On 3rd April, we started work in Coleham Yard, Shrewsbury, to prepare for the ETCS integration testing on the Cambrian. This testing was the culmination of more than four years work on the Heritage ETCS project, and it is over 22 years since the first discussions were held between the Trust and Network Rail regarding the possible fitting of ETCS to steam locomotives. The Trust’s primary role during the testing was to support the whole project team by providing a reliable locomotive, a comfortable coach and an ‘always on’ ETCS power supply to support the test programme. All the testing was carried out overnight, so it didn’t affect operations on the railway. We worked under the terms of a Special Protection Zone (SPZ), which gave us full use of the line with no other movements permitted.
Work commenced by taking the locomotive out of Dormant Mode and booting-up the ETCS equipment to check that all was operating correctly. We also tested the ETCS power supply feed from the coach for the first time, and this worked correctly, supplying sufficient power to charge the batteries and power ETCS on a continuous basis. This was very convenient in the yard at Coleham, avoiding the need for an additional mains cable across the site to feed the Shore Power Supply. We then supported the Hitachi team in preparing for the first night of testing, which commenced late in the evening on 7th April, with the run itself taking place early in the morning of the 8th.
The testing went well for a first run, with communications established to the Radio Block Centre (RBC) at Machynlleth, ETCS Movement Authorities received and acted upon, and a number of ETCS-initiated brake applications made. We steamed from Coleham to Welshpool, ran round and then came back. Graeme Bunker-James fired the locomotive throughout, as he did on all the remaining test runs. On the Trust’s side, we tested our turbogens’ ability to power ETCS and keep the batteries fully charged throughout the test with no issues reported. In addition, our driver, John Rogers of WCR, reported that he was very happy with the cab instrument lighting, which gave him an appropriate amount of light to see all the controls whilst not impeding visibility of the ETCS Driver Machine Interfaces (DMIs).
Our current and voltage logging meters worked well, taking readings every two seconds as planned. These were downloaded over Bluetooth and input to a spreadsheet to calculate the consumed power throughout the testing. Graphs were plotted of power consumed and the performance was confirmed as being comfortably within the expected levels at all times. This was a very good result.
For the second night of testing, on 8th-9th April, John Rogers decided to take us over the full length of our permitted route to Newtown. Once again, the locomotive and all our electrical systems performed according to our design without any issues being reported.
Having had a bit of time to rest over the weekend, we prepared for the second week of testing. This consisted of two nights of running, 14th-15th and 15th-16th April. With confidence in the system growing, John Rogers was able to increase operating speeds towards the maxima permitted in each direction, and all systems performed very well again on both runs. On the final return run to Coleham, we turned off the turbogen input to the ETCS supply to test the system’s ability to operate on batteries alone (at low speeds) and powered by the ADA (at speeds above about 23mph). This also worked without any issues. Our voltage and current loggers recorded the whole trip and we were able to see the ADA coming online to charge the batteries and supply the ETCS load as we had designed it to do. This completed our ETCS power supply test plan for the Cambrian.
As far as we could determine from these four nights of running, our systems are doing what we designed them to do. We now need to see them operate over future test periods to confirm that they are able to withstand the harsh environment on the A1 and provide the reliable source of power that we need for the long term.
In terms of the ETCS equipment, the tests carried out involved a wide range of operating scenarios. The testing was successful in proving that the locomotive could be fitted and driven safely using the ETCS system in the harsh environment of a steam locomotive footplate. Network Rail will now be leading the team in analysing all the results and learnings gained from the programme so far.
Following completion of testing on 16th April we placed the locomotive in Dormant Mode, with all the ETCS equipment isolated, in preparation for its return to the main line. We now look forward to getting back to day-to-day operations for our electrical systems. We shall keep a careful eye on everything, especially all the new equipment and wiring which was installed during the overhaul, where ‘early life’ failures may still occur.