St. Blazey Turntable

Reading the latest edition of "RAIL" magazine, I read the following unfortunate news regarding the turntable at St. Blazey in the Regional News section :-

"DB Schenker says it cannot justify a six-figure sum to overhaul the turntable for steam locomotives working into Cornwall"

Not sure what impact this will have on the planned Royal Duchy tours for this year, but does anyone think there's any prospect of the overhaul being funded by loco owners, WCRC, Tour Promoters or any body other than DBS for that matter ? Apart from anything else, it belongs to DBS presumably, so I guess would need to be purchased from them first before any work was carried out on it ? If it was purchased from DBS, maybe it could be moved to a better location, e.g. some where more equidistant between Plymouth and Penzance if that makes sense ?

 

Does it really costs six figures to refurb a table, or is that just what DBS are quoting ?, genuine question it seems odd with less complexity, it would costs a sum not far short of what you could overhaul some locomotives for.

 

Good question, and maybe someone on here who has had experience of refurbishing a table could answer it ?

A six figure sum seem excessive I agree, but I get the impression this story was "breaking news" when RAIL went to press so maybe more detail will emerge in due course.

 

How much are DB Schenker saying that it would cost to overhaul the existing turntable and if they are being such a pain about it why doesn't NR do a repeat of what happened in York and build a new one if it's too much money.

 

Wasn't this in Heritage mag last month?

 

Quite possibly, I don't take Heritage Magazine, and I can't remember reading that DBS had said "it cannot justify the six figure sum". Forgive me if I've repeated old news, but you'd have to subscribe to every railway magazine going, and spend your whole day reading internet railway forums inside out to know whether your post was bang up to date !

 

When was the last DBS steam operation into Cornwall anyway ?, been some time unless I've missed one.

If DBS, have no use for it, fair enough, but should be offered to WCRC/NR for a reasonable price in that case.

 

A six figure sum is only £100,000. I haven't overhauled a turntable, but depending on the state of it, I could easily see this sum being reached. You don't do stuff like this on the cheap. They must have spent £Xk on the engineering survey and report already, the project management, documentation, certification and H&S could easily eat up 20% of that sum, and you don't order bits for it off the shelf at B&Q, and then you have materials and labour, both out of which contractors and suppliers expect to make a profit.


Edit: Oh and none of this capital outlay can be recouped from any other DBS operation, other than that for steam tours.

 

Not sure but think the last steam charter into Cornwall was with EWS, don't think there has been one since DBS took over, the last one I remember was the Devon and Cornwall branch line trains with Class 37 and Black 5 in 2007. It has been some years since EWS/DBS ran steam into Cornwall.

 

I think there have been some more recent than that. Looking back at UK Steam the last I can see is 1st May 2010 when there was a Pathfinder tour called the "Royal Duchy" (as opposed to the current RTC tours of the same name) worked from Exeter to Par and back by 6024.

 

The locos of some WCRC-worked trips into Cornwall in 2014 turned at St Blazey, apparently under some temporary dispensation deeming it to be usable. If it was good enough for those occasions, one would think it could be kept usable without the expense of total refurbishment.

 

The only WCR trips that didn't use the turntable was the GB, that went down to Falmouth diesel hauled the steamers coming down to Plymouth and turning and going down to stable at St Blazey the previous night. before the return from Falmouth, as with everything else comes the question how much longer will the turntable stand up to the wear and tear of being used without any maintenance, there will come a time eventually when it will no longer be deemed safe to use unless it is repaired.

 

thought this was last years news

 

As I understand it, last year there was a question mark over the turntable's future, and at one point the timings for RTC's "Royal Duchy" tours were altered to accommodate tender first working. In the event, temporary dispensation was made to allow the turntable to be used.

The news in RAIL magazine to which I referred at the beginning of this thread, and which I took as "new" is that DBS have now stated they are definitely NOT going to fund the necessary repairs to the turntable. That IS this year's news I believe ?

 

Meanwhile, RTC is promoting a series of 8 Royal Duchy trains June - Sept. this year. The advertised pool of locos is 5029, 6023, 34046 and 34067. Hmm...

 

We used on the duchys last year but had to push it round by hand as the vacuum system isn't complete and it's hard work to push by hand


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So, the issue is the vacuum system, not the 'table itself? Not a total show stopper then, is it?

 

Based on the OP and oher reports the issue isn't just the vacuum system.

 

The issue is not just the vacuum system as they can only bring the loco on and off on one side, and that is the right side if you're viewing from the roundhouse yard, there is goods wagon placed on the line the left hand side to stop anything going on the turntable that end. and yes the vacuum system don't work, it takes at least three to four crew to push it around.

 

Perhaps the six-figure sum is for restoration to full specification and a de-scoped job would suffice to make it safe for a handful of locomotives a year.