A2 60532 Blue Peter

Only a couple of light ales officer...

 

I can't drink now anyway, so unless i want a very bad vertigo attack, i have to stay off all alcohol. it along with coffee, tea, chocolate are the main triggers, All of which i happen to enjoy

 

Perhaps City of Birmingham is a better fit for that scenario...

 

And now I've got an image of his friends Fox and Bridgen doing that, thus totally ruining TTT...

 

60532 can currently be seen raising steam on the SVR Kidderminster Platform webcam:

 

Assuming the loco is passed to go mainline before the end of March the usual main line Shrewsbury circuit is currently unavailable, projected until the end of the month , due to a landslip at Oakengates.
(as an aside I had the pleasure of the rail replacement buses today)

 

There will be a lot of test running to do at the SVR, I think 60007 did around 500 miles, plus running at the Spring Gala. They also have the option to test up to 50mph between Bewdley and Kidderminster. There are still LSL air braked Mk 3s there too to test air braking etc.
The mainline test will like consist of the run back to Crewe, but which time it maybe back open for the usual circuit. If not they can always turn at Shrewsbury and head back via Chester.

 

Tests runs are penciled in both sides of the SSG.

 

And thats just the engine. The rest is more steadying than celebrating.

 

Fantastic to see BP back.

Incredible to see it back in Blue. That is by far and away the best choice of colour. Why not blue? It has blue in the name! It makes sense and it looks good.

All of you that would paint it that dreary BR green need to pipe down. This is a far superior colour, and the public do not care about "accuracy".

Is there not enough BR dull shades around already?

Huge parts of the machine are un-original, as is the case with all steam locos in all stages of their life. New boilers, tenders, even frames at times. Is that "innacurate" too? What about air brakes and new electronic systems plumbed in? Do we object to Tornado with its full electric lighting system? The crews of yesteryear would have killed for that on a cold winters night at St Marg's or Ferryhill.

What about CNC machining, which is used on many refurbs now, is that innacurate too? Or Welding, which is on virtually every single running steam loco? Is Polish coal also "innacurate"?

Historical accuracy is where it belongs, in the history books.

These are living, working machines in the modern era, doing what they were intended to do.

Some of you need to display a bit more humility and gratitude that various generous benfactors expend great sums of their own money to keep theese machines going.

Leaving the politics to one side, I cannot wait to see it back in Ferryhill.

 

As everything else seems to be either black, or green, I would not object whatsoever if 60532 appears in Br express passenger blue, lined out in black and white, same as applied to SNG, perhaps a different shade of blue, Ultramarine, was one of the trial colours, and i think it's a better shape than the lighter blue. it would of course make it stand out from the rest of the LSL fleet, and with Tornado in Apple Green it can't get confused for that, and if it can be turned out in the darker shade of blue, it will contrast with the livery as worn by SNG,

 

I kind of fall probably less fiercely in the same position. Heritage rail has to have a market beyond enthusiasts in order to survive, and what it has to sell the wider public is effectively a fantasy of shining engines, the glamour of a bygone age and all that gravy. If that requires some changes that aren't strictly authentic but which hark back to that era I don't really see the major problem. It's an express engine that ran under BR, in a colour that express engines wore under BR. It's not a huge abstraction. And it's not permanent.

 

Seen out yesterday:

 

You are already trying to change history, BR deemed the A2s to be secondary Express locos which were painted lined green. Heritage rail does adapt to the wider public but I don’t think they will be swayed by a coat of paint, I’m sure most would like to see a railway portraying a bygone age as accurately as possible, the clue is in the word heritage.

 

Excellent summary. For all the talk of politics particularly on the Jacobite, I think it would be really great if LSL ran even annually let alone regularly to Aberdeen given that SNG, Blue Peter and Bittern all ended their days at Ferryhill. Aberdeen deserves more than just the Tornado railtours and I would definitely like to see more variety at Aberdeen.

 

I really, really doubt that the wider public would have a clue that A2s were not historically painted blue.

 

Well theres one thing we can agree on lol

 

I suspect the wider public want to see a steam train, padding in the seats, clean toilets that work and a decent catering offering. After that, the rest is window dressing....

 

And yet you crow on about how great Clan Line is, despite elsewhere stating it has the "combined brake valve from a Class 47" in the cab to work the braking systems, let alone the rest of the atypical equipment! How very "accurate" and "heritage" to have something from an entirely different form of rail traction plonked in plain view in the cab. I'd be willing to put money down on the fact that only a vanishingly small number of people care in the slightest about it being in an ahistorical colour scheme, much like nobody is complaining about the air brake system that has now been plumbed in.

It's great to have Blue Peter back in operation, I've never seen it before, so greatly looking forward to going and catching a glimpse. LSL have done a superb job.

 

There is a bit of a difference between modifications to either make an engine operational or facilitate that operation and throwing something at it because that would make it look pretty. Where do you stop? I've bought a B1 and think it would look good with smoke deflectors. They never had them but A1s did so that's near enough. I've bought a 45xx tank engine. Early engines were open to the elements so let's take the cab off and just fit weather boards. The engine might be someone's property, but it's actually a bit more than that.