Tyseley Single Wheeler.

Maybe they will consider selling when its finished? To a more suitable heritage line ? But as you say its down to Tysely. As to what it'll pull & perform , lets get it into steam & find out!!

 

Why would they sell it? It would be as much an asset to them as Rood Ashton Hall when complete. The one thing the Bloomer would be perfect for is film work. There's very few pre-grouping locomotives that occupy the sort of time period suitable for BBC dramas - bar the FR no.20, the Bluebell's SECR lot, the M&GNR's Y14 and...? Are there any others?

Maybe the question I should pose is why should they sell it? They're under no obligation to. Neither are they under obligation to finish it any time soon. We'd all love them to of course but it's not our project.

But as I always say, I'd chip in if they called for help...

 

I'd love to think you'd be right, but I reckon said TV programmes would carry on trying to convince us there were Standard 5's in 1890...

 

Yes, I've always thought the completed, working engine might bring in a few quid from film work. For any drama that needs an express train, set in the mid-19th century, it would be ideal.

 

Don't think ad-hoc filming jobs paid the bills for an engine before. most film crews seem happy to plonk a Standard into a carefully created Victorian scene anyway!

 

Can't help thinking there are probably just as many inaccuracies and incongruities in the stuff *we* know nothing about. I would hate to have the job of trying to ensure everything is accurate in historical dramas. Those of you who are young enough to be still around by then should imagine what you are going to see in 50 years time when historical dramas set in the 1990s and 2000s are trying (or not trying) to get the IT equipment right...

 

Sure, and we can all quote films where the railway details were rubbish. From an upper-quadrant signal in 'Sons & Lovers' and Anna Karenina committing suicide on chaired, bullhead track, to a polished-dome SECR loco in 'Foyle's War' - the list is endless.

But a real live Bloomer available for filming? It could have been impressive - world-wide - and a great advert for Tyseley.

 

Bob Meanley's posts earlier in this merged thread made it clear that filming work is likely to offer a pretty poor return for the time and effort required; nor do Tyseley want to sell the Bloomer; nor has anyone so far approached them with a serious offer or fundraising proposal. They just want to do the job themselves when the time is right and in the right way. So why not wait?

 

I think some people are worried they won't live to see it.

 

And hence are exploring the idea of organising some fundraising; which will depend on Tyseley indicating how much cash would be needed and how soon they might reasonably be able to complete the project if the funds were there.

 

My sister's pet gripe is violins. As a violin player, she always points at actors with violins in films and TV programs, and insists that they are not playing them properly. I have to take her word for it...

 

@MellishR hits the nail right on the head, if its not that far away then why not do an appeal like they've done for 7029? Ok I know it's not the last WR Castle but look at what the the likes of the 82045 group have done and thats not exactly a sexy loco. Tyseley loco works is hardly a cowboy outfit, could it really hurt to put out an appeal in one of the mags?

 

I suspect money is only one aspect: there is also the issue of workshop capacity. All the money in the world (*) isn't necesserarily helpful if all your staff are fully committed on maintaining the main bread winners in the fleet...

(*) figuratively speaking: if you genuinely had all the money in the world, you could have an engine shed full of the damn things!

Tom

 

Well they should know what they have to do then.

 

Live longer?

 

Thats a fair point but will it take up any more space in it's current state or if it's finished and still stuck in the shed? Yes it might distract your staff while its finished (and then costing you money to finish it) but you then have a workable asset, ok while it's off on it's jollys thats another cost, but won't you then have the space to take on another contract job? (and yes I know while its a working loco it becomes another headache)

 

I suppose that's the easy option.

 

I wasn't thinking about space so much as people - if all your staff are working on the "big" locos that are needed for the VT charter trains, who is available to work on the Bloomer?

I'd love to see it run but was just noting that money is just one issue amongst many, so an appeal for cash - though no doubt welcome - is not the whole answer.

Tom

 

Tyseley do plenty of outside contract engineering. There doing work for 45551 at the moment. So if the money was forthcoming then they have capacity to work on the bloomer, they would just have to turn away or delay work on other locos.

 

I am not worried that I won't live long enough to see the Bloomer running. I know I won't.

I gave it up as a lost cause many years ago.

The messages from Tyseley have merely confirmed my belief that no-one will ever see it finished. Which seems sad, after the immense amount of work that was done in 1986-90.

Harry Jack.