LMS Hughes Crab 42859

How do you know this? Don't tell me - you read it in Steam Railway ! Mystery buyer, former owner can't be contacted, frames hiding unseen at Bury for several months..............all sounds a bit unlikely to me.

Peter

 

When you say knackered for 42859 I assume you mean non existent?

It seems to be in slightly bad taste if they are doing an April Fool about a loco with as sad a history as this one, who knows its suggested above that its all in Heritage Railway as well, a degree of unexpected co-operation not seen since the A1ST and WCRC started playing nicely?

Plus didn't SR actually report the move to the ELR late last year, so all seems very elaborate and way too organised for SR to play such a long game?

 

Doesn't really have the sort of specificity that makes an April Fool, though. It needs to be something that short-circuits reason and gets an instant rise. Which is why every single railway April Fool I have seen today is about livery.

If your April fool provokes generally good-natured if vague and circular discussion, you're probably doing it wrong.

 

Alternatively half a story, poorly researched and rushed out before it should have been to try and be some manner of scoop..... Sounds very like SR to me.

 

Sorry chaps but I don't see anything that suggests an April fool's prank by SR or anyone else. The story broke some time ago so have no reason to doubt its authenticity and I think we should support 42859's new owner in what will, undoubtedly, be a formidable task. Having said that, I too, would be interested to know what parts have survived, the pony truck for instance? ISTR the previous owner did actually salvage some parts from the boiler including the throatplate.
Ray.

 

Personally I think their cylinders are all too inclined, and this drag down in appearance.

 

Bit of a sick April Fool's joke don't you think? There's a difference between reporting an engine being broken up and it being lost (48518), and taking the pi$$ about an engine being lost, which would be pretty poor form, and in very bad taste both as regards the locomotive and its previous owner.

Richard.

 

They (SR) would`t dare to fool about these things ,and risk getting the whole national preservation on one`s back!

Knut

 

It is definitely not an April fool. I know one of the people who has been involved in making it happen. I think the new owner could do with our support, if it is asked for, rather than a lot of speculation. Until then, in this case, no news is good news.

 

Yes, that was of course what I meant, although I believe the foundation ring survived.

The saddest thing about the whole sorry saga is that when 5305LA moved to the GCR many years ago, it was reported at the time that the Crab would go with them. Evidently that didn't happen, for whatever reason, but even if it had only gone there for more years of storage it would have been better than what actually happened.

I am only being slightly tongue-in-cheek in suggesting building a new boiler for the NRM's example, by the way. I don't see what the NRM achieves by having (hopefully one day, if 42859 does get rebuilt) the worst surviving example of a non-unique loco, and if someone else is doing most of the design and approval work anyway, why not? But they would probably have to give it away to make it happen.

 

I thought that was the case as well, but no one else seemed to remember. Thanks for confirming it.

 

I can definitely say the frames are at Bury sheeted over on a well wagon.

 

Is it just frames/ cylinders and wheels that exist then ?

 

Wouldn't be altogether surprising, haven't they been running for pretty much the normal working life of a large steam engine anyway? Beeching or no Beeching would they have run much longer?

And yes point taken about from scratch new builds, but do you get to the point where there is so little left and so much work to do to fettle it that throwing it all away and starting new would actually be cheaper?

 

Cheaper financially, but what value historically? Even allowing for so much being renewed.

 

Only the same age as the frames on the other two.

 

Well, what is the historical value of a set of wheel centres and a set of badly corroded frames? When there are two complete locos in existence? But this is all uninformed speculation, for all I know as well as the frames and wheels there is also a shipping container full of beautifully inhibited parts, in first class order and just needing fettling. Again, this too is just uninformed speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if the ownership saga has a few twists and turns yet to come too.

 

So looks like the ELR really have got crabs then.

 

Best one I've heard all day. Had me laughing fit to burst.

 

But honestly what is the point?