LNWR Bloomer

Thats a real spot the difference.. I noticed the trailing wheel has been painted, as has the boiler, and storage boxes added to the tender...
any more ?

 

Yeeeeey! I have inadvertantly started a campaign to get her finished! Perhaps she could be named Spud in my honour!

That of course being a joke! Looks like a cracking beast though, can't wait to see her finished!

 

Thanks for posting the updated picture since mine was only taken as a after thought at the time.

I wonder where the chimney is? More than likely in a container somewhere on site but theres curiosity for you.

 

Although not very evident from the 2 photos, much of the loco has been stripped of rust and loose paint and repainted using primer/undercoat. tHis volunteer activity continues.
Much of the motion has been manufactured

It is approaching and erecting, plumbing and lagging job now.

 

Any chance of the name of the hostelty? £1.60 a pint seems good enough to me!

Cheque on the way, by the way.

 

The Greyhound at Saxton, near Leeds. A price of Sam Smiths bitter is £1.37 a pint and the crisps are £0.50. Sam Smiths bitter is generally less that £1.50 and it is only in the last 12-18 months that you haven't been able to get four pints with change from a fiver at the Greyhound.
Sam Smiths may not be everybody's favourite but, if that brewery can sell beer and other alcoholic drinks at that price, why can't other breweries?

A bit off-topic. Sorry.

 

Is this anything do do with it?
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/136984

 

I believe the dummy replica formerly at MK Central, as seen in the photo (now in store at Wolverton if I recall correctly) and the working replica under cconstruction at Tyseley were started together in the late 80s/ early 90s. I was, as a rather younger version of myself, slightly involved in the movement of the MK replica to its plinth, insofar as I stood and watched, and helped a bit with the pushing, when it was offloaded at Wolverton works for varnishing prior to being plinthed. I seem to recall there was a period that it was rolling forwards, and the drivers were turning backwards, due to the balance weights, as the (dummy) springs weren't holding them down on the somewhat uneven track of the yard. Somewhere theres a slide of me on the footplate in the works.

 

Yes. Bob Meanley is responsible for both.

 

I'm sure every steam enthusiast, who's read all the books,will welcome this project as something different & interesting ,as there are no engines of this era running , we have to look at photos, interesting though thy are, to see what these engines & others like them were like.
I know why you've numbered her 670, but what was the last 'Bloomer' number? Could'nt she take the next number a la Tornado?
My cheque for £20 is in the post incidently!

 

ahh ! I remember them, werent they the ones with snowploughs crudely fitted to one end ? I remember them when 7819 / 75069 worked the cambrian one summer !

 

No doubt Bob or Alistair will correct me if I've got it wrong, but I think the tender frames were found somewhere. And this is what gave Bob the idea of building a working replica.
I will take a photo of the driving wheels on Sunday when I go into work and post them so that those who haven't seen them will get an idea of the scale of what we are building.

 

A worthy cause, there a cheque in the post from me as well. As others have said there are not many Loco's of this era extant so getting a new build in steam is a great idea

 

Tender frames were recovered form "somewhere". I recall they had cylindrical tanks fitted. Never seen them with snowploughs. 2 were recovered.

 

We recovered two tender frames from Northwich shed, which had been put there originally to fuel DMU's , I believe. Both frames had been converted into oil tanks by the LNWR at some long forgotten date, and had lost their centre wheelsets, so making them 4 wheelers. We therefore had to buy both frames to get enough wheels to make one of them a 6 wheeler again. The frame which we repaired and rebuilt back into the tender, eventually yielded various bits of evidence that it had originally belonged to Small Bloomer No 3 (later 603) which was built at Wolverton in 1859. It took a considerable amount of work to rebuild, including replacing the characteristic rear frame extensions, which had been cut off at conversion to an oil tank, and renewing the front and back drag boxes.

We knew that a similar tank existed at Machynlleth, and a visit revealed that unlike ours it still had some of the proper tender brake gear fitted rather than the wagon type gear that had been fitted to ours, so we arranged a deal with BR supplies, paid them some outrageous sum for it, and went and collected it. To be honest I am not sure when the remains of the tender disappeared, and can only presume that it was possibly cut up on site, so any info on that would be welcome, if only to complete the story.

Regards
Bob

 

Good to see the funds are coming in from my acccidental fund raising! I would join them however I am 100% broke and jobless...sorry

 

hmm, just wondering how the mini-appeal went ? I sent a cheque months ago but it's yet to clear ?

 

Any updates on the build?

 

Yes, I would like to know as well, a very worthwhile scheme.