Tyseley Single Wheeler.

I will contact bob and offer my services

 

As a lover of all things steam , I would love to see a single wheeler working. The Bloomers were a very successful design, that went through several variants, I dont have the figures but I read they could put up some faily good sustained speeds on a regular basis. I personally think the whole Victorian era is fascinating, there's a lot more railway history before 1947, & even before 1923!

 

We've seen this topic before and the world was slightly different then. I wonder if producing a decent, well thought out kickstarter to bring it into a more public view would be the way to go? Social media and all that.

It is a very handsome locomotive and it's a pity more locomotives of its era weren't preserved, and if they were, aren't able to run. FR no.20 is probably the only locomotive (standard gauge wise) that runs regularly from around that era.

I saw some pictures of the replica Dean Single from the same era when it still had its tender the other day - not my railway but it looked utterly beautiful. It is a shame the tender was cut up (although the loss of the attraction has been the Atlantic's projects gain so not all bad). Made me go and look up some GNR single prototypes and some of Stirling's earlier designs are very handsome.

Anyone fancy chipping in to finish the Bloomer and then building a Stirling 2-2-2 single wheeler...?!

 

Well how nice to find some people on my wavelength! Yes, there was a great deal of railway history before 1923, and I wish more railway enthusiasts were interested in celebrating it.

Well done Stuart.b for putting yourself forward to try to get the Bloomer project moving again If Bob takes you up on the idea, do drop me a message, as I'd love to be of assistance if I can. Not that I really have any relevant qualifications or skills, but who needs those when you have enthusiasm?

 

Not a reply but a question,
who does it or will it belong to when it is finished?
who owns it now?
i am afraid i know little of the history of the project so apologies if its well known,

The melter

 

It is owned by Tyseley who (see Oddsocks link above) hope to complete it some day.

 

As they have been saying, ever since 1986.

 

It almost qualifies for the 'Steam loco survival myths' thread and might be a historical object even before it is finished. Perhaps the NRM will eventually claim it for the nation and put it into the care of Thinktank for display next to 46235. It would never be steamed since this would compromise the historical integrity of a unique exanple of late 20th century heritage engineering workshop practice . In the meantime I wish Tyseley well with their project and hope conditions will allow them to complete it, their own way, when the time is right. If anyone wants to hurry them up all they have to do is give Tyseley enough money to finish the job.

 

That sounds good. But Stuart.b's interesting questions at the start haven't been answered.

In particular, what work is required?

And, I would add: is there a fund, properly set up and dedicated solely to this project?

 

I would say most of that is answered in Oddsock's link above. Anyone who wants to know more (or has time & money they want to give) should contact Tyseley directly.

 

I think this thread has been useful in several ways:
- informing those who didn't see the earlier thread*,
- giving the subject an airing, so that it doesn't get forgotten,
- raising the hope of possible fund raising to allow Tyseley to finish what they started.

* Edit: i.e. now this thread, these recent postings having been moved here.

 

The questions i would ask are this. With Tyseleys current set up being to supply locos to vintage trains for the mainline and do contract engineering for other groups where does the Bloomer fit in?? It wouldnt be any use on the mainline, no point in getting it in steam for the twice a year open days and is it worth the money spent on it to hire it out to heritage railways? What can this loco actually haul in terms of coaches?

Would it be better for Tyseley to sell the bloomer to another group? Or heritage railway? Thus releasing money that can go on the overhaul of Clun or Kolhopur etc? Nobody in preservation is getting any younger and im sure there are plenty of people who put money into the bloomer in the past only to see it now sitting doing nothing taking up space in the shed at Tyseley where another contract job could be. If it is not the policy of Tyseley at the moment or in the next 5-10 years to have her finished this would seem a better option. Im sure it would be quite a crowd puller at a gala with say the coal tank or FR 20.

 

Suggest this is tacked on to the original thread to keep all our bloomers in one drawer?

 

Pmsl!!!! Iain thats a good one!

 

If I've understood Bob's previous replies correctly, Tyseley don't want to dispose of the loco as they have put so much work into it and they don't want to loan it to another group to finish as they would like to finish it themselves to their own standards. They also recognise the problem of it's limited haulage capacity and therefore there is no real need to finish it at present.

A bit of a catch 22 situation.

Keith

 

The proposal currently on the table is for fundraising to pay Tyseley to do the work, in the same way as they are paid by various parties for other work. If and when finished, they would certainly operate it on their open days but, being a small loco, it should be easy to transport to heritage railways, and I would hope that Tyseley would be happy with that.

That was already suggested some time back and firmly rejected by Tyseley. It's their baby and they won't let it go for adoption by someone else.

 

The Bloomer was born of the time when the Birmingham Railway Museums main goals were more getting people into the Tyseley site, making good use of the Demonstration line etc, for which it would have been ideal for shuttling up and down a quarter mile every weekend, similar to how Planet does at MOSI, priorities and focus at Tyseley has changed vastly in the intervening years, becoming a mainline base and engineering site that's mostly closed to the public, having more in common with Carnforth than Didcot these days, the Bloomer quiet clearly isn't an option for the mainline and apart from two weekends a year, there is no demo line for it to shuttle visitors up and down, the platform roads usually being used to stabled the TY01 stock set.

On a similar note, what's happening with the Stratford site ?, that seems to have gone quiet since the lease was renewed at Tyseley, if the plans for a musuem/display shed alongside a servicing point and short bit of line are still relevant, perhaps the Bloomer may fit in here long term ?.

 

Hi
The last I heard about the planned site at Stratford was a water tank was moved there but was subsequently stolen.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-20908770
Chris