Vale of Berkeley Railway

I said how, not who...

 

What happened to the argument not the person Paul? You can't just make controversial statements then when we try and show you the facts claim you're right and just dot understand, leave, and then repeat in another thread. Here's as good a place as any, as IMHO VBR won't be going anywhere too soon. I'm fed up of your silly arguments, can we please have them out and deal with them, hopefully in a civilised way, as too often you derail threads with your opinions.

 

You mean you "trust" VBR won't be going anywhere soon. It's not in your control whether they do or do not. Whether your point of view or mine is the correct one will take a considerable period of time to establish. In the meantime start saving hard.

Bye bye (once again)
PH

 

At no point has anyone ever said you cant have an opinion. I actually agree with quite a few of yours as generally you talk a lot of sense. But the point I'm trying to make is that on another thread you said that no boilers have been built in the UK yet so we haven't proved we have the ability to do one. At the time I pointed out that brand new fire boxes have been done as have brand new barrels but as of yet none have had complete replacements and the Patriot boiler is probably the first to come late this year early next year. Which i know you responded with "but it's all jam tomorrow". Which is fair enough as you are technically right. But on your posts you make out that we can't do replacements when quite clearly we can. Same with track and bridges.

Now if you were to go about it and say that there are a few railways that will really struggle to pay for the big replacements in the future as they don't have a big enough income to fix etc then I would tend to agree with you. And they would have to become better at fund raising . the same as if you argued that when locos need massive replacements they might also run out of money, especially smaller groups who don't push fundraising. Take 80136 for instance. They have a small membership and used money from previous steaming fees to pay for a lot of work on their boiler (was that a new barrel?) But as has been stated in the press they have run low on funds and were due to be sending the loco to the NYMR to finish the overhaul off in lieu of steaming fees (no idea if this has happened yet, last time i saw it it was still in Crewe). At no point am I saying that work on 80136 is poor or anything just that the had to spend a lot of money and ran out.

Is that more what your getting at? Or not?

 

VoB still after funds to rescue the Notts/Lincoln line boxes
http://valeofberkeleyrailway.co.uk/2016/07/20/home-page-pane/

 

errr, isn't that from 2016?

ohhh, weirdly if you go to the front page, you get a newer story
http://valeofberkeleyrailway.co.uk/2020/02/04/2545/

 

At a guess I wonder if it's an item originally dating from 2016 that has been "re-posted" or similar?

 

Is Black 5 44901's chassis still there? There is a Facebook page but not very illuminating.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/326177054130378/

Dave

 

A post in August 2020 said that the 'remains' would be leaving soon
https://www.facebook.com/groups/326177054130378/posts/3196982187049836/

The page on the VoBR website is therefore out of date
http://valeofberkeleyrailway.co.uk/projects/locomotives/44901-kingmore-black-5/

(Do NOT follow the link to the Kingmoor website on that page, looks like the domain has lapsed & someone's grabbed it!)



In terms of the VoBR, it looks like they're not updating their website, no 'news' posted since Feb 2020.
They have a Facebook page, & from that looks like they've got a Pacer at Chasewater & a diesel shunter at Dean Forest. https://www.facebook.com/SharpnessRail/

 

https://www.stroud.gov.uk/media/1605137/restoring-your-railway-sharpness-bid-2021_redacted.pdf

Stroud District Council have put in a bid for Restoring Your Railway funds, with a station for scheduled services at Sharpness Vale, & heritage stations at Sharpness & Berkeley.
Apparently there are plans for 5000 new houses at Sharpness Vale (?)

 

Is former LMS loco 7069 [ Hawthorn Leslie 3841 ] still at the VoBR?

 

Likewise is the Turkish 8F still rotting away outside?

 

Out of interest is the black 5 44901 and the 4f 44027 at Sharpness? Im that out of touch with these things that im a bit lost as to where everything is/was etc.

 

Reported in their own group that they've been evicted by DRS from Berkley station. DRS is still running flask trains there. Thats 3 of 4 phases on their website kicked to the kerb instantly.

I know the NRM gets a lot of unfair flak but this group (some of whom I believe have a good reputation) got to leave the GWSR with a national collection locomotive with little reporting or information since. It should have been recalled and reassembled for storage at York or Shildon or placed in the hands of another group for restoration. Just doesn't sit right with me even if it is all above board.

 

Report at https://www.punchline-gloucester.co...ection-derailed-by-nuclear-transport-operator but it’s silent on why DRS has taken the action

 

Most recent photo I can find of the 4F is from over 5 years ago, boiler outside the shed awaiting a new front tube plate and the rest of the loco inside. Last update on Facebook seems to be that work would be restarting shortly, and that was last year.

The remains of 44901 were meant to be moving to a private site somewhere a few years ago but that's also gone very quiet.

 

What a shame, they did a lot of work tidying up the station site/weighbridge and uncovering/recording the station foundations. I don’t think it’s as bad for them as it first looks, they found out what was still there at Berkeley, and they have the sharpness sidings all fenced off and secure with permissions in place, there is plenty to do there and at the docks shed. All focus should be on further developing sharpness sidings and maybe carrying out more repairs on the dockland track infrastructure before looking to Berkeley.