Current and Proposed New-Builds

Pity its not an Armstrong Goods as that would fill a much more significant gap in my opinion, but a working Dean Goods will be nice none the less.

Also makes a nice change for them not to be dismantling something else to build it.

 

Surely dismantling something to build something else is in the DNA of the GWR.
Dukedogs a good example.

 

I must admit, I had that thought too, but it seems like the project is being spurred largely by the availability of existing parts.

IIRC, though, there is an Armstrong goods boiler at Didcot?

 

I'm not sure about an Armstrong boiler at Didcot? The Boiler at West Somerset is No 1763 built in 1911 and used as a stationary boiler starting 1932.

 

There seems to be some history regarding the Didcot boiler here... https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/132987-boiler-at-didcot/

 

So it is the spare boiler from 3650 that is the basis for this replica? I just hope that, if the loco does get built, it will end up somewhere that can make good, sensible use of it on appropriately sized trains- SDR, Dean Forest or Gwilli, perhaps?

 

The last post in that RM thread from @marshall5 who I assume also posts on here it would appear see ms to clear it up, I'm interpreting it as the boiler from 9629 was originally bought as a spare for 3650 so the 9629 group obtained a Dean Goods boiler from the KWVR (no idea why they had it) but then the 9629 group were able to obtain the original boiler for their loco and thus put the DG one up for sale? ;

The boiler concerned wasn't the Didcot one but a Dean Goods boiler which the group restoring 9629 had obtained from the KWVR. When they obtained 9629's own boiler from Didcot they put the Dean boiler up for sale. I think it is still available and could provide a good starting point for a group that has the necessary experience to recreate an almost lost class.

The piece in one of the magazines illustrated here seems to also reflect that https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbi....4187890341475478&idorvanity=1428326127431927

 

Wonder how many other sheds have a 100 year old boiler forgotten in a corner somewhere...

 

GWR4707 is correct in that 9629's boiler was obtained as a spare for 3650 when 9629 was cosmetically restored and plinthed outside the Cardiff Holiday Inn. The Dean Goods boiler was originally bought by the KWVR (no idea where from tho') as a spare boiler for 5775 but, whilst similar, they are not interchangeable. The KWVR also had the dismantled remains of 4612 later sold to Bill Parker and restored at the Flour Mill.
As mentioned above, when Didcot released 9629's boiler to the group restoring 9629 the Dean Goods boiler (from KWVR) that they had intended to use was put up for sale.
I hope that this newbuild/restoration is successful as a working Dean Goods would be a distinctive and useful loco. There can't be many people left who've actually seen one working. I'm intrigued to know where they intend to get the rods and motion from as there was always a shortage of pannier motion since the locos at Barry had been comprehensively stripped early on.
Ray.