T9 30120

Various reports this afternoon of T9 No. 30120 en route from the Flour Mill to Bodmin via the M5. <BJ>

 

Hope so. There's a picture of 30120 almost complete in the latest Heritage Railway.

 

Landed yesterday afternoon/early evening. Looking stunning.

 

that driver should have taken a wrong turn, he should have headed south with it , im sure that a space could have been found in Alresford head shunt for it, till the search was over then it quitetly could have been smuggled to Ropley or better sill miss read Boadiam for Bodmin

 

Try here

http://news.bodminandwenfordrailway.co.uk/News/index.htm

 

that looks good whats its axel weight?

 

For the record, No 30120 arrived at Bodmin in the late afternoon of Wednesday 11 August. It was re-united with its tender (which was overhauled in the BWR's own workshop) the following day and successfully passed its boiler insurance steam test on Friday. The engine will be formally re-launched into traffic at a ceremony at Bodmin General at 12.30pm on Thursday 2 September, and thereafter will be in action on all four days of the BWR Steam Gala & Real Ale Festival (with 53, 30585 & 30587).
The restoration of the T9 has been a partnership between the NRM, BWR and the Flour Mill. The loco has been entrusted by the NRM to the BWR (who paid for its overhaul) for at least the next ten years.
It is great to see No 30120 back in steam, the first time for around 18 years.

 

I look forward to October when I'm coming down to Cornwall specifically to see the loco at work; would it be worth the B&WR monitoring the extra trade generated by the loco to give a measure of the benefit gained by (a) the railway and (b) the area as such info will be useful data for future cost / benefit analyses of other rebuilt / restoration projects.

In my case I can start with £350 accomodation costs to the area and £30 for travel / book purchases to the railway.

 

Bit of a daft question, how many years has the T9 got left on her current boiler ticket may I ask?

 

10 years..........

 

I think it's brilliant to have such a fine (and down right gorgeous looking) steam locomotive back in working order! It's one of my favourite steam locos. I have been thinking about a few things though... Can one of you clever people answer 3 questions that I've been thinking of lately?

1. Will 30120 be able to visit other preserved railways i.e. the Swanage Railway, the Bluebell Railway and the Mid-Hants Railway (perhaps even the Great Central Railway, now that would be interesting!) on ocasions?

2. How many carriages can 30120 pull?

3. What is the long term plan for 30120, and has the repair to 30120's cylinder solved that problem or could it come back to haunt 30120 (I don't need to remind you of what happened to poor 4771 "Green Arrow" with it's cylinder leading to 4771's consequential fate) in the future?

Finally, I would like to say that 30120 will make a fine addition to the country's steam locomotive fleet... certainly in this current time of doom and gloom. I'd like to think that 30120 will show that it ain't all bad... I really hope that 30120 will steam for many years to come...

 

Saw 30120 on Saturday in steam (but not moving). Mouth watering!!! Even if she is in plain black (I guessing that tempoary). Will she be able to cope with the graidents on the BWR though?

 

What are the gradients like on the B&W line? When 30120 was restored in 1984 on the MHR with its 1/80 and 1/60 30120 was OK at first when we only ran to Medstead & Four Marks, uphill one way only and let gravity do the rest to return to Alresford. When the MHR was extended to Alton in 1985 the Old Lady found life hard going with steep gradients iall day long in both directions and three round trips in a days work. It could just about cope with 4 coaches but the other locos were taking 5 or 6. It isn't always convenient to have a short train in the circuit especially on peak visitor days.

 

She looks great, just needs to be fully lined out. Then hopefully a visit soon to the Bluebell where we can pair 30120 with the green Bulleid carriage set and that'll make a stunning combination.

 

The MHR is a billiard table compared with the BWR. It's uphill to Bodmin General from both Boscarne Junction and Bodmin Parkway. Most of it is at 1 in 40-45 with the odd short stretch of 1 in 37 and a couple of easier bits at 1 in 60ish. Both banks are about 2½ miles long.

 

Edit - Steve beat me to it!

 

All they need is Calbourne and they will have every steaming LSWR engine in the country! I wish I could get down there to see it but Cornwall is just too far away for a gala.