Yes,the radius rod bent,i believe at Banbury,it was fixed during the same day amazingly but NR would not let it back onto the train. It now has/did have the Radius Rod from 5009 'Shrewsbury Castle'!
Here is a post made on Nat-pres by Tyseley Cheif Engineer Bob Meanley:
We are still looking into some aspects of the problem, so we would not wish to comment until we have reached a full conclusion and shared it with our operator West Coast Railway. Once we have done that we shall let you know what actually happened and why. One aspect of the day which has to be commented on is the teamwork that went on behind the scenes with Network Rail and West Coast. We managed to get Ray Churchill to turn up at Tyseley, by which time Dave Fisher had got back there from Oxford by Kami-taxi and collected the spare part and tools. They were all loaded in the back cab of 47773 and moved to Didcot in a path supplied at literally a moment's notice by Network Rail route control at Birmingham and Swindon. Once there hoards of GWS helpers descended to help or offer advice, and Roger Orchard made arrangements to open the centre specially so that the passengers had something to do until the 47 was able to take the train on to Bristol. The response from everyone at Didcot was phenomenal, with help, food, tea, and encouragement (well I think that's what they said!) freely given. I do however suspect that we didn't do much for GWS productivity on Saturday.
We managed to work through the afternoon to effect full repairs to 5043 but unfortunately the decision was made to return the train to Birmingham by diesel, although the engine was fit, and it was Monday before we were able to return as the exit from Didcot shed was blocked by a possession from late Saturday to 04.00 Monday. The return journey on Monday afternoon was completed without any problems, again on a path provided at short notice by Network Rail.
Not exactly the sort of day out you would choose, but a marvellous example of everybody in the industry working together, so thanks to Network Rail route control at Birmingham and Swindon; Andy Taylor and Pat Marshall at West Coast; Roger Orchard, Pete Gransden, Carl Buckingham and everyone else at Didcot, and to all of our crew as well.
Bob
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Many thanks to Bob for his input and this very detailed post which he was by no means forced to do!
Cheers,
Mark
