5428

NYMR Facebook page suggests that 5428's boiler will have its official hydraulic test today and out of frames steam test later in the week, so it is looking promising for a peak season return. J27 65894 may also have its official steam exam this week, allowing running in to start.

 

The thought occurs that by the end of next year the NYMR is going to have a very short overhaul queue indeed and some real momentum to keep up. Will contract work be undertaken?

 

A very short overhaul queue? I very much doubt it. What do we have that will not be started on by the end of next year? At a guess No5, 3672, 44806, 80135. Started but quite possibly not finished 34101, 75029, 92134. With locos running up to 15,000 miles a year there is a lot of intermediate maintenance required as well. Grosmont shed is doing an excellent job at running very hard just to stand still. Sorry if this sounds a bit harsh but lets stick to reality and not get carried away with Nat Pres fantasy.

Peter

 

NYMR Facebook page suggests that 5428's boiler will have its official hydraulic test today and out of frames steam test later in the week, so it is looking promising for a peak season return. J27 65894 may also have its official steam exam this week, allowing running in to start.

Slight correction here, the hydraulic test on 5428's boiler is next week, I think. Yesterday felt like a Sunday, but wasn't of course!

As the Grosmont overhaul queue, it has been distorted by the addition of 92134, but that is a low hanging fruit that will not cost the railway anything but staff time. 34101 is the other priority, as far as I know and I'd have thought the two will proceed nicely in parallel - the 9F's boiler is finished and it needs mechanical work, whereas 34101 is more or less mechanically complete but the boiler, when it returns from S. Devon, will still need a lot of work. Both, however, are unlikely to see a major push till 5428, 29, 825 and 63395 are running, which should put the NYMR in a good position for some years to come. Beyond these two, I don't see a particular order. 3672 and 5 will be back-burner projects, and the choice between 801135, 75029 and 44806 is likely to depend on their condition and the cost of overhaul. The status quo suggests that 75029 and 80135 could proceed in parallel as they are both having new fireboxes and 75029 should need relatively little bottom half work, whilst 80135 is more or less complete. If 44806's boiler isn't too bad, though, it could leapfrog them both by providing the balancing mechanical work against the two standard 4 boilers.

 

I'm not. I'm basing that on the GM's comments in the latest Moors Line, to the effect that the boiler work on 75029 and 80135 will be carried out in parallel, starting late this year. The bottom end of 80135 is largely complete and that of 75029 is as I understand it very good. Even assuming that timings slip the predictions made in Moors Line, Moors Express (admittedly not always reliable), the shed Facebook page, the NELPG website, the 9F's owner's Facebook page, and elsewhere indicate that by the end of next year the only locomotives which will neither be in or nearly in traffic will be 5, 44806, 830, 3672 and D5032. The GM also said in the last issue of Moors Line that there is 'no short to medium term' prospect of the WD entering the queue. That leaves four stored engines, one of which might well be mainly worked on by its owners. Of the locomotives currently in traffic and bearing in mind that boiler tickets are hardly a reliable guide, you've got the B1 due to run until 2022, 76079 due to run until 2024 although as a Whitby engine it will probably be seen to before then, and everything else in ticket well into the second half of the next decade. That, it seems to me, will leave a certain amount of spare capacity, and if the shed was 'running to stand still' it would not have taken on extra work this year in the form of 1625, 65894, 92134, and the miniature loco boiler which is due to come in for contract work. Morale and productivity are plainly very high; I would like to know how that is going to be harnessed once there aren't half a dozen overhauls going on at once because something very impressive has been built at Grosmont over the past couple of years.

So no, this isn't Nat Pres fantasy. It's a reasonable extrapolation from official statements made through official channels by railway and loco owners' representatives. It is also a reasonable question. It is especially reasonable given that contract work has already been taken on. And you didn't come across as harsh. You came across as damn rude; rude, and factually incorrect.

 

Thanks for this. So, of the engines in the current queue, 44806 next, 5 as a fill in job, 3672 as a volunteer-led project, and 830 largely dealt with by the ELS? Does that sound about right?

 

I think your summary of the possible priorities is about right, but timescales are somewhat truncated. If 92134 and 34101 are to be ready for the 2019 peak I can't see much happening with the new fireboxes for 75029 and 80135 until autumn 2019, which suggests to me that it will be 2021 at the earliest before these return, and of course there is 44806 to consider - I think it will only move up the queue if it requires relatively little work and offers the possibility of a quick turnaround. As far as 830 goes, does anyone outside the ELS know what the plans for it are? I could see it's boiler being overhauled as an exchange unit for 825 but I've yet to hear of any recent expressions of intent to restore the loco.

 

I think I'm right in saying that the terms of the financial donation which enabled the railway to buy 4806 stipulate that the engine should not spend more than a certain period in store awaiting overhaul, so it is reasonable to suppose that some amount of work will begin next year even if it is not a high priority.

 

I think that may have been true of 75029 as well (same donor) but clearly the railway's management are aware and are in dialogue with him.

 

Does this mean that 3814 is nearly in traffic, or will be?

 

Not quite!
See http://gwr3814.co.uk/index.php


Keith

 

It's going to Llangollen for contract restoration whilst its tender is on hire to Betton Grange. If you read the 3814 website you'll see that relations between its owner and the NYMR are very strained, so it probably will not be back once its finished, sadly. 2807 was well received at the NYMR, as I'm sure 2857 will be later this year, so I don't think its a case of NYMR crews being anti-GWR engines.

 

Interesting that the owner had some GWR fittings made years ago (about 1992ish) as a multi-order and I went to collect them (small fittings) from Grosmont for 2807. Fascinating shot on the linked 3814 website of our 2807 passing 3814 on the NYMR relatively recently!

 

I can vouch for that. 2807 has been to the NYMR twice (2016 was last visit) and we had great difficulty prising it out of their hands when the loan period was up. I for one will never forget the climb from Grosmont to Goathland on the footplate at night watching 2 men who were clearly masters of their craft, although the fireman freely admitted he'd never fired a GWR loco before!

 

Such things are never as simple as they seem but it really does seem a massive missed opportunity for NYMR to have been unable to reach an agreement for 3814 many years ago now. Highly suited to the line given the testimonials for 2807 and maybe one day a classmate will join the fleet on a long term deal given how many are knocking about.