Pannier 3650

By the look of the covers they're putting the lettering where it was in the 60s. All very well, except of course it was applied by someone with the artistic sensibillity of a puritan church reformer... I guess I'm the only person who wishes they'd applied the letters where Stephenson Calrk ought to have put them - aligned in the middle of the tanks? Don't we tend to recreate the past as we'd like it to have been anyway?

 

We were actually opening out the six big end cotters, and checking / split-pinning everything else underneath.

We have a cold exam (boiler empty) this Thursday. If thats ok, we will fill the boiler again this coming Saturday. Then it's just a matter of arranging the final in steam insurance exam. Who knows, there are still some bits that have not had steam through them yet, and we may well end up with a further snagging list of jobs.

But if all goes well, we will probably have a couple of quiet mid week "3650 team only" running in days, then maybe put some appearences in around mid to late August. As always "no promises" yet, but once we know all is ok, I'll post dates here.

Yes, the lettering is in the position it was in the 60's. We have cheated a bit as we have a vehicle graphics friend who made them for us so they can be warmed and peeled off later and the outline not show up once we go green. There wern't too many people around last weekend with the dodgy weather, so hopefully the photos I took and sent to Steam Railway are exclusive. We will take the dust sheets off either after they appear or if they're not going to use them. Hopefully SR will reply shortly. The blue is still a bit bright, but should "dirty down" once we get going.

The 53 is nearing the final stages of painting, although the current wet / humid weather is not particularly conducive to good painting conditions and is slowing proceedings down a little. I think she's looking smart, but there again, we did just paint a pannier blue!!

 

Ah I wondered what the long pole was for. I must say the pannier looked very smart and i am looking forward to see it in steam
cheers colin

 

By the way what is the name of the colour blue the loco is painted. For example Nanking blue
many thanks colin porter

 

When I saw the pannier in the works with the (blue) King the other day I thought the two blues were remarkably similar. In fact, to my untrained eyes, they could even have been the same! So whatever the offical name of BR 'experimental' blue is, it's either going to be that, or something very close.

 

I thought it looked similar to the king but have not seen the two parked to gether to compare them. I am looking at modelling it in 00 Gauge.

 

Ooops, we've been caught!!! 8-[ Yep, it is the same colour as the King, in fact, it's the remains of a tin of the King's undercoat blue. (don't know the name but will look) We chose the undercoat, as being more matt than gloss, it will retain the dirt better and hopefully adopt the 60's look we are going for, rather than the clean bright blue it is at the moment.

 

Just picked up on this thread and what can I say! Fantastic =D>

Well done the lads at Didcot for having the bravado to go for the industrial look. All I can say is there'll be a Gala spot available at Foxfield if you guys ever want to try it on our bank! 7752 went very well up it when she was over for a gala a few years ago and be nice to have one in a genuine industrial livery!

Now then, who mention 1501 in maroon....? And how about 813 in it's industrial guise? Do we have the makings of an all ex-GWR INDUSTRIAL GALA?! \/

 

don't forget the taff vale tank at gwili, did both army and industry service after leaving the GWR, 1340 at didcot (netherseal colliery), and a few others. maybe you could take 813 one step beyond what the tanfield did to it and actually remove the GRW lettering, the numbers should still be under the plates!

 

I'm sure if you speak nicely to them then the lads who have been restoring it would only be too happy to let it come out of Didcot and have a play on a industrial line. It would be a shame if it didn't since they have done such a fine job restoring it and painting it then it is only fitting that it is shown off hauling a few NCB wagons around. But it's not my decision and so i can only speculate as to what might or might not happen.

 

I'm pleased to say we now have a working pannier.

3650 passed her final exam today (23/7/08) and spent the afternoon with some careful running in on Didcot's branch line.

Further running in will take place tomorrow (Thurs 24th).

This coming weekend will see us carrying out a few small "tinkering" jobs, but when I have more running dates and photo's I'll post again.

 

Seen pic in Steam Railway - loco looks fantastic and well done for turning it out in such an unusual but genuine livery. Looking forward to seeing the dirty version in a colliery or similar very soon!

 

Congradulations - I too saw the picture in Steam Railway and am looking forward to seeing her working.

Well done to Didcot for bucking the trend and adding a bit of much needed livery variety. I hope she'll stay blue until the King comes out.

Will there be a day when 3650 and 5322 are both in action before the year is out?

 

Does anyone have any phot's? I am very intrigued to see how she looks

 

Looking good, it is a bit bright though, hopefully it will dull down soon. I hope you are going to keep the motion clean, don't want too much dirt getting into those nice new bearings! (Give it a rub down with some used oil and paraffin!!) :-#

You're a Cheeky Little Monkey, do what everybody else does and go to your local W H Smiths and look at a copy of SR! #-o 8-[

 

I don't live near a WHSmiths 8-[ but I see the group have posted a pic on their site anyway so I could have kept my gob shut #-o

 

Well I took my daughter to Didcot a fortnight back. She is a feisty 2-year-old and has her own membership card ;-)

We had a picnic, a few rides up and down the line behind the "other" pannier, and then we went for a walk through the workshops.

Her first comment was "Shh! Daddy! Thomas is asleep over there under the rug!" followed up by a glance at the King and "Oh dear - Gordon's got boiler ache!"

I know it's a total accident and in no way attempting to be a Thomas, but I think you're going to have a lot of happy toddlers!

Neil.

 

Well... we're all knackered and a bit sun burnt. Why do preservationists choose to do the hottest things during hot weather (cooking in a pannier tank) and stand around using lathes when it's sub zero?

I promise I'll get some pics up in the next day or so when I've had a day back at work to recover.

 

As Promised...



More info at www.3650.co.uk "Latest"
3650 is currently living in the running shed on 4 road, and if we can get a couple of small jobs done
next week, should be continuing with some more running in next Saturday.

 

Looks bl**dy marvellous =D> \/ I'm tempted to come up and visit for this, can you rub the crystal ball and tell wether it will be running August bank holiday week?