Current and Proposed New-Builds

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't have high hopes for the V4. Keeping Tornado and 2007 running will be more than enough to take on.

 

Agree. I don't think any more from the A1SLT will materialise after the P2.

Another one I think will be abandoned, sadly, as it's one I would like to see, is the LNWR George. No major components and funding appears to be slow

 

I was under the impression the V3 had been dropped? I remember it being announced alongside the V4, but then it seemed forgotten about until Steve Davies then reiterated an intention to build a tank engine after the V4, but didn't mention the V3 that had been announced by that point (although I'm not sure how they'd go about operating that on the mainline).

That being said about a year ago the V4 was said by Steve Davies to be having a Army themed name, but I guess with the delays to Tornado's overhaul and fundraising for the P2, alongside the new Works, I guess it's on the back burner for now.

 

105 is a cert to be finished, pretty much all the parts are in existence, just needing machining, refurb or assembly.

 

I think the idea was that it was intended solely for hire to heritage lines, unless they wanted it to be the works shunter at the new DLW. It is after all the same size as 82045/84030, I think. However, we're talking about something that could be twenty years away and who knows what the future will bring in that time?

 

105?

 

Other than the ultimate, inescapable expiry date facing all of us ...

 

https://www.steamtrainsireland.com/rpsi-collection/53/ncc-mogul

Frames, cylinders, wheels, horns, axleboxes, motion brackets motion all awaiting assembly/machining.
Stretchers and smokebox saddle being fabricated.
Boiler barrel joined to throatplate, inner firebox assembled (with tubeplate), smokebox tubeplate completed
Tender to be built using GNRI E type No43 as a basis

 

Like is the wrong term, but true.
Also, I don't recall anyone saying old engineers can't do it. It's more the project lifespan that is the problem, you need a pipeline of cash and people until it's done

 

Are there any plans to build a Claughton? It seems like quite a major class that to my knowledge no one seems interested in doing. I know that a Patriot is already being built, which for all intents and purposes is a better version of a Claughton, but if a Clan is being built when we already have two Britannias I don't see why we shouldn't. I know I'd much rather see a Claughton than a Clan personally.

 

Up to a point - looking up these gentlemen, RR was quite lucky that some of them had their health last long enough to do what was needed on the RB211.

And, as importantly, if a group is very samey, it may struggle to draw the breadth of experience it needs to be truly sustainable. That's not to criticise use of older people, but to acknowledge that the mix of ages is an important factor.

 

Money, time, money, volunteers, money, expertise.
Who are the 'we' you refer to?

 

Ho hum, I ought to have recognised that number.

 

I didn't see much point in the project to build a Clan until they decided to incorporate some improvements with the advice of the Advanced Steam Traction Trust. Those should make it about as powerful as a Britannia but lighter weight and more efficient.

I would disagree that a Patriot is a better version of a Claughton. The Patriots were nominally rebuilds of Claughtons but bore little resemblance apart from the wheels of the first two(?) and the boilers; and those boilers were the larger kind that the LMS fitted to Claughtons in a crude attempt to improve them, which wasn't all that successful and seriously spoilt their appearance.

As originally built the Claughtons were very handsome locos and I would love to see one built, more than several of the current projects. With improvements to the valves in the light of a century's experience one would even be just about powerful enough for the main line (considering that two Jubilees are). But the prospect seems extremely remote.

 

Agreed, not least because the Bluebell seem very keen on 84030 and it will presumably be very useful to them.

 

Appearances are entirely secondary to a railway company's engineering and operating departments, tbh. This feels like a very British thing, to focus on purely the aesthetic rather than the basic numbers. Did their performances improve? What was their availability? How much time was spent out of work awaiting repairs? What were their mileages? Did they do the work required of them?

There is no doubt that the Patriot is a development of the Claughton: that's how the first few were built, using the wheelsets/boilers and mating Royal Scot standard parts to create the Patriots.

Was it an improvement? The fact they went into service and most were not modified to the later Stanier boiler suggests they were adequate for the railway's needs.

 

Slightly damning with the faint praise there Simon!

From a purely accounting p.o.v, were the Patriots charged to renewals or capital? If the former, I'm wondering how many mainline classes have had two pretty comprehensive rebuilds charged to them?

 

No one specifically, just "we" as in enthusiasts in general. I'll try and word myself better next time.

 

No idea if this pic link will work, but County now have a combined boiler/smoke box/chimney https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbi....3090071694546871&idorvanity=1852643971622989

 

Works for me! Thanks for linking.