Brighton Atlantic: 32424 Beachy Head

My guess is that it's likely that some of the youngsters hanging around the station and watching the mainline heritage steam and diesel tours will discover that a 15 min stroll will take them to the museum. Looking at some classic locos, other railwayana and the military exhibits is just right for a wet day warm up.

 

For all of the criticism of the NRM (some of which I think does have some justification), on the other hand I think a de-centred approach to the collection ie spreading it out over the country makes more sense than concentrating it in one location. Sites such as Doncaster and Shildon make a lot of sense in terms of improving local access vs having everything in a single (fixed) site such as York especially for people who wouldn't make a specific journey to York.

 

On the other hand, de-centralising makes the national collection less accessible. I could travel to York with my interested sons, and spend a day or so at the NRM. I probably couldn't spend a week visiting York, Shildon, Darlington, Doncaster etc.
Also, the "de-enthusiasting" of the NRM management is likely to create a diminishing of interest in railways, causing a cycle of decline which would be tragic for the movement. When I was a kid, I often visited the Kensington museums, which were a treasure house. When I took my nephew twenty years ago, lots of the treasures were gone because they were no longer thought sufficiently exciting for 90's kids. Why it has to be all about children, and adults are marginalised, but required to pay the bills, is beyond me. Seems like bad business

 

Why?


4003 can do nothing that a Castle couldn't and a lot of modern enthusiasts would be hard pressed to spot the difference . i would be very happy to see her restored to pre WWI condition however .
the middle 3 choices would be of limited use , and only on selected preserved railways .
don't anyone dare lay a spanner on 6235. she had a full Crewe works overhaul and paint after withdrawal - a perfect 60 yo time capsule of Crewe practice . find her a better home by all means.....under cover at Curzon St . ....with a certain Bloomer to keep her company would do nicely.

 

Why?

A waste of an overhaul then. What's the difference between what Crewe did then and what would be done on an overhaul now? Sorry, just don't get this at all.

 

Perhaps a memorial to the men and their skills who worked at Crewe for a century? But whatever one's opinion about preserving Crewe's shop skills, or Swindon's with 4073, but in both cases, we have operating Princess Coronations and Castles. It is really not as if there is no other way of experiencing these types.

 

Again my suggestion might be what do we have that hasnt steamed in (say) tghe last 20 years that we dont have anything similar to that has been recently operational?

As a 'for example' we dont have an operational 2-4-0 & havnt for many years so getting Hardwicke back into service would be worth considering.

Similarly having City of Truro on the main line, a pre nationalisation 4-4-0 strutting her stuff was quite a thing.

Conversly as we have a number of pre group 0-6-0's in service one of which is GER, putting the GER 0-6-0 in the National Collection back into service is, I suggest not something we should be considering
.

 

Points taken, but I think that putting something into working order which has, perhaps, never steamed in preservation, or hasn't done for absolutely years, would create a lot of interest.

 

Don't we have other threads for this kind of thing? This thread is about the Bluebell's new build Brighton Atlantic!

Steve B

 

Yes, let's get back to topic! I think this is a great project and I'm looking forward to seeing it in steam.

 

Indeed...right up there with the P2. The Atlantics were superb looking engines and very capable by all accounts....

 

I disagree slightly. The collection at the NRM is so large there are many artefacts that will never see the light of day and can not all be on display at York at the same time. I don't think for example that the 2HAP would have got the attention it got if it had been based in York.

The artefacts have a double story to tell - on the one hand there is the broad global narrative of railway history and development - from Catch-Me-Who-Can to the Shinkansen, which is where in York they can tell that story (albeit with a UK focus), but they also have a local/regional story that they can tell, so Doncaster artefacts in Doncaster, and so on.

Ultimately, the question is does object x fit or tell a stronger story in a local context or in a global narrative? I think the Atlantics in Doncaster is probably better than them being in York, the T3, Cheltenham etc being down south. And of course, it allows for greater rotation of artefacts, there is no reason why something can not be part of one story and move to the other.

I don't think it is an easy collection to manage and there are lots of competing demands from an anti-intellectual government that would rather do anything than spend money on museums, commercial pressures, various stakeholder pressures, angry enthusiasts who want their favourite engine to be restored so they can ride behind it, conservators who want to keep it just so, and with a collection that is large, growing and has been subject to not always logical or coherent collection policies.

 

in which case it is a waste of time talking to you .

 

well don't then.

 

Latest update is here :

https://www.bluebell-railway.com/brps/atlantic-latest/

Tom

 

The quality of work and general thoroughness being lavished on this new build is most impressive. Looking forward to seeing it in action at some point in the future.

 

It's a super job, and I look forward to seeing it running, same comments apply to 82045.

 

It's almost too good to use!

 

Don't say that, I'm eagerly waiting my turn ...

So here's a question for the engineers - I don't know the answer.

If you look at e.g. this photo you can see that there are cutouts in the boiler lagging / cleading that the wheel splashers and oil pots are recessed into. The cleading is held in place with boiler bands - which on the rear band, go across the cut out. So the question is, how do you assemble it all without the band fouling the splasher? Answers on a postcard ...

This photo of the original loco shows the arrangement quite well - but not how it was constructed!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/70607220@N04/6892676911/in/photostream/lightbox/

Tom

 

Is the back of the rear splasher chamfered? Or will the boiler band be crimped in to conform to the cutout, with the plain-section taken up during tightening?

This locomotive is looking absolutely superb by the way, I can't wait to see it run, and hear it too. Definitely worth a round trip to the Bluebell to see that!

Richard.