Swanage Railway General Discussion

Swanage Railway has two engineering apprentices, both started in September 2021.
One is a mechanical fitter on steam locos and occasionally diesel shunters; the other is a machinist, who is also learning fitting work.

 

Thanks for the update and pleased to hear of this progress.

I follow the news on both the Swanagerailway.co.uk and Swanagerailwaytrust.org.uk websites but there was no mention of this.

 

80104
I would also keep an eye out for Swanning Around it is a volunteer produced newsletter giving a look at what's happening around the Swanage Railway that is available to the public.
https://www.srstaff.co.uk/swanningaround/index.php

 

I could not find any mention on a websearch other than the job ads.
Good the SR is investing in the future to keep knowledge required for the running of steam trains.
Hope they are well looked after and qualify in about 3 or 4 years time.

 

I see The Southener" has posted a video about Manston and 30053 in the workshop.

 

Most unlikely that the current engineering base at Herston Works would get planning permission for boiler work to be undertaken.
It has adjacent offices and other businesses as well as local residents within a few hundred yards. I suspect they would not take kindly to riveting and other noisy boiler work.
I believe the SVR at Bridgnorth do not have neighbours as close as at Herston but still had to upgrade their previously outdoors boiler work by building the specialist George William Knight Boiler Repair Shop at no little expense.
There is presently no space that I know of, on Swanage Industrial Estate, that we could rent from the local authority near to Herston Works.

 

D6515 looks fantastic - one of Swanage Railway's jewels in the crown!

Sent from my moto g(8) power using Tapatalk

 

Just a thought, but how many fully equipped boiler shops do UK heritage lines have already and how many do they actually need between them?

 

I should think the difficulty in trying to count them will depend upon your definition of 'fully equipped'. Most railways could probably handled retubing and new stays, but replacement of large sections of plating and/or foundation ring would be a different matter.

 

True. This comes purely from a pleb's PoV, but I was thinking anything much beyond a retube (would that include superheater elements?). I'd imagine changing firebars, or reseating the odd fitting is almost as routine as washing out. Less so new throatplate, foundation ring, stays or barrel section.

 

Off the top of my head the following will do major boiler work:
NYMR
SVR
Bluebell
WCRC
NNR
SDR
Isreal Newton
Ian Riley
Northern Steam engineering
Heritage Boiler Services
Locomotive Maintenance Services
Crewe

No doubt there are others.

 

The Flour Mill could be added to that list too.

Tom

 

Mid hants have a boiler shop too

 

NNR seem to very capable and have a contract to overhaul a boiler from Switzerland.
They have finished Sidmouth's boiler which is sadly going to Sir Keith Park instead for the SVR.
A websearch gives Swanning around showing 30053's boiler being worked on in 2019 at the NNR. Yet 3 years later still to be completed?.

 

Maybe the NNR contract for the 30053 boiler did not specify an end date?

 

I would argue that boiler smithing is a core competency and given the annual mileage SR run (number of steam locos utilised) should therefore be "in house".

Out sourcing such an activity means that SR are hostage to fortune. Reading through various HR newsletters etc over the years seems to indicate that lengthy waits for the return of out sourced boilers seems to be a common occurrence.

 

Could you explain why it is sad that Sidmouth's boiler is going to keep SKP running? Sidmouth is years from being ready to receive a boiler, so is it not a better idea to keep SKP running and earning money to pay for Sidmouth's restoration?
Regarding 30053, there could be technical difficulties, unplanned extra expenditure, supplier issues etc. It is unwise to blame (or imply blame on) the NNR

 

Perennial problem of outsourcing versus doing work in house. One important point is that if you outsource, it doesn't remove the requirement to have sufficient skills and knowledge to both specify, and oversee, the work being carried out on the railway's behalf. As an example, if you send a boiler to the NNR for repair, that is a really long day out from Swanage to go and inspect the work, possibly two days with an overnight stay; and you may well be needing to do that monthly. That's a not inconsiderable overhead. The Llangollen / Patriot saga is an illustration of the importance of needing a proper quality control process in place if you outsource work. Of course, you still need quality control if you do it in house, but the logistics are easier, and also potentially you can go through the query / discussion / decision cycle more rapidly when issues arise.

Tom

 

But the flip side of that is that maintaining the capacity in house requires a consistent workload to keep the staff (paid or volunteer) gainfully employed, plus a level of investment in ensuring that the skills remain current and do not degrade. Reading between the lines, Llangollen also shows how a railway can be vulnerable to that degrading effect in house if not managed properly effectively.

I would be interested to know how many in house boiler repairs are also delayed, but not reported on in the same way because of different expectations.

There is no right answer here, and the trade off will vary for different places at different times. Pity the poor boards of trustees and directors having to make these decisions about where to allocate their limited resources.