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W.O.E loco hauled era(NSE)

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Taunton

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The ranges quoted were only rough minima, to ensure the loco would do the day's work without running out of fuel. Whether it ended up with a quarter tank left, or something less, there was not great precision. A key issue is to give plenty of leeway in case of disruption to the diagram. I don't believe locos had a fuel gauge on the drivers' desk.

Early diesels commonly had equal space taken by tanks between the bogies for fuel, and for boiler water. Once steam heating was given up the space was there to double the fuel capacity, though I think only some Class 47 actually were so modified (and Class 50 never had boilers). Warships on the WofE could need refuelling by the afternoon, which I believe was done at Waterloo in the sidings over on the Windsor side from tank wagons. Similarly, when at Paddington they would refuel at Ranelagh Bridge, just outside the station on the Down side.

Am I one of the few on here who actually experienced running out of fuel? Described it before, it was 1963 when Warships had taken over the Plymouth-Liverpool day train, through as far as Crewe, the longest through run they had ever done. Ran out beyond Shrewsbury, guard said it wasn't for the first time. Shortly afterwards locos started being changed at Bristol.
 
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The ranges quoted were only rough minima, to ensure the loco would do the day's work without running out of fuel. Whether it ended up with a quarter tank left, or something less, there was not great precision. A key issue is to give plenty of leeway in case of disruption to the diagram. I don't believe locos had a fuel gauge on the drivers' desk.

Early diesels commonly had equal space taken by tanks between the bogies for fuel, and for boiler water. Once steam heating was given up the space was there to double the fuel capacity, though I think only some Class 47 actually were so modified (and Class 50 never had boilers). Warships on the WofE could need refuelling by the afternoon, which I believe was done at Waterloo in the sidings over on the Windsor side from tank wagons. Similarly, when at Paddington they would refuel at Ranelagh Bridge, just outside the station on the Down side.

Am I one of the few on here who actually experienced running out of fuel? Described it before, it was 1963 when Warships had taken over the Plymouth-Liverpool day train, through as far as Crewe, the longest through run they had ever done. Ran out beyond Shrewsbury, guard said it wasn't for the first time. Shortly afterwards locos started being changed at Bristol.
It would be interesting to see what differance a load makes vs a loco running light engine to fuel range. This isn't an issue with long range classes like we have now.

As for running out of fuel, I have never know it happen recently and I don't think It will ever happen again.

The only thing that could possible run out of "fuel" these days is a steam loco on a rail tour. Enough disruption and waiting around could run a steam loco out of water especially if it was a longer stink between fillups anyway, or a particualry graded route.
 

Cowley

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The ranges quoted were only rough minima, to ensure the loco would do the day's work without running out of fuel. Whether it ended up with a quarter tank left, or something less, there was not great precision. A key issue is to give plenty of leeway in case of disruption to the diagram. I don't believe locos had a fuel gauge on the drivers' desk.

Early diesels commonly had equal space taken by tanks between the bogies for fuel, and for boiler water. Once steam heating was given up the space was there to double the fuel capacity, though I think only some Class 47 actually were so modified (and Class 50 never had boilers). Warships on the WofE could need refuelling by the afternoon, which I believe was done at Waterloo in the sidings over on the Windsor side from tank wagons. Similarly, when at Paddington they would refuel at Ranelagh Bridge, just outside the station on the Down side.

Am I one of the few on here who actually experienced running out of fuel? Described it before, it was 1963 when Warships had taken over the Plymouth-Liverpool day train, through as far as Crewe, the longest through run they had ever done. Ran out beyond Shrewsbury, guard said it wasn't for the first time. Shortly afterwards locos started being changed at Bristol.

I remember your running out of fuel story and it’s a good one. :)
I don’t recall ever running out of fuel but I do remember locos getting swapped out because they were low.
Class 50s have pretty large fuel tanks compared to a lot of locos but even they occasionally used to be removed and refuelled in a hurry at St David’s when something seemed to have gone wrong along the way - Even to the point of a Waterloo service leaving late occasionally with the set sitting in platform 1 and the clock ticking away after departure time...
 

43096

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As for running out of fuel, I have never know it happen recently and I don't think It will ever happen again.

The only thing that could possible run out of "fuel" these days is a steam loco on a rail tour. Enough disruption and waiting around could run a steam loco out of water especially if it was a longer stink between fillups anyway, or a particualry graded route.
Never happen again? Really?

I can think of scenarios how it could happen.
 

randyrippley

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Am I one of the few on here who actually experienced running out of fuel? Described it before, it was 1963 when Warships had taken over the Plymouth-Liverpool day train, through as far as Crewe, the longest through run they had ever done. Ran out beyond Shrewsbury, guard said it wasn't for the first time. Shortly afterwards locos started being changed at Bristol.
Had it happen several times heading east, usually around Templecombe


And you're right about the fuel point at Waterloo
 
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I remember your running out of fuel story and it’s a good one. :)
I don’t recall ever running out of fuel but I do remember locos getting swapped out because they were low.
Class 50s have pretty large fuel tanks compared to a lot of locos but even they occasionally used to be removed and refuelled in a hurry at St David’s when something seemed to have gone wrong along the way - Even to the point of a Waterloo service leaving late occasionally with the set sitting in platform 1 and the clock ticking away after departure time...
Who/what specified the large tanks on the 50's? Was it that BR just wanted a long range loco, or was a particular route/diagram the reason for the large tanks?

Which loco has the large tank out of all that have existed?

Never happen again? Really?

I can think of scenarios how it could happen.
Modern units have long ranges and there is to much on the line these days for a fuel stop to get missed/ignored. I would imagine that the diagrams for trains these days leaves some in the tank at the end of the diagram.

I have two conflicting figures for the range of a 159. I have read that it's around 1500mi, but else where I read that they had enough for two return trips to Exeter from Waterloo which is around 700mi. That's a lot less that 1500mi.
 

hexagon789

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Who/what specified the large tanks on the 50's? Was it that BR just wanted a long range loco, or was a particular route/diagram the reason for the large tanks?

Which loco has the large tank out of all that have existed?
Hauling 455 tonnes at up to 100mph on relatively tight schedules for diesels in the late-1960s/early 1970s plus the stiff climbs of Shap and Beattock and the need to supply ETH are good reasons for larger tanks in my book, not all the trains were doubled headed or one of the pair not infrequently failed so fuel consumption with one loco would be fairly constant throughout a days duty. I know the 47 capacity was felt to be wanting so that could be behind increasing it as well as was later done with many 47s themselves.
 

Cowley

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Who/what specified the large tanks on the 50's? Was it that BR just wanted a long range loco, or was a particular route/diagram the reason for the large tanks?

Which loco has the large tank out of all that have existed?

Well I guess that they were designed with large tanks originally for the long runs on the WCML which must have used a fair amount of fuel, but to my uneducated eye the Deltics seemed to have very large fuel tanks underneath compared to a lot of locos.
Some of the range extended locos (47/8s, refurbished 37s etc) had extra fuel tanks fitted to areas that previously contained boilers or water tanks for boilers, so it wasn’t always outwardly obvious that they were different.
 

hexagon789

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Well I guess that they were designed with large tanks originally for the long runs on the WCML which must have used a fair amount of fuel, but to my uneducated eye the Deltics seemed to have very large fuel tanks underneath compared to a lot of locos.
Some of the range extended locos (47/8s, refurbished 37s etc) had extra fuel tanks fitted to areas that previously contained boilers or water tanks for boilers, so it wasn’t always outwardly obvious that they were different.
The figures I've got from the diagram books are:

47s - 720 gallons (as built)
50s - 1050 gallons
55s - 825 gallons
 

Taunton

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Larger fuel tanks for the Class 50 were quite straightforward - they were the first main line class that didn't have to to give half the tank space between the bogies for water for steam heating.

The number of separate failures that steam heating on diesels could provide were quite extensive - water in underframe tank frozen; running out of water; failure of the water pump to lift it to the boiler; failure of the fuel pump to the boiler likewise; boiler does not light; boiler burner blocked; water leak from the tank/pipework; boiler thermostat failure ... and I think that's just a start. It's notable how few of the problems that afflicted diesel loco steam heating existed on steam locos.
 
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