Re: R711 lifts safety valves today!

["Darren Yates" <dyates@pnc.com.au>]

Haven't they installed some South African improvement, along the lines of
the Giesel system on NSWGR's 3616?
-----------------
Cheers,
Darren Yates
Firebox recordings [http://www.firebox.bluemountains.net.au]

David A. wrote in message <362fb4c0.85705798@news.mira.net.au>...
>On Thu, 22 Oct 1998 18:33:10 +1000, steam4me@enternet.com.au (Yuri J
>Sos) wrote:
>
>>The wonderful, wonderful sound of the lifting of the safety valves
>>this afternoon at Ballarat East and the roar of the oil burner in the
>>firebox heralded the return of R711 to the land of the living.
>>
>>This distinctive locomotive was due to move under its own power for
><snip>
>
>and distinctive is the word ... what have they done to the chimney ???
>The twin exhaust setup looks totally bizarre !  The front one is
>pointing forwards ... I can't see how this is going to help with
>dispersing the exhaust, but I don't have any details on what they are
>trying to do or how it benefits the efficiency of the loco.  Perhaps
>they can switch bewtween exhausts for forward and reverse running ?
>
>The rectangular sand dome lacks the elegance of the original also,
>although it no doubt has a higher capacity.  Perhaps this will avoid
>things like the total stall suffered by 766 on Easter Monday this
>year.  Is the steam dome cover going to be separate or faired into the
>steam dome ?  One last obvious question; any word yet on what colour
>it is going to be ?
>
>It's going to take a bit of getting used to the appearance, but full
>marks to WCR for bringing 711 into the 90s.  This isn't preservation
>we're talking about here, in that sense it is no longer a VR R class.
>It's appropriate that Steamrail keep theirs looking original so we can
>see the Rs the way they were.  If your going to have steam traction in
>front line service it might as well be as efficient as you can make
>it.
>
>PBRs NAs have various mods to make them more user friendly whilst
>still looking original.  Extra lubricators, steam sanding gear in some
>cases, modern grease nipples and welded, fibre glass lined tanks with
>glued on rivets !  But boy have they got a great sound for such a
>small engine !  It will be interesting to see how 711s exhaust sounds
>after all the tweaking.  A sharp exhaust sound isn't necessarily
>consistant with high efficiency, even though it sounds better IMO.
>
>Cheers, David A.
>Opinions expressed are mine and mine alone !
>David A. | Woodend, Australia