃🏼💃🏼 Well, you can't mix your genders, like Cletus does, and not be in a quandary. It's his/her/its fault‼️😫😫😫 Nah, my Grandad ain't the lost Beatle, he's just lost, period‼️🤪🤪🤪 When Cletus got stuck-in to the animals, I always felt really sorry for the animals. I mean, is that any way to treat a Highland bull⁉️😳😳😳
