Swanage Railway General Discussion

The locos are available, what's not is the money to make them serviceable, buy some Southern locomotive shares or support the Swanage mogul fund, every little helps!

 

Very very few lines now have rows of in ticket engines laying idle, Swanage's problems were made worse because of a number of factors, overhauls taking longer than planned, by original time scales, 257 SQN and the N should have been available for traffic, allowing the M7 to be withdrawn, that would have given them 5 engines , so enough to cover,
You can not make plans for shunting accidents, you can have the most robust of rules, but humans are such, that things can go wrong, at least they still managed to maintain a public service , using the 33's Which, at least are a pedigree Southern region loco, The only criticism i have to Matt is that once the decision had been made, use the 33's the railway should have perhaps publicized it put a positive spin on it, coming as it did on the heals of the Southern sunset event
The next season should hopefully see the situation improved with hopefully 257 sdn back, 34053, and hopefully the N class joining the active fleet

 

Go on, do tell how you'd have done it 'correctly'

 

Nice to hear the Std tank climbing up the valley just now. Hope it is back for the week.

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Things may be looking up, the latest SR magazine says the T9 is being assessd and will not be returning to Bodmin. Be nice if it could finish its ticket at Swanage.

 

Or depending how bad it is, returning to York never to steam again.

Interesting though if Bodmin have decided they no longer want it, even before a proper assessment has been made.

 

Another NRM engine to be gifted to a heritage railway more then likely sorry i cant see it returning to York, it will most likely go to one of its former homes , but where?

 

One of the NRMs justifications for giving away the T3 was that they had the T9 in their collection. So I think that's unlikely.

If the NRM do authorise repairs then loan to another railway seems most likely. I'm sure the people at Swanage would love to have it. Although that would depend on the cost of the repairs.

 

Does anyone know where the Ironclad 3rd went?

 

The T9 has not been in york Museum for many years, if at all, it has always been a bit of a rover, it it was destined to go to York My money is on it suddenly becoming an unwanted engine, no room etc Could the Swanage Railway afford the costs of overhauling it? who ever takes it on will have to afford to pay to repair it. i'm hoping it goes to either the Bluebell or another Southern line, but not as an loan engine, i would not rule out it being Gifted to the MHR either. unless of course the NRM decide to swop it for 737 ,that goes to the Bluebell on a restore and run agreement and 30120 takes its place.

 

Not sure the MHR would be too keen. They used to have it on a long term loan, but gave it up as they found it unsuitable for their gradients and train lengths.

All wild speculation. Will be interesting to see what happens.

 

Reading the article I dont think Bodmin made the decision.

 

No thanks.......getting soaked with the engine going backwards when its peeing down is not my idea of fun...

 

Wimp! Anyhow, they tell me the sun always shines in the south.

 

Is the T9 any more expensive to repair than a comparable loco of the same era? Any decision to commit funds surely reflects a balance of pros and cons. Although unaware of the condition of it's boiler, the T9 seems pretty much ideal and appropriate for Swanage, if only because it fits on the turntable! What with the M7 and even more if the T3 makes it back to the land of the living, imagine the potential for gala events.

The Bluebell already have some serious outlay ahead. To mention just three locos, there's 80100's restoration apparently looming, a Maunsell mogul waiting it's turn in the queue and the dear old Adams Radial in need of a new boiler if it's ever to steam again.... and I dare anyone to claim Swanage wouldn't love to have a working 488 down for a loan period.

Does "From Nine Elms to Eastleigh" as a gala theme have a nice ring to it?

 

Steve...yep......choice between a full or half cab on the odd day its chucking down in the Sunny South a full cab wins every time......especially if its got heaters and windscreen wipers

 

That depends on what the deal is, the cylinder block and Dragbox have only really had limited repairs when new castings are needed, they were repaired by metal stitching, Now if the engine were gifted to a railway, it may be the case that these are now life expired and would be best to be replaced, but whilst its part of the NRM this is not an option ,

 

As regards the NRM, is the problem one of available space rather than duplication of types? for instance if there is no room at the NRM to display another engine the temptation may be, if there are indications of interest from suitable railways to release it rather than to loan it, the engine is still safe , its not like its going to end up at cashmoors, As regards the MHR, it on its return to the line handled 4 coach loads, and with the Bulleid coaches being restored would be the ideal loco and i think would have the best chance of raising the money needed to repair it and They are very well respected in the NRM through their custody of Lord nelson and the schools .

 

Last time I went to Swanage the rain was coming down sideways. I bet it wasn't pleasant on the footplate of the T9 that day, even with the cab sheet up. It was bloody awful up at Corfe Castle - I'm not sure the missus has forgiven me for that yet!

 

I was lucky enough to travel behind the T9 on the MHR (last century!) and while it's an absolute gem, the only other time I've seen that much smoke from a loco was watching "Charwelton" attacking Tenterden Bank.

When it comes to the NRM (or other museums), some evolution in how artifacts are held is probably long overdue. Nearly all have much more in deep store than the visiting public ever see and if long term loans (secured by suitable strings being attached) mean more folk get too see exhibits and the "home base" sites don't stagnate, then with a few provisos, I'm all for it!

From a purely geographic standpoint, any of the SG lines in sometime LSWR territory would be suitable, so the decision (if any) of the NRM and recipient line comes down to fulfilling the criteria you mention. That, or the T9 gets stuffed and mounted, never to turn a wheel under it's own power again.

If you're views on the T9's bits and bobs are shared by it's custodians, we're back to the age old "pure preservation vs representation of a working loco" debate. Lots of folk could create a solid argument for the value of casting a new set of cylinders as a key part of the railway story and it'd go a long way to keeping the loco running.....if only the funding to undertake the work was as readily created!