1014 - County of Glamorgan

Surely there must be a balance for Didcot with having locos operating at home and elsewhere.

I'm not suggesting they use their collection as a "rent-a-loco" type arrangement, but 6023, 2999 and 4079 this year touring other lines must add some revenue to the funds, and I would be confident that it has meant that the awareness of Didcot must have been improved.

Hopefully this would attract more visitors to the site and fulfilling part of their objectives to showcase their collection.

Seeing 6023 at the GCR running in and chatting to the loco crew prompted me to visit Didcot a few months later.

Chris

 

I thought filling the back end up to half way up the door was normal practice with GW locos. Even higher if you can manage. That’s the way I was shown and on the SVR and put into practice on the NYMR.

 

They do tend to like a deep fire, but this was absolutely level with the bottom of the firehole. My only real firing experience was at Didcot, so perhaps I am under estimating the requirements for railways that actually go somewhere!

 

Seems to work for Wightwick Hall. A wedge shape, thick at the back and thin at the front on starting at Sheffield Park; most of your firing is to the back and sides, and the front gets primarily fed naturally by coal rolling forward. I'd aim to start with the coal nearly up to the door at the back and gradually work the depth down by time you got to East Grinstead. (Similar works for BR Standard 5).

Tom

 

Having A flagship loco, that can spend some of its ticket away from Didcot, on hire to other lines, will also act as an ambassador for the GWS, the larger locos, are more suited i would argue to fit this capacity, than the smaller ones such as the pannier, or 14xx, Locos that are not going to work beyond the demonstration line, should be cheaper to overhaul, due to the limited work and mileage, they would cover, so could only need limited work, and an mechanical overhaul every other ten year ticket, where as an engine that might see more use, away from Didcot, will need a full overhaul, every 10 years, depending on what engine is chosen, each time, I have often wondered about what may have beens, if Didcot and Steam, at Swindon, would have been combined with some engines, being transferred between both sites, out of ticket engines cosmetically restored could have been displayed in their birthplace, and others such as the dean goods, star etc, transferred to Didcot, and assessed for their possible return to steam,

 

Bit in black: is this actually true?
Let's say 6023 was loaned to the GWSR (just as an example).
A number of enthusiasts might go to see the loco at Toddington and then decide to visit Didcot at a later date as they are aware of the locos home base.
The vast majority of visitors will see a 'new' steam engine and that's it. It's highly unlikely that there would be any information about Didcot, so I cannot see how loaning locos out would see them acting as ambassadors to increase awareness of Didcot or increase visitor numbers.
Or have I missed something?

 

Didcot is just finalising the hire arrangements for 2023 with heritage lines. You will see that the hire out of 4079 has been hinted at with the Four Castle event promotion on their website.
https://didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/product.php/146/the-didcot-castle-event-4-march

 

Fork hassle event ?

 

Fo'c's'le?

 

It would be nice if during this event on 4th March that the roller shutters could be up so that 1014 with boiler in-situ was at least viewable from the entrance to the works?

 

A new appeal leaflet from the GW Society says on the front cover "Help us turn this...
...to this" with pictures, respectively, of the new build 1014 and of 1011 on what was obviously a main line train from the days when Counties were in regular service. That gives a clear impression that the new build will operate on the main line. Is that not misleading? Even dishonest?

 

You're quite right, they really should only use pictures of Counties operating in steam on preserved railways to give supporters an honest appreciation of what 1014 could look like in service...got anything in your album for them to use?

 

Perhaps they want it to operate on the GCR for that Main Line appearance?

 

I take the point, but I still feel that the picture gives a false impression of the objective of the project when other restored and new-build locos are or will be hauling main-line trains. There are plenty of pictures of Counties on shed, including one inside the same leaflet.

 

I think you are reading far too much into fine details of a picture and expecting other people to do the same. It's just a picture of a loco running that happens to be on a mainline. Probably because the Counties were main line engines. If everybody followed your logic you could also argue the purpose is to create a County that can haul trains, not just sit on shed and look pretty, so a picture of it on shed is inappropriate too. Or you could argue that if the photos in the leaflet are supposed to represent exactly what the County will do (which you seem to be doing), how specific a replication of those photos does the County's work need to be. Is any mainline work good enough, or does it have to be in the specific place where the photos were taken? Same with being on shed? What about liveries - can it only carry the liveries shown with no room for representing the class' different eras? But nobody else is going to argue that because, of course, that's just a little bit ridiculous.
Nobody else follows the logic of '"That photo is of a County on a mainline therefore it must be suggesting that they want to take the County mainline and therefore if they don't it's false advertising". They just see a photo of a loco in operable condition and think "Yes, that's the end goal. A complete County in operational condition pulling trains. No etra specific conditions on what sort of trains or where. Just pulling trains."

 

Careful. That's the sort of comment that can lead to fighting talk!

 

[deleted]

 

I was a member of a service crew as well (for 5051 when it was on the mainline). I helped service the engine at Tyseley (from Didcot).
The thing I remember most was how bloody hot the engine was after coming off the mainline (particularly the smokebox). I was just used to 5051 trundling up and down the demo line so it was an eye opener....

 

I had my first footplate ride on 5051 in early 1980. It was a test run to and from Oxford, just before the last two trips with the Vintage Train. We had previously been to Swindon for weighing with 1289, one of the Ocean Saloons and a brake composite. On the way back from Oxford, with the entire Vintage Train, the traction inspector wanted to know what 5051 was capable of. We reached 70 but then caught up with a rattler, so that was that. From photographs that I've seen we were still accelerating at Culham so we would have soon run out of track anyway.

 

That must have been some experience. One of my regrets is that I never got to ride the footplate on the mainline, I just got to ride in the support coach....
[Edit] And my other regret is that I'm 59, so just too young to remember pre-1968 mainline steam. The preserved engines (highly polished and maintained) seen like a different experience.