LNWR Bloomer

Another year passes and we reach 2010... any progres on 670 since the 2009 updates?

Im most interested to hear how work progresses. Will look forward to seeing 670 running on some preserved lines in the near future...! Sounded like work was progressing well in Autumn 09, whats left before we can see her steam?

 

Yes I'll be looking forward to seeing this.

 

Also OT (apologies, and sorry for the late interest in this thread): Isn't this the pub with the stream running through the back of the bar, keeping the barrels cool? Living in Dorset, now, I've not been there for decades!

 

Good point. And a good point about the beer too!

 

That's something I'm not aware of and I doubt that it's correct. They do have a fish tank behind the bar, though. I'm inclined to think that you've got the wrong hostelry. Shame, though!

 

I would also like to hear as well. I sent a couple of cheques but didn't get an acknowlegement

 

I've only just read about this. I see it's referred to as a "replica" Bloomer. Does this mean it will be a static exhibit, like the GWR Dean Single at Windsor, or will it be an operational loco? I suppose "Tornado" is a replica, although never referred to as such.

 

It will be operational. There was another recent thread about progress with this loco - no target operational date as yet, since it is not one of Tyseley's highest priorities, but they are working on it when time allows.

 

Right at the bottom of p2.

 

No reply I see.

I don't think the Bloomer will ever be completed. But as an allegedly ongoing project it looks good for their "charitable trust" status.

 

Apologies for not monitoring EVERY thread on this site.

If anyone would like to donate to the Bloomer, please send a check to 7029 Clun Castle with a note saying you wish the funds to be applied to the Bloomer.

We would like to finish it, but our priority is mainline locos at present, unless someone would like to sponsor the completion.

 

Two posts made and two pathetic little digs at Tyseley - at least try and be subtle with your criticisms - more effort needed.

 

"More effort needed." Just so.

A lot of Tyseley's replica Bloomer has now been in existence for more years than many of the actual engines lasted in the 19th century. Work on it started in 1986. The new boiler is nearly a quarter of a century old.

If the loco is ever finished it would fill a gap among surviving historic engines in Britain, might bring in a few quid by being loaned to film and TV companies, and the publicity would benefit Tyseley enormously.

I remain very cynical about this prospect, but would be delighted to be proved wrong.

 

Here's a picture of the LNWR tender (with a tank on top) taken at Machynlleth in the spring 1991. I believe this provided parts for the chassis of the Bloomer's tender.

 

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I believe the Tyseley Bloomer's tender frame was taken from a similar oil-storage tank at Northwich MPD in September 1986.


Another tank at Machynlleth (perhaps the one in your photograph) provided some of the original brake gear, and the tender was completed and painted in 1987. That's a mere quarter of a century ago. A lot of careful work went into the tender, but if the loco is never going to be finished, it all seems to have been so much wasted effort.

 

Problem is how it earn it's keep once complete, Tyseley isn't a museum any more.
I could imagine the science museum in Manchester making good use of it, perhaps a swap of somekind is needed ?

 

A very good idea.

As it seems to be something of an embarrassment, and is occupying valuable (GWR!) space at Tyseley, maybe the Manchester Museum of Science & Industry would be a suitable home for it. After all, most of the original Bloomers were built in Manchester, so there'd be a local connection. They have a short length of track they could run it on - as they do at present with the Planet replica.

And it'd be handy for the TV studios (just next door) for any 1850s-60s period dramas requiring accurate railway shots.

 

A loco doesn't need to do a big mileage to be viable - if it runs a small mileage, it won't make much in fees, but equally it won't need much work doing at each overhaul.

I can see a commercial future for the Bloomer as representative of 1850s - 1860s loco design for film work. At the moment the only working engine that can fill that niche is FR20, but it is not a particularly typical design for a mainline passenger engine. And in any case, FR20 won't run indefinitely - it will have periods out of service - so there is room for another loco. As an example, recently the Bluebell had a filming job for a film set in the early 1860s, but the carriages dated from the 1880s - 1900; and the engine (which was FR20, hired in) wasn't exactly a typical mainline engine. The Bloomer could have fitted that niche well.

So I can see a commercial future, based at a site (such as a museum) where it can stay undercover (to reduce weather related decay); doing periodic trips to steam centres for demonstration purposes (Beamish, Shildon, MOSI, Didcot etc) or occasional trips to bigger lines at special events; and picking up film jobs (not necessarily at its "home" base, but anywhere where there is suitable work). Do a few hundred miles per year so overhaul costs at the end of ten years aren't vast, and it is a commercial proposition. Whether that fits the core Tyseley proposition I'm not so sure.

Tom