When , and what, was the last ex BR steam engine cut up by a Scrap merchant ?

They put a tender on the Y9 at Bo'ness too and they can't make up their mind what Number it should be!

 

Didn't the first loco leave Barry in 1969? If there were Black 5s srtill extant in mid 1969 I'm surprised that one or two of them didn't get saved!

 

43924 left Barry in September 1968.

 

I think they would have been considered huge for the preserved lines of that era. 75027 arrived at the Bluebell in January 1969 in working order and at the time was considered ridiculously large, so I doubt many people would have been clamouring for a Black 5 even had they been available.

Tom

 

I didn’t say it was a fact I said I think that was it so now your facts are wrong

 

There was a crab that got scraped recently so that is the last one to be scrapped really.

 

Apart from large lumps of it still at the East Lancs Railway.

 

At that time twelve of them had already been bought directly from BR, straight out of service.

 

That’s good to hear I thought it all went

 

As said later, twelve were bought in running order straight from BR, but I know what you mean. I was involved then with 8F 8233/8773 at the Severn Valley and they weren't happy about it, mostly about the axle load of the tender! It was restricted to 4.5 tons of coal and 2,500 gallons of water for a long time.

 

Interestingly BR would allow engines to be sold for preservation but in 65 when DR Beet tried buying City of Lancaster from central wagon at Ince they were told it was to be scrapped or they would not deal with them again.

 

Please state, clearly, which of the facts that I gave in my post #77 are "wrong".
Ray.
Edit: Don't bother replying as I have altered my settings to 'ignore' so any reply or any subsequent postings by yourself will not be read.

 

ISTR that at the time the stumbling block was that the scrap dealers' contracts forbade reselling. The story went around that Woodhams's had to get special clearance (possibly with a payment) from B.R. to resell 43924 and, subsequently, the others. Another story was that the copper fireboxes had to be returned to B.R. for recycling into wire for the 25kV electrification but I think that has now been debunked.
Ray.

 

I'm not sure about the firebox statement, because there is photo evidence of largely intact copper inner fireboxes stood in rows at scrap yards, awaiting return to BR, for melting down then it was discovered the copper once smelted didn't make good enough material for making into electrical wire for Overhead electrification. so was dropped after that, and yards then cut and disposed the copper themselves after that.

 

Andy has posted an update at post #38 on this thread to say that the wheels and tender have also gone.

Keith

 

Dai Woodham said the price he paid BR for each loco was always reduced by an amount representing the cost of cutting it up therefore his contract required him to do just that. When he started selling locos BR agreed to release him from this on condition he paid them back this sum.

I also recall reading an interview with Peter Beet, who brokered quite a few direct sales in ‘68, for others in addition to the locos he bought himself. He said the BR officers responsible for sales seemed to have very close working relationships with the scrap dealers and it was difficult to break through this system to do a different kind of deal.

 

Enjoying this thread a lot! Every once in a while, a topic comes along that pulls together and consolidates interesting facts without the constant bickering/point-scoring and academic fencing seen elsewhere (and far too often these days). More please

 

Could you tell me some more about this story because it is not one that I have heard before.

 

I thought it was because the tender was cut but was offered the loco without the tender?

 

Peter Beet said he was thwarted "by small-minded and myopic people within the rail industry, who regarded anyone who wanted to buy a steam engine as a crank"
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/dec/07/obituaries.mainsection

Later he must have found someone more open minded in BR to enable his loco purchases.