LSWR T3 563

Once everyones finances are in order, please feel free to drop Matt McManus, 563 Trustee an email. His address is matt.mcmanus@swanagerailway.co.uk, he will be most happy to assist you in facilitating your donation to the ring fenced T3 fund.

 

What photo is this?

 

Picture was taken by Jack Haynes a fireman at Swanage, copied off the Swanage Facebook page, same pic on Jacks Facebook page as well.

 

Not sure if this has been linked before as it's from last Monday, T3 being split from her tender prior to her departure

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1458179610897265

not sure if non facebook users can view it

 

Thank you for sharing. The little clip epitomises what is so remarkable about the T3's return to steam - the sheer incongruity of 563, in L&SWR Livery, coupled up to a class 33 diesel. The Cromptons were introduced in 1960 and would have overlapped briefly with several of the ancient classes of loco which must have made the Southern Region at the time so fascinating - the Beattie Well Tanks, the Terriers on the Hayling Island Branch and the M7s and H class on the Three Bridges-Tunbridge Wells West push-pulls. We all know about these survivors - and the O2s on the Isle of Wight, the Adams Radial Tanks on the Lyme Regis branch and the T9s in Cornwall. Quite a few enthusiasts still alive today can remember photographing them and travelling behind them. Many of these old locos were given a send-off when they finally retired and examples of every class on the above list have steamed in preservation, so they figure firmly on the radar of enthusiasts such as myself who are too young to remember these locos in BR service (although it is a long time since the stylish 488 turned a wheel under its own power.)

The T3, by contrast, belongs to another era. All but three of No. 563's classmates had gone by 1933. The survivors spent their final days pottering around as shed pilots and were withdrawn with no fanfare. By my reckoning, anyone with clear recollections of travelling on a train hauled by a T3 must probably be 95 years old or more. There is probably no one living who has ever driven or fired one. Assuming no horror stories are discovered when 563 is dismantled at the Flour Mill, when she returns to steam after over 70 years, it will be a completely new experience for everyone, whatever their age.

 

A beautifully written post and one that nails down completely why this is so exciting.
563 return to steam is more than just doing it for fun, it’s truely about letting the past live again.
We will learn about the T3 by using it, cherishing it and sharing it with people everywhere.
The experience will be simply something that the preservation movement hasn’t really seen yet.
For a movement of hopes and dreams, we have an uncanny knack of making the dream a reality.

So please, support it’s return to steam if you can. Once the assessement is complete our crowdfunder will give it the initial kick to keep the ball rolling into the overhaul phase.

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/lswr-t3-no-563-return-to-steam-appeal/

 

Are there obvious differences with more modern locomotives which can be anticipated?

I have driven motor vehicles from every decade of the 20th century and the technological advances are easy to identify there.

Robin

 

Nice clip of the T3 being towed by the class 33. As said, the T3 is like something from a long gone era, but, oddly perhaps, there is only a 15 year gap between 563's withdrawal and the entry into service of the first Crompton!

 

I've said this elsewhere, but how beautiful is that? Complete with period dress. Astonishing!

One of my favourite memories of my life thus far is when I took an ex-girlfriend to see the T3 in The Railway Children at King's Cross. We dined at the Plum and Spilt Milk before and took our seats in the front row, incredibly. We witnessed the T3 moving, albeit by the battery loco pushing it.

The smoke effect out of the chimney was very convincing actually! After the show, I stood next to the loco for some time, whilst Vic talked to the actors.

One of the stagehands told me I could go on the footplate. Like stepping back in time. I peered out of the spectacle and looked down that short line and could see the suitcases, used for the effect of the embankment collapsing. I noted the stovepipe chimney that for me makes the locomotive very handsome, the dome, the faded green livery, I looked around and observed there was still remnants of real coal and soot around me, and whilst she was tired, she felt complete, like you could throw a fire in and make her go...

I don't know if we will see her in steam again. And I know there's a lot of controversy around her deaccession. But surely with that photograph above we can see how this could be so much in the locomotive's favour, and the railway's?

Truly, ladies and gentlemen. What a time to be a railway enthusiast in Great Britain.

 

most older cars the changes are very visable things like grease nipples on ball joints vs sealed for life, Carburettors rather than injection and most obviously contact points and condensor where today yu have fully electric, but i did have a shock at a recent car show when a moris minor owning friend took the cap off to show a modern contactless system .

 

How beautiful is that, well how about an Beattie well tank in Southern black with green lining, E prefix in the other platform with a short milk train

 

such a lot happened in the 50s/60s and so quickly.

 

Thats so true, being born on 56, by the time i really got interested it was already to late, steam had gone, only a few childhood memories of unknown steam engines at Woking and of seeing an 02 At Ryde Pier Head, when we went on holiday. but we did still have variety, even if it was of the Deisel or electric type, Warships on west of england, Cromptons on Salisbury services , Cors on the pompy , Bil's on locals,Subs, along with the new ED'S .plus, it was early days of preservation, going to the bluebelle when they had such gems as the Adams tank running, early trips to the KESR, and the U class in the station yard, visiting the last open day at Ashford steam centre, brighton open day, when the preston park loco's were drawn out still very much in as withdrawn condition. it seems so long ago now

 

563 is a bit of a time warp, at this moment in time, no one has come forward to say they have driven or fired a T3.

So its operation will be a bit of an adventure, older locomotives tend to be more challenging than their more modern refined sisters that said, T3 locomotives had a reputation for being strong and free steaming.
Learning how to operate No.563 will be for Swanage Railway crews to refine and then pass that knowledge on. It will I'm sure, be a learning curve.

Support the crowdfunder if you can!

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/lswr-t3-no-563-return-to-steam-appeal

 

I think it's possible the evaluation might come back and say it's totally knackered. Due for withdrawal but kept on "for the duration" on light duties it seems (such as shedpilot) I can't see it getting much maintenance . I suppose nothings impossible nowadays but I'm minded of the LMSNCC 4-4-0 in Belfast that people insist is a wreck....

 

Just a shame about the non period rolling stock behind the T3 but I suspect the Swanage is just a tad short of LSWR passenger stock pro tem.

 

At least the Bulleid coaches were used. Built 1947 ish, around the same time the T3 was restored to LSWR livery. So at a push, almost authentic ish!

Incidentally I never understood why the Bulleid coaches weren't used in the filming of Dunkirk. Still slightly too new, but would have been a hell of a lot more convincing than the Mk1 with 1970s upholstery that ended up in the film.

The Swanage railway has an Ironclad and three LSWR grounded bodies. All in need of major restoration, but a possibility for one day if enough funds were raised. (Fingers crossed for my Euromillions ticket tonight!)

 

Off topic, but the production company requested a full open coach for wider angle shots they wanted to film, and that particular coach was their preference. They were offered 4365, but didn’t want to use it.