Bluebell Motive Power

80064 has moved between the Bluebell and the West Country a couple of times. It was at the South Devon for a while as well as the Dart Valley. Will be interesting to see the details of the latest move and if there are now plans to overhaul it.

 

Whilst the standard 4 tanks are generally considered to be the ‘perfect’ heritage railway locomotive, the Bluebell doesn’t really need 3 so this does make sense.

 

I wonder what's changed that means 80064 is leaving after 30+ years sat idle? Perhaps the management at WSR have offered at restore and run type agreement? But I'd find it hard to believe that the owners haven't had plenty of offers in the past. It's regularly said on here that a 4 tank is an ideal heritage railway loco...

 

I would agree yet find it slightly surprising that 80100 didn't find a buyer and 80150 is still pretty-much unrestored after so many years. There are fifteen surviving however.

 

If the price was right there would have been a buyer. I would imagine the price the Bluebell wanted to make it worth them selling it didn’t match the price anyone was willing to pay for it.

 

80150 was one of the worst 4MT tanks to end up at Barry so it is not surprising that it is likely to be one of the last to steam again. I think that it needs some serious firebox work, amongst many other things. The team at the Mid Hants are nonetheless slowly acquiring parts and although we will have a few years' wait, things do look a lot more positive for this loco than was the case a few years ago.

I too am surprised about 80100 not attracting a buyer. I know that the Spa Valley would love to have a 4MT tank based on the line and I heard a rumour that someone associated with the line had made some enquiries about buying it but was told it wasn't for sale (of course, this may just be a rumour and nothing more!) I was under the impression that the group working on 78059/84030 intends to tackle 80100 as its next project. It is clearly a worthwhile restoration project - having left Barry in the late 1970s, it is in somewhat better shape than some of the later departures - including 80150. I must confess to having a bit of a soft spot for this particular loco as I lived in Gloucestershire for 3 1/2 years and 80100 worked a couple of trains over what would have been my local line had it not been closed in the 1960s- Gloucester- Ross-on-Wye-Hereford, so I hope that restoration work will begin before too long, whether at the Bluebell or somewhere else.

 

I'm a little surprised no statement has been made by either the Bluebell or West Somerset about the move. The Bluebell has quietly moved 80064 from the "Static display" category to the "Formerly based here" category on their website's stocklist, but nothing else yet.

 

Says a bit more here:
https://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pics/80064.html

I suppose it is sad in one way that Bluebell loses one engine [despite having another two] but, on the other hand, West Somerset do get another engine, something they desperately need at this time.

 

Yes one of the shareholders in 80064 is a member of my local model railway club here in Exeter. He has previously volunteered at the South Devon Railway, but more recently has been heavily involved with the D&EPG group at Williton on the West Somerset Railway.

 

If they have, I hope the 80064 group have got it written in stone, given what happened with the SDJR 7F....

 

The Bluebell must be delighted at getting some siding/shed space freed up.

Chris

 

The agreements the WSR had with the owners of 44422 and 6695 didn’t end as planned either.

Will be interesting to know what the terms of any agreement are.

 

If it is going on a restore and run agreement, it's hard to see how the 80064 Group can lose out as the onus will on the WSR to restore it before they get any benefit from it and they will always be in deficit till its ticket runs out - that assumes, though, that the owners are not paying for the overhaul.

 

To be honest I can’t see it being a repair and run agreement. The WSR probably don’t have the cash, and apart from the two locos they own, have always tended to get by with a series of relatively short term hires.

Most likely the 80064 group are paying (after 30 years of saving up), or there is a financial backer who has come forward.

 

If WSR can't pay for their bit of the deal for 53808 then I personally can't see them doing 80064

 

On the basis of having two always available of such a successful locomotive available for traffic I would suggest that having three: one working, one on standby and one under repair does make sense.

With the P class this has been achieved and a spare boiler as well.

The two 4MT 2-6-4 tank engines could well be regarded as such a trio with 75027 the 4MT 4-6-0 tender engine.
Wether a spare boiler to share between the tank locomotives would be gold pated extravagance must be open to debate but boiler work - certainly if it involves restaying a new firebox - is neither instant or nor cheap, volunteers can do things on a shoestring but it takes time. (With advice on hand a group of volunteers have managed a Swindon No 1 boiler )

 

The concept of using the three 80xxx tanks to always keep at least one running has been discussed at length in the past; however, I think the fact that they all have different owners (see above) has limited the opportunities to swap boilers between them. By contrast, the three Wainwright P tanks are all owned by the plc and as has been seen, most recently last month, swapping boilers is quite routine. Similarly, there are three Wainwright H class boilers and two suitable locos (65 and 263) and they have swapped in the past, and no doubt will again in the future now that they have the same owner.

AIUI (not a BR standard expert) the boiler on 75027 has the same firebox as an 80000 tank, but a longer barrel. Using 80100's firebox and putting on a new barrel to get 75027 into traffic is I believe conceptually possible. 75027's own boiler is "tired", to use the normal jargon.

Tom

 

You are quite right about the boiler being longer on 75027. Much has become clear, I did not know about the ownership of 80064 being
quite different to the other BR 4MTs with no direct interest by the Bluebell.

If it is the barrel of 75027's boiler and the firebox, especially the throat plate, is reasonably sound, to do the barrel ought to be a lesser
job. Leaving the tubes out of it: 35? 40? percent of the cost of doing the full boiler - certainly less than half.

 

A photo showed up on the Bluebell unofficial Facebook of 80064 (presumably - it was a 2-6-4T under a tarpaulin!) outside the shed at Williton. Oddly enough, WSR social media seems to have been completely quiet, you'd have thought they'd be more buzz about the arrival. As far as I can see, nothing on the unofficial "WSR Friends" Facebook group, and nothing on wsr.org.uk, even though both sites have had numerous photo updates covering other stuff in the last few days.

Tom

 

It must be said the Bluebell seem quite quiet on 80064's departure as well.

The Official Bluebell Facebook page posted a picture of 80064 earlier today and mentioned it moving on to pastures new and the loco's page has been updated on the website, but nothing mentioned on the What's New page on the same site, nothing mentioned about it's departure in the Chairman's Update on Wednesday or in Bluebell Times today. I get that the loco wasn't owned by either the PLC or Trust unlike the USA Tank, but I'd have thought there'd be further awareness of it's departure.