Did anybody see Top Gear last night?
As always, the producers of Top Gear get the three hosts to compete in some sort of race. Last nights race was from London to Edinburgh.
The guys of Top Gear chose three modes of transportation circa 1949. James drove a Jaguar XK120 (the fastest car in the world at the time). Richard rode a Vincent Black Shadow (the fastest bike in the world at the time). And, Jeremy (much to his chagrine) did NOT get to drive but instead, did his best at being the fireman on an A1 Pacific class steam locomotive.
SPOILER:
If you've not seen the episode yet and plan to, don't read on as I'm about to give you the results.
1st place goes to the Jaguar. While he held a steady second through most of the race, he pulled ahead just at the last.
2nd place goes to the locomotive. It held the lead by a longshot for nearly the entire race but due to steam problems it lost it right at the end.
3rd place obviously goes to the Black Shadow. A slight goof with the reserve tank allowed some gunk to clog things up resulting in a lot of lost time.
How cool. Is it on-line somewhere?
Yep, just found 'em... pretty neat stuff.
4 videos...
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Seeing Jeremy Clarkson covered with soot, and totally worn out from the ordeal sure takes a lot of the
"romance" out of steam doesn't it? I think the Jag won only because James could drive directly to the hotel while Jeremy had to run from the station to the hotel to finish the race.
I've been to London and seen the traffic there and hear every day about the jams on the motorways. Did Tornado give the car a three day start? That's about the only way Tornado could be beaten. Not that I'm suggesting the 'race' was fixed.
AWESOME!
Wow, someone else watches top gear
It was on in the UK in Autumn. Very fun episode, silly commuter trains getting in the way.
Russ Bellinis Wrote:Seeing Jeremy Clarkson covered with soot, and totally worn out from the ordeal sure takes a lot of the
"romance" out of steam doesn't it?
Couldn't disagree more. I spent an afternoon this past summer as a fireman on a 0-6-0 and I have to say I loved it. I shoveled for about 4 hours straight, and it's silly, but I feel closer to my models because of it. Funny thing is, I only have 3 steam engines and the rest are diesel and I have been running my steamers more at the club these past 6 months than the previous 2 years I have been a member...
I love Top Gear. Even if they do poke sticks in my Yank's side.
This was shown here last year. I never watch top gear as I cannot stand the three presenters, especially 'motor mouth' Clarkson. They are too full of themselves.
However, I did watch this one and have to say the filming of Tornado was first class. If it had indeed been done in the 1940's, the steam loco would have won hands down. Then it would not have had to stop to take on water as there were strategically placed water troughs along the route for replenishing the tender tank.
Before the programme started, we just knew the car would win, of course........
andersley Wrote:Before the programme started, we just knew the car would win, of course........
Usually... but not always!
I forgot to comment on this the other day when I got a chance to watch it (it almost made me late for work!
).
So, BRILLIANT
It really did a good job of demonstrating what a tough job firing a locomotive was. Does anyone know if it was common to have more than one stoker on the footplate? It seemed there were about three guys taking turns.
Related to the above statement is my surprise that they were hand shoveling at all. Were automatic stokers uncommon on British steam? This was a 1949 design, so the devices had been in use in the U.S. for 40 years.
My favorite parts were the tunnel passage (whenever I read about the Allegheny coal hauling railroads, I always wonder how anyone came out of those long tunnels alive) and the high speed wheel spin and the engineers quick reaction to it.
Altogether the best demonstration of what it was like to be in a mainline cab that I've ever seen. I was lucky enough to be the son of one of the guys that founded a scenic railroad and got plenty of cab time (just observing - I was young), but at 15 mph and 4 coaches, there just isn't a lot of steam demand, and as such the firing rate was much slower. Dad occasionally used the stoker, which made the job (obviously) much easier, though it took an entirely different skill set to accurately shoot coal onto the fire as opposed to shoveling it.
Dad (starting to ramble here) also has commented that the locomotive was MUCH easier to fire when the feedwater heater was being used (as opposed to the injectors only). Did British steam use these appliances? I got the impression from the show that the locomotive was only injected.
Sorry for the ramble!
Fire the bright spots!
Matt
We only had one fireman per locomotive, although it was fairly common for the driver (if he was a decent chap) to take a turn and let the fireman drive for a while. The maximum grate area on any British loco was 50 sq ft IIRC so mechanical stokers were not used. They were tried for a while on some 9F 1-10-0's, but the experiment was not a success - runs were not long enough to warrant it and the extra maintenance, also special pulverised coal had to be provided each end of the trial route. So the stokers were removed.
Feedwater heaters were not used here, except again as trials, injectors were always used to refill boilers.
O.S. Nock says in the Railway Enthusiasts Encyclopedia that mechanical firing is not as efficient as manual firing. Some of the coal arrives in the firebox as 'slack' which is immediatly carried away by the blast.