Bulleid Pacifics - Past or Present

First trip of the year for London's only mainline steam locomotive. "28" - Clan Line - looked magnificent on Friday.

I took some time out at my lunch break to see the train off (I was working not too far away in East Croydon on the day).

As far as I'm aware, good time had by all and the loco performed flawlessly. Certainly looked and sounded the business when she came through East Croydon later on!

 

You can’t argue 35025 has the best rolling chassis out of the 3 but I would say she has the worse boiler. I took the photo a couple of weeks ago whilst working on 35011.




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Which is why, IMO, it would make sense for the respective owners to get together and make 2 'good' locos from 35010/11 & 25 and have a pool of spares - but they're not my engines.....
Ray.

 

Its similar to how everyone thinks it will be a good idea to name a loco after Dai Woodham but then no one wants it to there loco that takes the name. No one wants there loco to be the one broken down for spares.


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It's easy to speculate about the reasons for refusing to sell. I suppose that if the owner has spent a lifetime (and a lot of money) devoted to her, it's very difficult to let go, especially if he grossly overvalues her worth.

Sometimes people get more intransigent as they get older; let's hope this ain't the case here! Nevertheless, I suspect that time is on the side of those of us who wish to see her in safe hands..


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I don't see how you can make any assessment of boiler condition based on a photograph showing a bit of surface rust and some weeds.

 

It was more based on the amount of plant life we’ve removed and what came out with it between the inner Firefox and the back plate.


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It must be difficult to actually put a value on 35025 as she is now. Obviously there is a "scrap price" based on tonnage and current scrap steel price. There is a potential price based on a working 8P restored pacific, or the cost of a "New Build" (A1/P2).
Then again, if two or more people/groups want to buy, then the price will reflect that. Obviously the cost of restoration will be close to £1,000,000 these days.

 

The problem being, that the Chairman doesn't appear to be consulting with members/shareholders of the loco - he seems to be making decisions based on what he wants.


Keith

 

Most probably true - I do have a small shareholding and did receive regular updates when the locomotive was at Loughborough. However, since it has been at Sellinge, there has been no information, apart from when I recently notified them of my change of address. I do not know what proportion of the shares the chairman has, the website has also had no updates for years.

 

At some point any intransient owner will naturally cease to be able to be intransient.

 

Rather, in transit......

 

Did you mean intransigent?

 

But then you have the problem over who owns what shares in it, I suspect its going to be very messy , As does anyone know who actually does hold shares and what their shareholding is, if the Chairman is the majority shareholder, what happens, they either get sold to the highest bidder, by the estate, or possibly handed down, if there is family, but if he isn't the controlling shareholder, then that's another load of grief, as after so many years, many others would have passed over, and shares been forgotten about, until some excited family member stumbles across the certificates, and realises we own a steam engine ,

 

To get a bit more information I have been in contact with the Brocklebank Line Association and "Yes" the chairman is " by far the major shareholder". An offer was made to buy the locomotive when it was due to leave Loughborough, which was declined as being insufficient. However...."The Association is open to offers that demonstrate the necessary financial and engineering capabilities - if such a realistic approach".......... So not necessarily, " intransigent", but what would such a realistic offer be?

 

If I was going to spend £1M on it, I would take it away free of charge and wouldn't want to pay anything for it.

However, I would need to guarantee that the restoration would not fail and I suppose that would involve setting up a trust and offering trusteeships to existing shareholders or something..

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Again this shows how difficult it is to put a value on "Brocklebank" as it is. I certainly would not want to give it away "Free of charge", given that a new wheel is £8,000! The value of parts alone to existing Bulleid owners, seeking a spares "cache" for their long term future, must be over £100,000 I would suggest.

 

Southern Locomotives Ltd is recruiting.

 

Went to see GSN last week, at Swindon/Cricklade Railway, whilst it looks strangely out of place for such a 'small' set-up, they have a place where they can, under some shelter, work on the slow job of restoration. I wish them all the best for their future efforts and hope it comes to run before too long, not before 'Hengist' though!

 

Given the news of the order for a "spare" boiler for the A1/P2 project, are we coming close to the financial case for having a spare WC/BB boiler that could be hired out to speed up restorations of the various overhauls? Could SDRE now construct a brand new Bulleid boiler, having done a batch of fireboxes+?