Tornado

Mmmmm .... IIRC River Mite was paid for by the preservation society, whose property it remains. Trangkil No.4* is commonly held to be the last commercial UK build (I remember seeing a short article and photo in my dad's Torygraph). On the NG, Blodge wrought 'The Square' in 1979 and the FR is the same legal entity wot built Merddin Emrys exactly a century earlier.

Does the broad gauge Iron Duke replica (1985) count?

*yep, I did have to look the spelling up!

 

Careful, your MN bias is showing there.

 

Ooh, sorry, I thought it only applied to the second sentence.

Well, strictly speaking, Trangkil No. 4 is in a bit of a conceptual no-man's-land; it was built in the UK, but not for use in the UK, so I'd claim it falls outside my proposed definition ("the UK rail system").

Noel

 

I knew I’d look it up and still spell it wrong whilst my felines were using me as climbing frame this morning! Regarding Iron Duke isn’t this what the GW was rather renowned for ie using bits of other engines to create ‘new’ ones

 

The GWR were experts in the art of accountants rebuilds. I believe they had one engine that started life as a broad gauge 0-4-2T and after a few rebuilds ended up as a standard gauge 4-4-0 tender engine. Presumably the whistle was the original so the cost could be charged to the revenue account.

 

Interesting to think, too, that at a dozen years old, it's not too far off the lifespan of the BR-built A1s. How quickly time flies...

Richard.

 

All much of a muchness with Covid-19 stopping us all running. I will settle for the day I can sit behind '28 at the drawbar again, and I am sure everyone feels the same about their charges. I miss steam on the mainline: I think we will all appreciate it a lot more when we're allowed back on the mainline.

 

...but will there be any coal left in the UK by then!

 

Yes, there will be plenty of coal left in the UK by then, but it will not be being mined!

 

Moved

 

'Given the UK's stated ambitions to be at forefront of the global shift away from fossil fuels, plans to build a new deep coalmine in Cumbria were always likely to be controversial. The proposed mine, Woodhouse Colliery near Whitehaven in Cumbria, would – if built – be UK's first new deep coal mine in 30 years.'

 

The mine in Whitehaven is producing coking coal which will never be suited for use with locos, purely mined for the incinerators in steelworks

 

That seems to be from an online poll about the subject?

One thing I don't see covered: China currently produces more CO2 than Europe and the USA combined; assuming for the sake of discussion that increased CO2 in the atmosphere will have a severe negative impact, and that urgent action is therefore needed to cut CO2 output to prevent that, how are people going to get them to make large cuts in their output?

Noel

 

Not quite so simple though - if they are producing goods in their factories for consumption in Europe / US, then in essence it is our demand that is driving their production of CO2. I’m all for their cutting emissions, but it would take, for example, action on our behalf to find a way to pay for the externalities of their polluting behaviour.

(Apologies for drifting further off topic).

 

Challenges that would be made harder by the likely hostile reaction of the Chinese government to such a challenge to their economic performance.

 

So stop buying stuff from them.

Noel

 

Well, quite. But I suspect that is going to take a fairly hefty nudge: we’ve grown too used to cheap imports, essentially because energy costs are underpriced.

Tom

 

Low wages aren't a factor?

Well, I should cease derailing the thread; sorry, all.

Noel

 

Comparing apples with oranges there. The difference being that both 35028 and 60007 achieved their maxima under a regime where blind eyes were often turned to such escapades. Given the risk averse times we live in, I think it's amazing that 60163 was allowed to go for the ton when on trial. Fair play to those who allowed it.