Bulleid Pacifics - Past or Present

That will be the easy bit. The several hundred thousand pounds to restore it will be the hard part. Anyway, I've already got one BB Pacific draining my wallet so I don't really need a second unless I could swap it for the wife.

 

From memory there was a considerable amount of items made for this loco over the years.

 

For any group to be successful you need a mix of skills - there's the technical people to actually do the work, but just as important is the fundraising team who make it all possible. In many ways, the latter group are harder to find but are relatively more important

 

But surely between everybody commenting on this thread must sure be a mix of skills? It is doo-able.

 

I seem to recall an asking price in the region of £250,000 (yes, 1/4 million!)

With this knowledge are you still as confident that its doable?


Keith

 

34070 cost £750,000 to restore according to SLL's website, so I presume 34073 will be equally, if not more, costly. But if a separate body organised its purchase and restoration, I'd donate a few quid towards it, when resources are available (I need to save up for a share in 34072 first!).

 

There are definitely a lot of skillsets available within the ranks of people on here. I like to think that I am useful in that respect. However, every minute of my spare time is already spent on heritage railways and I couldn't possibly make time for another. I suspect that this is the case with most people who would otherwise be willing to get involved. Those that 'do' are already doing. Those that aren't are unlikely to. Happy to be proved wrong, though.

 

If it was as simple a prospect as seems to be believed, one of the existing Bulleid owning groups would have gone for it long ago. The fact of the matter is that there are a finite number of potential sources of funding and volunteers, and given the nature of an online forum, with members scattered far and wide within the country ranging from active to armchair, then this could prove to be a limiting factor.

I'm not saying scrap it, far from it, but any group would need to have a definite idea of its 'home' location, how the work is going to be done and by whom, and also a damn good idea of how much it is going to cost.

 

Considering the amount wanted by the owner and the cost of bring her back in to steam. I'm surprised that 34073 hasn't been broken up or stripped down and sold off to other Light Pacific groups.

 

I know it won't be simple, since it would have been done by now if it was! However, I believe that its worth me doing some armchair market research to see if this project is viable. The sources of funding and volunteers are indeed finite but they do vary with time. Much depends on financial support and voluntary labour. Twenty-nine years of involvement with a GWR 2-8-0 has taught me enough to consider not even thinking about another ex-Barry job! Indeed, Im a protagonist of new builds these days and support both the Patriot Project and 82045 as the way ahead.
The main issues with 249 Sqn concern its complexity, condition, ease of operation (but Bulleids are noted for being good steamers) and ability to make money for a heritage railway. I therefore am in complete agreement with your last sentence and a great deal of "planning the planning" would be needed before any thought of asking for money could be considered.

But there could be a home for 249 Sqn on a variety of heritage lines in future a little investigation is worth doing, even if its only to satisfy myself that I "turned over the stone."

 

Perhaps Jeremy Hoskins could snap up 249 Squadron. Look what he did with 34046. That was in a awful state having spent all those years at Brighton and is now a great performer with the intention of going mainline. It is a shame about its condition.

 

34073 also resided at Brighton.

 

Well as Nat Pres's motto is bringing the comunity togther so i thought rather than talk about how much of a shame it would be to loose an engine that we could do something togther although i respect other people have already got other commitments both family and locos.

 

Don't worry all,somebody will snap her up-it is absolutely out of the question that 249sqn be scrapped-it's a named B of B for goodness sake. All the Bulleids will eventually be restored. Unfortunately some are rather lagging behind. Anyone give us their bottom 3 Bulleids?

 

I'm not so sure about 34051 "Winston Churchill" returning to steam but I like your optimism! I quite agree that eventually all Bulleids will be restored, good old british spirit of never giving in especially when it comes to protecting our heritage; But I fear that the destiny of the Merchant Navys is not quite so certain... Still I wouldn't count them out just yet, 35006 "Peninsular & Oriental S.N. Co" is not that far from steaming. I'm personally quite pleased to hear about 35006's soon return to steam because we will finally have a class of loco that has been absent from the heritage railway scene for quite sometime, a Merchant Navy. I know 35028 "Clan Line" has been around a while but its always been running exclusively on the main line, and don't tell me that none of you haven't desired to see a great huge, mighty, majestic Merchant Navy steaming along on your favourite Heritage line.

 

I'd love to see an accessible MN in action again after the demise of 35005. It will be great to see 35006 in action and hopefully it can do the rounds to other sites. There are also quite a few light pacifics that aren't too far away (1-5 years) from hopefully running again. When you add them all up we could be in for a bit of a bonanza for the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
Never say never as there have been quite a few successful restorations of a 'project impossible' loco, but some of the MN's look pretty desperate. I just hope we can see a few more in action before I get the call upstairs and I don't intend to be answering that call for a good few years yet!!

Cheers,

Paul

 

Having missed the 70th anniversary with 34081 being stripped down for overhaul, it is our firm intention to have her up and running again in time for the 75th. If all goes well we should make that deadline with relative ease but if there's one thing you learn in this game, it's that something is bound to come along to put a spanner in the works that you weren't expecting so fingers well and truly crossed until the job is done. All three squadrons in steam plus 53, 59, 67 and 70 would be a wonderful way of celebrating the anniversary. Just a pity that 34057 didn't survive the cutter's torch.

 

Dont forget there is also an outside chance of 72 and 58 making the 75th anniversary party, if things come together as rumoured, but it probably is unlikely with the latter, as it is a complete restoration.

 

72 being one of the three squadrons I mentioned in my post but I must admit I forgot Sir Frederick.