Current and Proposed New-Builds

Looks like Betton Grange (which I don't think has been mentioned here for a while) is inching ever closer to completion. I know they're borrowing a tender to get it running but I'm not totally sure whats still to be done. A strong contender for next year. :https://www.facebook.com/6880BettonGrangeSocietyLtd

 

On http://www.6880.co.uk/become-part-of-it/ they say "If anyone has the elusive ‘Grange’ cylinder drawings … we would like to hear from them." Aren't cylinders already made and fitted, and if so isn't it a bit late to be asking for drawings?

 

Tbf you could always ask for a Castle Boiler.

 

Reading that page, it comes across as though it was written at the start of the project and has never been updated.

 

Those words have been on the website for many years, long before they started the cylinders. I don't know if they found actual Grange drawings, but the Manor cylinders were effectively the same casting cored down.

 

Coming together nicely. Remind me .... do they aspire to putting this one on the mainline?

The model of the Launceston Railway's rake a bit down the page is a very impressive piece of modelmaking.

 

It might have been mooted but I don't recall it being a part of their MO. It being a small wheelled Hall might have some benefits but I'm not sure it would be as useful as a Hall out on the MDTR.

 

Or a Manor .... just as soon as they can sort the black boxes out and reopen the Cambrian to steam!

Can't help thinking it sounds reminiscent of the original reasoning which led to construction of the 68XX stopping when it did.

 

It does feel like the weird middle child in the grand scheme of the later Mid-Sized GWR 4-6-0s but I have no doubt a box fresh 4-6-0 in the world of preservation will be welcomed wherever it goes.

 

Anywhere with sufficient platform clearances, at any rate!

 

Olton Hall famously cleared the path for Halls in Scotland. Literally in some cases!

 

Like Banavie?

 

The Grange or the Hawksworth County,which will be first ? Ok probably the Grange with a borrowed tender , but both seem quite close, an exciting time! I particularly like the effort put into the County having the distinctive tender. I have just invested in the project which appears to be nearly fully funded. Having said that the appeal target looks very low, l presume this is a consequence of the resourceful reuse of donor parts. Related to that pragmatism it may be that any project not deliverable within five years is really going to struggle? Anyway l am very much looking forward to seeing this one at Didcot. It should look , sound, smell and go like the real thing which of course it isnt. Similar in fact to the Bluebells LBSCR Atlantic.

 

Considering the frequent comment that all GWR 4-6-0s look the same; if you disguised a Modified Hall with a long straight splasher, a 10xx number plate and a "County of somewhere" nameplate, how many would notice that it wasn't a real County? Is the one that they are building significantly more authentic that that?

 

I'd more describe it as less inauthentic as the boiler of a County was noticeably larger in diameter than the No.1 on a Hall

 

More on here than would in most places, I'd venture to suggest.

 

Its a much over used word but l think the County's double chimney is pretty iconic and 1014 will have a genuine one. The use of a Stanier derived firebox is very much in tune with the original too. All in all a very worthy tribute to Hawksworth and its challenging gestation during the 1940s

 

Unfortunately the stay spacing and operating pressure is not very much in tune... They are not using a Stanier-derived firebox - They are using a Stanier firebox.
A compromise instead of going about things the correct way and building an authentic recreation of the originals, in my humble opinion.

Richard.

 

Why on earth would they do that, pushing up the cost and taking longer. The correct way is to do it affordably and in a timely fashion. The operating pressure was adequate for KGV on the mainline and is closer to the original than the Bluebell Atlantic* will be using the GNR boiler. There just seems to be some unfortunate negativity about this project , a few people can't see the wood for the trees ! *I am really looking forward to that one too and giving it my financial support .

 

As I see it, are they building a Hawksworth County, or something that looks like a Hawksworth County, but isn't? If a project is worth doing, it's worth doing properly as far as I can see... Otherwise its historical accuracy just ain't happening.

Richard.