Nunney Castle

Another thought is for 5051 Earl Bathurst to be evaluated. Does anyone think that is a good idea?
Finally, I think that it might be good to remember that Castles have a good reach for where they can go. Look at what Tyseley has been able to do with where they have gone with 5043. London, Edinburgh, Plymouth and also Line's like Copy Pit etc.

 

and have they got enought support crew for 4 locos ?

 

Would Pendennis be used that much however ?, Bathurst was hardly snowed under with work, plus Nunney could work with DBS, something none of the other Castles can, which instantly puts Pathfinder and Torbay Express off the menu.

 

I actually think a little differently..

5043 will come of age soon (2008 means 2015 is 7 years- doesn't time fly fast). even if it gets 3 more years, thats only a small overlap with 7029.
4079 is a welcome return, but with 6023 and SRM to share the 1 portable set of electronic gubbins, Didcot isn't exactly known for 30+ rail tours a year with it's locos... I don't expect too much from them in 2015

Coupled with a growing demand from Bristol.. now 2x on a sunday during the summer

to me there is a gap there, which for the last few years has been hard to service, and only 5029 (in-between it's long periods out of service) being the only GW loco to service it.... there's been some heroics when it comes to loco movements to meet that demand... in 2015 whats doing the Bristol duties.. ?

Geography is part of it, there seems to be a decline in available locos in the south and a dearth of them in the north... Air braking seems to be another problem...

with 9 locos (10 if you include 6960 as a mainline candidate) LSL would do well to get a reliable fleet of 4 operational and maybe 1 per year rotation in/out of works right now that looks like 34046/70000 with 46100 and 6024 down the road.

I wonder if 35018 might be joined by another 10A engine next year down south

 

I've seen 1450 on load 5 at Todd before, anyone else put such an insane load on an autotank ?.

 

Only 5? On the Dart Valley back in '74 I saw one shunt the stock of an incoming rail tour. Load 11 IIRC.

 

With the excellent care of 5043 I believe there has been approved for a several year extension. Am I wrong?

 

Hasn't 5043 received an extension for 2016-2018? I know that 4965 is not a castle but when it came time that Roody was headed overhaul an inspection found 4965 was in great condition boiler and all so she got a new 7 year boiler life.

Is there any news about Clun out there? Does Tyseley need more donations?

News from Tyseley would be really apprieciated.

 

Hopefully 5043 won't need plenty doing to turn it around quickly, but I think new tyres are one of the things unless mistaken, the low mileage and winter maintenance meant 4965 was in excellent nick at overhaul time.

 

But that's just assuming everybody does one direct round trip which doesn't happen... people get off, go back and for, do more than one round trip. A rake of 7 Mk1 coaches will hold a max of 416 if all the coaches are TSOs and the brake is a BSO, which isn't the case on the GWSR at all.

 

I find it strange though as 5029 has her own support group as far as I am aware were solely involved with her? Unlike other LSL locomotives.

I am sure Nunney is amongst most peoples favourite GWR loco, Castle etc She is a special one compared to the rest so unless she is mechanically in a mess surely she will steam again?

 

I've no doubt she will steam again, it's more a question of when however, don't really want it out in the wilderness for the same length of time as Blue Peter.

 

The support crews were merged last year into one pool

 

Erm...hate to break it to you, but I'm brutally honest, not really!

Not that I have anything against her, but I don't really see why she stands out from all the others.

 

I think its 4073 (1st), 4079 (Australia) and 7029 (last steam from Paddington, Snow Hill etc) are the ones with the historic lines

That said 5029 was the first and only castle I ever got to have do at driving / firing way back in 1993... so it's special for me.

 

Awfully strange- she had a huge repair at Tys in 2006-8 at huge cost. seems very strange to retire her 6 years into that repair after relatively little work