Re: Superpower 2014 gala on the Welsh Highland Railway (video)

K1 is at the end of its ten year boiler ticket and it's thought that fairly major work may be required.

In addition, it's bogies are very short wheelbase and can hunt (oscillate) considerably at full throttle with consequent quite dire effects on the track. It's also a compound with the front cylinders fed from the rear which demands a special driving technique and there are other fairly special driving techniques. That said, it has been much more successful as a coal burner than it was as an oil burner.

As a footnote, FWHR volunteers at one time collected waste engine oil from garages but changes in Government Regulations meant that waste oil now has to be treated as 'special waste' which renders the whole operation impossible.

Bob Gartside