APT return to running?

[Sm5]

Preserving a mk4 rake with a 91 in Intercity colours is probably a much more realistic event… and it seems one TOC is already doing it commercially for several.

 

[tomuk]

Preserving a mk4 rake with a 91 in Intercity colours is probably a much more realistic event… and it seems one TOC is already doing it commercially for several.

Preserving 91s make me feel old. I was at the Crewe Works open day back in 1990? With the complete 90050 and 91021 and the remaining 91s in various states of build in the erecting shop.

 

[tumbles]

Either way the point I wanted to make was that I remember seeing posts with photos of various big wiring looms being sliced. I can't remember if it was due to some bits and pieces of kit being removed, or if it was done when it was withdrawn.

I think the power car they got from Coventry had been properly chopped up inside,

 

[Alanko]

I think the power car they got from Coventry had been properly chopped up inside,

It looked dog rough latterly at Coventry. It has had a repaint at Crewe but that would be a surface-level cosmetic restoration at best.

 

[Woods]

I am sure if someone turned up at Crewe with a very large cheque and a plan involving the hiring of expert engineering teams to assess, manage and commission the sort of work required they would give it due consideration.

Therein, I think, lies the problem. It's probably not the money as such, or the obsolete components, that would kill off this idea. But actually being able to find Engineers who worked on the train (most probably now long-retired or dead), or who would be willing to entertain the possibility of 'reverse engineering' it, or indeed to certify it for mainline use, would be hugely problematic.

Very largely the technical expertise for designing high speed trains, let alone tilting ones, has now been lost in the UK. The sad reality of 'market economics' means that all of that expertise has fled abroad.

Remember, it wasn't lack of money that stopped the Vulcan flying. It was the gradual fading away of the Engineering knowledge needed to maintain it and keep it certified for flying.

 

[tomuk]

Remember, it wasn't lack of money that stopped the Vulcan flying. It was the gradual fading away of the Engineering knowledge needed to maintain it and keep it certified for flying.

Thats not correct there is more than enough engineering knowledge in the UK to design and maintain current and develop future aircraft that are way in advance of the Vulcan. The problem with the Vulcan was no manufacture was willing to continue supporting it even acting as purely design authority and delegate the actual maintenance to others. On the engines I beleive there was a supplier willing to do a refurb but they were only qualified on either Marine or Industrial Olympus, Rolls having thrown out documentation and equipment years before.