"Jinxed Units"

[crosscountry]

Why is it that some "sets" or individual loco's tend to be mechanically the same, but distinctly less reliable than all the others of their class.
I've noticed this a lot, with the Virgin '47's (Pride of Shrewsbury, I'm looking at you) and now with the Super Voyagers...(bloody 221109 Marco Polo)
Anyone know any other "jinxed" sets or locos?

[alisterbetts]

Definately! Ask any 50 enthusiast about 'Eagle', there was a long period when it just wouldn't go east of Salisbury, and often this is because control wouldnt let it as they knew the consequences.... (and if Dale's reading this, he will confirm it!).. several times I headed west behind 'Eagle' and a.n.other...... Another poor performer in the mid to late 1980s was power car 43027 which was frequently dragged over the banks. I remember once travelling on 'The Cornish Riveria Express' with 31320 xo TE on the front as far as Plymouth where the power car was changed (1985), and then the following year falling onto 45040 dragging same power car out of Leeds on 0616 to Cardiff... I have several other photos of this power car with 50s on the front. So, yes, some engines are jinxed, though in the case of Vermin Voyagers I would suggest it's because they're all cheap plastic rubbish, but I've said this all before havent I?

[bjdick]

It seems to happen with other modes of transport too.My original shipping company traded mainly between the UK and Burma,and their ships were designed for that service,tonnage\draught etc.
The company,and myself,was taken over by another,trading mainly to West Africa,and the ships being suitable for that service too,were assigned to that service.
One ship,in particular,on this new service,gave particular trouble,with multiple minor main engine,or auxiliary failures,sufficient to stop the ship,on a nearly daily basis.As the ship was trading on the Owners business,and not on charter,this failing was accepted,and became the norm.
Despite the efforts of the engineers,including myself,these problems continued over a few years.
I happened to be assigned to the ship,when it was sold to another company,and was asked if I would serve on it on its delivery voyage to Karachi,and its new owners.(Only myself and three other senior officers were in charge.two deck,two engineer)
We sailed from Holland to Karachi,and apart from a scheduled stop at Capetown for fuel,the ship ran faultlessly,a total of 31 days continuously,with not even a hint of the usual problems.
Upon our return,Head Office was also perplexed by this far better than "normal"passage result.
However we,the crew,reckoned the ship thought it was heading back to its old haunts,and just needed nudged gently to "port" to make Karachi,instead of Rangoon.

[dilflat]

I seem to remember that in the bad old days of the nationalised British Motor industry (at least there was a British motor industry), this phenomenon was known as the Monday morning/ Friday afternoon syndrome.
If you bought a new British car (which was frequently impossible due to them being on strike) you lived in the hope that you'd get a midweek one.
I guess the fact that ships and trains take a good deal longer to build than a morning or afternoon blows this theory out if the water.

I guess some trains, ships, cars etc are just g*ts.

Dave.

By the way, do you think the same thing happens with aeroplanes?

[markw]

I have to nominate the preserved Nunney Kettle as a complete lemon. Twice - not once but twice - it failed on railtours I was on, both being curtailed. It has failed on numerous occasions since. I will never ride behind that loco again.

[markw]

By the way, do you think the same thing happens with aeroplanes?

Yes, particularly when they are reaching the end of their life. Maersk UK had a small fleet of 1-11 500's I was lucky to fly on to Milan a few times - I was delayed half an hour on one trip and had a European Rent-a-Jet replacement substituted on another (G-AVMZ ex BEA - oh, like I was upset about getting another 1-11 to scratch) when if my records are correct G-AWYR went technical. Yet I had four trouble free flights on sister ship G-AWYS.

[AlanP46]

37429 Robert McAlpine / Concrete Bob [a.k.a] Concrete Blob! was well known for failing

There's also that 47/0 that BR had been warned would crash by a psychic - which they renumbered as 47399, and it went onto to crash in to a DMU killing the driver as predicted

Alan

[crosscountry]

Aren't there a consecutively numbered pair of HST power cars nicknamed the "terrible twins" because of their regular habit of going technical?

[snowcrashandy]

37429 Robert McAlpine / Concrete Bob [a.k.a] Concrete Blob! was well known for failing

There's also that 47/0 that BR had been warned would crash by a psychic - which they renumbered as 47399, and it went onto to crash in to a DMU killing the driver as predicted

Alan

It was 47216 renumbered to 47299...........

[alisterbetts]

.....used to be 43026 & 43027 - see my earlier post. Or, alternitavely, any pair of 31s......

[Goingnorth]

Yes many cars, trains, planes and ships are jinxed...as illustrated throughout history. Parts of ships and planes that have been 're-used' after crashes have known to be haunted. Several cases exist, such as the famous Florida everglades crash. Where parts of the plane were re-used and the 'new' plane was haunted by the old flight crew. Then there was the case of the 'Great Eastern' ship, which was jinxed. Later two skeletons were found in the hull, believed to have been welders that were accidentally 'sealed up' during construction.

Note also many vehicles that get involved with trains crashes, get involved in others! There are countless examples of that. For example the class forty that was involved in the 'Great train robbery' was involved in a crash on the WCML at Winsford. From the Southall coaches ending up at Ladbroke grove to the jinxed 91 on the ECML...The list goes on and on. Certain cars seem to be prone to failure too as do trains.

People also seem to be jinxed. Some people can do no wrong, whilst others can nothing ever goes right for!

[bjdick]

I can vouch to the "haunted" aspect,although otherwise everything else was fine.
When I was 4Th engineer,I sailed on a ship which was haunted.One evening,at sea,alone,except for an African greaser, on the 8-12 watch,whilst struggling to fix a refrigeration plant filter problem,I happened to notice a white boilersuited figure,walking away from me round machinery at the end of the flat I was working on.(Ships engineers wear white boiler suits).
I thought nothing of it at the time,except to think,"thanks for not helping mate".
When I got off at midnight,I reported to the Chief Engineer as normal.
Technically the 8-12 watch is the Chief Engineers watch,but traditionally,the 4Th engineer usually does the watch,with the Chief on-call,in case of big problems.
A Chief engineer usually visits,and inspects,his engine room,at any time day,or night,to see all is well,at least two or three times per day,but usually makes his presence known to the watchkeeper.
We would usually share a beer or so in this midnight summation of my watch.I enquired as to why on his visit that night,he hadn't bothered to assist,or even speak.It was if he had approached,changed his mind and departed.
His answer was that he had not been in the engineroom that night,but I was not the first to see such a thing in that engineroom.
It seems that some time previously a Chief Engineer had committed suicide,by putting his head between one of the upper piston yokes,and the cylinder jacket.It was an opposed piston diesel,where the upper pistons are in full view when running.They are also unguarded,so you can see problems,but not easy to get close to,due to handrails etc.
Others on that ship too witnessed this same figure from time to time.Many of them were people you wouldn't want to meet on a dark night yourself,but even they would go in "twos",to certain parts of the vessel,especially the empty "depassengerised" accomodation.

[AlanP46]

Virgin's terrible twins are 43013 and 43014 - both buffered (and buggered) examples! They were used in the ECML as DVTs, which is why they are so ....just worn out.

Alan

[yourdomingo]

i heard that D403 and 426 were pretty bad. on one occasion arriving at preston with 4 traction motors broken on 426 and 2 broken on 403.

426 was shabby all through it's life, i believe, and 403 was fairly laughable at times too.

[AlanP46]

I know 50046 was the most reliable at the end of it's career - mainly cos it was very low on engine hours. Ajax's power unit's in Evil Elgar now

Alan