Ten for the National Collection?

I think you need to be careful what you wish for. With the budget cuts coming NRM may end up with only ten locos. Or is that what this is all about?

 

Unless I've missed something and Dolgoch is a ward of the NRM now, it all sounds a bit more "broad brush". Haven't you previously come across full-on "doom and gloom" mode?

 

If this meant that we got some more T3 563 situations where locos which hadn't run for years were sent out to heritage lines and overhauled to working order again, then I would vote for this!

 

There is a whole series of drawings ex Swindon which show proposed modifications to 28xx locomotives for service abroad. I suspect that you are right and that they were seen as simply too valuable at home to be sent overseas, but clearly that was seriously contemplated.

 

A replica would have to suffice but one of the excellent recreations of Richard Trevithick's locomotives should come into consideration for any short list.

 

And for a possible new build this early locomotive would certainly stand out and be an attraction although preferably without the originals exploding boiler to finish off some of the spectators...

 

I think we are possibly hypothetically playing out the scenario where the wonderlab expands out of the workshop, into the great hall and the Science Museum group prioritise soft play and cafe/retail space......exiling the remaining exhibits to the station hall..

 

For clarity - I wasn’t thinking “what if the national collection was reduced to ten locos”, but rather, à propos the discussion about Thornbury Castle, trying to provoke a discussion about what is genuinely important, and why. Ten is an arbitrarily low number deliberately designed to force some tough decisions (“if you want Mallard, you probably can’t have the Duchess or Flying Scotsman; if you want Rocket you probably can’t have Locomotion” etc). If I’d said choose 20 or 30 it would be much easier.

Tom

 

Too late Tom .... you've been around long enough to know what happens once you let the genii out of the bottle.

 

Ok, here’s my picks. I apologise in advance for breaking the rules.


1. GWR 3031 class Dean single “Lord of the Isles”. The pinnacle of Victorian elegance.

2. GWR no.36. aka “The Crocodile”. One of the earliest 4-6-0’s built in Britain. Also tells the story that not all GWR 4-6-0’s look the same.

3. GWR “City of Truro”. First engine to break 100mph.

4. GWR Saint Class “Lady of Lyons”. Fastest recorded steam locomotive at 135mph.

5. GWR 2301 Class ‘Dean Goods’. Most successful example of the ubiquitous British 0-6-0.

6. GWR diesel railcar. aka ‘flying banana’. The finest example of non steam propulsion.

7. GWR 111 “The Great Bear”. Earliest British example of a Pacific, and showed the shortcomings of all Pacific types.

8. GWR 6000 “King George V”. Most powerful British express passenger locomotive fitted with a bell.

9. GWR 18000 aka ‘kerosene castle’. The future of motive power.

10. GWR 0-4-0 Hornby clockwork engine . Because this is a wind up.

 

https://www.devboats.co.uk/gwdrawings/2903myth.php

 

That doesn’t just break the rules, it totally trashes them with casual disdain for the consequences. You aren’t Suella Braverman are you?

Tom

 

Suella Braverman. The daughter of immigrants who wants to ban immigration!