76079

Good to hear 76079 is back. I've always had a soft spot for this engine after it made preservation history by being the first steam loco to work through to Swanage from the national network

 

Thank goodness! (Referring to the air brakes.)

 

There are several vac only locos operating on the main line so why should 76079 be adversely affected?

 

76079's been running in preservation nearly 25 years.

Here's some pictures of the day 76079 arrived at Bury back in 1990 and it's rebirth in preservation....

Pictures show :
1 unloading in Bury Transport Musuem yard,
2 first fire,
3 initial test run (whatever happened to that Yellow civ engineers coach ?)
4 loaded test run. (note late logo, and no coal rails as yet)

 

Wonder if Bean Counter could tell us whether the air brake equipment has been retained for future use or sold to raise funds? Many thanks in advance.

 

Not for certain off the top of my head, but I seem to recall at least some parts have been sold to somebody needing them quite urgently a while back! I believe OTMR has been kept, which Whitby to Battersby locos don't need (we apply for exemption from Group Standard on OTMR for each loco not fitted), so wider travels would in theory be possible. Mind you, one of our volunteer driver's reaction to the news we were buying 76079 was "can we put the OTMR on Repton - I'd love to be on that on the ECML!"

The real barrier is we don't have the support network - support crews probably wouldn't be an issue, as we have plenty of people with mainline experience, but we don't have a support coach and 76079's move from Bury was a rare long distance steam loco move without one.

Steven

 

Excuse my ignorance, but the NYMR loco's approved for use to Whitby, is the only thing holding them back from the mainline the lack of OTMR etc, or would they require further work / modification ? - is there a difference in the exemption for Whitby vs regular mainline (outside of the electronic gubbins ?), which locos are Whitby approved, do they have TOPS numbers etc

 

As far as I am aware, for the locos, it is just that the OTMR exemption is added to the 70 to 80 other exemptions from Group Standards needed to operate steam on the wider network.

The coaching stock exemption from the Mark 1 ban (which is under a law of the land, not a Group Standard, as is TPWS) applies to Whitby to Middlesbrough, but the NYMR Safety Certificate and Track Access Contract are Whitby to Battersby only due to the expected rarity of any trips to Middlesbrough. The exemption only applies to use to carry passengers - they could travel further ECS. Before we undertook any branch operations, a set of coaches went to Thornaby for tyre turning and we did run Santa Specials to Middlesbrough on 2 occasions - once with 80135 pre-TPWS (by about 2 weeks) and later with 62005. WCRC were TOC for these trains as they pre-dated our Safety Case.

Steven (guess who was Santa for those trips, on the "its your idea!" basis)

 

I remember the 80135 trips, I was living in Sunderland at the time so made a last minute decision & dash down the A19 fora trip to Grosmont.

 

Thanks for the comprehensive response. Doubt you would be short of takers for the pump, drivers brake valve, receivers etc for any of the locos currently being prepped for a mainline return.
Im definitely in agreement with your colleague on 30926. Would be wonderful to see it on York Scarboroughs for example.

 

Would be even more wondeful to see it on the main lines down south!

 

Apologies for the rather long delay in posting but here is a photo of her running the Santa special trains from Grosmont on the 6th of December. Wonderful to see her again!



Richard

 

Great job. Well done all. Did an evening diner behind her in late 2009, & then went to Whitby with her the following morning. Came back to Grosmont behind Repton - grand couple of days

 

76079's been running in preservation nearly 25 years.

Here's some pictures of the day 76079 arrived at Bury back in 1990 and it's rebirth in preservation....

Wasn't it first restored at Llangollen?

 

Actually the restoration started at Steamport and the loco was moved to Kirkby when Derek got his premises there. You're quite right that the restoration was completed before 76079 went to the ELR or Llan. Cheers, Ray.

 

I seem to recall Mr Foster restored the tender chassis on his patio!

 

We got 76079 out of Barry at the same time as 47298. At the time 76079 was owned by "Frogstone Ltd" - a group of Steamport members and whilst some stripping/descaling/painting was done there was very little "real" progress until Derek bought it. IIRC Derek and his team did quite a bit of work at Southport including sorting that cut off crankpin - I was there the whole time but involved in other projects by then so can't remember the details. Bob might remember more. Obviously work speeded up once the loco got to Kirkby. Compared with later restorations 76079 didn't really need a lot of work - I don't think the pistons were even pulled. The worst part was her thin tyres. We all know that Ian Riley called 76079 the "Pocket Rocket" but her reputation as a 'strong' engine went back to her time at Sutton Oak when, I was told, that she regularly covered Class 5 turns. I've often wondered if that was the cause of the worn tyres. Cheers, Ray

 

I can also recall crawling around inside the tender at Steamport brushing up the scale.
The other big problem with the loco for restoration purposes was the rear crank pin having been cut off at Barry by Dai's men.