New Build Claud Hamilton

Thanks for the information 30854!

I`ve attached a video from their youtube page

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQBkIG3YEkA

regards,

Knut

 

But you fund the A1, a "pie in the sky" scheme when first mooted.

 

Cheers for posting that Knut. I'd not realised how young the group's core is. What with job/mortgage/sprogs etc. etc. it's no wonder they've not got time to beaver away on the project and keep their web presence up to date. Quite how any of that reflects in terms of design/build target dates, we can only guess.

Looking at other newbuilds, Phœnix still seems some way from that nebulous tipping-point at which any project crosses from merely 'wannabe' to 'matter of time'. As @Spamcan81 points out, it's easy to forget that was no different for even A1SLT in it's earliest days.

Were I involved, I'd be looking at a strategy to keep the project in the news regularly (if not frequently), preferably at least a couple of times a year, which has been one of A1SLT's greatest strengths. In the earliest phases of any medium to long term project, perception is as important as progress.

I'm old enough to remember letter after letter in the railway press detailing why this or that escapee from Barry would never turn a wheel again which in many cases, we now know, was a load of old cobblers. Partially informed correspondence (or drivel .... take your pick) on 71000 alone would've filled several overwhelmingly tedious and inaccurate volumes .... before the loco so much as left Woodham's.

If your starting point is "it's impossible", 99,999 times out of 100,000, you'll prove yourself right. Mind you, with that attitude, it's vanishingly unlikely you'd be the kind of person to who the idea of any cooperative offort involving other human beings would occur in the first place (and getting your kids to do breakfast in bed for the missus on Mother's Day isn't really what I'd call a major cooperative effort).

With something as complex as a newbuild loco, until a rolling chassis is completed, there will always be 'knockers' and probably will be right up until the undercoat goes on, at which point said 'knockers' tend to bugger off and find something else to denigrate ..... well, this is England so you'd expect it!

The LNER G5 (NER Class O) project has proved that a loco can approach completion and still fly under the radar. With completed frames, trailing bogie, front coupled wheels, crank axle, boiler, plus sundry other items and assemblies, this one still hasn't set the wider railway community alight. I get the impression the folks behind the loco quite like it that way as everything on their website draws on the design's regional credentials - Oop in North East.

Wozzat? ... OK, here you go then:
●https://www.g5locomotiveltd.co.uk/page/building-progress/
●https://m.facebook.com/Class-G5-Locomotive-Company-Ltd-348057485267433/

 

As Walt Disney`s statement "If you can dream it, you can do it".

 

Another new-build project I hasn`t seen mentioned before is this one. An interesting locomotive their planning. https://www.facebook.com/TheJ50Group

 

I had a break of about fifteen years (age 10 to 25) from the heritage railway movement. It was interesting to come back and see how projects that had been started in the early ‘90s had progressed. Tornado had gone from a seemingly far fetched idea to an almost complete locomotive (and had gone from being called a ‘replica’ to ‘new build). Even reading the thread on ‘Lyn’ shows the progression from ‘can’t be done’ to ‘project complete’ (even though this seems to lead to ‘it shouldn’t have been done like that). I think we will just have to see how ‘Phoenix’ is doing in ten years time...

 

Embryonic as yet ...... but weren't we all at some point? The very best of luck to 'em.

 

J50s looked like handsome little engines. Distinctive too.

 

Good luck to the Claud group, it’s a big undertaking, and they deserve support and encouragement. Nice locos, one lasted until 1960 and it’s a great pity one wasn’t kept. You can also have GER blue, then LNER green and finally BR black.

 

With the histories of the Claude classes being exceptionally convoluted, even by LNER standards, I'd be very wary of suggesting which livery was appropriate to what and when!

Phœnix will be a D16/2 ...... and that's as far as I'm going!

It's all here:
https://www.lner.info/locos/D/d14d15d16.php

 

I was with the Claud group at the Epping ongar gala a couple of weeks back. I think they had a good weekends fundraising as they seemed happy enough. They are young, which has both positives and negatives (I'm a firm believer that there should be a bit of both to be successful) which means time is on their side to see this through to completion. But there may or may not lie a big problem, from my personal experience it's the people who remember steam who are funding these types of projects (some from the A1 may disagree here as I believe they have said there are a lot of none enthusiasts in their ranks) and as they disappear will the next generation be able to fund at the same rate?

I really hope this loco joins the ranks at some point in the future.

 

Hello all, very sorry for only just seeing this. It might be down to the web browser that you are using. Doesn't seem to work on Frefox but Chrome is fine. Will have to look into that.

We are at the ERM in a couple of weeks. Funding wise we as I speak now have enough for both Bogie frames to be cut and delivered. Just in talks with the company about small details at the moment.

As mentioned we are all young and currently in varying rolls within railway preservation. Learning from the ground up so we do apologise if things aren't happening fast enough. We want to get it right first time.

Pheonix will be a D16/2 out shopped in royal apple green initially but will cover all liveries and possibly other famous numbers.

 

Excellent approach! Best wishes for your build.

Noel

 

Glad this project is progressing, with the team gaining experience and getting the research done. Sure this will stand them in good stead when construction starts.

 

Long time since there have been some news from this project. Maybe someone have more information?

 

Last news update on website was August 2019.........
https://www.claudhamiltonlocomotivegroup.co.uk/
Same goes for their Facebook page as well - December 2019 announcing that they have a whistle....though there was an earlier post saying they have bogie sideplates as well.
Been to the Whitwell & Reepham a couple of times in the past 18 months (between lockdowns) and can't recall seeing any publicity for the group there on those occasions.

 

Sadly, I'm inclined to think that this has fallen by the wayside.

 

TBH, I think I have seen a statement to that effect somewhere, though couldn't find anything online about it, which is why I just put the link to their website in the earlier post.

 

A bit like this but you'll have to imagine a Belpaire firebox.

 

I sincerely hope you're wrong. Given the ages of those involved (young) and likely to have all the 'jobs and families' stuff going on, I suspect Covid has had an even bigger impact than for us oldsters.

That said, right now, something reassuring online wouldn't exactly go amiss, even if it's just a "We're still here".