Atomic Systems

The benefits are obvious but with this rapid re engining of the Power Cars i wonder if anyone has given thought to preserving 1, or two of the original velenta 43's before they all get re-engined & the scream will pass into history?

Grand Central are having some HST's and have not mentioned MTUing them. as i got told with the DRS 37 modification's its either you accept and keep them on the mainline for another 15 - 20 year's or loose them for good.

Couldn't you buy a few old Valentas and replace the MTUs in preservation? Given the difference in age between the bodies and engines I wouldn't be surprised if the manufacturer was willing to take back the MTUs in return for a lower sale price.

John

Or get one from Oz - don't the Aussie HSTs (XPT) still have Valentas?

The Aussie HST has a variation of the Valenta hell some still have the old ruston Paxman now they were a screamer.

Serious modifications would be needed as all the Aussies HST's were built in NSW under contract for BREL and because of the different climate the engines had to undergo a modification with basically made them sound nothing like a British beast.

There's not much chance of any Valenta PCs not being re-engined. It's not likely that you could drop a valenta into an MTU engined PC anyhow, as many other changes are being made. Not sure about the VP185 engined PCs though.

Well, either way, surplus Valentas should be rather high on aspiring preservationists' shopping list about now.... talking of which, are they being scrapped or sold off to poorer countries?

There's many valentas in non-rail applications. I think some Tanks used them. I imagine that as these engines have been worked hard for the best part of 30 years, there's not much residual value to be had from selling them on, so I expect they are being turned into baked bean tins and razorblades.

You know how they're proposing to print health warnings of food packaging, I wonder how many baked beans they'd sell if it had 'This was a diesel engine for 30 years' printed on the side

John

All Aussie powercars have been reengined.

Only FGW and GNER are doing the MTU thing, and I don't think all FGW powercars are, just the majority. Also, don't forget all the stored ones....

cheers

jo

they will all be done. The valenta although its no more than 10 - 15 years old itself has started to show its age and with the goverment and there wil we wont we attitude to a new HST the MTU engineering has slowed down the HST2 project because MTU are proving more reliable than the valenta's.

They are doing the stored ones first because it's easier than taking one or 2 out of traffic to go through the process. Once all the Stored HST's come out they can then concentrate on the ones already in service.

allypally wrote:All Aussie powercars have been reengined.

Don't they have Paxmans replacement for the Valantea, the vp185 in them rather than MTU's.
Tim

Forgive my ignorance but what do the MML PCs have.



JR

Valentas