3041 Queen Appeal

Stumbled accross this via Twitter 3041 Queen Appeal hope they dont mind my posting it here.

Have given no thoughts to the merits of the project, but they are a beautiful locomotive that I would love to see.

47xx scheme coming forward and now this....

 

Not sure I'd trust their finances. Apparently it was built in 1982 and is 40 years old…

Simon

 

Not sure this is the right approach to what would be an interesting newbuild, even if only for emotive rather than sense-driven reasons (hey, when did that ever stop us!)

I know that there are some in the GWS keen on such a project, once a few of the current ones are out of the way.

 

I would love to see a Dean Single created but I suspect this loco has little to contribute towards anything working.

 

The tender was from an LBSCR C2X. When the original exhibition closed, it was scrapped as it couldn't be removed, but the wheels and a few other fittings were eventually rescued - via a sojourn in a scrapyard - for use under Beachy Head, though sadly the nice LBSC axle box covers had been irreparably butchered when the exhibition was first prepared.

Out of interest, what standard was the rest of the loco built to? Apart from the points Martin mentions (boiler and wheels), was any of it built to any kind of useable standard, or was it essentially the railway equivalent of the fibreglass Spitfires and Hurricanes that act as gate guardians at various places?

And what happened to the coaches that were part of the exhibition?

Tom

PS - post 800 commenting on a matter of GW interest. I promise to do better in the future :smile:

 

The coaches were two ex GWR Royal saloon bodies rescued from Aberporth in South Wales - http://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/utilities/action/act_download.cfm?mediaid=17695&langtoken=eng - one of them is now at Steam in Swindon, the other one is at St Germans pending conversion to a holiday let - if you look on Faceache at the Railholiday page you can see photos of progress. Neither have original chassis as they have long gone - the one at Swindon is on a Mk1 chassis.

 

At best a very, very few trivial bits and bobs - probably originals anyway - could be used but it is basically the equivalent of a fibreglass spitfire. There is certainly no boiler or innards.

 

It would be a wonderful thing to see a Dean single before I'm looking up at the daisies, but I fear that the time is not now and that the donor "locomotive" has little to offer.

 

I agree, a Dean Single would be nice, but you'd be better off starting from scratch instead of trying to convert something which was never built to run, I mean were parts of it built to original designs or just built to "look right" ?, the frames may support a bit of plywood or whatever is masquerading as a boiler above it, but are they capable of taking a real boiler and all the stresses of movement and rotating motion ?.

Afraid on the face of it, it makes about as much sense as some of the dubious schemes started on facebook and such like, usually by someone, while with decent intentions, has little real idea and has taken on more than they can chew.

Don't think im tarring all the more recent new build schemes with the same brush, the LNWR 4-4-0 seems quite realistic in comparison.

 

Yes I agree, although all things are relative!

PH

 

It was really a very large etched steel 'O' gauge kit, very much as was the Bloomer which we assisted Milton Keynes Development Corporation to construct over 20 years ago. The Dean single replica was really devised by the late George Hinchcliffe at Carnforth as a contract, I believe for madame Tussauds. The basis of the locomotive was a steel fabrication built at Babcock Power, Tipton by a couple of former colleagues Andy Taggart and Brian Griffiths. This was completed with all the details by staff at Carnforth, some of whom I believe, are still working there. It was a shame that the tender got broken up, I never quite understood why it wasn't offered for sale rather than just broken up, but must admit I never went to Windsor to see it so have no idea what the layout was like and the difficulties in removing it.

Personally I do not think there would be much if anything at all that could be recovered for a working one. Maybe a few bits of brasswork, number plates, and odd fittings. Better to leave it in one piece and make a real one as the cost savings would be miniscule compared to the total project costs.

Regards
Bob