Channel 4 – Scrapheap Challenge 2004 – Challenges – Scrapheap Mega Challenge: The Locomotives Special

A-Z
Sitemap



	TEXT ONLY \| CREDITS \| APPLY FOR SCRAPHEAP 2005

	[an error occurred while processing this directive]

The Locomotives Special

The delighted Clagsters celebrate their steam-powered victory

Blackened by their coal-fed steam locomotive, The Clagsters strike a victory pose

Result

Going loco

After a monumental 20-hour build, with some serious scavenging and brilliant bodging, our three teams made it to the start line and their first test. Each team was to pull a 30-tonne passenger carriage down our half-mile test track.

The Nutcrackers were up first with an electric-powered bogey using an engine from an old airport baggage cart. Brimming with confidence, they started slowly, taking the strain. Soon they picked up pace and reached their maximum speed which they held to the finish line.

Diesel-heads In Training ran next but they started slowly and remained at a slow speed as they were worried they might break their drive pulley.

Finally, it was the turn of The Clagsters. Their boiler was burning red hot as they let go the clutch and pulled away. Starting slowly to get the carriage moving, they also got up to speed very quickly. With pistons flying and smoke billowing from their stack, they hurtled down our track recording exactly the same time as the electric Nutcrackers.

The runaway train

Having proven their pulling power, this celebration of 200 years of railways was to be decided by an out-and-out test of speed.

The Nutcrackers set a fast pace as they powered down the line, deafening the spectators with their noisy air horns.

Without having to worry about their weak link, the pulley, the unfettered In Training engine set out much faster and was quickly up to speed. The team raced down the track slightly slower than The Nutcrackers but were pleased to be performing far better than their first run.

That was until they went past the finish line and discovered their brakes had failed! No one knew when or where they would eventually stop as they disappeared down the track at full speed but they finally came to rest half a mile away on a bridge overlooking the A48.

A blast from the past

So could The Clagsters win it for the glory of the steam age? Could a machine built in 20 hours from bits of old scrap and a marine launch engine over 100 years old actually beat a modern motor?

As they crept up to the line in a cloud of steam and soot, captain Turbo shoved in a few extra pieces of coal for luck and they were off.

With smoke and steam belching out all over the machine, they powered down the track. Halfway down, the sun came out, bathing the odd-looking loco in sunshine. Was the spirit of the Cornish Giant Richard Trevithick himself actually looking down from on high?

As they sped across the finish line, the engine's pistons and the chain drive were just a blur. Robert looked at his stopwatch in disbelief.

200 years after the invention of the steam-powered railway locomotive, a steam loco bodged together out of scrap had won the day by the narrowest of margins. The Clagsters had won by just two seconds.