Steam Locomotive Restoration of the Decade 2010-2019

I believe it’s owned by a trust but taking your theory further, they are refurbishing the National Trust property in our village and I read a very interesting article on how they were replicating the old wall coverings and carpets from the early 19 th century. I think I’ll tell them not to bother and go to carpetright and B&Q instead. The time that any steam locomotive was withdrawn from BR or previous railway service it became either scrap or an historical artefact. There is a big difference

 

Including on Duchesses and Princesses. A pale imitation of LMS crimson - as observed side by side.

 

If there are two locos that should have been saved, they were Aberta, the last express passenger loco and Bihar & Orissa, the finest of the finest.

 

That sort of work by the national trust doesn't get criticised on the grounds that the buildings often have electric lighting and other more modern alterations and similarly I don't really have a problem where a loco rebuilt over the years has been restored to an earlier livery, such as 4472 in apple green, City of Truro in early Edwardian livery or an A1X masquerading as an A1. Perhaps similarly I think an incorrect livery applied to provided consistency with the historic theme on a heritage line can be justified as long as the reason is made clear, for instance a BR built Swindon loco in green if operating in a GWR environment, I did for instance quite like 1638 in green with DART VALLEY lettering.

But I see no reason for red Black Fives or Jubilees in maroon with BR crests etc.

 

You are comparing apples and pears, there is a big difference between something static being owned by a national conservation body (which gets most of its funding based upon its best practice approach) and something that resembles Triggers broom and is owned by a private body, plus there are certain legal controls to control the refurb of such a property.

 

If you go to th National Trust's Croome Court you will see that they have done a lot of work to restore it to its past grandeur. However, go into one room and you will find a plastic two person bath, complete with laminate panelling. Totally out of character with the rest of the building. However, it helps tell a story that it is part of its history so it is left. The ornate plasterwork in one room has been painted; it was done when the building was occupied by the Hare Krishna movement. In my ignorance I thought it looked quite pleasant and it needed a guide to tell me it was wrong and, although they aren't going to do anything about it, it shouldn't be like that. Croome's history didn't stop at a point in time. it continues. So does that of a steam loco. If it happened, it is part of its history.

 

Better get the MK.1 rake repainted without WCRC logos and ban 35018 for operating regularly off of SR metals then. It would seem only the livery of the loco is important to some people, everything else goes largely unnoticed.

 

We have to be realistic, it’s 2020, and there were inter regional trains to the Southern. It’s a matter of achieving the best possible.

 

As I see it, an object such as a Locomotive, carriage, vintage car or bus, only ceases to add to its history the day they are turned into razor blades or just rot away to dust.
We are never the owners of these things, merely the keepers. A new chapter of an item's history will open just as soon as we ourselves turn to dust.
Whether that object is original or modified, painted incorrectly or not, it is still part of that object's story.
I am just thankful these objects survive at all, as I was born 2 years after steam traction ended on BR's books in 1968. Our area of interest would be much the poorer if we could only read about it in books.

Just my twopenn'orth.

Richard.

 

Where do you get this from? At the moment I'm heavily involved in the major overhaul of a loco whose preservation I, with three other people, began fifty years ago. To me the livery is one part of that overhaul, along with tyre turning, axle box reconditioning, replacing wasted boiler platework, etc. Yes, the livery is part of the overhaul, the final part, but it's still only part.

We're interested in the livery an engine carries, but that's not all that interests us. We see the rest of the engine too.

 

In a way Spamcan81 is right. How much livery froth is on the forum? Now, how much engineering froth is on the forum?

 

When it is finally finished are you going to change your screen name?

 

Probably not. I've been calling it 2968 for 50 years; it might be hard to break the habit!

 

Possibly because people generally get the engineering right? But when they don't and something goes wrong . . . !

 

Excellent! A livery debate about user profiles. Maybe a rename to BR2968 with a maroon avatar

Tom

 

Indeed, I can't think of many examples of engineering causing consternation that *didn't* generate pages and pages of discussion, just look at the Thompson thread, and that was all 70 years ago! I doubt we'll be getting in a tizzy over Galatea's livery 70 years from now...

 

You might not in 70 years. I definitely won't. I suspect others might, though. That is, unless the world changes significantly, which it may well do.

 

A lot harder to see the engineering detail. After all, if two groups restore Black Fives nobody's going to know which one did a better job of the axleboxes from photos of them in action. One might assume that those organisations with a consistent reputation for turning out excellent engines are probably doing the engineering a bit better than perhaps some others, but barring massive steam leakage, it's not like you can see it in a photo. It's not even safe to pontificate too much from photos, the difference between surface finish on a re-machined journal looking excellent and downright awful can be entirely down to lighting. I'm sure the crews start to develop opinions, though...

I like the liveries to be right, or at least representative of the class, but I find the engineering more interesting, which is why I find 506 to be one of the more interesting overhauls of the last decade, partly because it's been quite well documented along the way. I'm pretty sure the ULS did a lot more on her this time round than in her initial Barry restoration. For a small group to undertake extensive frame replacement on a big 4-6-0, and get her back in action as an excellent performer, is pretty commendable in my book (yes, I know the railway helped, but the owning group did a lot of the work and without them it simply would not have happened). It's funny, I remember when I was young(er) and 506 was coming to the end of her extended first stint of running. At times it seemed like she was the only engine reliably running on the MHR and I was desperate to see anything (except a Standard 5) other than this boring, black engine with no glamour at all. Now I'm a little older perhaps I appreciate the virtues of the S15s a bit more, because I was delighted to see her back.

 

Poll due tomorrow (7 days up)?

 

It's an example of Parkinson's Law of Triviality. "What colour should it be painted?" is a minor but easy-to-grasp issue, and applicable to any locomotive, so there'll be many more opinions on it.