6100 Royal Scot..Progress 2010/2011/2012

Re: 6100 Royal Scot..Progress 2010/2011

I think you should look at who was on the board of trustees at the time so while Alan Bloom was the face of Bressingham who was advising him.

It also cost the head of the NRM is job, who left with a gagging order unable to speak about it

 

Re: 6100 Royal Scot..Progress 2010/2011

How pedantic do you want to be? In 1968, there were only two standard gauge preserved lines that had re-opened and were running regular passenger services...Middleton was still primarily a freight operation at that stage. Besides, even today the Middleton couldn't accomodate 6100, 6233 or 70013! And note that I said preserved lines rather than steam centres. The point is, in the 1960s there weren't many places where SG engines were regularly accessible to the public. Bressingham helped to fill that gap.

 

Re: 6100 Royal Scot..Progress 2010/2011

I'm sorry that I was a bit petulant with my last comment. I think though that it is a disservice to other fledgling SG centres at that time - the Chasewater, the SVR, the Foxfield and the GWS amongst - to consider them unmentionable in the context of 1968.

 

Re: 6100 Royal Scot..Progress 2010/2011

Severn Valley Railway, Dinting Railway Centre, storage at York Shed, Leeds Neville Hill, etc, just to mention those within driving distance then - the world wasn't quite so unsympathetic before the steam ban was lifted

 

Re: 6100 Royal Scot..Progress 2010/2011

That is a very good point, Alan bloom was just the "face" i should think the real power was with the trustees , why else was it so hard to remove 70013, was David Ward a trustee at this time? because he was very instumental in 70013 going to Bressingham in the first place . getting onto the ex Butlins engines, were they gifted to Bressingham or did they have to buy them, Did 6233 and 6201 get sold to Bressingham before going to the midland trust,

 

Re: 6100 Royal Scot..Progress 2010/2011

Carnforth must have been around because they managed to get a (temporary) injunction preventing the movement of one or both of 6233/6100 to Bressingham.

 

Re: 6100 Royal Scot..Progress 2010/2011

I didn't mean to portray those places as "unmentionable", and I'm sorry if my post came across that way. I just wanted to emphasise how much smaller the SG scene was then than it is today. Of the places you and Frank list, probably ony Didoct could have provided the big engines with secure undercover storage - and would they have wanted them, since they were not Great Western? It's well recorded that many of the sheds BR stored National Collection engiens at in the '60s were not very secure, they were not open to the public, and at the time one no-one was certain that BR wouldn't simply turn round and order the whole lot to be scrapped. In those circumstances, Bressingham was by far the better home for these engines. I just don't understand how a man who founded a preservation centre can be so demonised by railways enthusiasts!

 

Re: 6100 Royal Scot..Progress 2010/2011

Most will agree that that Bressingham was a good place for the locos at the time - under cover accommodation and accessible to the general public.It was during the 90's when he and/or the trustees considered the loan permanent that upset enthusiasts.

 

Re: 6100 Royal Scot..Progress 2010/2011

Martin, 6203 went to Pwllheli not Minehead. It was towed along the North Wales Coast line and down to Pwllheli by Ivatt 4 43052.
It was 6229 that went to Minehead.

 

Re: 6100 Royal Scot..Progress 2010/2011

6203 was at Pwllheli. It was 6229 which was at Butlins Minehead, and subsequently went on loan to (I think) the Friends of the NRM, before being bought by the NRM. There were also four smaller locos - 32640 at Pwllheli (now IOWSR), 32678 at Minehead (now KESR), 30102 at Skegness and 32662 at Ayr (both now Bressingham).

 

Re: 6100 Royal Scot..Progress 2010/2011

Edit: beaten to the punch

 

Re: 6100 Royal Scot..Progress 2010/2011

Did anyone get a photo?

 

There was one in one of the steam mags a couple of months ago, possibly Heritage Railway? It was a popular story that it was the weight of the loco that activated the Marine worm that nearly brought about the demise of Barmouth bridge.

 

Re: 6100 Royal Scot..Progress 2010/2011

There was an article in Railway Magazine with pictures, I don't have my copies here so I can't give an exact month.

 

Ahhh, conspiracy theories...don't you just love them?

 

Re: 6100 Royal Scot..Progress 2010/2011

I'm not denying the size or situation of most of the SG centres at that time precluded them from accommodating large engines - although in fairness the KWVR had 46115 Scots Guardsman stored for a time, and in the early 70s the SVR had 70000 Britannia - I'm just saying that there were an awful lot more centres of SG steam operation in 1968 than your post suggested.