7027 Thornbury Castle

Or a new build 10203 - that would, after all, have been an impeccably Southern design!

 

Spot the difference. Obvious clean ups and repainting around the running plate, driving wheels. Motion bracket fitted, cylinders were being worked on at one point if the finish is anything to go by.

Yes, you would struggle at a first glance to see what work has been done on it, but it was never going to be a complete and working engine in only three years (part of which, we should be reminded, was interrupted by the onset of a certain virus and following pandemic).

Still, sad, and note that there is some depth of feeling at the G.C.R. by way of the chalked on tears and face.

 

Tom,
I'm pretty sure the wheels going to 76077 are actually class 4 tender wheels recovered from a Briton Ferry ingot carrier. The class 40 wheels were what the group had intended to use until the Bluebell spares gave them a more authentic option.
I stand to be corrected and this does not take anything away from the thrust of your post.

 

Ah, possibly, I should go and read the news story I was sent for Bluebell Times more carefully!

Tom

 

Class 40 wheelsets can only be used on tenders in the BR1 series. The BR2, 2A and BR3 tenders have wheelsets with smaller axle diameters.

 

Interestingly I remember something similar (possibly by the same hand) along with the legend 'Please don't let Me die' on the 8f when it was in Barry.

 

That was 48305 rather than 48518.

 

48305, now obviously also at GCR.

 

I believe it was originally proposed to build a BR1B

 

Thanks for the correction, it was a long time ago, but as 48305 is at GCR it could well have been by the same hand.

 

Perhaps they will be sold on to one of the owning groups of 92134, 92207 or 72010 as they may be of use for their new build tender.

 

We also put "Please don't let me die" on the smokebox door of 30065 on her last turn in service before withdrawal. It was quietly amazing how many passengers wanted to know what it was there for, and were surprised by where the original had been.

 

Not of any significance other than descaling and painting, all the parts that were made for 7027 in that era were transfered to 5080 when the decision was made to restore that.

 

The issue I have with some of the GWS projects is that they don't score well against that list: for example, the Castle boiler is the wrong pattern for the intended donor. Even worse, the 8F boiler is completely unsuitable for a County and has ended up donating very little of significance to the recipient. I can't help wondering if all that they actually wanted of value was the ID and some small fragment such as to not have to do the hard yards of certifying a new boiler design.

Tom[/QUOTE]

The 8f boiler is not completely unsuitable for a county, Swindon used the flanging blocks they had for making 8f boilers during the war to produce the flanged plates for the firebox of the number 15 boiler, hence why the 8f has donated its firebox, rather a significant part of the boiler. The same 8f has also donated its cylinders to keeping a black five in mainline operation, and throughout the last 50 years a lot of components that were stripped in Barry have helped other groups rebuild Barry wrecks.

 

We should start a furious thread about that retrospectively.

 

I believe this smokebox art was originally done when the locomotive was at Barry in the 1970's so the work done recently to Thornbury was unlikely to be the same artist. It was an iconic image from the scrapyard.

 

The 8f boiler is not completely unsuitable for a county, Swindon used the flanging blocks they had for making 8f boilers during the war to produce the flanged plates for the firebox of the number 15 boiler, hence why the 8f has donated its firebox, rather a significant part of the boiler. The same 8f has also donated its cylinders to keeping a black five in mainline operation, and throughout the last 50 years a lot of components that were stripped in Barry have helped other groups rebuild Barry wrecks.[/QUOTE]
That was the rationale, but haven't they in the end replaced most of the firebox with new material?