GWSR... GWR 2-8-0 stronghold.

3850's boiler is ready for hydraulic and steam testing, we are just completing the build of a new design of ashpan and as soon as complete we shall look to re-unite the boiler with the nearly completed bottom end of the loco, most other parts have been overhauled and are awaiting fitting at the appropriate stage. The aim is to have her ready for as early as possible next season. Certainly been a rather more drawn out job than originally expected (aren't they all?!) with many issues creating bumps in the road, requirement for new cylinders and frame extensions/building of a whole new front end, a key supplier entering receivership part way through machining major components for the above, (another 6 months lost!) Covid, keeping 7820 in fine fettle etc.

Always good to work with our friends in the 2807 group, a number of parts have been ordered together for mutual benefit during both overhauls. I'm very much looking forward to my first turns on both of the engines!

2874 is steadily progressing in the background, new front and rear dragboxes are installed, new running plates made, cylinder and valve bores have been re-bored, wheelsets fully re-furbished including new tyres, machining of journals and machining/quartering of all crankpins. Eccentric sheaves turned back in to something resembling a circle, new eccentric straps and spring hanger bolts being made in house, new cab and smokebox under construction. Plenty going on but progress is limited until 3850 is completed thus freeing up some resources.

 

Am I right thinking the Dinmore group have another 28xx or 38xx sat dormant in ex Barry condition still or has she been sold?

If so are there any long term plans to restore or good for spares?

 

Would be interested to know where the other two Collett 3000 gallon tenders in preservation are - perhaps 9017 at Sheffield Park has one of them?

 

http://www.ten.rhrp.org.uk/tens/tensearch.asp

Is your friend

 

If my memory serves me correctly, 3850 will gain the boiler from otherwise unrestored 3845.

The three Collet 3000gal tenders are 3002 (3205 loaned to 2807), 3029 (ex Erlestoke Manor now with 3803) and 2629 (West Somerset's 9351 Mogul)

 

3002 was purchased with 3205 direct from BR.

3029 was purchased from BR in 1978/9 from Tavistock Junction Yard, Plymouth. It was used with 7812 1979 - 1985. It then saw use with 7820 for a while before being used, and now remaining with, 3803. Prior to preservation it had been used (exclusively?) with 2251 class locos.

2629 is a rebuild of a 4000g tender. Rebuilt by the WSR for use with 9351.

So only 2 origonal 3000g Collet tenders survive (and no original 3500g Collet ones).

 

So what are the origins of all the GW 3500g tenders? Are they all Churchward ones? And what's the difference between a Churchward 3500g tender and a Collett one?

 

The Collet 3500g tender is quite different from the Churchward version. The Collet one had a tank lower that the 4000g type & (obviously) higher than the 300g one but they all look alike apart from the height. 7820 currently runs with a pres era recreation with a 3500 Collet tank on a chassis which previously carried a 4000g one, The chassis of the three types appear to be interchangeable.
There is no well in the Collet & Hawksworth era tenders whereas the earlier ones do mostly have wells.

 

This appears to be a specialist subject - you will be tested!

 

Yes indeed. The post 1926 tenders all started life with flush bottom tanks - no wells - whereas the earlier ones had well tanks. And the chassis were largely interchangeable and Swindon seems to have had no problem at all with swapping tanks and chassis. As a result there are combinations of tank and frames visible in GWR and BR era photos, as well as in preservation, that were never built new. At least one R2R model sported one of these bitsas, and you'll also see them in Swindon weight diagrams.

 

The one behind the Dukedog is a 3,500 gallon tender. It was bought in the early 1960s to replace the original 3,500 gallon tender that the loco came with, which was in very poor condition. That latter tender was subsequently scrapped - I'm not sure when, but my best guess would have been late 1964 / 65. It had been taken to East Grinstead as a water carrier to support the North London Tank which had been contracted to work demolition trains on the northern section of the line; my guess is that when that contract was over, it was cut up in situ once return to Sheffield Park by rail was no longer possible.

(Is it the tender in this photo? http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/w/west_hoathly/west(jmc_summer1964)hoathly_old30.jpg from http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/w/west_hoathly/index5.shtml

Tom (apologies for thread drift)

 

Update on the blog today: https://gwr2807.blogspot.com/2023/09/polish-and-paint.html More painting and details, plus a very exciting last line...

'In the coming days I hope to update this blog with some key dates of when 2807 will return to service at the GWSR'
I can't wait!

 

The latest information on 2807 that I have is that the team at Toddington are "working their way feverishly" through a number of snagging tasks which should lead to test steamings commencing by the end of this month. The boiler cladding has been a bit of a struggle to refit, but the last cladding sheets have now been fitted. More work has been required on the Collett tender but things are coming on well. I'm expecting another report tomorrow!

 

What does the future hold for 3845? Is it destined to become a spares pool for 2807 and 3850?

 

Cotswold Steam Preservation, owners of No 2807, have no involvement in the other 2-8-0 GWR locos at Toddington, other than sharing knowledge and experience with these locomotives. No 3845 is owned by the Dinmore Manor Locomotive Group and is currently stored.

 

Sorry, getting GWR 2-8-0s mixed up! I meant, will 3845 become a "spares pool for the other DMF locos, 3850 and 2874?" - an easy mistake to make they (and 2807) all look much the same!

 

Actually, they don't! Assuming they were all in traffic, even if they were painted in the same livery (which they probably won't be) they are all different. 2874 doesn't have outside steam pipes. 2807 was rebuilt with outside steam pipes but, like 2874, has the Churchward cab. 3850 has the Collett cab with side windows and outside steam pipes.

 

(Sigh), Sorry I keep forgetting that too many people nowadays can't recognise a jokey comment if it does have a smiley attached.........

 

The story is related in Behrend's "Gone With Regret". He was on active service during the Allied advance through Italy in 1944. What he actually suggests about the lettering of the Italian locos in a GWR manner is that someone in the Allied Transport/Logistics set up had been trained at Swindon and therefore used this method of identifying loco allocation, thus:

"No Italian or American would have painted FGA on an engine in exactly that place and style, and they did not even know what it meant, though the engine had Foggia written on it as plainly as if it were Fishguard! ... And now there were other engines with BARI and TTO on the frames, as if any doubt existed as to where the operators had learned their trade"

 

Apologies if I missed the intended humour! I was trying to make a rather interesting point that the GWSR is home to three separate variations of 28xx, each with its distinctives. It is all too easy to forget that when WR steam ended in the 1960s that it looked as if one solitary 28xx, intended for static display only, would be the sole representative of this extremely successful class. The fact that the GWSR will be able one day to showcase three working examples, all slightly different from each other, is actually quite remarkable when viewed from an historical perspective.