1014 - County of Glamorgan

What will most likily happen is as one engine reaches the end of its ticket, another rebuild using parts of another dismantled engine will take its place, the collection growing larger each time, with each new vanity project, whilst others not steamed , but capable of being steamed are ignored, and others favoured by certain people with in the GWS, get the funding , Is there a working Hall, in the collection? Is there a working Manor? when 4073 finishes will 5051 get an overhaul?

 

Does the collection need a working Hall or Manor? Id argue not

 

This is true, though dose enyone actually make money out of hiring engines or do thay just pay for their own upkeep oin the end?

 

If that …

The one advantage a site like Didcot has is that because use is light, subsequent overhauls might be quite limited in scope, for example you aren’t going to create massive mechanical wear doing a few miles per day on a few tens of days per year. Whereas a loco that has gone on hire to a big railway and done 50 - 100 days per year on heavy trains for ten years is likely to require a significant mechanical rebuild at the end of that time.

I don’t think it is the job of the GWS to act as a strategic reserve of locos that can be worn out by other users (same argument as those clamouring to see more NRM locos running). As a charity, they would need to act in accordance with their charitable purposes. That is likely to require a balance being struck between the need to conserve the historic fabric of vintage machinery; and the extent to which they consider that seeing the locos in traffic helps deliver the charitable objectives.

Tom

 

Not sure how this applies to "cut and shut" locos and the donors that have been chopped for parts.

 

The argument would be that such projects are a form of preservation, and therefore that the obligations apply to the results of those projects. Note that charity or museum status doesn't preclude disposals from a collection.

That leaves a number of philosophical questions about what constitutes preservation, whether projects like the County or Night Owl should proceed and, if so, how.

 

Who is to provide the labour to overhaul locomotives for other users? Volunteers at their own expense, rarely to see the results of their labour? A non-starter!

 

There isn't a cheap overhaul these days. Regularly we're seeing mid-high six figures and we're closing in on the million pound overhaul (although if I read the numbers for 4930 correctly (AINAA), it was somewhere in the region of £800k) so for Didcot to put up half a million for a loco like 5051 to shuttle up and down at Didcot, thats probably not the best use of financial resources before thinking about as @RAB3L points out, its a non starter for volunteers to overhaul a loco for it to get worn out elsewhere these days.

 

I'm not against occasional hire against your "however there is a clamour for hire so a small fleet of working larger engines could both cover itself in the £££ and provide a mobile advertisment for the GWS". You are getting as creative as one other member on here!

There was a time when GWS locomotives were used on the mainline. 2999, 4079 etc can't really stretch their legs at 25 mph, either on the demo line or elsewhere. How many of the "others" you refer to actually volunteer?

There would no such thing as railway preservation if it wasn't for volunteers. Don't abuse them!

 

I've seen the GWS objectives stated as "the charitable objectives to preserve, restore and operate as a permanent public exhibition and museum, steam and other railway locomotives, rolling stock and equipment with particular reference to the former Great Western Railway, both for historical and educational purposes and to make available for public reference the history, equipment and operation of the former Great Western Railway. " Like all such you can read as much or as little into that as you desire, and doubtless people will interpret according to their preconceptions as they always do.

When I see a loco owning group proclaiming to its membership that there is no need to do any fund raising for the current overhaul due to the generous income gathered from steaming fees then I'll believe that running locomotives on other lines is self financing. I shan't hold my breath! A substantial chunk of a 10 year overhaul will probably be fixed costs, but, for instance, Cook was insistent that if locomotives were maintained properly mileage should be an excellent basis of when overhaul is required, and its very hard to imagine that a locomotive that has done 20,000 miles over its ten years will have as expensive an overhaul as one that has done 120,000.

 

Didcot - water treatment, RO - no.

 

If you'd ever ridden a Castle at 70 mph with 10 GWR coaches, you might hold a different view!

 

NELPG still manage to do it. Not sure who else, though.

 

This reminds me of the mid 1950, when in the RAF and before I bought my first car. A regular Sunday morning trip from South Devon. It was about 2.30 am, so no chance of guessing the speed from lineside telegraph poles. The travelled downhill from Whiteball Tunnel towards Taunton and the speed of the train was certainly noticeable as it moved and rocked until the brakes were applied for the Taunton stop.

 

Yes! I was lucky enough to be service crew a couple of times back in the 80's and can confirm that mainline work is a whole other level above anything a heritage railway might require. For a start, how often would you see a firebox filled level with the doors on a heritage railway? The volume of steam production necessary required that depth of fire. The other thing that surprised me was how much a loco moves around on it's springs at speed (My previous experience being a large lump of very solid metal creeping around a yard at low speeds with seemingly no flexing).
One of my few regrets is that I didn't appreciate it enough at the time (Being in my early 20's I just assumed that this was the way things were and took for granted that it would continue. This despite seeing the last mainline trips of the (wooden bodied) GWR coaches.