LMS Patriot Project Updates

04.30 am...brain not entirely engaged..thanks!

 

Any news on the purchase of a support coach for 5551?

Dave

 

Unfortunately at the moment this has had to take a back seat. Due to having to fund rectification work on the chassis, and also loosing sources of income this year such as our annual members day, sales stands at events, talks to societys etc. With the loco now being at PRCLT they have offered us the use of their second support coach to get us going and then we will see where we go from there

 

A sensible decision I think. Hopefully the money lost on rectification can be recovered, which would be most welcome.

Richard.

 

If you can have an agreed sharing arrangement, do you even need your own support coach?

The only insurmountable issues I can see would be if all three engines were out on the main-line in sufficient proximity to mean that it couldn't be loaded and unloaded in time, and maintenance/failure time.

Glad to see things are moving again anyway.

 

Thanks for the info on the support coach, it would have been a large chunk of much needed money.

Dave

 

Am I reading the latest Heritage Railway correctly that the boiler is moving from Huyton to the West Shed? It is far from finished. What is going on?

 

OK, I want to clear a few things up in this, as unfortunately rumours start out of nowhere.
As it stands we are having to pay for rectification work on the chassis and we have 3 areas that have been having work taking place, the boiler, the chassis at the west shed and the tender chassis at leaky finders. With Covid happening, we have seen a slight down turn in income for obvious reasons, this means we simply can't afford to keep all 3 working. So we are having to prioritise at the moment. The chassis is most important as you don't want a finished boiler and no where to put it. Simon from PRCLT has asked at some point to have the boiler as he would like to trial fit it, and with work being slowed down on the boiler at HBSS it's a good time to do it. Hbss also have many other contracts on the go, and only a certain size space to work on them, so it give them the chance to get another boiler that gives them an income while ours is being paused. Then, once we are in a better place regarding the chassis, and hopefully more income then the boiler will be finished back at HBSS.

 

Very sensible..

 

It would have been better if some of the above had been included in the article in Heritage Railway. As you say, rumours can start out of nowhere.

 

It is sensible to cut your coat to according to your cloth.
I suspect you are considered The Troubled Project and so anything will be interpreted to that narrative.

You may need to buy a couple of journos a good lunch (or maybe invite one as a secondee to see all the process).

the problem with steam engines is that all the bits are quite big and recognisable, and there aren't many of them, so you can't just fade into the background.

 

We continually get press that is inaccurate as our press releases are interperated as the writer wishes!
As Gavin has said above, the boiler may move to the West Shed for secure storage sometime in the next few months? This will allow HBSS room in their works to complete another project. A benefit to us is it may allow a trial fitting of the boiler into the frames to aid pipe routing and other clearance checks, before the boiler returns to HBSS for completion.
We have a similar situation with the tender chassis. It has been reported in sertain publications that the frames will move to West Shed shortly for wheeling. This is not true! The tender will stay in dry storage at Leaky Finders following completion of the current programed work. Completion and wheeling are still planned to be undertaken by Leaky Finders in the future. The timing of this will be planned and agreed over the next few months.

 

Thank You Gavin and Kevin, nice to have some good, solid facts. I despair of the comics sometimes in their desperation to get attention-grabbing "news" scoops.

Richard.

 

More remedial work necessary. The driving wheels must be pressed off their axles for attention to unsatisfactory welding repairs carried out in the past. The bogie also to be redesigned.

 

Where have you got that from?

 

Its a engineering update to members of the L.M.S. patriot project off colin hall the chairman as far as i can gather i received the email today (dare i say this about the work needed on the bogie frames and driving wheels its more than likely going to delay the completion of 45551 by a fair few months and when it will have its 1st steaming when and what date im only guessing)
Davo 56F

 

https://lms-patriot.org.uk/news/2020-10-02/members-monthly-bulletin-september-2020

It's been nearly 12 months since our previous chairman and engineering director resigned from the project. In that time we have spent a lot of time looking at what we have done in the past, and with the help of Simon Scott and PRCLT, come to grips with the reality of getting a new build locomotive certified for the mainline. Before anyone starts up with the whole "you should have done this" type response, which you are very much right, we started as a project to build a patriot to run on the mainline, by a bunch of enthusiastic volunteers, and over time you expect individuals who claim to be doing the work to actually be doing it correctly and knowing what it is they are supposed to be doing. Sometimes, unfortunately, this isn't the case, and we are where we are. As someone who has spent an extremely large amount of time on freezing cold platforms in the winter, on my own many many times, driving all around the country I am obviously devastated at seeing the amount of rework that has had to take place over the last couple of years, and wasted money. Some work done by contractors, others by our own faults, and by people who never meant to cause these issues. The past is now the past, and the only way forward is to get this rework done, get the paperwork sorted properly and all ticked off, filed away, and get 5551 completed. Going forward, we now, for the first time, have the experience of a mainline registered group in PRCLT who have been fantastic, and with Simon Scott now doing the inspection of the quality control and paperwork, we know that the work is being done to the required standard. No more wasting of money will take place like it has in the past.

 

I am finding the honesty,clear comms, and reduced finger pointing encouraging and confidence building.


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Seconded.