Bluebell Motive Power

Yes. The new inner firebox cost 10 times that amount and as I recall already has the stay holes pilot-drilled - on the assumption it has thermic syphons!

Tom

 

If the thermic syphons are not fitted, and the stay pattern in that area changes, then you are into replacing some of the outer box as well. Better to keep the syphons, and keep the benefit of a supported brick arch, as well, IMHO.
Pat

 

Yes, and that presupposes you can find both someone willing to do the design AND someone else willing to be the independent third party, and you would need the insurers to carry out their own assessment (at your cost).

 

What else will hold the roof up?

 

Blackmore Whale? Ok, Who's going to say "Thur she blows" When the valves lift when she 's steam tested,
"

 

The boiler will be going into leaky finders alongside that from 76077, which is due to arrive in the next fortnight. Luckily for us 77 doesn’t need a new box! Looking forward to going down to see Rory and co over the next 12 months

 

The picture does indeed make me feel old taken beside the further island platform at Horstead Keynes.

Very Spacious: nothing but some grass on it. Nor anything behind! No sight of any rails let alone anything on them.

Just Blackmore Vale looking marvellously spruce and a fitting train behind with the other island platform and the building on it to the other side.

Memorable, a most particularly good simplicity.

 

For those interested, the 2024 figures:

Home fleet / long-term residents

Loco - Days - Mileage
80151 - 129 - 5,980
73082 - 113 - 5,298
65 - 102 - 3,400
6989 - 49 - 3,342
34059 - 55 - 3,095
72 - 45 - 1,630
32424 - 33 - 1,406
The totals for 65 and 72 include days / mileage run while away at other railways for gala appearances.

Gala visitors
60007 - 6 - 394
7812 - 7 - 410
7714 - 3 - 154
1369 - 3 - 134

Total steam - 545 - 25,263

Diesel
Home fleet
D4106 - 44 - 415

Visitors
D9951, D6851, 33111, D8188, 4VEP 3417 - 13 - 853 (Collective mileage at the diesel gala)
73128, 73119, 66792 - 3 - 66 (Incoming charter)

Total diesel - 60 - 1,334

Tom

 

Not quite true. SNCF found it advantageous to remove syphons from 141Rs but found the reverse with 141Ps. Most (if not all) surviving 141Rs still have their syphons.

 

One MN boiler was constructed without thermic syphons, last carried on 35017 Belgian Marine. I have spoken to a couple of ex Nine Elms firemen about it and they didn’t notice any difference in performance although one said it was a bit slower in steam raising.

 

With news that 6989 Wightwick Hall is to be painted red, can anyone confirm for how much longer we'll be able to come and see her running in green?

 

Think the weekend just gone was the last opportunity

 

I'm not that sure why the Bluebell, the World and known Universe centre of SR steam, has had that non-SR loco there, and with it due to return after the filming until the end of 2026?

And then I look and see what's due at this years Giants off Steam

My priority to see there at present is 80151 on just the four Maunsells.

Bryan

 

She must be liked by at least some of the crew members, or the Company, as she's been there a good while now.

 

But they'll fit into the theme for Giants of Steam

Sent from my SM-A556B using Tapatalk

 

The Bluebell has had locos on long-term loan to assist with services (rather than just as short-term gala visitors) for most of the last 20 years - and, whisper it quietly, some of them have been GWR!

By my reckoning, since 2003 we have had 41312, 34028, 5199, 53809, 92212, 3650, L150, 45231, 5643, 6046 and 6989 in that role, some (such as 6989) for an extended period; others (like 3650) just for a few months.

It would be nice if more of those could have been of SR provenance, but you can only hire what is available (and suitable). Even better would be not to need hire locos at all (I believe we didn't have any between 2015 - 2020 inclusive) but how to get there isn't obvious - particularly because we are now in an era where seemingly every overhaul is a major one.

Tom

 

My personal view is that it is a good loco once it has got past the yard exit dummy. Would be better if it had cab doors and two gauge glasses.

From our current fleet, I'd say 65 is the easiest to prepare from a fireman's point of view, and gives the biggest sense of achievement to fire well - given the relationship between size and load, you are on more of a knife edge than most locos.

32424 is just a joy.

80151 is what you would choose for a long hard day where everything else is going wrong and you at least want the loco to be on your side.

72 is popular with many, but I haven't had enough turns in its latest incarnation to feel completely relaxed.

73082 is in principle another standard, but I'd prefer 80151 any day - more comfortable, better view, plus - because it is south facing - it is easier to manage the water levels when firing up the line.

6989 is a pig to prepare.

34059 is just too big and hot and heavy to be much fun.

Tom

 

Thanks for your stance on the locos you mention.
With regards to the Modified Hall specifically, how does her preparation differ (apart from her size) to the other locos that have an inside cylinder (the BB) or two inside cylinders?

 

I can't really talk about the driver's side of things, though it does seem that it takes drivers longer to prepare than most other locos.

The worst of it from the fireman's side is that it has a long grate with no drop section, so you have to get it all out using a slice. And because the box is long, the slice is necessarily long and therefore heavy. Once out of the box, you then of course have the usual ninety degree shuffle to throw it out over the side, with a long clumsy fire iron and a comparatively narrow opening between cab side and tender.

The S15 was the same, but you then run into the second problem on the Hall, which is that the grate changes slope part way down. (The S15 was flat). So you push the ash down to the front, run the slice down the bars and then find it skates over the top of the ash rather than digging in. You can only get it to dig in by an awkward lift of the fire iron which gets somewhat impeded by the top of the firehole door.

Hard to really explain without doing it, but throwing the fire out is considerably harder than on any other loco we have of comparable size. Once you are past that, it is not so different from any other large loco.

Once out on the road, it steams well. It tends to shut up when there is no draught (which is a good thing, and not shared by all locos). The injectors work well. It would be improved by cab doors, two gauge glasses and being able to shovel the coal off a shovelling plate rather than the floor.

Tom

 

And of those, 8o151 is the most appropriate to a lot of the once quite extensive railways on, around and to the East of the Bluebell.

I know it will probably never happen, but it would be wonderful to see it in service for a week or three, hauling just the four Maunsells and nothing else.

And, similarly it will never happen, to see 80100 back in service, and on a timescale that meant there was always a BR 4MT 2-6-4 tank available for service.

Apologies, but I will repeat a photo I posted on another Bluebell thread of a BR 4MT 2-6-4t that would have gone through East Grinstead on its way from Victoria to Tunbridge Wells West in 1962.

Bryan