LSL One:One Collection Margate

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/thanet/news/warehouse-to-be-transformed-into-railway-museum-241605/

Approval given for the warehouse to be turned into a museum.

 

Apologies if this is covered elsewhere

'Warehouse next to Hornby centre in Margate to be transformed into railway museum featuring full-sized locomotives'
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/thanet/news/warehouse-to-be-transformed-into-railway-museum-241605/

"The plans are the brainchild of noted railway enthusiast Jeremy Hosking, who has 25 full sized locomotives in his collection, and former chief executive of Hornby Frank Martin, who was boss between 2001 and 2013."

Patrick

 

I'm probably going to be out on a limb here, but whilst a southern NRM equivalent will be very good for Margate, I also wonder if it means permanent or semi-permanent retirements for many of the locomotive residents, most, if not all, of which were acquired in working order. Raveningham Hall, for example and other locos that are not suitable for main line operations - and possibly even some that are given that there's quite a queue building at Crewe.

 

Hopefully it'll be more like the engine house at Highley, where locos get swapped out relatively regularly as and when their turn comes, but I do share your fear that a lot of these locos useful on heritage railways but not the mainline might not see the light of day for quite some time...

 

Is it not the other way round... the LSL locos that are/were in use on heritage lines are the ones least likely to end up at Margate?

Only have to look at 92212 went straight into overhaul rather than sent to Margate for storage.

 

The offer of undercover storage at Margate has meant that there is a lot of loco's and some multiple units that otherwise would be in open storage, awaiting their overhaul, or stuck away in a shed
I wonder if any of the NRM locos might find a home there, if their current homes have no room to display them, whilst their own overhauls are being discussed, with the NRM, I'm thinking engines such as the T9, whist Swanage raises the funds towards its next ten year overhaul , or waits for a slot in their own works to become available, or even, Schools Class Cheltenham. once its boiler ticket expires , if it has to join the queue at Ropley,

 

I think you've hit the nail on the head with the undercover storage option - I seem to remember that when 43106 was outshopped after its most recent overhaul a comment was made that several years and many extra tens of thousands of pounds had to be added on to the overhaul because the loco had been stored outside. If you're Jeremy Hosking and have the ability to create a museum to earn dollar from your locos awaiting their turn for overhaul, why not?

 

The loco was 75069, not 43106. The boiler was badly corroded.

 

That may be the most recent one, but I have a memory of it being referenced around the time that the engine house opened, which was not long before the flying pig came back, and that the engine house would help alleviate that kind of problem with future overhauls

 

3106 also had suffered from being stored outside, which was for a longer period of time than 75069. The Pig did have a lot of platework done to the boiler as well.

 

This has me wondering, is there any substance that can be fed into the waterspace of a boiler, then drained out, that leaves an anti corrosion cover on the platework to protect the inside of a boiler whilst it's in storage rather than the slow atmospheric drying out of boilers?

 

Thought from the Train Truckers TV episode, with the large crane being transported and moving in, it had opened back in 2019?
http://www.theonetoonecollection.co...-s0uAniKNsLaUYb6V7sAuhguwmD9eJf5pZZmHOSykWS3k
But seems it was a limited open day?
So another 3 years more work to make it safe enough to to fully open to members of the public, but I see they say there will be some more enthusiasts limited open days (once lockdown is over?)

 

Its possible to put a desiccant in the boiler to absorb any moisture that might get in and then box it up.. When the Steam power Trust acquired Hs No.385 from DSB in 1971, it had trays of desiccant (calcium oxide?) in the boiler. The trays were old boiler tubes cut in half and with crimped ends. The loco had originally been intended for the railway museum at Odense.

 

There must be a significant number of locos out there that are not presently in use where the owners would be only too grateful of some free or cheap covered accommodation so I don't think there would be any problem in providing exhibits that would change relatively regularly, especially if the transport costs were paid by the museum.

 

Both of 43106 and 75069 (you can add 4930 to the list as well) have had several zeros added to their latest overhauls due to outside storage, hence some loco’s taking up residence in the Engine House , Carriage shed or at places like Barrow Hill.
I think (please don’t quote me on this) but 7325 will be the first loco on the SVR to have taken advantage of being stored undercover, firstly at Swindon, then Highley.
I don’t know if this facility is exclusive to the other LSL but it’s not a bad thing to have a undercover facility that’s available for others to send their machines to. Ok you might have to pay storage fees but it’ll save you a fortune in the long run.

 

It's little more than a warehouse with some track in it at the moment, so not really suitable for regular visitors.

 

Our resident chemist Tom may have thoughts about calcium oxide.

I can't complain about a rich man allowing the public to view his collection of locos, but it could never be a rival to the NRM's much more diverse collection.

 

Gas Pipelines were dried (can't remember what was used) after pressure testing and were then purged with nitrogen to stop corrosion. Not being an engineer I have no idea of this technique could be used or would be cost justified.

 

Any inert gas could be used to purge a boiler of oxygen. It's just that nitrogen is cheap (ish) and not particularly reactive.

Lighting a fire in the empty water space would also remove the oxygen, but there is then the problem of removing half burnt wood from the water space before the boiler was used again.

Cheers, Neil