FR & WHR & WHHR News

Whatever happened to this one?

The component parts of NG15 120 were nearer to hand when I took this at Galert's Farm in 1999. Where is it now?

Peter

 

It is presumed to be part of Collection 'X'.

 

They had always thought that would be the likely outcome so it isn't really a new discovery. The old one certainly has some interesting construction features.

Drawings for the new one are well underway and they plan to do as much as possible themselves with the help of Boston Lodge. Building a brand new high quality boiler will be a good investment in the long term.

Tim

 

I spoke to the guys at Gelert's Farm about it earlier in the year. It's not in Collection X, although there is at least one NG15 in the collection if memory serves me correctly. 120 is privately owned and both the owner and its location are not public knowledge, I asked specifically about it.

 

Thanks for this. That's fair enough. Do we know if it is just in storage or is its restoration being progressed?

Peter

 

No, unfortunately not. I didn't want to press the subject past being told anything more wasn't meant to be divulged. I'd love to see it running one day though, I really do have a thing for NG15s. Sadly the one at Sandstone was OOU with worn tyres when I was there at Easter but I did get to have a good poke around it and the two unrestored ones there.

 

Is that the one that was in store near Pickering for a few years?
A local businessman had an idea about a NG line on the trackbed of the Whitby - Scarborough line.

 

I don't think it was one of them, they both subsequently went to the FR/WHR, I think. I believe this one was imported directly to the WHHR.

There is yet another in the country, at the former Exmoor Steam Railway, and still there afaik.

 

These are the two that were in store, along with three NGG16 garratts near Pickering in 1998. A year later they were transferred to the WHR at Dinas. 133 is the nearer one and is as yet unrestored while the other is 134 whose restoration is progressing.

Of the three Garratts here at this time two, 87 and 130, are now in operation on the WHR despite them looking in far worse condition than either of these NG15s. But as we know you cannot judge the condition of a loco by looks alone.

While talking about the condition of 133's boiler I wonder if an assessment has yet been made of the Garratt boiler that has been gifted to the WHR from Australia? There, Puffing Billy have just rebuilt (and re-gauged) NGG16 129 including building a new all steel boiler for it and have donated the old boiler to their friends in Wales.

Peter

 

With regard to the boiler from Australia it seems that it has been overhauled at Loughborough - details here https://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/138 - scroll down to the "second 10 year overhaul section.

Steve B

 

I was told that the Puffing Billy's insurance people wanted to see maintenance records for that boiler back to when it was built. Something they had no hope of doing, so had no choice but to go for a new boiler. The old one, in quite reasonable condition, was offered to the WHR for the cost of transportation. Not going to turn an offer like that down.
Since then it has been worked on by LMS at Loughborough and is slated to be fitted to 138 or 143 (plans change) which are both currently out for a 10 year overhaul. 143 is likely to get priority according to latest sources.

 

According to PRSL, Collection X has two ex-SA 2-8-2s, numbered 121 & 146, the latter apparently dismantled. I presume both are NG15s? (I’m unfamiliar with SA loco classification/numbering). According to the same source they also have NGG13 82.


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According to Wiki there appear to be five ex SAR NG15s in the UK allocated as follows:-

120, privately owned but associated with the WHHR - in private storage
121, associated with the Vale of Rheidol Museum - in private storage
133 stored on the WHR
134 under overhaul on the WHR
146, ex Brecon Mountain Railway, now owned by Peter Rampton - in private storage

122 is displayed in the railway museum in George, South Africa.

Peter

 

As I mentioned upthread, there's also 135 at the Exmoor Steam Centre. For a full list of survivors see:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Class_NG15_2-8-2#Current_locomotive_status

 

The boiler from 129 is finished and is going into 143 now which should be back in traffic this year sometime. The other boiler being overhauled is the one 143 arrived in the UK with. This will be virtually brand new when it is finished and will now go into 138 instead.

Tim

 

Indeed. Sorry that I overlooked that one. That makes six of them in the UK. I'm looking forward to the day when we see one of them in operation again.

Peter

 

Apologies, I thought I’d typed 121 but the phone had other ideas. Corrected!

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Moving Pictures #64 is out. Great roundup ..... for some odd reason, that replica NWNG Ashbury has particularly piqued my interest! If you believe in 'sail before steam', you'll like the latest edition!

http://isengard.co.uk/#News

I'm linking MP as included in Barrie Hughes's 'isengard' site, as he's included full timetable details ..... reason? ..... you'll note the layover at Blaenau is under an hour on both full-line workings. Barely time to grab a tea and sandwich. Compare those with layovers at Tan-y-Bwlch. Not seeking to criticise timetabling, as they'll know their home market better than me, but you may remember I've ñreviously raised concerns about what what Blaenau has on offer.

Barrie has mentioned the lower number of services originating at Caernarfon a few times. Again, I don't pretend to know the market (less so for the WHR than the FfR), but it seems a hell of a lot is needed by way of setting everything up (including substantial ECS running, from/to Dinas).

Of course, we're nowhere near peak season yet ......

 

The Commercial Manager and the GM have worked with Blaenau tirelessly to try and achieve something, but it is not easy. Blaenau wants people to be dropped off, but when asked "what are you going to do for them to attract them" the answer is a bit of silence. However, for this turnaround, all of the local businesses have been given a heads up to expect people to wander in to town to look for a brew. "Y Caban" on the platform is now also selling local produce, which, was rather nice when I had some.

As for Caernarfon - logistics is more the issue than anything else. The line is long, so if you had a 1030 departure for example to Beddgelert and one around 1300 then your second one is probably at the wrong time as it starts at lunchtime. At the moment, it starts around 1130 which means it arrives at Beddgelert at 1300 i.e. lunchtime which helps the village. For those who like an early lunch, the hamper service serves people well.

Now, you could of course give people the day using one set and send it back to Caernarfon for a second trip, but then

1) You are running two different products i.e. a full day and a half day experience
2) Is there enough to do in Beddgelert whilst a train goes back to Caernarfon, services and comes back (bearing in mind the travel time is around 90 minutes (so, as a minimum you are talking 4 hours before the train arrives back in Beddgelert, so say 5h15 from arrival of the first train to the departure of the second)
3) The above involves an extra crew, which at the moment is not easy.
4) You're middle of the day trains will run very lightly loaded
5) If you get a full morning train, then, you can't really run an afternoon train or you can, but with minimal seats

So, the answer is, run another set. However, the spare set is not the most suitable to be used on those sort of services and you wouldn't want to move one of the main sets across there as they're employed on other services (and I wouldn't fancy leaving a posh obs outside - I've had the experience of sweeping up the broken glass from an ordinary saloon which was outside!).

Now, that doesn't mean that it cannot be done, but just gives you an idea of *some* (and it isn't an exhaustive list)of the challenges that you would be faced trying to do it. I'll refrain from comment about said website apart from saying there is a lot of assumption as to what trains / people are doing.

 

If anyone would like to have a look, here's BLANCHE departing from Porthmadog. This is the last of my videos from last year's visit.



TTFN,

Ron.