So what will be running in 2018?

My brother fired on the WSR in the 1980s as part of visiting Bluebell crews. Victor & Vulcan were very powerful (equivalent to class 5!) but had small fireboxes - they were designed to raise steam over a period of time then do a big shove for a short distance. Hence they were pushed for steam on a longer run. Rather like a Quarry Hunslet on the Bala Lake Railway!

 

Could be a case that the line outgrows the locomotives. Starting with a couple of coaches for a mile or two, to eventually needing to run 6 or 7 coaches for many miles.

Llangollen fits into that, with a slight difference. The loco that started it all - Austin 1 was owned by the railway and still is. Instead of casting it aside once it was no longer needed, it was instead hired to smaller lines, bringing in revenue for other projects / locomotives.

 

To this list can be added 7F 53809

 

That's a lot of big chuffers for a little line!

 

How long will 53809 be staying on the NNR for?

 

Can certainly guarantee, something steamy somewhere in the U.K.!

 

Am advised that the other side of the story is that 5337 owners wanted or demanded a rather higher number of guaranteed steamings per annum than anything else, a figure of steamings that said locomotive has never achieved wherever it has since migrated to.

 

It amounts to the same thing. The owners of 5337 needed a certain annual income which clearly equates to a number of days hire. I, working for ELR at the time, could not meet their needs so they decided to look elsewhere which I understood and respected but was naturally disappointing, particularly as several of the owning group were otherwise ELR stalwarts. Whether or not they met their requirements elsewhere I have no idea as I have not followed the locos career since.

 

6989 Wightwick Hall is almost done at last and looking good. Don't know whether it will go on hire from Quainton though.
http://wightwick-hall-6989.com/id5.html

 

The Chairmans Report in Restoration Group news suggests it may go out on hire..

http://wightwick-hall-6989.com/id3.html

 

Would have thought that would be sensible, it's a bit big to go up and down the demo line at Quainton.

 

I read that to mean it’s hire to and use by the Quainton railway society, rather than going elsewhere.

 

Very interesting debate.

For larger lines, that have a good range of overhaul facilities and are able to handle running and annual maintenance, then a core fleet of owned/long term contract locomotives that could, if necessary, cover the required mileage but which would preferably/ordinarily be supplemented by hired locos (a mix of based at the line and guest perhaps to maintain enthusiast interest) would seem to be the preferable situation.

Lines only using one loco at a time may consider hiring better than establishing overhaul facilities.

Of course, the next question is how many locos does a line need available for traffic? This depends on maximum daily requirement at a particular time of year, plus washout cycles (not all railways will use the same cycles, or they could well differ for different locos) and how 'brave' or 'extravagant' the line feels like being with spare cover!

One thing I will say is that which approach is taken is likely to be hotly debated, with what can seem like entrenched view points and much lobbying as to which is the 'right' way forward, and some quite sharp criticism of alternative views!

Steven

 

IMHO the loco fleet should be such that each loco covers between 80 and 110 days a year. There are so many variables to this of course that no firm rule is possible. I would exclude particularly historic locos or "special use" locos such as a small shunter kept for galas. I am thinking only of the fleet that is expected to operate the majority of the services. Much less than 80 days is a bit wasteful, and much more than 110 is difficult to achieve with washouts etc.

 

The thing is, if you are to say 6989 will move to another railway on long term loan, where will it go? The West Somerset to fill the gap left by 53808? Or Llangollen to fill the gap left by 7822?

 

Don't you mean 53809 not 53808 is staying at WSR and 53809 is moving to NNR.

 

At the risk of calling down the wrath of Quainton types, I'd sincerely hope it would be going elsewhere - it's the society's engine to do what they want with of course but (and don't you just love it when someone says that followed by a but) it seems a but daft to spend so long restoring something so big, then giving it 2 Mk1s to play with over about 500 yards. It's bad enough at Didcot but at least they're preserving loads of things in context - imprisoning a hall on a semi disused bit of the GCR long term is a different matter IMO. Of course, after so long there it should absolutely run there, but not *just* there please!

I've said it before on here I'm sure (a couple of years back?) but Quainton these days is a funny animal - presents as lots of groups doing their own light engineering thing in an anarchist commune more than anything else. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, and I love visiting the place. But beyond space for groups to get on with stuff, and the lovely Rewley Road, I'm not sure who (from the general public) it's for.

 

Yes, silly me. That's the problem with having two surviving members of a class which are numerically adjacent and have been sharing a shed!

I think I agree with you here, at least on the issue of it would be nice if a newly restored Hall (which seems to have been very thoroughly restored) had a longer running line with a heavier load than 2 coaches on a little demonstration line. Don't really know enough about Quainton Road to make a judgement on the situation there

 

I’ve always thought it would be nice to have 6989 visit the GCR and pair it with 6990. But better wait until 78019 is overhauled to pair with 78018. Oh and maybe we could hire in 53808+53809 and 80135+80136 at the same time. Yes this sounds silly (and expensive) I know...! Lets add D212+D213 for the diesel diagram at this fictitious gala too.

Well I’m serious about the first bit.

 

Not interested in having 34027/8, 34058/9 and 80150/1 as well?

Tom