Soon after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, the U.S. Air Force launched "Lunar Observatory" and "Strategic Lunar System" studies. The sky no longer seemed the limit for Air Force pilots. On October 1, 1958, however, the civilian National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) opened for business and began work on Project Mercury, the U.S. project to launch a man into space. Piloted spaceflight was seen by many in government as a one-off stunt for garnering Cold War prestige. The job went to NASA mainly so that it would not interfere with more consequential Defense Department space projects, such as development of intercontinental ballistic missiles and surveillance satellites.
On April 12, 1961, the Soviet Union launched Yuri Gagarin, the first man to reach space, on board the Vostok 1 spacecraft. The new Kennedy Administration responded to this new U.S. defeat on the space frontier on May 25, 1961, by calling for an American on the moon by the end of the 1960s.
Four days later, the Air Force released its classified Lunar Expedition (LUNEX) report. It identified the four "major 'prestige' milestones" for its proposed moon program. The first manned Earth-orbital flight of the LUNEX Reentry Vehicle would occur in April 1965. The first manned circumlunar flight in September 1966 would be followed by the first manned lunar landing in August 1967. Just five months later, in January 1968, the U.S. would establish the first permanent moon base. The LUNEX program, which would cost upwards of $7.5 billion by 1971 and would employ about 70,000 people in American industry, would need approval by July 1961 in order to place the first crew on the moon in August 1967.
The three-stage Space Launching System booster rocket would be the workhorse of the LUNEX program. Barges would deliver rocket components to an elaborate seaside launch facility. The report proposed as candidate launch sites Cape Canaveral in Florida, Port Arguello in California, Corpus Christi in Texas, and stretches of the Georgia and South Carolina coasts. The Space Launching System would be capable of boosting 350,000 pounds of payload into 300-mile-high Earth orbit or 134,000 pounds directly to the moon's surface.
The LUNEX program would rely on two types of lunar lander. The automated Cargo Payload lander would comprise a Lunar Landing Stage and cargo with a mass of up to 45,000 pounds. The Cargo Payload lander would bear equipment and supplies for lunar exploration to the moon ahead of the Manned Lunar Payload lander.
The Manned Lunar Payload would comprise a Lunar Landing Stage, a Lunar Launch Stage, and a 20,205-pound LUNEX Reentry Vehicle (images above). The Manned Lunar Payload, which the Air Force report called "the largest single development objective of the LUNEX program," would measure nearly 53 feet from nose to tail and 25 feet in diameter at the bottom of the Lunar Landing Stage, where it would join to the top of the third stage of the Space Launching System. The LUNEX Reentry Vehicle was a triangular lifting body with twin tail fins, twin winglets, and a dome-shaped nose.
The LUNEX piloted mission would begin when three astronauts entered the Manned Lunar Payload. The Space Launching System would then boost the Manned Lunar Payload and crew directly to the moon with no stop in Earth orbit. Abort options during launch would include separating the LUNEX Reentry Vehicle from the malfunctioning booster and gliding to a nearby runway.
Flight to the moon would last 2.5 days. The Manned Lunar Payload would touch down near the pre-landed Cargo Payload. The conical Lunar Landing Stage would include four descent engines and four landing feet shaped like horizontal cylindrical tanks with hemispherical end caps. Abort options during descent would include blasting free of the Lunar Landing Stage using the Lunar Launch Stage, then using the single Lunar Launch Stage engine to carry out a dangerous rough landing. The crew would then abandon their wrecked Manned Lunar Payload and use a pre-landed backup Manned Lunar Payload to fly home to Earth.
Assuming a safe landing on the lunar surface, however, the Manned Lunar Payload's nose would point upward toward the black sky. The LUNEX Reentry Vehicle's aft section would include two decks providing living quarters for the crew during their stay on the moon. A hatch in the lower deck's floor would lead down through the lifting body's tail to a bell-shaped airlock in the Lunar Launch Stage. LUNEX explorers would then exit a hatch in the Lunar Launch Stage's side and clamber down a sloping ladder to the lunar surface. The first landing mission would remain on the moon for about five days.
The spent Lunar Landing Stage would serve as a launch pad when time came for the Lunar Launch Stage to blast the LUNEX Reentry Vehicle off the moon. No abort options would exist during this mission phase, so the Lunar Launch Stage would demand a high level of reliability. The Lunar Launch Stage/LUNEX Reentry Vehicle combination would fly directly back to Earth with no stop in lunar orbit. Moon-Earth transit would last 2.5 days.
The astronauts would cast off the Lunar Launch Stage just before the LUNEX Reentry Vehicle reached Earth's atmosphere. As reentry deceleration ended and gliding flight began, the pilot would eject heat shields covering the forward viewports and the nose landing wheel, deploy landing skids, and then guide the lifting body to an unpowered landing on a runway at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
The Air Force report recommended that an automated probe such as NASA's proposed Lunar Orbiter map the moon ahead of the LUNEX piloted mission. In May 1961, when the LUNEX report was completed, lunar maps included no features smaller than about 16 miles wide. It also suggested that NASA's automated Surveyor landers be used to land radio/flashing light beacons on the moon to aid LUNEX pilots, and called for an automated sample-return mission to collect a subsurface sample before lunar base design began.
Lunar Exploration Plan - LUNEX, WDLAR-S-458, Headquarters, Space Systems Division, Air Force Systems Command, May 29, 1961.
Ce prototype est utilisé depuis 1 an et va donner naissance à un second prototype en Septembre avant de passer en série. Ce vélo est une combinaison de notre connaissance aquise avec les Kouign Amann et les HR700.
C'est un très bon grimpeur et il est possible de faire jeux égale avec les VD dans les bosses moyennes.
Dans cette version équipé des roues MAVIC Ultimate, le vélo complet pèse moins de 7.5Kg et il semble possible de passer sous la barre des 7Kg avec le vélo de série.
Most early Mars expedition plans made little mention of potential martian resources. Apart from using the martian atmosphere to slow the crew lander for landing, Mars spacecraft generally depended little on materials or conditions peculiar to the planet. This was because so little was known of Mars (top image above).
The potential benefits of using martian resources for propellants, building materials, and life support consumables were so compelling, however, that some planners chose to incorporate them into their mission designs anyway. Chief among these benefits was a dramatic reduction in mission mass if Earth-return rocket propellants could be found at Mars.
The Working Group on Extraterrestrial Resources (WGER) formed in early 1962. Besides NASA, the group included representatives from the U.S. Air Force, the Army, the Bureau of Mines, aerospace corporations, and academe. The group, which met throughout the 1960s, focused mainly on lunar resources. A few researchers, however, treated the WGER as a forum for discussing eventual exploitation of Mars resources.
One of these forward-thinkers was Ernst Steinhoff (middle image above), representing the RAND Corporation, a think tank created in 1946 to provide advice to the U.S. military services. RAND had performed Mars studies for the Air Force as early as 1960. Steinhoff, whose specialty was rocket guidance, came to the U.S. in 1945 with Wernher von Braun, Ernst Stuhlinger, Krafft Ehricke, and the other members of the Peenemünde rocket team. After working to launch captured V-2 missiles for the Army (bottom image above), he went to work for U.S. industry in 1956. Steinhoff joined RAND in 1961, and was instrumental in the formation of the WGER the following year. He became the WGER's first chairman.
Steinhoff summed up his Mars work in papers presented at a March 1962 meeting at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and at the June 1963 American Astronautical Society Symposium on the Manned Exploration of Mars in Denver. George Morgenthaler of Martin Marietta Corporation organized the Denver symposium, the first non-NASA meeting devoted to piloted Mars travel. As many as 800 engineers and scientists heard Steinhoff's paper and 25 others. It was the first time so many people from Mars-related disciplines had come together in one place, and the last Mars meeting as large until the 1980s. Sky & Telescope magazine reported that the "Denver symposium. . . helped narrow the gaps between engineer, biologist, and astronomer."
Soon after the Denver symposium, Steinhoff became Chief Scientist at the Air Force Missile Development Center at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, after which he continued his involvement with the WGER and his work on Mars subjects at a reduced level. This is unfortunate, because in his two papers he anticipated several Mars mission concepts that would, in time, emerge as significant in Mars exploration planning.
Steinhoff's work focused on "autarchic" - that is, self-sufficient - bases on Mars and Phobos. Self-sufficiency would be achieved through mining and processing local materials, and by equipping the base with regenerable (recycling) life support systems. The Phobos and Mars bases would support scientific research and serve as "terminals" for spacecraft.
Steinhoff estimated that extraterrestrial water could supply over 90% of the logistical needs of space-faring humans. He wrote that the moon's gravity - nearly 20% as powerful as Earth's - would make it an inefficient "interim space base" for fueling Mars-bound ships. Citing Clyde Tombaugh, who had written that Mars's moons were probably made of the same water-rich materials as Mars itself, Steinhoff proposed that Phobos supplant the moon as a stepping stone to Mars. Nuclear systems could cook water out of Phobos rocks, then split it into hydrogen and oxygen rocket propellants.
Steinhoff's early Mars expedition would comprise 18 astronauts in a convoy of three crew and six cargo spacecraft. They would use a conjunction-class profile, traveling to Mars in 256 days, remaining in the Mars system for 485 days, and then returning to Earth in 256 days.
Two chemists and two geologists would prospect Phobos for water-rich rocks. The little moon's weak gravity would enable space-suited astronauts to easily assemble "ready-to-operate" base modules shipped from Earth. Space construction workers, Steinhoff wrote, would be able to carry and connect 50-ton modules by hand.
Winged three-man shuttles based at the Phobos terminal would provide access to the Mars base, which would be built within 25º of the equator for easy access from Phobos's equatorial orbit. Steinhoff assumed that the martian atmosphere would be thick enough to support gliding shuttles requiring minimal landing propellant. He proposed that early shuttles drop cargoes and astronauts by parachute, then blast back to orbit without landing.
Among the early air-dropped cargoes would be a radio-controlled bulldozer, which astronauts on Phobos would use to prepare a safe runway ahead of the first shuttle landing. After the Mars base was established, the shuttles would rely on propellants manufactured on Mars to return to the Phobos base.
The Mars base would use vehicles and building techniques Steinhoff's RAND colleagues proposed in their Air Force studies. Rocket turbine engines tailored to the martian atmosphere would power surface rovers, airplanes, and helicopters with low-mass inflatable parts. Inflatable modules would provide living space for the earliest Mars explorers. Later astronauts would manufacture cement from martian materials, construct masonry and cinderblock buildings, and inhabit martian caves.
After the propellant needs of the Mars system were met, Phobos would become a fueling station for interplanetary spacecraft. Steinhoff estimated that enough propellant could be manufactured in just 100 days to launch a spacecraft from Phobos to 300-mile-high Earth orbit, and that Phobos propellants could cut the time required for transfer between the two worlds in half. He added that "use of indigenous resources, combined with more advanced nuclear ferry systems, may. . . pave the way to intensive interplanetary exploration within the limitations of our national resources." Phobos could, for example, serve as a refueling stop for Jupiter-bound piloted spacecraft.
"Use of Extraterrestrial Resources for Mars Basing," Ernst A. Steinhoff, Exploration of Mars, George Morgenthaler, editor, pp. 468-500; proceedings of the American Astronautical Society Symposium on the Exploration of Mars, Denver, Colorado, June 6-7, 1963.
"A Possible Approach to Scientific Exploration of the Planet Mars," Paper #38, Ernst A. Steinhoff, From Peenemunde to Outer Space, "A Volume of Papers Commemorating the Fiftieth Birthday of Werner von Braun," NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Technical Report, 1962, pp. 803-836.
"Manned Exploration of Mars?" Raymond Watts, Sky & Telescope, August 1963, pp. 63-67, 84.
In February 1991, six engineers with McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Company in Houston, Texas, unveiled a Mars transportation scenario which, they explained, was "driven by the desire to explore Mars in a continuous fashion rather than designing a series of independent, Apollo-style missions. . .then phasing out the program." Specifically, they proposed using the Cislunar Libration Point (CLP) and the Cismartian Libration Point (CMP) as "parking orbit transportation nodes" for a pair of Nuclear-Electric Propulsion (NEP) Mars spacecraft.
The CLP, better known as Earth-moon L1, is situated about 70,000 kilometers from the center of the moon's Earth-facing Nearside hemisphere (that is, about 327,000 kilometers from Earth). The CMP, better known as Sun-Mars L1, is located 1.083 million kilometers Sunward of Mars. The McDonnell Douglas team assumed that, by the time their Mars program began, piloted Lunar Transfer Vehicles (LTVs) would already be using the CLP as a staging area for lunar landing missions.
The McDonnell Douglas engineers based their proposed NEP spacecraft design on one developed at NASA's Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio (image above). A 10-megawatt nuclear reactor on the spacecraft's nose would power its tail-mounted electric thruster clusters, which would ionize and expel xenon atoms to generate thrust. Electric propulsion spacecraft accelerate slowly but continuously and use much less propellant than equivalent chemical-propulsion and nuclear-thermal-propulsion spacecraft. The McDonnell Douglas engineers calculated that their reusable NEP Mars spacecraft could haul double the payload of an equivalent expendable chemical-propulsion Mars spacecraft while using 42% less propellant.
They based their Mars mission program schedule on the timeline for the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) President George H. W. Bush had announced on May 11, 1990, as part of his commencement address at Texas A & M University. When Bush first unveiled SEI on July 20, 1989, the 20th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, he called for a return to the moon followed by an expedition to Mars, but he established no deadlines for accomplishing these feats. Bush's May 1990 timeline had the first Americans setting foot on Mars ahead of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 in 2019.
In late 2015 or early 2016, NEP Spacecraft 1 would transfer from 1000-kilometer-high Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) to its parking place at the CLP. It would have a mass of 455 metric tons when it started its five-month "maiden spiral" outward from Earth. During its slow voyage outward, Spacecraft 1 would orbit the Earth many times, gradually gaining altitude, and would pass repeatedly through the Earth-girdling Van Allen Radiation Belts. The repeated slow Van Allen Belt crossings would expose any astronauts on board to a lethal dose of radiation. Because of this, Spacecraft 1 would travel from LEO to CLP without a crew. It would expend 43 metric tons of propellant, reducing its mass to 412 metric tons.
Making the CLP and CMP destinations for the NEP spacecraft would eliminate the need for long spirals in and out of low planetary orbits at the start of each transfer between the Red and Blue planets. Spacecraft 1 and its sister ship Spacecraft 2 would each depart LEO once for the CLP and would never approach nearer to Mars than the CMP.
In early 2016, about a month after Spacecraft 1 reached the CLP, astronauts would arrive from LEO in a fast chemical-propulsion LTV. Rapid transfer from LEO to CLP would limit crew radiation exposure to levels similar to those experienced by Apollo crews.
The astronauts would perform exhaustive checks of Spacecraft 1's systems; then, if all checked out as normal, they would activate Spacecraft 1's NEP thrusters to take advantage of the 2016 minimum-energy Earth-Mars transfer opportunity. Such opportunities occur every 26 months. Spacecraft 1 would need 18 days to escape the Earth-moon system, then about 220 days to reach the CMP. This transfer duration would compare favorably with those of chemical-propulsion or nuclear-thermal-propulsion Mars spacecraft.
The transfer would include a coast period during which the electric thrusters would be switched off. The longer the coast period, the less propellant the spacecraft would need (but the longer the overall trip duration). Conversely, a shorter coast period would mean a shorter trip time (but greater propellant expenditure). After the coast period, Spacecraft 1 would point its thrusters in its direction of motion to slow itself. The McDonnell Douglas team assumed that Spacecraft 1 would arrive at the CMP with a mass of 350 metric tons.
Spacecraft 1 would park at the CMP for from 500 to 600 days to await the next minimum-energy Mars-Earth transfer opportunity, which would occur in mid 2018. During the wait period, the crew would separate from Spacecraft 1 in a two-stage expendable Mars lander. The journey from the CMP to the martian surface would require from 15 to 30 days, the McDonnell Douglas engineers estimated. They calculated that a Mars lander that needed 15 days to reach Mars from the CMP and could deliver 50 tons of payload to Mars's surface would have a mass of 150 tons.
After a surface stay of unspecified duration, the astronauts would lift off in the lander's ascent stage, leaving its expended descent stage and its payload behind on Mars. The journey from Mars back to the CMP would last from 15 to 30 days. The crew would dock with Spacecraft 1, transfer their Mars samples and data from the ascent stage, then cast off the ascent stage.
Meanwhile, back in the Earth-moon system, Spacecraft 2 would perform its unmanned maiden spiral from LEO to the CLP. It would park at the CLP until a crew arrived in an LTV. In mid 2018, about 26 months after Spacecraft 1 left the CLP, Spacecraft 2 would set out on a near-copy of Spacecraft 1's Mars voyage. Because the 2018 Earth-Mars transfer opportunity would be more favorable (that is, it would need less energy) than its 2016 counterpart, Spacecraft 2 would arrive at the CMP with slightly more mass (356 metric tons) than had Spacecraft 1. Its crew would then separate in a lander to explore a new landing site on Mars.
In mid 2018, at about the time Spacecraft 2 departed the CLP, Spacecraft 1 would leave the CMP. Having left behind its lander and payload, Spacecraft 1 would have a mass of 173 metric tons when it departed the CMP and 138 metric tons when it returned to the CLP. Travel from the CMP to the CLP would need less time than from the CLP to the CMP because the NEP spacecraft would have less mass during the CMP-CLP transfer.
Upon arrival at the CLP in late 2018, Spacecraft 1's crew would board a waiting LTV and return to the LEO space station. In the from 500 to 600 days that followed, automated cislunar NEP freighters would deliver to unmanned Spacecraft 1 xenon propellant, life support supplies, spare parts, and an expendable lander for its next Mars voyage.
The McDonnell Douglas engineers noted that the CLP is an unstable libration point, so any spacecraft parked there would need to hold position using thrusters or risk ejection from the Earth-moon system. Fortunately, the occasional stationkeeping maneuvers would be small.
In mid 2020, near the end of its nearly two-year parked period, Spacecraft 1 would receive an LTV bearing the Mars program's third crew. The authors noted as an aside that cargo and astronauts bound for Mars could originate on the moon. After system checks, Spacecraft 1 would depart the CLP with a mass of 412 metric tons.
Spacecraft 2 would park at the CMP until mid 2020, then would begin its first transfer back to the CLP. It would depart the CMP with a mass of 173 metric tons and arrive at the CLP in late 2020 with a mass of 137 metric tons. Spacecraft 1, meanwhile, would arrive at the CMP for the second time in early 2021 with a mass of 366 metric tons. The twin NEP spacecraft could trade CLP and CMP parking places indefinitely, never meeting, the McDonnell Douglas team wrote.
"Optimal Cycling Between Cislunar and Cismartian Libration Points With Reusable Nuclear Electric Transfer Vehicles," Steven J. Sponaugle, Brian H. Rishikof, Steven F. Davis, Douglas A. Pesek, Diane R. Walyus, and Victor R. Bond, AAS 91-104; paper presented at the AAS/AIAA Spaceflight Mechanics Meeting held in Houston, Texas, February 11-13, 1991.
Assembly of NASA's first spaceworthy Space Shuttle orbiter, OV-102 Columbia (middle image above), commenced in November 1975. The 111-ton reusable winged spaceship first reached low-Earth orbit on STS-1 (April 12-14, 1981), the Space Shuttle Program's first mission. Named for the first American sailing ship to circle the globe and the Apollo 11 Command and Service Module, Columbia completed 27 successful flights.
NASA's oldest Orbiter was also its heaviest. Unlike its sisters Atlantis, Discovery, and Endeavor, Columbia could not reach the 51.6° orbital inclination of the Russian Mir station and the International Space Station (ISS) with a useful payload in its 15-by-60-foot payload bay. This performance constraint meant that, in the Shuttle-Mir/ISS era, NASA increasingly relegated to Columbia its few remaining low-inclination, non-space station missions, such as Hubble Space Telescope servicing. Extended-Duration Orbiter modifications also permitted Columbia to remain in orbit for more than two weeks to serve as a science research platform, but such missions would become increasingly rare after research commenced on board ISS.
In an April 1996 paper presented at the 33rd Space Congress in Cocoa Beach, Florida, Carey McCleskey of the Vehicle Engineering Directorate at NASA's Kennedy Space Center proposed using the oldest Orbiter's excess mission capacity "to ignite a billion dollar, sustained enterprise on the Moon." Specifically, he advocated using Columbia as a joint NASA/private sector Earth-orbital launch platform for rocket stages bearing small lunar landers. Columbia would remain in space for only a few hours during each of its lunar lander deployment missions.
The landers would deliver to the moon teleoperated "micro-robots" akin to Mars Pathfinder's Sojourner rover (bottom image above). These would serve as proxy lunar explorers for paying visitors at "space theme parks" on Earth.
Confident that his proposal would help to build public support for U.S. astronauts to return to the moon, McCleskey wrote that
use of Columbia only makes sense for the start-up and initial take-off phases of the enterprise. The Shuttle system. . .will reach a limit which will drive the nation toward advanced space delivery systems. The use of the Shuttle for starting a lunar enterprise, therefore, is not the answer for space delivery, but rather our next opportunity.
Columbia lifted off at the start of STS-107, its 28th mission, on January 16, 2003. Eighty-two seconds after launch, a piece of foam insulation about 20 inches long broke free from its External Tank and struck its left wing. Engineers examining high-resolution video images of the impact warned of possible wing damage, but Shuttle management elected to disregard their warnings.
The oldest Orbiter's seven-person crew conducted wide-ranging science research for 16 days - long enough for the moon to wax from nearly full to full, then wane to last quarter and new. The crew beamed to Earth a breathtaking image of the last quarter moon taken on January 26 (top image above).
On February 1, 2003, the day of the new moon, Columbia fired its twin Orbital Maneuvering System engines to slow itself and reenter Earth's atmosphere. Temperatures on the Orbiter's belly tiles, nose cap, and wing leading edge panels began to climb as Columbia reentered at an altitude of 400,000 feet. About 40 minutes after the deorbit burn the wing leading edge temperature neared its peak value of about 3000° Fahrenheit.
As Columbia crossed the California coast in predawn darkness en route to its planned landing in Florida, hot plasma began to penetrate its internal structure through a breach in its left wing leading edge. Flight controllers in Mission Control in Houston puzzled over the cause of sensor failures in the Orbiter's left wing. The failures progressed aftward from the leading edge.
For observers on the ground in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, many of whom had observed pre-dawn Shuttle reentries before, Columbia was a fast-moving, brilliant point of light leaving behind a luminous, sky-spanning ionization trail. Veteran observers along Columbia's reentry path noted more than 20 unusual flashes around the Orbiter and peculiar bright streaks in the trail.
As Columbia crossed from New Mexico into Texas, it began to shed pieces. Meanwhile, thrusters fired automatically to compensate for increased drag on the left wing. Columbia did not give up without a fight.
Radio contact with Columbia was lost about 10 minutes after hot plasma first entered the left wing. Less than a minute later, the gutted wing folded over the fuselage. The oldest Orbiter disintegrated at an altitude of 203,000 feet just west of Dallas, Texas, killing its crew and raining wreckage over parts of eastern Texas and western Louisiana.
The STS-107 accident triggered far-reaching changes in the U.S. space program that have yet to play out fully. The most obvious of these was President George W. Bush's January 2004 call to end the Space Shuttle Program when ISS was completed, which at the time was scheduled for 2010. The 135th and last flight of the Shuttle, designated STS-135, concluded on July 21, 2011, with the landing of Atlantis in Florida. On August 16, 2011, Space Shuttle Program Manager John Shannon announced that the Shuttle Program would end officially on August 31, 2011.
"Using the Space Shuttle Columbia to Begin Bringing the Moon to America," Carey M. McCleskey; paper presented at the 33rd Space Congress in Cocoa Beach, Florida, April 23-26, 1996.
"Preserving the steam locomotive legacy...and more..on film"
September 2011 Edition.
Front Page PFT/TSP = Patrimoine Ferroviaire et Tourisme / Toerisme en Spoorpatrimonium (Belgium) PFT/TSP 26.101 is former PMPPW Ty2 3554 (Poland) (C) Marc Petit
Contents: Welcome..and site news(Steam Tube Documentaries) SteamTube Photographic Highlights Steam Tube Video Highlights On This Day In This Month In Railway History Around the World in 80 Railways . No 16: Hanoi to Saigon Surreal Journey-Dick Bodily HS1-The Journey (C)"RLE Arup, Bechtel, Halcrow Systra/NCE" Christian Wolmar's August newsletter Fanfare for The Settle and Carlisle Railway(Butterflyfilmsltd) Men of Iron ( Windfall Films for Channel 4 TV) Monster Moves (demandfive on YouTube) 2 Stanier 8Fs repatriated to UK Software Rview- Dick Bodily- ---‘British Railways Steam Locomotive Sheds & Allocations’ (Engine Shed Society) Diesel - Steam - Electric! Northern Europe DE FR UK EE LV, August 2 - 13 2011
------------------------------------------ Welcome...and site news editorial It is a pleasure to welcome you all to this September 2011 edition of "On Shed", the monthly magazine of "Steam Tube- The Home of Steam on the net". We are pleased to have 661 members..a special welcome to those of you who have joined us in the last month........14,065 photographic images, and 3,115 videos.....(As a reminder, please be aware of copyright issues....only upload material that you are responsible for, or where permission has been granted...Otherwise, if in doubt, leave it out. Thank you.)
You will notice that TFC is constantly working at keeping the site fresh and interesting.... Steam Tube TV is one recent addition ...
The Steam Tube TV is a place for you to show us your up-to-date videos of recent steam action in your area! Keep it fresh, keep it up-to-date and recent! The material will be removed after a few days to keep it current - please make sure you keep adding your latest work!
We have been impressed with the quality of material being uploaded to Steam Tube, and are grateful to our regular contributors for keeping us well informed on mainline steam runnings and heritage railways' galas and regular activities.Thank you. With that in mind, Steam Tube Documentaries is another opportunity to tell a story, or retell history of say , a locomotive, or a heritage line.... Here is one such example uploaded by Richard Camp.. A short Railway documentary exploring why steam engines appeal to so many people and how they quickly vanished from the railways but made a strong return
Steam Tube would welcome more documentaries in the future......maybe we will have a competition... You can access this channel from the Home Page..."Get a Steam Tube Channel"...this leads to a group of channels including "The Steam Room...Steam talk for Grown-Ups",Steam Tube TV, and the Photographic Clinic
And don't forget The Railway Chronicle --------------------------------------------------------------------- On the subject of "putting something back", Malcolm Ranieri FRPS made these comments on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam railway website....... Photographers - what's their contribution? When agreeing to take part in 'Five minutes with…' Malcolm Ranieri who, of course, spends a lot of time photographing locomotives and railways, asked if he could respond to a comment made by Kevin Jarvis in his 'Five minutes with…' when he said that he begrudges the fact that photographers make large amounts of money out of photographing our locomotives and without necessarily putting anything back in. As Malcolm points out, that is certainly not true of all photographers but feels that is a misconception and he makes two points. Firstly, on the issue of making 'large amounts of money': "As a published photographer and author since 1985 in the railway and other transport press, I can disabuse Kevin straight away in that railway photography far from a lucrative business. Railway photography is enthusiast-driven and editors can (and do) pick and choose what they publish because there is a ready supply of pictures. Therefore payments are correspondingly lower than in other forms of journalism. They don't compare with a commission, for example, in magazines like 'Country Life'. A half page image in a railway magazine possibly pays up to £40 which would barely pay for the fuel for a trip to Scotland for instance! "Most are enthusiasts enjoy railway photography as a hobby and it's hard to begrudge them that! I accept there are a few who try to make money out of the hobby and don't put anything back, but that's not unique to railways. I wrote and illustrated the Halsgrove Publishing book on our railway not with a thought for profit but to celebrate and publicise the GWR and with the book now in its second year I have only just broken even - and that doesn't include the many hours spent putting it together, which was of course a labour of love. "It's a shame Kevin doesn't read the specialist magazines any more because there are some fine photographs in them (including the 37s on our railway). But I do assume he reads the 'Cornishman' and of course this website. Pictures are a vital part of both and appear with not a penny piece paid to the people who take them: they appear because the photographers want to support our wonderful railway." Malcolm now turns to the point…'without necessarily putting anything back in' which, he believes, is an unfair judgement. He says: "Once again I accept there are those who selfishly do not put anything back, but I believe they are far outweighed by those many enthusiast photographers who do. How does Kevin know photographers taking pictures of the 37s are not volunteers on other railways? Or shareholders; or travellers putting their hands in their pockets to support their favourite preserved lines? "I realise Kevin means those who have images published, so I'll discuss that. If I use our own railway as an example, I don't think anyone can dispute the fact that photographers like Tony Bowles, who has been a volunteer since day one; Paul Stratford, (Fireman and restoration engineer); myself, (Stationmaster); Jack Boskett (Admin team and diesel department); to say nothing of Ian Crowder (editor of this website and PR officer) or Steve Standbridge (The Cornishman) and many others give their images not just to the railway, but often reinvest any earnings they might get from the magazines into the railway. I have certainly given countless images to many railways for use on all sorts of publications and railway merchandise - postcards, mats, mugs: you name it! "At the very top of the ladder in preservation, there are many enthusiast photographers who are now key figures in the movement. For example David Williams, chairman of the Severn Valley Railway; Michael Whitehouse, chairman of the Birmingham Railway Museum at Tyseley (and at Festiniog/Welsh Highland) and of course, his father Patrick before him; Richard Jones, general manager of Bodmin & Wenford Railway; John Hunt, prolific photographer from steam days and now chairman of NELPG. All were notable photographers before becoming more deeply involved. I do hope Kevin is not inferring that such luminaries are not putting anything back in to preservation! "Of course, generalisations are wonderful things and we all use them. But often they don't stand scrutiny and I hope Kevin doesn't mind my making these points on behalf of the railway photographers who are such a vital part of the railway movement."
You can read this interview with Ian Crowder HERE --------------------------------------------------- Foremarke Hall photo shoot possibility. As of this writing, we are still awaiting a figure for a potential photo shoot at the GWSR with Foremarke Hall as the performing locomotive. Of course, numbers will play a big part as to this being feasible. So, the more, the merrier..and cheaper per person. In the event of small numbers, the other option is for lineside passes for a particular day........ ------------------------------------
Calendar entries...are still arriving...! The cut off date is 30th September 2011.
Our proposed book "Steam Tube 2012" needs entries....so, please feel free to nominate your preferred entries for possible inclusion in such a book.
In the meantime, enjoy this month's edition of "On Shed", the monthly online magazine of "Steam Tube (TM) - The Home of Steam on the Net"
Peter S Lewis (Shedmaster) --------------------------------------
SteamTube Photographic Highlights
Steam Tube Video Highlights
On This Day In This Month In Railway History September 01/09/1905 The Witham (Essex) rail crash in England kills 11.
04/09/1905 William Dean , CME of the GWR (1877-1902) born 1840
07/09/1962 Last 'Cornishman' express ran over the Stratford-upon-Avon to Cheltenham route: this and other express trains were re-routed via the Birmingham - Gloucester line. The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway operates over the section of line previously used when The Cornishman train ran in its heyday. Currently the GWSR is coping with the effects of two serious landslips. Please support the Emergency Fund so that the railway can recover from these setbacks, and move on with its ambitious plans to get to Broadway, and , who knows, to Honeybourne in the future.
15/09/1830 The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened. During the ceremony, William Huskisson MP, became the first person to be killed by a train. The 'Rocket 150' event held at Rainhill in 1980 marked the 150th anniversary of the world's first inter-city railway and the Stephensons' legendary Rocket locomotive. Go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/steamtrains/7305.shtml
17/09/1909 Beyer, Peacock and Company of Manchester, England, steam the first Garratt articulated steam locomotive, built to the design of Herbert William Garratt.K Class No. K1 for the Tasmanian Government Railways' North East Dundas Railway. (MOSI is pulling out all the stops for the 100th birthday celebrations of one of Manchester’s most famous steam locomotives. It is taking the K1, the first Beyer-Garratt produced by the Beyer, Peacock company, back to its birthplace in Gorton, Manchester, on August 17 to celebrate 100 years since it first steamed off the production line. The anniversary has special resonance as the town of Gorton is also celebrating 100 years since it became part of Manchester, through its Gorton 100 celebrations.) The World's First Garratt
19/09/1882 Oliver Bulleid, CME , Southern Railways (1937-48) born in New Zealand (d 1970) At Nine Elms MPD
19/09/1906 14 die as a result of the Grantham rail accident on the Great Northern Railway, when a sleeping car train is derailed passing through Grantham statiopn at excessive speed. The Official Report
25/09/1913 Death of Herbert William Garratt, English steam locomotive builder and inventor of the Garratt locomotive type. (b 1864)
27/09/1825 The Stockton Darlington Railway opened. It was the first passenger rail service, the steam locomotive travelled at 10mph. Opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway c1825 painted in the 1880s by John Dobbin, . The image shows crowds watching a train on the bridge over the River Skerne in Darlington
27/09/1919 September 27 to October 6..Railway workers in the United Kingdom stage a strike, called by the National Union of Railwaymen.
During the First World War the cost of living increased rapidly. Fron July 1914 to September 1915, for example, food prices rose 37%. For the duration of the War the government was in control of the railways. Wages were increased, but at a slower rate than the risin in the cost of living. NUR and ASLEF responded jointly and forced the Board of Trade to award wage increases in September 1916 and April 1917. In March 1919 the coalition government indicated that it intended to review the War Wage, with a view to reducing it at the end of the year. The NUR and ASLEF started a second national railway strike in September 1919, which in nine days won both a change in pay policy and the reduction of the working day to eight hours.(Wikipedia)
28/09/1928 3rd class sleeping cars introduced on those British railways providing such a service.
28/09/1883 Formal opening of first electrified section of Giant's Causeway Tramway in Ireland, utilising hydroelectricity.
========= Around The World in 80 Railways. 16: Hanoi to Saigon
Total journey between these two cities is 1,070 miles, and according to the timetable, the southwards route to Saigon will take around a day and a half, depending on train type travelled. Trains between Hanoi & Saigon are sometimes referred to as the 'Reunification Express' by guide books or tourist agencies. However, there are now many trains on this route and no single train officially carries this name. Between Hanoi and Saigon the scenery is amazing. Easily the best section is between Hué and Danang over the Hai Van Pass, where the train runs along the coast past bays and islands and through the hills. The fierce gradients slow the train down, necessitating an assisting locomotive at the rear. Introduction to a railway-themed tour being hosted by Scott McGregor around Vietnam in 2010, organised by renaissance tours, Sydney Australia.
Railway crossing on the north side of the Hai Van Pass DirtyPierreonTour on YouTube)
(satsumannoyaji on YouTube)
Next : Saigon to ??
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Surreal Journey
Some time back in the summer holidays of 1961 I went camping on the Isle of Man as a boy scout with our local troop. The journeys to and from the island involved many changes of transport and not just a little excitement and adventure, as well as quite a bit of rail interest. The whole experience of the two journeys still seems dreamlike and unreal to me half a century on, not least because on both occasions I had been deprived of sleep for twenty four hours beforehand, but also because of the weird things that happened on the way. My mate’s dad dropped off the two of us and our ex-army kitbags at the local coach company’s yard in the next village at about twenty minutes to midnight. He didn’t wait to see us off, Dad’s generally didn’t make much fuss of their kids in 1961 and he seemed confident that the coach would be leaving from there even though we had been told to meet it at Towcester, probably he was keen to get home and get some shut eye himself. Shortly after the proprietor cum driver appeared with a torch and asked us what we thought we were doing in his yard late at night, then noticing our uniforms he added , “Well, you better get on board then’. We had quite a wait for our train at Northampton Castle and I watched a whole procession of freights head south through the station. Most were 8F or Black 5 hauled, some of them double headers. Their numbers were difficult to read in the inadequate platform lighting on a cloudy night but a warm glow emitted from each of their fireboxes and their drivers and firemen made cheery remarks to we children waiting there. A whistling hum out of the darkness from the always gloomy and at the best of times smoky cavernous West Bridge announced the arrival of our English Electric Type 4 (later to become Class 40) hauled train, an over night Euston – Crewe slow parcels and mail train with a few coaches at the rear. The journey to Crewe took over 5 hours, we spent far more time standing at stations than we did travelling and between stops we rattled along at very respectable pace! Very long stops were taken at Coventry, New Street, Wolverhampton High Level and Stafford. At New Street some of the scouts who had money to spare actually had to time to go to the all night cafe and get a meal. I contented myself my by getting off and watching the parcels, newpapers and mail being loaded and unloaded to and from our train’s vans. I decided to eat the lunch that mum had packed for me to have much later that day, not a good idea in view of what was to happen that day as I was to find to my cost later. Wolverhampton produced tantalising views of GWR locos in the lamplight of the Low Level Station below. Passing above Stafford Road shed I caught glimpses of Castles and an immaculate double chimneyed King caught in the shed lights. Many of my fellow scouts collected engine numbers too and were frustrated that they couldn’t read their numbers. I made a tactless remark (see I haven’t changed much since!!) that I didn’t need any of the Kings and almost certainly I didn’t need any of the Castles either. Unlike the rest of their villages and towns, our village had a bus connection to Banbury, where I did most of my spotting. I also used to spend a week most summers at Swindon as I had an uncle there, not to mention travelling by rail to holidays in Cornwall, so my GWR list was envied by most spotters present. Approaching Stafford it became much lighter and I was craning back against the window so that I could read the smokebox numbers of oncoming steam engines. My mate who wasn’t at all interested in trains was fascinated at how I could do this. He had a go and complained that he could only get the first two digits of the number. “You’re having me on, you’re making them up”, he accused me. “ Well you see, I’ve got a bl***y better eyesight than you have,” I helpfully explained. I didn’t tell him that I was only managed to read the LAST TWO digits of the said loco, a Patriot, knowing that the first three digits had to be 455. Scots , Stanier Pacifics and Brits were equally easy using the same method. Mind you, Jubilees were harder as you had to read the last three, Black 5 were harder still as you needed the last four and hardest of all were rebuilt Patriots, as at first sight you thought they were Scots and only went for the last two digits and when you noticed the two 5 digits you tended to panic and forget what the last two were . Allen Reed's film of East Lancs Railway c1995 includes LMS Jubilee Class 4-6-0 No.45596 'Bahamas'
We arrived at Crewe at about 6am and were immediately ushered into a station cafe where we breakfasted on corn flakes followed by delicious eggs and bacon. There was over an hour’s wait before our train to Liverpool departed. As I had a good vantage point where I was and not wanting to leave my kitbag unattended, I didn’t follow the rest of still annoyed from Wolverhampton spotter fraternity and go for a tour of the platforms, they returned later claiming that they had seen brilliant locos that I hadn’t seen and weren’t prepared to tell me where or what they were! I wasn’t too bothered as unseen by them while I had sat there an immaculate green Jubilee fitted with a double chimney appeared light engine and rapidly departed. There was no mention of a double chimneyed ‘Jub’ in my ABC Combined and it was in fact the recently converted ‘Bahamas’ which is still with us preserved. Most of the namers seen were unfamiliar ‘Jubilees’, while countless Black 5s and 8Fs were spotted and ‘Jinty’ tanks seemed to be scuttling about every where. Of course most of the expresses were Type 4 diesel hauled so I didn’t see many Pacifics. It was soon time to head for our train, a ‘Jubilee’ hauled Crewe – Liverpool Lime Street local. Arriving at the platform I saw for myself the brilliant locos that the others had tried to keep from me, in an adjoining bay stood a brace of the brand new AC Electric locomotives that were already working some trains to and from Manchester Piccadilly. Although they were electrics I had to admit to my slightly peeved colleagues that they looked fantastic in their Electric Blue livery with white cab roofs and stainless steel raised numbers.
Pulling out of Crewe we spied an old L&YR saddletank, its identity hidden from view by a low wall. Runcorn Bridge and the Manchester Ship Canal were eagerly looked out for. All too soon we were racing through the outskirts of Liverpool, rushing past Edge Hill shed where unidentifiable Coronation and Princess Pacifics stood high above our train, slowing through the deep stone walled cuttings and short tunnels and then we were into Lime Street. With indecent haste we were whisked through the hustle and bustle of the great terminus and straight onto a double decker bus which had been hired to take us to the pierhead.
Our ferry was one of the original Isle of Man Steam Packet boat Company steamers, I think it was ‘Lady of Man’. To me who had never seen close up anything much bigger than trawler it looked large yet strangely antiquated with its tall smoking chimney. The crew looked to me more like fishermen than sailors in their washed out well worn faded blue uniforms of woollen jumpers and cotton trousers. We were fascinated to watch a workman in an old fashioned diving suit complete with attached air pipe submerge to work on a nearby dock wall as we awaited departure time. I was about to set off on my first sea voyage and although I had stayed awake all night for the first time in my life and hadn’t slept at all for well over 24 hours there was no way I was going to miss this experience. One of the scouts soon found that from one of the decks you could get a close up view of the captain of the ship and the coxswain steering the ship. We had not travelled far and were watching these proceedings when suddenly the crew seemed agitated after receiving some message. We realised that something was seriously amiss when the ship began to turn in a tight circle churning up mud from the mouth of the Mersey. Then we headed back at ‘full steam’ towards Liverpool. We asked one of the sailors what was going on. “We have to go back to Liverpool to pick up a VIP,” he replied. “Then why are you taking the covers off the lifeboats?” asked one of my mates. There was no reply. Steaming at full speed and at well over the speed limit for the estuary, up the Mersey we sent a huge wake washing against the shores on either side. The ship’s hooter was being frequently used to warn other ships, including the Birkenhead Ferry which scuttled out of our way, its crew making agitated hand signals to ours. As we eventually slowed to dock at the pierhead, I noticed men in trilbies and white raincoats looking just like what I’d have expected detectives to look like, standing around trying to look inconspicuous. Then a high ranking uniformed police officer, carrying what looked like a ceremonial baton, marched at the head of about fifty police officers down to meet our ferry. We were hustled off the boat at breakneck speed and taken to a huge custom building where we were told that we were under no account to leave, police constables were positioned at each exit. No one knew what was happening and the police would not tell us. We were kept there for two or three hours, then told that we could reboard the ferry and continue our journey. Morning had turned into afternoon and I was already needing my long consumed pack lunch. We were naturally apprehensive about getting on board but our scoutmaster produced a policeman who explained that there had been a bomb scare, that the man responsible for the hoax 999 call had been apprehended was well known to the police as ‘a bit of a nutter’ and had admitted his guilt, claiming that he had done it in as a protest against the nuclear arms race, a protest that was disowned as totally irresponsible by the CND. Furthermore the policeman reassured us that the whole ship had been searched from top to bottom as an extra precaution. Meanwhile our scout troop had appeared on the national TV news hurrying off the ferry as the hoax had made national headlines. A neighbour who had watched this was able to kindly inform my mother that he had spotted me on TV leaving the ferry and that we were safe and sound, she hadn’t seen the news. Some of the lads tried to get some sleep below deck but as for me the adrenaline had kicked and I was strangely wide awake yet at the same time felt as though I was in a trance. I remember trying to convince myself that it was all a dream. The rest of the journey passed relatively uneventful. I stayed on deck and watched one of the ferry’s cooks very gradually tip a giant bin of leftover food over the rounded stern of the boat. Immediately petrels appeared from nowhere and began feeding on the leftovers. I also saw larger seabirds which I now know were shearwaters, but best of all a largish whale was spotted. Eventually the soon to be familiar form of Snaefell began to rise above the horizon, gradually the buildings of Douglas came into view. As we approached the island seemed to me to take on a magical quality, no doubt induced by my lack of rest and sustenance and the earlier excitement.
Now, on landing ashore I was really feeling confused as a result of the combined pangs of hunger and effects of sleep loss, so nothing surprised me when we discovered that our transport to our campsite was not by coach or bus but by a fleet of Bedford tipper trucks of the kind usually used for conveying road materials! We loaded our kit into the tippers and then were told to climb aboard also into the actual tippers! By now I was too tired to care as we set off in the early evening along the Mountain route of the TT course towards Ramsey but in the opposite direction to that which the TT riders take. The driver of our Bedford, a wild looking young man with ginger hair and a ring in one ear, seemed to think that he was a TT rider. We were travelling much too fast and he would often knock it out of gear to coast down hills relying on his brakes alone, but I was past caring or too scared to be frightened! Mercifully we arrived at our campsite near a hamlet called Lewaigue in one piece and quickly pitched our tents. Senior scouts had meanwhile dug a hearth, erected a fire screen canopy , lit a fire and had already begun preparing supper. By the time we had drunk tea and consumed generous bowls of soup and thick buttered crusty bread it was nearly midnight. I don’t think that I have ever slept as well as on that night neither before nor since. (An Isle of Man selection) It rained most of the next morning so most of us wisely stayed in our tents as the driving rain so typical of Mona’s Isle battered down relentlessly. A couple of times I thought I could hear something that sounded like my distant long ago memories of the sound of London trams. Two lads who were cousins and who were always determined to make the best of things, ‘Moppy’ and ‘Gong’ by nickname, set off intrepidly to look for a bus to nearby Ramsey, They returned sooner than expected with Frank Sinatra style ‘Kiss me Quick’ trilby hats and a deck of cards, then proceeded to play a mysterious card game they called ‘Sh**house’ for coppers for much of the next fortnight. They did however inform us that they had been so quick because they had caught a tram just a few yards up the road and that there was a frequent service to and from Ramsey. As soon as it stopped raining we went to investigate this unlikely ’tram than was running through the middle of nowhere’ story. We came to an ungated level crossing where two railway tracks crossed the lane. A sign said ‘Lewaigue’ and there was a rudimentary corrugated ‘tin’ shelter too. Between the tracks stood smart green T- shaped gantries from which were suspended electric wires. The trackbed was quite deeply ballasted, more like a railway than any tramline that I could remember. The gauge looked less than standard, but more than narrow gauge, perhaps a metre wide. Then a strange vehicle was seen and heard heading towards us through the distant heat haze of what was turning into a fine afternoon. An immaculate vintage saloon style single decked tram pulled up. On its front was an headlight and its gold painted number. It was painted red and white with varnished teak panelling. Along its side was proudly proclaimed ‘Manx Electric Railway’, in ornate gold lettering, but its reversible trolley pole pickup betrayed the fact that it was a tram rather than a train. Behind it hauled a ‘toast rack’ open trailer which had reversible wooden bench seats. Its driver wore a smart red uniform overcoat and black train driver style cap. We boarded the trailer and soon discovered that it was equipped with wooden slatted roller blinds which could be slammed down when it rained. We were to use these trams most days over the next two weeks to travel to and from Ramsey and also as far as Laxey. Here we transferred to a differently styled tram, which took us past the Laxey Great Wheel and across the TT course near the Bungalow to the cloud enveloped summit of Snaefell.
There was still much poverty on the island in those days and one day we were surprised to catch two bare footed ragged children pilfering from our food tent. They explained that they were very hungry and apologised profusely. Rather than tell on them we invited them to join us at teatime each day and so had no more thefts. The night before we returned home, having packed our tents, we were allowed by the farmer to sleep in what turned out to be a rat infested barn, just next to the tramway. The pattering of tiny feet kept us awake all night. The next morning we discovered another reason for us sleeping there was that our scoutmaster had privately hired a tram pair to take us to Douglas before the normal services ran. The journey along the cliff near Laxey is breathtaking, especially from the ‘toastrack’ trailer. At Laxey we waited for a while by the green corrugated metal station building which had ‘Laxey’ painted in huge capitals on its roof and watched a single green Mountain Railway tram set off collecting its power by means of strange lyre shaped pantographs. As we approached Douglas the scenery changed frequently , sometimes the tram ran alongside roadways, sometimes it passed delightful wooded glens than ran down towards the sea. On alighting at Derby Castle, some way from the harbour, we were further delighted to discover that we were about to be transferred to horse trams that would take us to our ferryboat, this time a slightly more modern steam turbine packet boat named ‘Mona’s Isle’. A similar boat ‘Tynwald‘ was moored up nearby. The weather which had been fine for a week was on the turn, a storm was brewing up and our passage to Liverpool was rather rough. Many people on board were seasick but I didn’t seem to be affected and quite enjoyed the trip. We were told on arrival that the wind speed had been at times Force 8 and that no more ferries would be running until the coming storm abated. Back at Lime Street we had a bit of time to spare and I was able to spot some ’cops’. Among the trains admired and copped by most of other enthusiasts present among our party were the new nicely styled Swindon built Trans Pennine DMUs which had been introduced on the Lime Street to Hull services earlier that year. I thought it prudent not to mention the fact that I’d seen the first one leave Swindon Works on its delivery journey the previous summer. Strangely I can recall very little of the train return journey as I was not only tired but now suffering from delayed reaction sea sickness, although as it was in broad daylight all the way I was able to spot more engines en route. I have it in my head that we returned to Crewe on an electric multiple unit but that is unlikely as the power was not officially turned on I think until the following January. Perhaps someone reading this can provide accurate information as to when the first electrics ran from Liverpool to Crewe. The train beyond Crewe was definitely a dreaded Type 4 hauled express which went via Birmingham. What I will never forget though was that passing Monument Lane shed I saw the last three LMS Compounds standing forlornly in the shed yard and recently withdrawn. I’d always wanted to see one and never had, previously missing by seconds the Midland 1000 when it passed my village station on a railtour some months earlier, so that was the icing on the cake to an enjoyable holiday.
We left the train at Rugby to return by coach as our train was not going to Northampton. When we got back to Towcester, just about everyone’s parents including dads were unexpectedly there to meet us and all of them concerned about our safety after hearing of the bomb hoax on our outward journey and the stormy weather on our return passage.
RLE, the consortium of Arup, Bechtel, Halcrow and Systra has released “The Journey”, a unique engineering route map for High Speed 1. RLE has been responsible for the design and project management of HS1. Working on behalf of London Continental Railways, RLE represents the very best in engineering excellence.
Produced in association with the UK’s New Civil Engineer (NCE) magazine, The Journey takes you on an engineering voyage of discovery.
From 14 November 2007, it will take just two hours 15 minutes to get from London to Paris by train, after the second section of High Speed 1, opens. It will take a Eurostar train only 31 minutes to reach Folkestone from St Pancras, shaving 15 minutes off the journey time.
High Speed 1 (HS1) has been hailed by industry and Government as a magnificent engineering achievement and a beacon of technical excellence.
For the graphic of "The Journey" CLICK HERE Copyright rests with "RLE Arup, Bechtel, Halcrow Systra/NCE" ------------------------------------------------
Christian Wolmar's August newsletter A shorter newsletter than usual because its summer and quiet out there, as long as you are not near a riot zone. Certainly with hackgate, famine in Somalia and now London’s burning (my stepdaughter’s boyfriend’s bike shops was relieved of its 25 bikes yesterday), there is little space for transport issues, apart from the closure of the consultation on HS2 which attracted some attention. I have written about that in the latest Rail which will be on the site next month, as I picked holes in both the anti and pro cases. The argument does seem, at times, to degenerate into naked propaganda on both sides. While I am sceptical, to say the least, of the case for HS2, some of the arguments deployed against it are very narrowly focussed and nakedly anti-rail. And on the other hand, claims like HS2 will create one million jobs are fatuous nonsense with no analytical basis However, there is one important piece of news. As an experiment, a publisher, Kemsing, has put my book, Down the Tube, on the Public Private Partnership of the London Underground as a Kindle book on Amazon. Apart from slight updating and a new foreword – and correcting the error on the first page – it’s pretty much the text I wrote in 2002 which, euh, predicted the demise of the PPP. Re-reading it for this edition, I certainly found it relevant and, indeed, important. It was after all Gordon Brown’s second most costly mistake after messing up the economy through relying on his banker friends. The Kindle version is available for just £6 here If this works, I will put my book on rail privatisation, Broken Rails which is also out of print, on Kindle, too. Given the paucity of news, and the fact that I am in the final stages of writing my book on the US railroads – 95,000 words done, about 20,000 left – there are only the two Rail columns added to the site. The first welcome the new boss of the Office of Rail Regulation and suggests that ensuring its reports are written in comprehensible English would be a good start. The second argues that the opposition by the unions to vertical integration for Merseyrail might backfire. I am giving lots of talks in September and October, and there is now a calendar on my site. I am always happy to do these talks for railway societies and other groups, and I have PowerPoint presentations on all my books. Finally keep on clicking on the ads on the site. Every click helps pay for the site. Thanks , and have a good rest of the summer when the sun comes out.
Fanfare for The Settle and Carlisle Railway(Butterflyfilmsltd)
Peter Hine of Butterflyfilmsltd has kindly given "On Shed" permission to feature his tribute to the Settle and Carlisle Railway-Fanfare for The Settle and Carlisle Railway.
The film is a tribute to Graham Nuttall, the first Secretary of the Friends of the Settle - Carlisle Line. and his faithful Border Collie dog Ruswarp . Read the moving story here
Now, enjoy the film...
We shall look forward to the next film on the S & C, Peter. Thank you.
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Men of Iron ( Windfall Films)
This is the Windfall Film's description of this 2004 series of 3 times 50 minute programmes for Channel 4..
The Series
"They change the British landscape at will, and accelerate every aspect of life. One man emerges as a true colossus among them – although he is only 5ft 3. Isambard Kingdom Brunel has an insatiable desire to build things that other engineers claim are impossible.
Episode One looks at rivalries
Episode 2 charts the GWR progress and bridge building Episode 3 The final part reviewing the generation of Victorian engineers
Brunel is not just an engineering genius, he is also a showman - flamboyant, arrogant and filled with a fiery temper.
The other giant in the engineering world is Scotsman Robert Stephenson - who couldn't be more different: meticulous, careful and by the book.
Their story is one of friendship and intense professional rivalry - and when it ends they will have changed the world forever.
The series includes interviews with , amongst others, Adrian Vaughan , respected railway writer and author of works on I.K.Brunel..
----------------------------------------------------------------- Monster Moves (demandfive on YouTube) Two Stanier 8Fs Repatriated to UK from Turkey This film looks at the repatriation of two Stanier 8Fs (Churchills) from Turkey. The difficulties involved, and the trials and tribulations in carrying out the rescue of these two locomotives is shown. But optimism wins the day...!
A simple idea but a brilliant one. All the known allocations of every steam loco that ever ran in BR days have been recorded by the’ Engine Shed Society’ on a series of 4 Microsoft ‘Excel’ spreadsheets and put onto one disk. In addition there are two separate spreadsheets listing all the steam shed codes used by BR, listed both by shedcode ( ie. beginning with 1A) and by shed name alphabetically.
In the 4 loco spreadsheets, one for each of the ‘Big Four’ (with BR Standards lumped in with the ex-Southern Railway locos), the locos are listed numerically in the first column. Moving to the right across the spreadsheet, other columns list allocations and dates, followed by the approximate withdrawal date and finally the loco’s engine class. For instance, I wanted to find out if my suspicions were justified that the 18A shedplate carried is an inappropriate shedcode to be on the preserved Stanier 8F No 48305. By scrolling down to the loco’s number on the ex LMS spreadsheet I discovered that when BR was formed it was shedded at Wellingborough, then followed a lengthy stay at Northampton (when I used to see it on the SMJ), later becoming a Crewe South engine, then on to Northwich and finishing up at Speke Junction. I was able to double check that none of these sheds ever carried a 18A code by looking at the shedcode spreadsheet. So probably not appropriate for it to be masquerading as a Toton loco then! Unless it was there in LMS days, mind you it wouldn’t have had a BR number and livery then.
The shed code and name spread sheets give full details of changes to shed’s shedcode with dates and also list final shed closure dates.
You might already have the excellent ‘Shed by Shed’ series of books which are indispensible for looking up a particular shed’s locos and might wonder why buy this package? Well, as already described this lets you easily follow the progress of any given loco from shed to shed something that the various books published can’t let you do so easily. Also this goes back to 1948 not just 1950. But the main reason I’d give is value for money, the disk only costs £8 inc P&P!
So I’ll keep my ‘Shed by Shed’ books handy when I want to look up the classes and engines that were allocated to my local sheds, but use this to discover where they were allocated before and after. In fact I think I will use this for most loco allocation enquiries.
You’ll need Microsoft ‘Excel’ to use the spreadsheets. I should imagine, although I haven’t tried it, that it’s quite easy to accidentally alter the spreadsheets but this shouldn’t happen providing you don’t click on a cell when viewing, and move up and down or across with the arrows and slidebars. Whenever I leave the ex- SR spreadsheet I get a message asking if I want to save the changes to the spreadsheet to which of course it’s important to click on ‘NO’. I’ve downloaded it onto my hard drive so that I don’t have to keep loading the CD disk and the whole package only takes up less than 4Mb of memory, less than a single quality J-peg image! To read the short notes and instructions you’ll need Microsoft ‘Word’ also but I would say these are not essential. I’m no computer expert but I can’t see why you can’t just use ‘Excel’ to access the spreadsheets without needing ‘Word’
To get your copy send a cheque for £8 to the ‘Engine Shed Society’, c/o Harry Maeers,160 Dorchester Way, Clifford Park, Walsgrave, Coventry, CV22LU.
By the way I’m not a member of The Engine Shed Society (if I was the package would only cost me £6!) and have no financial or other interest in this project. It’s just that I’ve found it to be an excellent piece of software and thought other members of the Steam Tube website might like to know about it.
(C) Dick Bodily ----------------------------------------------------- A Film from Roni In the early days of Steam Tube (TM), one of our most prolific contributors was Roni Roni has uploaded 338 images and 101 videos to Steam Tube.It would be true to say that Roni has railways in his blood!! The quality of his work has been a source of constant delight to us , and I daresay that the quality he produces is what most of us would aspire to! It becomes apparent that Roni's work is not accidental, but the preparation he undertakes is self evident...locations, times, details of trains and locations..and so on. Most of us have learned quite a lot from his work, I am sure. Well, being a busy person, Roni forgets to sometimes upload to Steam Tube...perhaps its because his work often includes all types of locomotive traction... So, as an extra delight for this edition of On Shed, we are pleased to include .. Diesel - Steam - Electric! Northern Europe DE FR UK EE LV, August 2 - 13 2011
Thank you, Roni!
----------------------------------------------------------- Till next month......
Soon after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, the U.S. Air Force launched "Lunar Observatory" and "Strategic Lunar System" studies. The sky no longer seemed the limit for Air Force pilots. On October 1, 1958, however, the civilian National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) opened for business and began work on Project Mercury, the U.S. project to launch a man into space. Piloted spaceflight was seen by many in government as a one-off stunt for garnering Cold War prestige. The job went to NASA mainly so that it would not interfere with more consequential Defense Department space projects, such as development of intercontinental ballistic missiles and surveillance satellites. 
Episode One looks at rivalries
Episode 2 charts the GWR progress and bridge building
Episode 3 The final part reviewing the generation of Victorian engineers
