Tender Austerity at Ribble Steam Railway

I had an interesting visit to the above a week ago and saw this very nicely done conversion of an Austerity into a tender loco. A gentleman I spoke to said the owner was aiming at something like an Aspinall in appearance and had had an impressive dome made for it.

Does anyone know anymore about it, e.g. the tender's chassis?

Cheers
Dave

 

It was rebuilt by the Mid Hants to represent Douglas from Thomas The Tank Engine and was subsequently sold on. http://www.ribblesteam.org.uk/exhibits/steam/33-hunslet-2890-0-6-0-douglas

 

Ah many thanks, I did wonder if it was the Mid-Hants one. I think it will look better.

Dave

 

I believe it is owned by a forum member who may be able to give more information


Keith

 

Does anyone know anymore about it, e.g. the tender's chassis?

I think the tender chassis is from a Fowler 3500 gallon tender. The original tank has been replaced. The replacement tank was intended to look like the tender coupled to Douglas from the Rev Awdry's Thomas the Tank Engine books. Douglas was a Caledonian Rly 812 class 0-6-0 so I have always assumed the tender tank was designed with this in mind and your photo confirms this.

I believe the Fowler tender was bought from BR by John Bunch to provide a possible tender chassis to go with one of his SR moguls (there are strong similarities in the appearance of the LMS Fowler chassis and the SR Maunsell Ashford designed chassis), but in the end it wasn't used and was sold for use with the Austerity. If anyone else can confirm if I am right and provide more information on this tender I too would be interested.

In particular I would like to know the original number of the tender, when it was bought from BR and when the new tank was fitted.

Justin Edwards

 

As I recall from my time on the MHR the tender was purchased directly from BR by the Mid Hants railway for use on 31625 (which never used the tender and actually entered service and rotated with 31806 using the SR 4000 gallon http://www.ten.vintagecarriagestrust.org/tens/TenderInfo.asp?Ref=255 ) and latterly when a ex school class snowplow converted tender was purchased in 1995-6 ( http://www.ten.vintagecarriagestrust.org/tens/TenderInfo.asp?Ref=401 ) this tender was set aside for a number of years until it was sold to be professionally converted entailing the being tank removed and scrapped whilst being modified for use with the Hunslet 0-6-0 conversion.

I vividly recall the white stenciled number 44404 on the inside of the frames which would indicate a ex North British built Folwer 4F of 1927 vintage.

 

Hunslet 2890 successfully entered traffic today at Ribble Steam Railway. Will be out again tomorrow afternoon.

 

The dropped footplate at the front end looks a lot better than the deep buffer beam. (It never looks like Douglas anyway).

 

Looks good. Not so sure on the Aspinall looks. Looks closer to a Sharp, Stewart to my eyes. Anyone know how it rides vs an unmodified Austerity? https://www.facebook.com/Ribblestea...09441952979/10155602969992980/?type=3&theater

 

I'd love to see a photo.

 

Looks good:https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1520234394682647&id=217016738337759

 

The boiler always looks deceptively longer without the saddles on those austerities, going to be a lot of bafflement about what this engine is in the future among those not in the know to be sure!

 

It was always intended during the current overhaul to go for an eastern region ish look, seems to ride well based on the mileage clocked up this weekend. It is highly likely it will be working the service next Saturday prior to heading back into the shed for painting etc. It's created a lot of interest with many favourable comments this weekend and also confused many as to its origins!

 

I notice it's also gained a round-topped dome cover. This and the revised front running-plate/buffer-beam have contributed to a significant æsthetic improvement in the locomotive. I trust it will serve Ribble well, and give weight to my recent argument for more such Austerity-based conversions/new-builds...

 

I believe the revised front running plate was already done whilst at the Mid Hants to give the loco more of a Drummond 700 look about it. The chimney and dome cover look new though.

 

It would interesting to see what difference the tender would make on one of the longer preserved railways, the Severn valley perhaps.
There has been a comparison from logs of the difference on the West Somerset between a large GWR Prairie and the tender engine
conversion: having to lug a tender it is slower on the banks but turnrounds without taking water must save time and if you are
sometimes running low in the saddletank it would confer peace peace of mind & save topping up "in case".
Obviously you would lose adhesion compared to a full tank but either you could ballast the engine up to the full weight and have
that all the time or cheerfully reckon that, for the track, lighter equals: less wear, less maintenance and deferred replacement.

 

Good to see it back, the revised dome cover looks better, i believe it previously had problems when it ran on the MHR , the drafting wasnt quite right, but if thats been done now, it should be simular to a class 3, in Haulage terms, allowing for the extra weight of a tender,
I do wonder, Why the KESR havnt, given serious thought to rebuilding 2 of its Austerities as tender locos, as that would be an answer to the biggest problem that of limited Water capacity, and Coal, and they could always paint them up as KESR livery, and they would then become more suited to an extended line .

 

The draughting on the Austerities did have some development with the Porta arrangement in the smokebox that accompanied the underfeed stoker.
Kylchap style with a + shaped blast pipe nozzle, no bad reputation for steaming and indeed the last dynometer car trials on BR - on the Cotswold line from Oxford. However, I don't know of anything since - certainly no general fitting of multijets on them comparable to what has happened on the Welshpool and Llanfair locomotives.

 

Perhaps @JJG Koopmans could take a look as his next project...!


Keith

 

I cant make my mind up if I like this or I don't. Its interesting and well done, the drop frame at the front improves it a lot, it has a very vaguely Eastern look about it, but it still is obviously J94 based with the short wheelbase.