60019 Bittern

Went there a few years ago but for some reason was closed for one reason or another but some exhibits had been moved to another site in York Leeman road I think it was called (could be wrong though) but the locos I wanted to see Mallard, the sectioned Ellerman Lines etc was not part of the display.

 

Was this after the fire?

 

I don't recall a fire at the NRM! The Great Hall was closed for a year or two, though, when it was rebuilt to deal (I think) with concrete cancer. It was still possible to visit by arrangement, though. Some LNERCA members were taken in by Richard Gibbon to study the lettering on the LNER Dynamometer car as we were reproducing LNER carriage transfers at the time.

 

I think the view over the last ten years or so has been that with three other A4s on the main line, it didn't make sense to restore Mallard because she would then have been competing with them for work. Of course, with 4464 and 60009 now out of the picture for the forseeable future, that position has changed somewhat. Nevertheless, I gather she would need some major boiler work in order to be returned to steam and of course, she is a star exhibit at the NRM and the visitors tend to miss her if she is not on display! But I don't think the possibility has been expressly ruled out, unlike some other engines (e.g. 251 or Lode Star.

 

The opposite side of the coin is that there will still be two A4s, but there will be mainline-ready new builds replacing those locomotives in the aptly named "procession to the plinth". I would therefore suggest it is both unnecessary and undesirable to return Mallard to steam.

 

Not now, but I bet she'll up and running for the 126 mph centenary in 2038.
I guarantee that, at my age, I will not be up and running then!

 

I cabbed her once on one of those runs! Schoolboy dream come true. I had a lot of friends on the Marylebone line, and loco crews were often blind to a quiet kid on the footplate.

I remember no4492 SNG coming to Marylebone for the launch of some stamps just before Christmas'84, which sort of started the whole "steam out of Marylebone" thing. Before that, mainline steam all seemed to be Settle-Carlisle, and nothing at all in the south. Was there another set of stamps featuring Mallard?

 

That must have been pretty special!

Saw 4468 a couple of times during those years on the Midland Main Line north of Derby and I wish for the life of me that I could find the photographs!

 

I remember my dad taking me to Marylebone on a god-forsaken awful wet day, and wondering what the hell we were doing there. He promptly took us round to a side area, and through a gate. Resting there were SNG, Mallard and Flying Scotsman. I still have the photos somewhere. Mind you, it was so dark that day, I might as well have sat in the cupboard under the stairs and taken pictures!

 

Not undesirable but there is a red streamlined Pacific in York which should come first.

 

October 20th 1986 according to my note book - watched them pass on a gloomy day at Princess Risborough

 

.......And then there was one........

It would come as no surprise to me if it came down to just works number 1863 ever being available for work.

Of the new builds how many are class 8? Well, we have one completed and another progressing nicely and after that, nothing.

There are locomotives that are planned for return, 71000 for example. But this machine, though impressive in performance, has historically suffered from a number of issues. The 6201 saga is fairly well known, it should return, this appears to be the plan and I am sure that we all hope that things work out well. However it is hampered by being less than compact. The King class has found itself pretty well squeezed off the network, but we do have a few Merchant Navies which is good at some levels but not so at others. There are others, Duchess of Sutherland, Princess Margaret Rose maybe, you can make your own list.

What does the future hold for mainline running and access? The larger locomotives so necessary for this are not so necessary on preserved lines. Yes they draw the public, are attractions in their own right, but for day to day use a more modest machine is of greater value. When the ever increasing overhaul costs are taken into account along with the uncertainty factor the working future for the larger engines could be considered doubtful with the exception of a few famous names.

 

Try 4498 SNG.
Was at Marylebone for the stamp launch and got my programme signed by Terence Cuneo whose paintings were featured on the stamps.

 

C*CK! Yes 4498. I was trying to accentuate the fact them days not everything was BR lined sludge.

 

Bittern has arrived at Margate with both of her tenders (pictures from Hornby Twitter feed):

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

 

Yes, we had lots of Big Four liveries to savour back then.

 

We still do!

 

The local journalists still have difficulty with the difference between a locomotive and a train. I think it's a bit
optimistic to call it a major railway museum, has no one told them that it's only there until it gets a slot in the overhaul queue?

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/thanet/news/record-breaking-steam-train-arrives-in-kent-183962/

 

I think that the issue is the lack of locos on the mainline in that shade of weird shade of lime green that calls itself apple green. (Stroudley clearly wasn't the only colour blind person choosing a livery)

 

Give it time - I suspect it will become the LSL equivalent of SVR's Engine Shed, and various Icons of Steam locos will end up there while waiting their turn in the queue. And it is colocated with the Hornby visitor centre

There are people on FB whinging about it being stuffed and plinthed - sigh!