Brief Overview
IMLEC 2002 returned to Leeds after a 10 years gap. The track is in the site of the Eggborough Power Station, with a length of 1028ft. These were unusual times for IMLEC, the 2001 competition was cancelled due to the nationwide Foot & Mouth outbreak (although it was replaced by OMLEC at Guildford) so IMLEC 2002 was the first "proper" competition since Leyland 2000.
Taking home the Martin Evans Challenge Trophy was Geoff Moore, who had come close before in 1981 and 1982 with his Minx. This time his B1 took him to the title. Mike Crisp tells us more:
"Run 19: Geoff Moore. And so we reached the final run of the event: Geoff Moore of Guildford MES with his 5in. gauge LNER B1 4-6-0 Impala inspired by Martin Evans' published design. A model engineer for 55 years Geoff was a member of Buckhurst Hill MES when he started work on Impala but has since transferred to Guildford MES where he has been an active member since 1968. Geoff has built two other locomotives, a Minx and a GWR 1661 class saddle tank, both of which have been reasonably successful in
IMLEC. Construction of Impala started in 1963 and to drawings provided by British Railways. Geoff has gone to great lengths to ensure that his locomotive is as good as he could possibly make
it. Steel tyres are shrunk onto the driving and coupled wheels, a four element radiant superheater is fitted, the valve gear was a designed according to Don Ashton's advice, and the tender is fitted with a working water scoop. The model is finished with green and red paint from the full-size LNER paint shops according to the LNER Painting Diagram. There is much more to tell, but Geoff is just about to start his run. Spectators gathered at the start point to see Geoff set off with 11 up, a good fire and a full head of steam. Following a faultless start, Geoff settled into his first lap following which he took advantage of a local rule that extra passengers could be taken on. Three colleagues were primed and waiting and climbed
aboard after the first lap, by which time the fire had burned through and the locomotive had settled into full running mode. From this point on Geoff ran lap after lap of the Leeds track with no sign of superfluous steam and in complete charge of the engine. He found that the coal suited the engine and was very pleased with his run which touched 11mph at one point. After covering 3.52 miles and burning 2.49lb. of coal, Geoff returned a figure of 1.82% efficiency. Could one of the reasons for the
success of his run have been the copious lubrication to which the locomotive, driver and passengers had been subjected?"
Interesting Facts
Prizes were presented by Geoff Bird, former shed manager at York.
A rule where competitor could not only drop passengers, but add them was in action at Leeds. Geoff Moore took advantage of this and added 3 more passengers after his first lap.