Manning Wardles "YEO" and "EXE" new-build

The Talyllyn Railway sent an appeal for assistance to Fletcher, Jennings in order to get the new locomotive(s) it had purchased to work. The Whitehaven company sent one of its fitters by the name of Bousted who swiftly set the engine to work upon his arrival. As a result he was invited t take charge of the locomotive department. After some discussion the man, his wife and family moved to Abergynolwyn and he served for eighteen years before emigrating to Australia.

You can attract the right people, it depends on what you can offer. To be persuaded to move from the Lowca Engineering Company Ltd in Whitehaven to a remote quarry village in mid-Wales in order to be responsible for two modest engines seems to be unlikely. But someone must have put the offer together in a rather attractive manner. You never know who you might get to work in the middle of Exmoor until you put together an attractive package.

 

Living standards were a lot lower in those days and the railway was a commercial business operating (presumably) six days a week, rear round.

 

Living standards are a variable feast. There are plenty of people who have swapped the rat race of London and surrounding areas for the relative peace and green space of North Yorkshire. The same could be applied to Exmoor. and isn’t the L & B a commercial enterprise and one that’s open seven days/week?

 

If you visited Woody Bay you may well find a number of Engineers lurking there Colin. Why single Exmoor out to be skills deficient?

 

Appledore's obviously the closest place to look, a bit further away Devonport Dockyard has been doing railway work on the side for years now.

As an ex-resident I know north South links in the county aren't great, but 'would you like to live in the north of the county you currently live in rather than Plymouth?' doesn't sound like a problematic sell for enough people to not need to worry too much about never getting anyone. That's before you start selling the Exmoor lifestyle to those further afield.

Not compared with Whitehaven vs Tywyn (which even now would be a tough choice for me, and one where the secret option C of 'neither' would be investigated).

 

Well that one backfired, the point I was trying to make was that we have had a full time mechanical engineer on site before, however dealing with said folk can be a problem if you haven't had to do so in the past, in all trades you get those which think they are the best thing since sliced bread and I have dealt with quite a few thank you, it is not always about the money, but one thing you have to understand is that the engineer thinks he is right all the time and so dose the management team and this can be more of a problems when you have volunteers.

I don't want to drift into management skills and those areas of conflict management which is part of today work culture, the fact that the L&BR Can and does attract a high percentage of mechanical, electrical and civil engineers to the project is something I could only hope for a few years ago.

The one thing which does amaze so many is the cost of property in North Devon for a lot of it, it is on par with the prices of London and the South East

 

Sorry if this comes across as pedantic ( .... but, hey, I am what I am! )

Surely, the long-term objectives are properly the purview of the board (or project-specific appointees thereof), rather than a management properly tasked with day-to-day operation the existing leng5h of line?

 

In an ideal world you could end up with a management structure on say three levels:-

1) The big picture or the overall project view the Trustees

2) The second level or project teams at this level is to create and establish the projects that the Trustees have asked for, the work at this level is then pasted back to the Trust for approval or denial.

3) This level of management could be that of operations of the project.

I am not sure if that is what you are after, but that is how I see the L&BR working.

 

It is a long time since there was any news on these two new builds - has there been any recent progress?

 

Last update on the webpage was April, https://www.762club.com/news/april-2023-progress-update Back in 2018 was estimated to take 5 years, but now no timescale for completion.


Also there is no further updates on the Sir George Newnes loco refurb, where the boiler is almost repaired, and no dedicated website, it was to be used as a stopgap till the new builds are built.
https://www.national-preservation.c...wb2891-formerly-charles-wytock.1031967/page-8

 

To be fair, we have had a global pandemic, a cost of living crisis and a war in Ukraine. I think its understandable that the time frame may have slipped!

Charles Wytock is privately owned, so it's really up to the owners to put out any news. Bearing in mind that one of the active (and aiui, fairly major) shareholders is being hounded by the current trustees then I can understand that news updates are down the list of priorities. Incidentally the loco has a new boiler from Bennett boilers, not a repaired one.

 

My understanding from the owners is to have Charles Wytock ready for use at the begining of next year subject to all that is going on right now.

My personal opinion about the Manning Wardle project is that it does not have the support like the LYN project had, simply put this is down to the fact that we already have LYD on the FR and we really need to have a major rethink about this project to be honest.

 

Also worth bearing in mind that two Manning Wardles, Charles Wytock and the existing stable of Lyn and Axe seems excessive for a line that doesn't seem to be extending anywhere fast and already as limited covered storage

 

Hi Chris some of us have tried to have that conversion but no one is listening.

I have even suggested that we look to build other missing 2ft gauge locos that could go out on tour until the L&BR is long enough to have them back. but again the suggestion fell on deaf ears.

The 2ft gauge World sadly appears to revolve around the FR/WHR which is not a bad thing, but there are other projects which also carry out some fantasic work as well.

 

Maybe the slow down in progress is evidence in exactly that? Or rather, probably an independent thought that it might be sensible to slow down with the work and subsequent fundraising push while there's not a huge demand for the locos in the near future? It's got to be easier and cheaper to store a kit of parts then two complete Manning Wardles.

Regardless of that, I'm not sure the solution to not needing to complete two additional locos at this very moment is to start yet more new build projects, unrelated to the ultimate goal of the railway? If there's really a que of 2ft lines desperate to hire out locos in the next few years, why not hire Yeo or Exe?

 

It takes a very long time to build them, worrying about it when you actually need them would no doubt cause a flurry of criticism in the enthusiast community. What's being done seems eminently sensible to me. Take your time, save your money and have a big push if the extension actually happens in a timely manner. Don't forget the outlook for the L&B has changed markedly since the MW new builds were announced as well - it looked like good progress was being made on the line itself and the momentum was there to easily justify starting the builds.

 

You make it sound like you can just knock up a steam engine in 5 minutes. Realistically it could be 10,15,20 years before those locos are ready. At least when they are you'll have built the ones you actually want and need. Hopefully by that time the L&B will have also got thier act together.

If you really want to loan something out I'd say Axe is the ideal size for a lot of railways. You don't have to spend any money building that at all.

Anyway over in the centre of the universe at Boston Lodge there are cylinder blocks being machined and pony truck wheels pressed together. So there is something going on with this project.

 

I realise that it takes time to build a new steam loco the biggest issue for most of them is finding the cash in the first place and secondly finding a location that could build them, I can think of at least four locations that could do just that.

As for suggesting other locos for the L&BR I am aware of at least 6 new build 2ft gauge locos which have yet to become serious projects. That said they are on the whole locos which do have some support but no where to run them if they ever did get built.

As for AXE yes she would make a great ambassador for the L&BR and yes once Charles Wytock is back in steam, then I could see her having a visit to such locations as Buzzard, the FR, Statfold, Mosley and the West Lancs Railways and that would be just for starters.

 

The build locations for the first two MWs are already arranged or certainly were last time I checked. BL are erecting one and Workshop X the other with Blodge supplied parts.

Genuinely out of interest what are the other new builds for the L+B? More Manning Wardles?

 

While they are not yet official in anyway I have had discussions about a Darjeeling 'C' class 4-6-2 Tender loco and a Darjeeling 'D' Garratt.

Two others are American designs one being a 2-4-4T Forney not to the same design as being built at Brecon Mountain and also a ww 1 Baldwin/Alco/ Davenport 2-6-2T design.

The next one should it take off would be a modern version of the old WHR 0-6-4ST Beddgelert, this one would be more than interesting, since power wise she would be the same as one of the modern Manning Wardles.

Now before any one starts saying the WHR should be building it, fine but where would it run? and could they justify the cost? Ironically this is a total turnaround with LYD having been built at Blodge and now working on the FR/WHR. the same could be said for Beddgelert but in reverse, yes she will be based in Devon, but I can't see any reason why she can't go on a visit to North Wales at any time?

Since we also have some interest in African 2ft gauge giants and nothing is fixed yet but there are are at least three designs which may be worth mention here.

1) The Manning Wardle 2-6- 4T SAR

2) A 4-4-0 Lawley class

3) A Moroccan 0-6-0+0-6-0 see details below:-

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/...ary_Railways_for_Marrakech_to_Oudjda_line.jpg


4) Then there are a number of 2ft gauge Bagnall locos that could be at home in Devon as well.

5) If you want to just keep it to a Manning Wardle design family then there are a few out there which might be worth looking at.

Again I am not involved with any of these but they have all been suggested to me.

One final design I have held back on and it would be most controversial, and that is a 2ft gauge version of a Leek and Manifold 2-6-4T. Sadly one of the guys behind the idea is no longer with us but I know that these where amongst his most favority design going.