6880 Betton Grange

Indeed so....

My understanding is that SVR acquired the wheel sets from large prairie 4156 when dismantled in 1980 (along with 92085, D6122 & D601) by Woodhams Bros. 7325 & 5199 have swapped their wheel sets in preservation and 6880 now carries those that were previously under 5199.

6880's boiler and bogie wheels are ex 7927 Willington Hall, driving axle boxes are ex 4115 and bogie frame is 'borrowed' from 5952 Cogan Hall. Other miscellaneous parts including motion are reused from other donors and current tender is also 'borrowed' from 7822 Foxcote Manor.

Edit : PS - Swindon wasn't the only works to make good use of repurposed parts - see the latest Video on youtube from The Urie Society under MHR's latest posting.

 

I'd forgotten about the driving wheels. All things considered, it would appear that they've created a superb loco, in fine condition, working pretty much straight out of the box.

 

I've never seen a report to suggest that the wheels currently under 7325 aren't the same set that came out of Barry. When did that swap take place?

 

I'm sure that I 'now' remember reading about 4156's wheels being used somewhere along the line. Are those under 7325?.

 

I've had another dig in SVR News, and I think the answer is "yes". The acquisition of the spare wheels from 4156 was never reported that I can find, but I assume it was the GWR(SVR)A (owners of 7235/9303) who acquired them based on what follows.

7325 arrived from Barry in 1975 and was initially stored while 4566 and 5164 were completed. Restoration began in 1979, led by Pete Simpson. Circa 1983 it was reported that the tyres were very thin and Pete was to replace the wheel sets with others having good tyres. Presumably that was the set from 4156 which would fit in the 1980 scrapping timeline, although it was not mentioned as such. Later reports mentioned that "the wheels were turned at Bridgnorth" and "the loco was reunited with the wheels" although again not mentioning that it was the replacement set. 7325 entered service in 1992 and worked on the main line as well as the SVR. It was withdrawn after failing during the 2000 boiler crisis. Following a quick cosmetic restoration, it moved to Swindon in 2001 on static display.

In late 2002 the Association reported that "we have made no decision over the request from the 6880 Betton Grange Group to sell them our spare wheels". Again no subsequent report, but presumably the spare set they referred to was the original ex-Barry set with the thin tyres, as I can't find anything to suggest 7325 was swapped back onto the thin tyred set before moving to Swindon. If so, I assume they have been re-tyred since, unless either the Grange or 5199 is on thin tyres!

 

Yes, that's pretty much what I had gleaned although some of the older news reports from http://www.6880.co.uk/news/ confirms the swap from 5199 to 6880.

In a nutshell.

6880 runs with wheelsets that previously ran in preservation with 5199
5199 runs with the 'spare' set of wheel sets that came from 7325
7325 was restored with wheels swapped from scrapped 4156

 

Thanks for the pointer to the news reports. Conveniently, you can group by topic including "Wheels".

https://www.6880.co.uk/category/wheels/
https://www.6880.co.uk/category/wheels/page/2/

The oldest posts on page 2 confirm that the spare wheels from 7325 were loaned to the 6880 Betton Grange Society in 2011 and re-tyred at South Devon in 2012. That would fit in with them being the thin-tyred originals.

However later posts in that category don't mention a swap with 5199 before they were fitted in 2013 (or since). All very confusing!

 

But much like what happened routinely at Swindon and other works?

 

Indeed. It's more than a little inauthentic to refer to xxxx' boiler or yyyy` tender, especially in the case of GWR standard components, which not only will probably have been on several different locomotives, but even different classes.

 

This fine video sums up this loco's superb entry into service wonderfully.
(Courtesy of 'Speed to the West').

6880 Betton Grange Finally Rides The Rails - YouTube

 

Pleasure to see and ride behind 6880 yesterday at the GWSR, head out of the window coming out of Greet Tunnel being the highlight. Look forward to seeing her on the WSR in July.

 

My video coverage of 6880 during its recent visit to the Glos Warks.

 

Superb. Western engines do make a bloody good noise! That clip of the departure from Winchcombe is fantastic.

 

Brilliant. In my opinion Speed To The West produces some of the best video seen on this forum.

 

A number of new photos can now be found here, showing 6880 on the WSR:

http://www.wsr.org.uk/

 

Certainly looks at home on Somerset with some decent gradients for it to get it's teeth into!
Quite a nice selection of GWR tender locos they have in Minehead currently!!

 

Surely the most appropriate line for the loco to be based at ?

 

Maybe 50/50 WSR/GWSR.

 

Including Toddington Grange .