SVR General Discussion

The Autumn Steam Gala will likely fall on the same day as the royal funeral. Operation London Bridge timetables the funeral as 10 days after a monarch's death. That means Saturday 17th September. This would place the ASG into question.

 

I highly doubt every single event in the country will stop for the funeral, significant as it is. They'll probably put a wreath on 70 and maybe have a moment's silence at all stations when the funeral starts or whatever and then be done with it. They're not going to cancel the whole event, no matter how many royalists are on the board of the railway

 

A pragmatic suggestion

 

It seems to be generally accepted that it's 10 days after the monarch's death, but it was announced late yesterday so today is day zero. 10 days from now is Monday 19th.

 

I remember a far less constitutionally important funeral 25 years ago. I was staying with friends near Cheddar, and we went for a walk in the Gorge. She had never seen it so quiet on the day - which may well be a more important consideration for event operators.

In the meantime, I note that last night's Prom was cancelled, and both tonight's and the Last Night are also off.

 

I didn't think the boilershop usually had complete locos pass into it, the published photos tend to show a mobile/rail crane used to do boiler lifts in/out of frames.

If you've got an overhead gantry in the 'erecting shop', then I'd have though it much easier to lift the boiler from the frames where it is being disassembled, shunt frames back and truck forwards under boiler which then gets lowered back down again.

If you look at photos in Riley's works they have multiple 10t gantry cranes in their workshop alongside jacks etc.

Depends if the whole thing is being lifted, or just one end.
...Also how complete it is. There are photos of stuff at Ian Riley's with boilerless frames being lifted by a single crane slung towards the centre, not at the two ends. Clearly that would be within the capability of their 10,000kg cranes, but would that also be possible with a 6,300kg gantry?

 

I'm waiting for the PR announcement that Taw Valley is to be repainted into black...

 

Being second hand, the specification of the crane was probably Hobson's choice. Obviously for the occasional heavy lift they still have the option of the 30-ton steam crane or hiring in a road crane (or the 10-tonne crane in the TMD come to that). The presentation on the day emphasised the main benefits of the crane as being greater safety and time saving in day to day tasks like moving wheelsets and other components around.

 

The SVR Bridgnorth workshop and Riley's are quite different places. The SVR site is all rail connected so that a boiler can be lifted off a loco's frames within the boiler shop and put straight on the shop floor. There are lifting jacks within the main SVR workshop together with a wheel drop which are much more appropriate for lifting a loco off its wheels or removing individual wheelsets than a crane. The installation of a relatively low capacity o/h crane at Bridgnorth is to improve the handling of individual components rather than complete frames/boilers.

 

Glad I wasn't the first to suggest it. I'd have wagered a black boilerband.

 

A few other things from presentations on the day (these all my personal POV, not a statement on behalf of the SVR).

The question was asked why the original proposal of fitting solar panels on the shed roof was not taken up. There were two reasons given. The environment at that particular location would mean they would require regular (and expensive) cleaning to maintain their efficiency. More importantly, planning consent was not granted because they would be too visible from the town. They will however be considered at other appropriate locations as the opportunity arises.

Finances are very tight, as you might expect. Areas like catering and retail which used to generate surplus funds for reinvestment are now just covering their costs, which is one of the reasons for the delay in the station building refurbishment. The yard re-lay project now appears to be the highest priority. The rail was mainly laid in the 70s using track recovered from the Alveley Colliery sidings which was probably second hand when it was put there in the first place, and it really is end of life. The re-lay will include the turnout for the turntable, which the SVR still has as a long term aim, but the installation cost of the turntable is now estimated at about £1.5m and I would have to ask how much additional revenue or cost savings a second turntable would generate to recover that cost.

Apparently, the North Star Works at Kidderminster will also need significant roofing work in the near future. It's an expensive business, running a railway…

 

To do things and do them properly is never cheap, I had a conversation about this with one of my gaffers yesterday (I mentioned about painting the ceiling at work on another thread) Especially when your infrastructure is not exactly new and it’s been patched up over the years.

 

Maybe paint the background of the nameplates black (which would actually be a slight improvement, in my opinion, as the current red background clashes with the purple).

 

All it needs is some black ribbons and a wreath on the smoke box I would have thought

 

Significant in being a new roof. Improving the services to the building. Better messing facilities. New office space for the Carriage dept. Pickfords is the ideal building for solar panels as it faces north- south. The advances in solar panel technology now allow for panels to be the actual roof covering with a waterproof layer underneath.
You then have the huge task of emptying a stores area the size footprint as the building. The one advantage, and I am open to correction is that pickfords is the largest remaining goods warehouse still in railway use.

 

Well bearing in mind that railways either did not run or started very late for Diana's funeral I cannot somehow see the late Queen getting less.
Funeral day is a Bank Holiday so I imagine a weekday and Monday 19 was being spoken of by the media.

 

For Diana’s funeral the SVR ran as normal that day, as I remember, 50031 did the honours on the diesel turn 6024 was out and I think 1501 was out too.
I remember that my Dad and I went out simply because we were fed up of the coverage of it on the telly that Saturday, we just wanted to do something a little bit normal.

 

Depends, the UK Assay Office issued a special hall mark that was to be used up until the end of December 2022 to mark/celebrate the platinum jubilee ....they have now announced as a mark of respect that hallmark has been withdrawn and will no longer be issued.

It could be equally argued that it would be insensitive to continue using a locomotive specially repainted in hot pink to 'celebrate' the platinum jubliee when the monarch then subsequently dies. As a mark of respect it should no longer be seen running in that 'celebration' guise.

...and seeing as the railway's PR department seemed to like the idea of jumping on band wagons for 'royal' liveries, what could be more appropriate than breaking open the tins of black during the next 10 days.
[or more practically, just move forward the already planned repaint into what ever livery the owner wanted it to revert to after the pink PR stunt]