7027 Thornbury Castle

I always dreamed of a Big 4 gala with just 8F's in traffic!

 

Because (and this a position I have been firmly consistent in) it’s about the whole life story of the object through restoration or curation. Flying Scotsman as the extreme example represents a huge amount more history than most people think (or care to know) and a Doncaster built 8F, even if not original to its Doncaster building, will still have some unique features (look at the running plates and riveting for example) together with offering an interesting historical perspective on our shared railway history.

The argument that something is not original and therefore has little value has always exasperated me. It’s normally in the changes that we find the most rich history!

 

A lot of remarkable things happened during WW2 and the story behind the initial adoption of the 8F as the standard heavy freight loco is well documented. As I said earlier, it wasn’t a loco to grab the attention of the enthusiast and would probably have quietly deteriorated unrestored for decades.
As you will know from Clan Line bits get changed on overhaul, it too is on its fourth boiler, various bits of motion are stamped with other engine’s numbers, as one of the last ten it was built with a fabricated rear truck but at some time has acquired a cast one form one of the early series. I think the regulator handle is from a Light Pacific. Apart from the frames there may be very little left of the loco that emerged from the Doncaster plant.

 

Correct. This kind of thinking led to the loss of Ben Alder

 

And what an absolute travesty that was. Loads more examples like this of course throughout history (not just railways).

 

According to a report in the latest Trackside 7027 is off to Tyseley for storage.

Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk

 

Totally different, Ben Alder was unique, there are several 8Fs running and an additional Barry wreck unlikely ever to be restored added nothing

 

you can never have enough 8Fs!

 

Which 8f's are currently running, and what is the number of this unlikely to be restored Barry wreck 8f? I'll buy it. Don't want another example getting stripped for a gas works project.

 

48518, and it no longer exists, apart from a few parts. The frames were scrapped

 

So to use your “Trigger’s Broom” argument, why do we preserve anything? To you 35028 is still 35028 in spite of parts swapping around over the years. Thus I’d argue the LNER O6 was still an LNER O6.

 

What is also sad about 48518 being scrapped is that until then, by a quirk of fate, we had surviving examples built by all of the big 4 plus private industry.

 

Ian, I don't think 48518 was ever an O6. Some of the LNER built ones went to the LNER as O6, others went to the LMS, 48518 being one of the later.

 

Correct. The LNER O6 Class 2-8-0s received the numbers 8705-8772 when moved to the LMS.
Interesting that 8705-8729, LNER Nos 7651-75, were built at Brighton Works for the LNER. 8730-8752, LNER Nos 3125-3147, were built at Darlington and 8753-8772, LNER Nos 3148-3167, were built at Doncaster

 

That wasn’t the point I was making. It was an LNER O6 otherwise known as an 8F of which we have several examples, it was in such a state that restored it would have been virtually a new engine. More important was who was going to restore it? It would almost certainly been shunted to the end of a siding somewhere and forgotten.

 

Buying it would be the least of the problems, restoring it would have been almost as expensive as building a new one,money better spent on getting an already complete 8F back in steam, 48773, a loco with a unique history

 

John, I do not know what you have against 8Fs - all locos have a unique history.... and a chance of survival until dismantled by Great Western fantasists who seem to want to take a short cut to recreate long forgotten types with inappropriate components. It isn't as though there are not enough GW loco types in preservation already. Personally I like a loco with a service history not some fantasy reconstruction, espicially when it is highly unlikely to ever see the light of day.

Peter

 

They're trying to get the full set of GW locos. I think the first reconstructions using recycled parts were well done (Saint, Grange and the County 4-4-0 is promising) but IMO a sense of making do with wrong parts has crept in with the last couple.

as @torgormaig said, GW locos of the Collett era are very well represented, but what isn't from the Western is the Armstrong/Dean era from the 19th century. IMO any more GW new builds would be better focussing on this period

 

Shall we just bin off those 2 Fairburn Tanks because they weren’t built at Crewe or Derby? I believe one of those has an axlebox stamped GWR.

 

The majority of Thornbury has been moved from Loughborough engine shed to Quorn and is awaiting transport.