Current and Proposed New-Builds

Mr Riley will be coming for you if he reads that!

 

Oh right, now that you mention that, I do remember reading about it a while back, when they decided to build a No. 7 (thereby resulting in the need to do new cylinders; I seem to recall they looked at bodging the saddle, but decided not to kludge it). I wonder why they didn't mention that in their recent Web page? The "bring the width and height within the current Network Rail Loading Gauge" makes sense, though; if one's doing new cylinders anyway, one might as well make them gauge-friendly.

Noel

 

The only thing better than a Black 5... is Two black 5s

 

Edited for you

 

I bet you are a right giggle at dinner parties....

Seriously though, in the case of the GWR there is a bit of a gap, with Dean and especially Armstrong, when you consider he was LCWS (CME) for 13 years and little or nothing survived.

In terms of the 47xx, as my user name might suggest, I have a dog in the fight, however setting aside that the main reason its being built is that someone decided it would be a good idea and people are prepared to pay money to see it built, not sure how usable it will be really, and hopefully it will go main line as it would be like a caged tiger on many heritage lines so we shall see, my understanding is the cylinders have been shrunk ala 6024 so the important bits are as they should be but the overall dimensions smaller to make her a bit thinner!

I remain convinced that if someone stuck their head above the parapet and proposed to build one of these people would donate (I believe the GWS already has a reserved fund for such a project), I know I would!


For Armstrong I would propose an Armstrong Goods.

 

Or even better that any number of Black 5s. Cousin Wernher's A4/V2. He remarked after the war when in the U.S. I was aiming for the Moon but hit London instead.

 

A Dean Single wouldn't be able to haul a commercially viable train on the main line nowadays, but should be fine on a heritage line that doesn't have serious gradients. Were any of them still around when what is now the GWSR was opened? Did any run there?

 

Last one withdrawn December 1916 (or 1915 depends what you read) apparently. Tractive effort 14,253.

 

JOOI - is there a replacement for
https://newbuildsteam.com/
yet?
"Happily, it’s now possible to announce that a successor site, New Build UK, will be launched in 2020. The new site will be editorially separate from newbuildsteam.com, and located at a different web address. " I've not seen that, have I missed something?

 

Well there is the "Look -Alike" in the - now shopping centre, of Windsor station!
I was fortunate enough to ride behind the Stirling Single when it was running on the GCR and it was a real delight - so elegant and stately....it did go very well too! I'm sure a Dean Single could be a viable new build for the GWS.

 

Even better, get the broad gauge locos at Didcot running again!

 

I have found a picture of the "Windsor" Single....

 

Source: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url...ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCOCA6-fMze8CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE

As completed. Never seen the full loco - the tender was scrapped some years ago and parts from it are being used for the Brighton Atlantic project. isn't it gorgeous though? I do think there was something of a missed opportunity here. It really should have been at Didcot or similar.

 

I'm sure the GWS would love to have enough volunteers to work on this (and many other projects) but I believe they have been struggling for volunteers for several years just to keep the basics going.

 

Saw it through a carriage window at Carnforth and then saw her in the flesh at Windsor when the tender was still there. As Tussauds commissioned it to go in their exhibition at Windsor and paid for it not sure why it should be at Didcot, although I believe the GWS did provide some bits for it as did, coincidentally considering her new home, Dumbleton Hall.

 

Apologies - merely suggesting it would have made a great display piece at Didcot, particularly now we have the Saint running.

 

Good news! Info now received: 4709 is being built to fit NR gauging. The GWS don't expect to get into main line running themselves but to place it with an organisation which manages main line locomotives.

 

Surprise, surprise...

One wonders where Didcot Railway Centre fits in with all this.

 

Mum let me have a day off school when the Dean replica was delivered to Windsor. Loco, tender and both carriages were craned up from the old gasworks site to the station car park where a temporary track was laid. Being the 80's, there wasn't an issue with an 11 year old being on the site, so I was into everything! Got told to get into the cab as the model was pushed in to the platform, so I'm probably the only person alive who can claim(dubiously) to have cabbed a Dean single in their youth.
I would absolutely support a new build 3031. For all they were technically lacking, they have to be amongst the most beautiful of all British steam locomotives

 

A Dean single alongside Lady of Legend at Didcot would indeed be marvelous. For use on a heritage line a replica 3206 Barnum (second picture from bottom at http://www.gwr.org.uk/galphillips.html ) would be quite practical, its capabilities being almost the same as Earl of Berkeley (same size boiler and cylinders, wheels only 4" larger).