"Forth/Fife Circle Steam Specials" (etc) « CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum

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"Forth/Fife Circle Steam Specials" (etc)

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Started 11 years ago by chdot
Latest reply from Arellcat

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chdot
Admin

"

Shortly after the Canadian engines were built, Captain Howey bought for them two American locomotive chime whistles. Sir Nigel Gresley, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the L.N.E.R., liked the sound of the first one, fitted to No. 9, so much that Captain Howey presented him with the whistle destined for No. 10. Sir Nigel put this whistle on his new 2-8-2 locomotive Cock o' the North and had similar whistles made for the " A4 " Class Pacifies which followed. He later presented Captain Howey with a chromium-plated " A4 " whistle and in 1953 this was put on R.H. & D. No. 10, which still carries it.

"
From World's Smallest Public Railway by P. Ransome-Wallis 4th edition 1964

Posted 11 years ago #
chdot
Admin

"I nominate this for the CCE Thread Of The Month Award."

What's the prize?

Posted 11 years ago #
chdot
Admin

(And who will it go to?)

Posted 11 years ago #
cc
Member

What's the prize?

Glory and everlasting renown.

Someone somewhere must have written a web page which can play you the sound of a steam whistle in the 2nd inversion minor triad of your choice...?

Posted 11 years ago #
Arellcat
Moderator

cc, not quite, but this website will give you a fair idea:

http://www.crosby-steam.com/csw.htm

AKen, I still like to think that special steam engines have small Welsh dragons living inside the fireboxes.

Posted 11 years ago #
fimm
Member

What's the prize?

Special CCE anorak to be worn while reading it?
;-)

Posted 11 years ago #
DaveC
Member

... backs out of the thread as quietly as possible, hoping no one spotted him going in....

[whistles]....

Posted 11 years ago #
cc
Member

@arellcat Superb! Thanks!

Posted 11 years ago #
EddieD
Member

Awesome. I first remember seeing a steam train in anger in about '67 in Exeter - it was really good to see one again.

Posted 11 years ago #
DaveC
Member

Hope this works (and fits)...

Posted 11 years ago #
DaveC
Member

I waited 15 mins for the arrival and kept my checking my phone to ensure it was ready but the first thing we heard was the ringing rails and then my phone had locked.....

Posted 11 years ago #
Arellcat
Moderator

Dalgety Bay, Dave?

The whistles of Sir Nigel Gresley and Union of South Africa are both nominally C#, F#, A. Depending on steam pressure, UOSA is sometimes C, F, Ab, or even C, F, G, which is a fraction dischordant.

Bittern at full pressure is noticeably lower tuned than its counterparts, at a healthy C, F, Ab. Not tuned to G as I was led to believe.

Tornado is C#, F#, A.

Posted 11 years ago #
Greenroofer
Member

...and I refer you to the post of a month ago where you can hear them all together (apart from Tornado, obviously).

Posted 11 years ago #
Greenroofer
Member

So this has got me thinking. There seems to be a surprising level of interest and knowledge of steam engines on a forum that is nominally about bicycles. I know we've had aborted/ive attempts to discuss cars before, but I wonder if there's something about steam engines that makes them attractive to people who are attracted to bikes as bits of engineering (as opposed to just a means of getting to the shops).

Is it perhaps that we like seeing how things work, and both steam engines and bicycles wear their mechanical hearts on their sleeves (so to speak). In a car you can't see that this pushes that and that turns this and that makes the wheels go round. In both a steam engine and a bike you can.

I wonder...

P.S. I like this book 'How Steam Locomotives Really Work'

Posted 11 years ago #
kaputnik
Moderator

Much like bicycles, steam locomotives know the indignity of being relegated to second or third place behind the infernal combobulation engine.

They also share the infinite variety of shape and form and function that comes with bicycles, despite nearly all of them working in exactly the same principle as laid down by the first really successful example of each (Rover Safety / Stephenson Rocket).

Also, they're both great on the flats but struggle up hills and have to stop for frequent fuel and water* stops :)

* cake and coffee / burger and beer

Posted 11 years ago #
chdot
Admin

44871

Yes - different day/loco.

Not a fire!

Posted 11 years ago #
Arellcat
Moderator

More steamy goodness yesterday at Waverley.

K4 61994:

5MT 44871:

5MT 45407:

60009 powered out of Waverley at 0930 this morning but it was raining and dull so I decided not to go out. Then the sun came out! :-(

Posted 11 years ago #
Darkerside
Member

I saw it leave whilst standing on platform 13

Highly excited. Something about a steam train heading into a tunnel that just seems right.

Edit: my eagle eye has spotted that they aren't all the same train. In which case I saw one of them leave, about 1915ish.

Posted 11 years ago #
chdot
Admin

June 16th

http://www.srps.org.uk/railtours/rt-130616-am.htm

http://www.srps.org.uk/railtours/rt-130616.htm

Posted 11 years ago #
chdot
Admin

Tomorrow

http://www.srps.org.uk/railtours/rt-130616.htm

http://www.uksteam.info/tours/t13/t0616c.htm

Posted 11 years ago #
Greenroofer
Member

We went to watch on Balcarres Street where the track comes right by the road. It was rather splendid. Two actual children and one child at heart were rather thrilled by the sight.

Posted 11 years ago #
chdot
Admin

[+] Embed the video | Video Download Get the Flash Videos

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Posted 11 years ago #
PS
Member

How did that *smell*, chdot?

I saw it leaving Waverley heading east, but was too far away on Regent Road to get the full sensory experience.

Posted 11 years ago #
chdot
Admin

Actually hardly at all.

Wasn't really working hard at that point.

Posted 11 years ago #
Wilmington's Cow
Member

Ah now, I'm certain we heard this from our garden today (if the wind is in the right direction you can hear the trains on the mainline that skirts the Figgy).

Posted 11 years ago #
chdot
Admin

Nice one -

"

Philip Stout (@philipstout)
16/06/2013 15:13
@wingpig @cocteautriplets Must have been the 15h12… pic.twitter.com/P5QysiDLcz

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BM4yGGmCIAAVNiV.jpg

"

Posted 11 years ago #
SRD
Moderator

"Mallard anniversary: Steam locomotive Bittern marks record run"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23109971

Posted 11 years ago #
SRD
Moderator

Doubtless there's much being written for the specialist audience, but anyway, this seemed a nice piece:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23137106

Posted 11 years ago #
Cyclingmollie
Member

Thanks for that SRD. We lived on a farm a few miles from where the Union of South Africa was run at weekends on a short track section at Lochty in Fife. The whistle was a familiar sound throughout the summer.

I rode on it once and was impressed by the observation car.

Posted 11 years ago #
kaputnik
Moderator

and was impressed by the observation car

The LNER had (I think) a pair of these "beavertail" cars for use on the West Highland line. It would be a huge moneyspinner I'm sure if someone were to offer a similar service now. Trying to squeeze your camera out of the opening pane in the window on a Class 156 unit to get a decent photo is not really the same.

At least the "Jacobite" train has olde-fashint drop-down door windows that you can hang your head out (if you claim your space half an hour in advance).

Posted 11 years ago #