A cracking solution
AFTER problems emerged about a year ago with cracking on the Hitachi-built Class 800 fleet – which was later discovered on the company’s other Class 80x types and, to a lesser extent, on Classes 385 and 395 – a plan has been devised to fix the issue that led to mass cancellations of services and widespread disruption when first discovered. An in-depth report by the Office of Rail and Road (see page 6) found a prevalence of cracks close to the yaw damper bracket and anti-roll bar fixing points in the area where the load of the vehicle is transferred to the bogie. This fatigue cracking followed from the area experiencing greater loads than allowed for in the original design, with other factors possibly contributing to the stress. It is not yet known why these fatigue loads are higher than expected, but Hitachi is confident the proposed solution will prevent any further recurrences. In short, affected parts of the vehicles’ structure will be removed and replaced with a modified design, something that was first trialled on a GWR Class 802. Much of the work will be done at Eastleigh Works and, interestingly, it will also have to be done to the Avanti Class 805 and 807 sets that are still being built – although the new Class 810s for East Midlands Railway are not affected, as they have been designed with a different type of aluminium. The repair plan will take six years to complete – which sounds like a long time, but as there are more than 1700 vehicles to deal with, this means an average rate of roughly one vehicle day. Does purple reign? As can be seen in the main photo on our contents page, ‘West Country’ No. 34027 Taw Valley has been outshopped at the Severn Valley Railway in its striking new purple livery. It is certainly eye-catching, or at least hard to miss, but has also divided opinion. On the one hand, it is a magnificent tribute to Her Majesty The Queen in her platinum jubilee year, a regal colour for our longest serving monarch as she celebrates 70 years on the throne. This will be reinforced when the loco is temporarily renamed Elizabeth II in June to coincide with national celebrations. On the other hand, it is a non-authentic livery for a classic steam locomotive, which some might say messes with history and is disrespectful to the memory of the Southern Railway and British Railways’ steam era. In fact, purple has never really been a common choice for locomotive or carriage liveries, compared with say green or red for example, but it has had a growing place in the multi-coloured privatised era we are in now. But what do you think? We would very much like to hear your thoughts.