NGG16 109

Does anyone know the current status of Pete Waterman's NGG16 Garratt No.109?

 

IIRC Stored at Peak Rail?

 

From
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/welsh-highland-railway-restore-new-9545164
unrestored 109 was at the WHR in 2015 with unrestored 130 and 140. Good progress was made with 130, but 109 was sent to Crewe where apprentices made a bit of progress until Government money for the apprentices stopped and the bits of 109 sent to Peak Rail. There was an online photo of the bits outside deteriorating, but can't find it with a search.
The WHR have enough to work on so looks like the unrestored NG16s; 140, 109 and 115 (in Devon) will have to wait for restoration, sadly the longer to get going, the worse the deteriorating condtition will be.

 

I suppose that there's no chance of Waterman spending his own money on his engine?
Pat

 

Apparently he is willing to sell it, but at an inflated price!

 

Anyone know the price (or an approximation) that's he's asking? Maybe an buyers' group could be set up.....?
Could run it on the L&B?!

 

Not sure if you're being serious or not but;
1 Why would you want such a large loco on the l&b when Lyn is running and the M-Ws/Charles Wytock are being progressed
2 I think it was previously established that the garratts wouldn't fit the l&b loading gauge

 

Too busy attending the opening of an envelope and meeting his adoring fans and telling them about his latest plans for reviving British steam and employing 50,000 people at *insert random town that used to have a loco works*

 

Hope he's never going to give it up, run around, and desert it

 

it never ceases to amaze me that when somebody puts his hard earned cash in to an project which does not come to fruition they are chastised for not doing enough or should put more money in to the failed venture because hes got the cash and he should jolly well spend it to make us happy.
I worked with Pete on the tv show Pop Idol and in the bar after the shows final, we got talking about how much he had personally spent on Railway Preservation and lets just say my total earning for the last 20 years comes nowhere near what he had spent on a hobby.
From his Wiki page
In 2007, Waterman became involved in a co-operative UK rail industry bid to create a national railway training scheme under the then Labour government, which after the Government seed funding was withdrawn from all such schemes, was halted in 2009. Waterman revealed in 2011 that he had since spent £900,000 of his own money on training apprentices at Crewe, and that outside Network Rail's own scheme, only 37 apprentices had been taken into the rail industry in 2011.[26] In January 2015, Waterman announced the sale of the bulk of his model railway collection, to fund the training of rail apprentices in restoring his steam locomotives 5224 and 5553, which in May 2015 were moved from Crewe to Peak Rail. In April 2015, the collection sold for £627,229 at the auction in Birmingham.[27] In July 2015
So I look forward to hearing that you have sold up your collections of whatever your most fond of , to help fund the restoration/preservation of a loco that I want to see run again next week if not sooner.
Cheers
Colin

 

You should be so lucky, lucky, lucky.

He can spend his money as he likes. Just because he is spending his money does not mean he is above criticism. The same goes for a Brexit supporter who goes for lockdown bust joy rides to test the toilets on his train. Spending money does not mean they can't be criticised either.

I criticise him for over promising and not delivering. He is unrealistic in what he sets out to do. Maybe if instead of grand promises he had developed the projects in a more coherent way they might have been success. I do however, think his behaviour with the closure of Just Like the Real Thing seemed to me to be poor.

He chooses to maintain a public profile and to promote himself. He can hardly complain when there is public criticism about the fact that his schemes have not worked.

 

Photo below is by Michael Holden, found on the interweb shows "LYN with NG16 Beyer-Garratt at Dinas Station".......

 

No, the L&B part wasn't serious (put in for Colin R's sake) but if a Group were set up it would be helpful if anyone knows what Waterman was asking

 

No130 was for sale for many years at Preston Steam Services, and was advertised for £50k. It required a new boiler. I would guess that Mr Waterman would be looking for offers between £50-£100k

Having followed the rebuild of 130 on Facebook, the owner has spent a fortune to buy and restore his loco (and fair play to him-the loco is stunning), so unless you've got a lot of very wealthy people willing to join an owning group then I think it's a non-starter.

 

Speaking of L&B and Garratts, I noticed many years ago that many of the dimensions of the Manning Wardles happen to be the same as half a NGG16 Garratt.
https://www.national-preservation.com/threads/ngg16-details.1011983/#post-1938920

... and no, this is not serious either.

 

The controversy with Pete Waterman is that he frequently announces some some grand plan then it falls by the wayside. It's fair to say that quite a few of the locos he purchased have not improved under his care too. The problem with 109 is that previously it was rotting away without a future. Now someone wealthy owns it. It is rotting away but people expect something to happen. This kind of thing tends to rub people up the wrong way. I've volunteered restoring one of his former engines. It has fared better under group of cash strapped volunteers than it ever did when it was owned by a multimillionaire. Money isn't everything, you need focus and know how to make these things happen too.

NGG16s are big complicated engines, and the ones available are in poor condition. You are basically restoring a medium sized Barry wreck. The idea that this is a project that you could give to a big group of single year apprentices to sort out is a bit far fetched. Not least because you are taking staff of projects that are actually paying the bills. I know a bit of work was done, but the assessment of it at Dinas was that you'd need you start again. So it's no surprise it never happened with or without funding.

Tim