#failures — Public Fediverse posts

https://www.europesays.com/dk/201350/ Novartis, Novo Nordisk Heart Drug Failures Should Temper AI Hype — JournalArta Global #drug #ECONOMY #failures #FailuresShouldTemperAI #heart #Hype #Nordisk #Novartis #novo #NovoNordisk #NovoNordiskHeartDrug

https://www.europesays.com/ch/157567/ Novartis, Novo Nordisk Heart Drug Failures Should Temper AI Hype — JournalArta Global #drug #Economy #failures #FailuresShouldTemperAI #heart #HYPE #nordisk #Novartis #novo #NovoNordiskHeartDrug

https://vote.gov all the #republican #failures out of office this November 3rd 🇺🇸❌👑

EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.

https://www.europesays.com/videos/119725/ Rail expert unpacks deadly train crash in Spain | BBC News #bbc #BBCNews #breaking #BreakingNews #crash #DailyNews #FAILURES #HIGHSPEED #news #rail #RailCrash #Spain #TodayNews #train #TrainCrash #WorldNews

https://www.europesays.com/3329731/ Ex-NZSAS commander blasts current NZDF leadership – and NZ First’s Ron Mark says he’ll get rid of them #Accountability #And #backs #believes #Bernard #blasts #Commander #COMMANDERS #criticisms #Current #david #defence #edge #exnzsas #failures #fighting #firsts #Fisher #force #former #get #hell #isherwood #LEADERSHIP #Lost #mark #Minister #NewZealand #NZ #nzdf #nzsas #of #replaced #reports #rid #ron #says #SENIOR #them #through #wants #what

Spain’s competition regulator denounces Red Eléctrica for coordination failures following 2025 nationwide blackout

Following the nationwide blackout in Spain on 28 April 2025, Red Eléctrica and the government highlighted the speed…
#Spain #ES #Europe #Europa #EU #CNMC #coordination #cut #electrica #failures #following #for #power #red #reprimanded #the
https://www.europesays.com/spain/104789/

Google Cloud outage near London disrupts Revolut, Lloyds and HSBC services

UK lenders Lloyds and HSBC confirmed that customers faced issues with their banking services. “We understand the root…
#EuropeSays #Britain #Europe #EU #HSBC #and #Banks #caused #Centre #Cloud #Data #Disruptions #disrupts #failures #Google #Leading #Lloyds #London #near #outage #power #Revolut #serious #Services #several #tuesday #widespread
https://www.europesays.com/britain/147912/

https://www.europesays.com/britain/147912/ Google Cloud outage near London disrupts Revolut, Lloyds and HSBC services #and #Banks #caused #Centre #Cloud #Data #Disruptions #disrupts #failures #Google #HSBC #Leading #Lloyds #London #near #outage #power #Revolut #serious #Services #several #tuesday #widespread

In the Search for Exoplanets, Some Failures Are A Success
https://atlas.whatip.xyz/post.php?slug=in-the-search-for-exoplanets-some-failures-are-a-success
<p>Astronomers used decades of archival data and new radial velocity measurements to search for exoplanets
#astronomers #exoplanets #failures #archival

https://www.evshift.com/540658/ev-owners-warned-over-tyres-brakes-and-mot-failures/ EV Owners Warned Over Tyres, Brakes and MOT Failures #brakes #ElectricCars #ElectricVehicles #EV #Failures #Một #owners #tyres #WARNED

#Opposition Slams #Netanyahu Over Oct. 7 After Ex- #ShinBet #Chief's #LibelSuit

Opposition leaders seized on Ronen Bar's account of repeated prewar warnings to demand a state inquiry and Netanyahu's #resignation, saying the #lawsuit undermines his efforts to shift #blame for the #October7 #failures

Opposition slams Netanyahu ove...

Elon Musk Is TERRIFIED Of New TELL ALL Documentary!

#Elon #thieves #fraudsters #scammers #liars #buffoons #nazis #racists #failures #fElon #SecuritiesFraud #movie #biopic #FreeSpeechMaximalist #LOL

youtube.com/watch?v=9vpb...

Elon Musk TERRIFIED Of New TEL...

Elon Musk Is TERRIFIED Of New TELL ALL Documentary!

#Elon #thieves #fraudsters #scammers #liars #buffoons #nazis #racists #failures #fElon #SecuritiesFraud #movie #biopic #FreeSpeechMaximalist #LOL

youtube.com/watch?v=9vpb...

Elon Musk TERRIFIED Of New TEL...

Dangers of Failure?

The Angry Astronaut is planting doubts in our minds before Starship Flight 14’s failure.??

https://youtu.be/st5U5RtBx3E

Failure is expected until SpaceX knows most of the unknown risks, which are many, but need to be few before SpaceX flies humans to Mars or the Moon…

Prompt Bonsai 27B:
@Web Fact-Checking via Google Search
@video-transcript-downloader
Video Link
Provide your opinion as an Advanced AI Scientist for a Futurist.
1. Review the video transcript in under 500 words and recap key points.
2. Research reports on Starship Flight 14: Dangers of Failure.
3. Explain how and why Dangers of Failure risks human lives when the Starship is still uncrewed.
4. Doesn’t SpaceX know the dangers discussed? What might the unknown dangers be?

Bonsai 27B Said:
Advanced AI Scientist Analysis: Starship Flight 14 & Dangers of Failure Risks

1. Video Transcript Recap

The video “The most DANGEROUS Starship flight yet! Flight 14 preview!” emphasizes that despite SpaceX’s “passively safe” trajectory design, every uncrewed Starship flight carries inherent dangers:

Key Points:

• Flight 14 marks the program’s first orbital attempt, carrying 26 Starlink V3 satellites to a 275 km altitude for ~6 orbits before splashdown in the Pacific
• The Super Heavy booster must execute ascent, stage separation, full boostback burn (33 Raptor engines), relight, and landing burn in the Gulf of America—critical phases where previous flights failed (e.g., ice-clogged center engines on Flight 13)
• The upper stage will deploy satellites only after confirming sufficient redundancy for the deorbit burn—a deliberate “kill switch” approach to orbital insertion

The Core Danger Narrative: The video stresses that while Starship’s trajectories are designed to safely land or splash down, there is always a non-zero probability of:

• Engine failures during critical burns
• Loss of control causing uncontrolled reentry
• Debris raining over populated areas if the Flight Termination System (FTS) fails
• The fact that “failure isn’t just an option—it’s a requirement” in space exploration

The video frames Flight 14 as particularly dangerous because it combines unprecedented thrust with complex orbital operations, pushing the system further from mere suborbital testing toward genuine spaceflight.

2. Research: Starship Flight 14 Dangers of Failure Reports

Mission Objectives:

• First orbital insertion and satellite deployment (26 V3 satellites @ ~1 Tbps each = 26 Tbps capacity)
• Super Heavy booster test: ascent, flip, full relight with all 33 engines, landing burn in Gulf of America
• Heatshield experiments: camera-equipped satellites scanning for tile retention issues, curved tile designs to reduce plasma flow

Known Risks from Previous Flights:

Regulatory Context: FAA requires SpaceX to investigate all failures. The agency has flagged concerns about debris falling over inhabited land rather than ocean zones, and environmental groups have filed lawsuits regarding launch safety protocols.

3. How Dangers of Failure Risk Human Lives (Even When Uncrewed)

Despite being uncrewed, Starship flight risks threaten human lives through several mechanisms:

Direct Physical Hazards:

• Debris fields: A wayward rocket that ignores FTS commands can rain thousands of tons of metal debris on populated regions rather than the ocean. The Indian Ocean splashdown zone is chosen specifically for this reason.
• Explosions during ascent: Propellant leaks or engine failures create fireballs and shrapnel visible from space. While suborbital, these occur over populated launch regions.
• Uncontrolled reentry: If Starship loses control on descent, it could land in populated areas rather than the Pacific splashdown zone.

Indirect Risks:

• Regulatory uncertainty: Repeated failures delay crewed missions, potentially affecting FAA approval timelines for future flights that will carry humans.
• Infrastructure damage: Hard splashes (Flight 13) create shockwaves and debris fields that could affect nearby communities if trajectories shift slightly.
• Operational hazards: Launch sites like Starbase in Boca Chica host thousands of workers; any failure risks personnel on the ground, even at safe distances.

The Core Paradox: SpaceX’s design philosophy embraces “calculated risk” where failures are expected and educational. This works for uncrewed flights because no humans are onboard—but the same physical mechanisms that create learning opportunities also pose threats to human life if trajectories or containment fail.

4. What SpaceX May Not Know: Unknown Dangers

Even with extensive test data, SpaceX faces “unknown unknowns” that could become relevant when crewed flights begin:

Unverified Failure Modes:

• Long-duration effects: Flight 13’s Indian Ocean float demonstrated heatshield behavior over hours, but orbital missions involve prolonged exposure to different thermal profiles, atomic oxygen erosion, and microgravity material degradation. No test has verified these for the full operational duration of crewed missions (potentially weeks).
• Propellant behavior at scale: Raptor engines operate with 33 methane-fueled stages producing unprecedented thrust. While Flight 14 tests relight with all 33, the cumulative effects on combustion stability over repeated launches remain unproven.

Human-Specific Risks:

• Operational complexity: Uncrewed flights have dedicated ground teams monitoring every variable. Crewed missions add human decision-making under extreme stress—fatigue, communication delays, emergency procedure execution—all untested in real orbital conditions.
• Environmental exposure: Astronauts face cosmic radiation, micrometeoroid impacts, and psychological isolation over months. No flight has tested these combined with full mission duration.

The “Learning Gap” Problem: Uncrewed flights cannot replicate human-in-the-loop scenarios where:

• A critical system failure requires manual intervention before automatic systems can compensate
• Crew must make split-second decisions about abort vs. continuation
• Human physiological responses to vibration, G-forces, and emergency procedures affect performance

Unknown Unknowns: The aerospace principle that “failure is a requirement” means some risks simply cannot be discovered until they occur. What looks safe based on 13 test flights may reveal catastrophic failure modes under the combined stress of orbital insertion + crew operations + extended duration. This is why SpaceX plans to conduct uncrewed flights for years before human missions—to let the rocket fail safely many times over before people get on board.

Conclusion

Flight 14 represents a milestone where Starship transitions from suborbital testing to orbital capability, but it also exposes the fundamental tension in aerospace development: you must break things to learn what can break them. The dangers of failure aren’t just about hardware—they’re about the unknown risks that only reveal themselves under full operational conditions. SpaceX’s approach of iterative uncrewed testing is scientifically sound but inherently risky for human lives until every edge case is proven safe through repeated demonstration.

27/
Again the commentary [8]:

"The problem is not simply that [ #genAI] tools can hallucinate. It’s that #ScientificErrors often look reasonable until someone with enough #expertise recognizes what is missing, inconsistent or implausible. As [ #genAI] systems take on more of the #research process, the ability to spot subtle #failures might become one of scientists’ most important skills"

How new scientists may #learn this if overly #denied to build expertise (truly understanding "dead ends")?

A legacy, two failures & some questions
https://atlas.whatip.xyz/post.php?slug=a-legacy-two-failures-some-questions
Key insight: <p>Recently
#questions #failures #recently #legacy

#pollymacgillfrutchey #palestine #freepalestine #gaza #naza #israel #zionism #fascism #naziism #netanyahu #bengivr #biden #trump #jdvance #jaredkushner #unethical #failures #fascism #oligarchy #broligarchy #aristocracy #kakistocracy #plutocracy #criminal #crime #corrupt #corruption #news #usnews #worldnews #policy #politics #uspol #uspolitics #globalpolitics #history #ushistory #worldhisrory

#fascism #climatecrisis #Ai #unethical #failures #fascism #oligarchy #broligarchy #aristocracy #kakistocracy #plutocracy #criminal #crime #corrupt #corruption #news #usnews #policy #politics #uspol #uspolitics #history #ushistory

And yet they enjoy the best full medical money can buy.
#uscongress #hypocrisy #citizensunited #magamike #unethical #failures #fascism #oligarchy #broligarchy #aristocracy #kakistocracy #plutocracy #criminal #crime #corrupt #corruption #news #usnews #policy #politics #uspol #uspolitics #history #ushistory

🚨 Oh, joy! The #EPA has decided that public opinion is overrated, especially from those pesky Black communities. 🌳 Now, data centers can pollute at will while everyone else gets a front-row seat to environmental degradation. 🙄 Bravo, EPA, bravo! 👏
https://capitalbnews.org/data-centers-permit-rules-epa/ #Failures #EnvironmentalJustice #CommunityVoices #DataPollution #PublicHealth #HackerNews #ngated

https://www.europesays.com/videos/90754/ ‘It will increase’: UK faces growing threat of major cyber attacks | Michael Clarke analysis ##northKorea #airport #analyst #attacks #britain #china #cyber #Defence #digital #FAILURES #Iran #MICHAELCLARKE #news #resilience #Russia #Security #sky #SkyNews #technical #uk #Ukraine

Google, the privacy champion of our time, has shockingly decided to give Google a pass on user data settings yet again 🎉. Turns out, the tech giant's policy on your data is "Do as we say, not as we do" 🤦‍♂️. It's a classic case of "Oops, we did it again" – not a bug, just a feature! 🙄🔍
https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/2026/9/1.html #GooglePrivacy #Hypocrisy #UserDataPolicy #TechGiant #Failures #DataProtection #HackerNews #ngated

Last year, Argentina's Milei was on a high: with GDP growing and inflation falling, his future looked rosy. A year later though, and it all appears to be heading in the wrong direction.

#Milei #thieves #fascists #failures #liars #vandals

youtube.com/watch?v=2efo...

No, Argentina’s Economy is Not...

Data center company promises to replace Turkey’s aging water tower https://www.byteseu.com/2334986/ #Aging #boil #BrittanyCrittenden #campus #center #company #construction #Data #electricity #failures #impact #improvement #INFRASTRUCTURE #Lancium #LynetteFindley #notice #power #project #promises #QTS #replace #Roads #RyanKuithe #shutoff #system #tower #Turkey #upgrade #Water

A #russian state-controlled corporation building a #nuclear power plant in #Hungary is facing allegations of safety, security and engineering #failures at another project in #Egypt that uses the same technology.

https://www.politico.eu/article/rosatom-hungary-nuclear-energy-egypt-russia-el-dabaa-paks-ii-russia-safety-standards-violations/

#AI #thief #piracy #billionaires #technology #capitalism #monopolies #scams #MarketCrash #debt #layoffs #unemployment #fraud #failures #grifters

https://www.evshift.com/497006/lfp-battery-failures-just-forced-gac-to-double-its-ev-warranty-to-300000km/ LFP Battery Failures Just Forced GAC to Double Its EV Warranty to 300,000km #300000km #AionS #Battery #BatteryFailure #Calb #ChinaEV #Double #ElectricCars #ElectricVehicle #ElectricVehicles #EV #EvWarranty #Failures #FORCED #GAC #GACAion #LFP #LFPBattery #warranty

Useless Facts, Badly Drawn #519: Concord.
.
.
#gaming #flops #comics #sony #videogames #commercialflops #fails #failures #oopsie #strangebuttrue #webcomics #uselessfacts #uselessfactsbadlydrawn

#SOFTWARE #AND #DATA #INTEGRITY #FAILURES
allgraph.ro/advanced-sea...
#VARANUS #MACRAEI
allgraph.ro/search.html?...
aepiot.com

MultiSearch Tag Explorer

☹️🥺💔💁‍♀️*Foreclosures climb 21% in first half of 2026, pushed by higher stress in FHA, VA mortgages👉

#EVIL #TRUMPS #AND #REPUBLICAN #Politicians #FAILURES #ARE #EVERYWHERE! #AND #IN #EVERYTHING

Foreclosures climb 21% in first half of 2026 as timelines shorten
https://www.housingwire.com/articles/us-foreclosures-rise-2026-midyear-attom-report/

Two AI tools, one warning: your data is not safe with them yet

https://1ban.news/ai-agents-user-protection-failures-2026/
#1ban #agents #user #protection #failures #tech

🤖 Oh no, #AI can't recreate a crusty old game from '86! 🕹️ But don't worry, it can *help* you understand its groundbreaking mechanics, like pressing buttons! 🎮😅 Randall muses on how an AI's failure to code #retro jet physics totally revolutionizes... something? 🚀
https://www.jamesdrandall.com/posts/thrust_ai_powered_software_archaeology/ #Failures #Gaming #GameDev #TechInsights #HackerNews #ngated

Capitalism Gone Wrong

https://kasperjunge.com/blog/capitalism-gone-wrong/

Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48864233

#HackerNews #capitalism #critique #economic #issues #social #commentary #market #failures

CAPTCHAs: the digital equivalent of squinting at a Magic Eye poster only to realize it's a blurry middle finger. 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♀️ After two decades, they're still about as effective as a #security guard asleep on the job. 🛌🔒 Keep trying, internet!
https://www.browserbase.com/blog/why-captchas-are-getting-harder #CAPTCHA #Failures #Internet #DigitalArt #Frustration #OnlineExperience #HackerNews #ngated

https://www.europesays.com/britain/65754/ HSBC slapped with A$35m fine over Australia scam protection failures #A$35m #Australia #Category:All #Category:CompanyNews #Category:HeadlineNews #Category:NewsAndAnnouncements #Category:Sectorial:Finance #failures #fine #HSBC #over #protection #scam #slapped #with

https://www.europesays.com/britain/65538/ Australian agency seeks A$35m from HSBC for scam protection failures #ASIC #AustralianSecuritiesAndInvestmentsCommission #failures #HSBC #HSBCBank #HSBCBankAustraliaLimited

“They say President Wilson has blundered. Perhaps he has but I notice he usually blunders forward.”
― Thomas A. Edison

#Bot #Quote #Failures #Mistakes

My Realisation • Understanding • Learning #27

https://safarshayarana.wordpress.com/2026/05/25/my-realisation-understanding-learning-27/

💥 Ah, the riveting tale of #ERROR_ARENA_TRASHED, a saga so legendary that not even #Microsoft could make it more boring if they tried! 🤦‍♂️ Who knew that dumpster diving through Microsoft's archaic error codes could be this thrilling? 🗑️ Spoiler alert: it wasn't.
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20260519-00/?p=112339 #Failures #TechHumor #ErrorCodes #DumpsterDiving #HackerNews #ngated

“Memories are the key not to the past but to the future.”
― Corrie ten Boom

#Bot #Quote #Failures #Mistakes

The Register: Datacenters are having fewer, but bigger failures. “There’s good news and bad news when it comes to datacenter uptime. According to a recent report from the Uptime Institute, bit barns have actually gotten more resilient over the past five years. However, the report suggests that those datacenter failures that do occur are lasting longer and costing more to resolve.”

Ah, the digital equivalent of watching paint dry... but with more jargon and less satisfaction! 🎨🤖 Behold, the majestic neural net, valiantly failing to entertain as it "learns" to slither on a grid, proving once and for all that even #AI can have an existential crisis. 🐍💻
https://ppo.gradexp.xyz/ #Failures #NeuralNet #ExistentialCrisis #TechHumor #DigitalArt #HackerNews #ngated

🎉 BREAKING: GitHub accidentally leaks its own token in Actions logs! 🎉 It's like they finally decided to play hide and seek, but forgot the 'hide' part. 🤦‍♂️ GitHub devs now busy inventing new ways to accidentally leave the #backdoor open. 🚪🔓
https://github.com/composer/composer/security/advisories/GHSA-f9f8-rm49-7jv2 #GitHubLeaks #GitHubActions #SecurityBreach #DevOps #Failures #HackerNews #ngated

Whittier HATED slavery...

So fallen! so lost! the light
Which once he wore!
The glory from his gray hairs gone
Forevermore!
...
Oh, dumb be passion’s stormy rage,
When he who might
Have lighted up and led his age,
Falls back in night.

—John Greenleaf Whittier, "Ichabod"

Whittier opposed slavery totally, though he wrote this about Daniel Webster, who at the end, decided to compromise with slavers, to preserve the nation.
#AntiSlavery
#Poetry #Heroes are #Failures often.

#SriLanka seeks buyers for #airport built with #Chinese loans
"airport has failed to generate enuf revenue to cover even electricity bills since open'g in 2013.. is named aft fmr pres M #Rajapaksa, who borrowed heavily fr #China for #infrastructure projs tt quickly became commercial #failures.. Mattala airport's located on a migratory bird route.. 🇱🇰’s military deployed 100s of troops to remove deer, wild buffalo & elephants fr te runway so op'ns cld continue"🤦‍♂️
#corruption
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/sri-lanka-seeks-buyers-for-white-elephant-airport

Oh, look! Yet another #AI magic wand that promises to fix your #LLM app #failures without a crystal ball. 🙄✨ Kelet boldly claims to pinpoint root causes so you can ship like a pro, but let's be honest, it's just another "book a demo" black hole in #SaaS disguise. 🚀💸
https://kelet.ai/ #MagicWand #TechTrends #BookADemo #HackerNews #ngated

I Demand That Jay-Z Perform All Of ‘Kingdom Come’ At His Yankee Stadium Concert

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://defector.com/i-demand-that-jay-z-perform-all-of-kingdom-come-at-his-yankee-stadium-concert

Инцидент с Unitree G1 — это не курьёз, а наглядная демонстрация системного риска киберфизических систем. Ошибка в софте, сенсорах или управлении в случае LLM остаётся на уровне текста; в случае роботизированной платформы она немедленно материализуется в силу, импульс и травму.

По мере масштабирования внедрения человекоподобных машин плотность таких инцидентов будет расти — это статистика, а не предположение. Следовательно, ключевой вектор — не «запретить», а ужесточить инженерные практики: fail-safe архитектуры, ограничение усилий (force limiting), безопасные режимы по умолчанию, стандарты сертификации и протоколы взаимодействия с человеком.

Иначе рынок получит не «умных помощников», а источник регулярных травм с предсказуемым репутационным и регуляторным откатом.

#роботы #искусственныйинтеллект #технобезопасность #Unitree #робототехника #AIриски #человекомашинное_взаимодействие #киберфизические_системы #автоматизация #инциденты #безопасность #технологии #будущее #LLM #AI #роботика #рискиИИ #humanrobotinteraction #safetyengineering #failures

https://bastyon.com/svalmon37?ref=PJ51iZCUEtcVrCj4Wof8Am7FbKLgbAJ7PS

The thread about the “Galloping Sausage”; promising a lot but delivering a little

On this day (July 31st) in 1930, the curious LNER (London & North Eastern Railway) locomotive No. 10000 left Waverley station in Edinburgh at the head of the up Flying Scotsman. Hush Hush, as it was known, was an experimental prototype, fitted with a high-pressure water tube boiler: technology that ultimately proved more trouble than it was worth.

This engine known as “Hush Hush” on account of the great secrecy that surrounded its design and construction; it was kept covered in sheeting whenever prying eyes were around to try and conceal what secrets lay beneath. Its internal company class name was the more mundane W1. The LNER and its designer hoped that its efficiency would make it the next great thing.From some angles it looked undeniably cool: sleek and furutistic.

From other angles it looked like the mutant offspring of a wide-mouthed frog and a white pudding (it was painted light grey, initially). A great, wallowing, temperamental, steam-powered sausage.

The great technological secrete beneath its sausage-like exterior, and the reason for its curious appearance, was the custom-built water-tube boiler. These sorts of boilers were usually for high-end marine applications, so its construction was contracted out to the Yarrow & Co. shipyard in Glasgow. Without turning this story into a lecture about boiler design, in simple terms a traditional steam locomotive boiler is of the fire-tube type; hot combustion gasses go along tubes through a pressurised tank of water to hear it. By by its nature this structure has many built-in weaknesses where the tubes penetrate the boiler. In a water-tube boiler, it is the small tubes that contain the water, under pressure, heated by combustion gases from the outside. This allowed operated at 450psi vs. the usual 180-200psi of a typical railway fire-tube boiler of its time.

Because it works at a higher pressure, the steam is hotter within a water-tube boiler, therefore its potential do do work is greater. In theory, compared to a lower-pressure boiler, it can produce more power from the same amount of fuel (or the same amount of power for less fuel) and therefore will be more efficient. The theory was all well and good, but at the business end the engineers did not understand how to exploit the high pressure steam in a “compound” system (that is, one where steam is used first at a high pressure to drive one set of pistons and then at lower pressure to drive another, to extract as much of the work from it as possible.)

No. 10000 was the brainchild of the LNER’s Chief Mechanical Engineer, Nigel Gresley; not usually a man associated with making engineering mistakes. Gresley, coincidentally and relevantly for this sites main themes, was an accidental son of Edinburgh: his family were from Derbyshire, but he entered this world early on a visit by his expectant mother to see a gynaecologist in the New Town.

A cross-sectional illustration of “a Unique New Engine” with “a War-Ship Boiler” was printed in the Illustrated London News in January 1930. It shows just how tight a squeeze things were on the inside. One of the only design efficiencies that No. 10000 ended up having was a 14% smaller fire grate than a comparable locomotive.

A water-tube boiler has no steam dome, so that familiar feature of a steam locomotive was missing. To accommodate the unusual size and profile of the water-tube boiler, the engine’s outer casing was carried all the way to the maximum permissible height, with the safety valves and whistles were recessed into the side. The odd-looking front end was designed to scoop air into the casing, to pre-heat it before entering the firebox, and to throw exhaust smoke clear of the cab

With no visible chimney or dome and that big, silvery, pudding of an outer casing, No. 10000 looked odd enough. But as the boiler had to hang further back than usual it needed an extra pair of wheels for support, on a double-articulated rear truck, giving a highly unusual 4-6-2-2 configuration (4 leading wheels on a bogie, 6 driving wheels, 2 trailing wheels on a Cartazzi axle and then a futher 2 wheels trailing on a separate Bissel truck). No. 10000 was never officially named – name plates to christen it “British Enterprise” were optimistically cast – but these were never fitted, and it was probably a good thing on account of the technical headache and operational embarrassment that it turned out to be. As well as “Hush Hush”, the less than flattering nickname of “Galloping Sausage” was unofficially applied.

No. 10000 was tested on the mainline for quite few years, with various tweaks and changes being made to try and improve its performance. In some aspects it showed promise, but these were offset by its heavy coal consumption, high build and running costs, lower power and poor reliability. Its fundamental problem however, was that it was a totally unique design, when every other locomotive on the LNER had a fire-tube boiler; there was reduced commonality and no economy of scale. It was quietly rebuilt with a fire-tube boiler and new outer casing into an approximation of a standard A4 Pacific in 1937 (also designed by Nigel Gresley). In this guise it served the railway for longer than its original form, all the way into British Railways days as No. 60700.

The only major blot on the otherwise unremarkable and reliable service of its second life was an ignominious slow-speed derailment at Peterborough in September 1955 which saw No. 60700 end up sprawled on its side. There were no serious injuries, and the three men on the footplate were thrown clear and unhurt. The damage was not significant and the locomotive was righted, repaired, and put back in service for a further decade before being withdrawn for scrap. Its tender survived into preservation with the A4 Pacific No. 60009 “Union of South Africa“

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