Current and Proposed New-Builds

Of course there is, since the most noticeable part of a locomotive is the boiler. Even when the boiler is a different size, that still applies because they all have Belpaire fireboxes and tapered barrels. Churchward got it right; the 28xx were in service from the early 1900s to the end of steam on the Western Region, more-or-less without modification. No offence taken, at all!

 

2884 onwards were a Collet design. New cabs, outside steam pipes etc.

 

I don’t mean to start a fight here but I’ve always thought the small tenders look absolutely ridiculous. Rather akin to replacing the tender of a Black 5 with a 7-plank wagon. It’s all about proportion - with the high-sided tender like the Hall at the GCR has, they look so much better, the small ones just look like they’ve been accidentally paired with the wrong loco.

 

7802 never looked quite right with that Castle tender behind it though did it? Useful as it was.

 

The advantage of the smaller 3500g tender was that it could carry 1 ton more coal than the 4000g Collett/Hawksworth tenders. Water wasn't so much of a problem if it could be picked up at troughs.

 

Yeah, an the WC boiler barrel is a whopping 1 1/2" shorter, so obvious really

 

And the pony wheels are different diameters - 3'-7" for MN; 3'-1" for WC/WCX/BB/BBX. Screamingly obvious, surely?
Pat

 

If you don't have a smokebox number or nameplate to go on, Light Pacific rebuilds front-on have a larger 'looking' smokebox door than a MN, the latter having a wider surround from bottom of the door to outer rim of the smokebox. Easy to pick once to see it! ;-) Does that make me a rivet-counter?

 

Further to my post above, it would seem that my wish has been granted, at least to some extent! According to "Rail Advent" 6880 will be taking part in the Cotswolds Festival of Steam on the GWSR at the end of May. Our own 2807 will be in operation too. Who'd have thought back in 1981.......

 

If you book them, they will come…

 

I am very happy for you guys, still kinda on the fence whether or not to visit you guys or West Somerset or Bluebell.
But, in all seriousness, does anyone have an idea when 6880 will be completed? It's doing all these events and so far, no-one has really heard anything about it being steamed, tested or test-ran.

 

Be interesting to hear crews thoughts on how it performs- presumably it will be the first opportunity for 6880 to be directly compared with a Modified Hall and a Manor?

Chris

 

It was supposed to be the star guest at the Battlefield Line gala this month but this was postponed in order to allow completion of a few more jobs. It was widely reported a few weeks ago that it should still go to the Battlefield Line for running in in a few weeks.

 

Due to be at East Somerset Railway 16 and 17 March.

 

Fingers crossed that its completed asap. Its been in ticket since april 2023, and i know that the group are eager not to loose anymore time and start earning some money for its future. It will be a great addition to the gwr preserved fleet, and definitely draw some crowds in the events that it attends in 2024.

 

I spoke with somebody high up in the group at the Battlefield Line gala at the weekend and was told it was 99.9% done and it was a matter of weeks to go

 

Does anyone know what the state of the P2 build is please?

Just passing interest, it was only on Sunday at Groombridge, talking to a family who had only gone there to see one of the attractions for toddlers, that it was mentioned to me. With me having been very focussed on my other main interest (my time is now shared with SR steam since I published my book) I thought it was still at the initial fund raising stage! I checked the relevant web site today and found it was well on its way, but the progress report I found ended in 2020. Presumably Covid had a major impact as it had on so many activities, but I wondered what stage it had reached at the end of 2023/start of 2024.

I have fond memories of 2-8-2s on mainland Europe: German 41 class locos (including the 042 oil burners) and I also got a few nice photos of French 141Rs at Easter 1972 when they were still operating holiday traffic extras between Annemasse and Evian.

 

Try https://www.a1steam.com/prince-of-w...v/1/categoryid/6/categoryname/our-latest-news for news on the P2

 

There are actually two projects.

The one based in Darlington (from the team that previously built Tornado) has made considerable progress with a rolling chassis, boiler etc. They recently showed off the newly fabricated triple cylinder block. https://www.a1steam.com/prince-of-wales/home

I think it is a reasonable assumption that the Darlington loco will be complete in a reasonably short timescale if things continue at the pace they have been.

The one based in Doncaster appear to have had some frame plates cut but there is no news on their website I can find beyond 2019. https://www.cockothenorth.co.uk/

Technically they still seem to be in existence and submitted accounts for 2022/23, but those accounts show total income for the year of £3,251 and expenses of £4,973. Of that loss, it seems to have been that it cost them more to raise money than they raised; nothing seems to have been spent on actual metal.

All that against a loco that conservatively might cost £5m to build ...

Tom

 

Thanks, that does lead me to an update on the/a boiler.

What I had been looking at is this https://www.a1steam.com/prince-of-wales/about-prince-of-wales/the-build-so-far/construction-so-far which currently comes to an end in December 2020.