New Loco for Ravenglass

I've seen it mentioned on another board that the R & ER may be planning to build another steam loco - does anyone know anything about this?

 

Rumours are around that a new locomotive is being looked at. A drawing posted in the R&ER FB group was essentially an enlarged version of Northern Rock. This was only a proposal though.

 

Hopefully not named after a Building Society..

 

In steam today 'Nationwide'

 

I reckon "Bad Bank" could be a great name either for a locomotive or a racehorse.

 

It would be very exciting if there was a new steam loco in Eskdale.
Are there any plans at all to return Bonnie Dundee to steam? I think she is the best looking 15" gauge loco in the country (although I liked here even better as a tank).

 

A year on from my previous post... any news on this "new loco" rumour?
Also - what is up with Bonnie Dundee. Is she being kept stuffed for the forseeable future?

 

At the moment the priority is to keep the 3 working engines in service and rebuild the fire damaged River Esk. There won't be much progress on that until the new workshop is finished though. The diesels Shelagh of Eskdale and Perkins both require extensive work too. So at the moment the railway has bigger priorities than overhauling Bonnie Dundee. The ratty requires 4 big engines to cover the peak service. At the moment they have to hire one in to cover River Esk and use a Diesel to cover for any maintenance of failures that happen. So they are investigating building another loco but it is still early stages yet.

Tim

 

I had forgotten about the fire, of course that would be the focus for the near future.
Such a dreadful thing to happen, hope the RER is recovering morale.

 

Any news on River Esk and/or new workshops?

 

I don't have anything to do with the railway, but people i know do and from what i hear the workshop is finished and the process of moving in is ongoing. The new museum is nearly done too and hopefully the re-build of Katie which is taking place off site will be complete this year as well. The diesel Perkins has been moved in for a major rebuild so that is the main focus of attention.

As far as River Esk is concerned it was mid overhaul at the time of the fire. So some parts such as the boiler which was sent away for overhaul at the time, the frames, and tender escaped the worst of the fire and require little attention. However quite a lot of the loco was dismantled and stored upstairs in the workshop close to where the fire was hottest. So there is long and tedious job of sorting through this lot to see what is usable and what isn't. It's not just a case of seeing what is damaged or distorted, as the heat of the fire will also alter the material properties of each component. Some machining work has now started though but it will be a while before it runs again.

One of the side effects of the fire was that the railways stock of patterns was completely destroyed which obviously makes the casting of new components more expensive.

Tim

 

The proposal of a new loco is just that. If it happens its years away from realisation.

There is no change in the status of Bonnie Dundee.

Irt, Rock and Mite are running.

Lady of Wakefield, Douglas and Cyril are the running Diesels.

Being worked on are Perkins and Esk

Under evaluation is Shelagh.

Synolda is fit for August specials.

 

Some video clips here of the 'Train from Spain' being steamed at Ravenglass:



More info about the loco and its restoration here:

http://trainfromspain.org/

Cheers

Andrew N

 

Also the vote for the livery and name for the Train from Spain has opened with full details being found in the R&ER magazine which arrived yesterday, so interesting options in terms of both so be interesting to see what the membership decide upon.

 

What are the options?

 

The members only vote options are:

Names: Ghyll Force, King of Prussia, Pinta, Scafell, Volunteer, Whillan Beck

Liveries: Caledonian Railway blue, Longmoor Military Railway blue/red, LB&SCR umber, German Railways black/red, Post Office red, LB&SCR ochre

 

Oh - not my nomination for 'Trainy McThomas-Face' then.

 

Or "Manuel"!

 

I don't know why I think this but I am sure the R&ER used to had more steam locos that is does now

 

The Ratty has the following loco history
In use Norhern Rock, river irt. River mite( society owned)
Esk under major rebuild hopefully finished next year.

Bonnie Dundee now on loan and to be restored to running condition. Has not been used since mid 2000's
Flower of the forest also on loan. Not in running condition or suitable for regular service.

Museum locos Synolda, serviceable. Light use only. Katie undergoing rebuild.
That's all the steamers, anything else of recent times have been visitors.