6233 duchess of sutherland

just noticed that the prclt website now states that this is the last certain year of tours with 6233 duchess of sutherland before major overhaul, as appose to the last year of tours which it previously said, does this suggest she may return and does anyone actually know when the ticket expires, and also wether it is necessary for her to be withdrawn despite performing perfectly on every trip, as i was led to believe a locomotive can continue running as long as it passes its ftr examination.

 

AFAIK, Mainline steam loco's have a 7 year mainline boiler ticket, i am unsure whether they can get an extension on this but dont think they can, after this they then have the 3 years operating off the national network, but if they dont want to use 6233 for 3 years on heritage lines, then they could be overhauling it straight after the 7 years, but i dont know the situation so don't shoot me down to much.
Early next year is as close as i know for her ticket running out.

 

Itis quite regular practice for locos to be subjected to a survey which may reveal that, subject to the remainder of the boiler being in good order, and any defective tubes being replaced that a three year MAIN LINE extension can be granted - see 6201 thread.

The PRCLT may well be going down this road to check their position in both engineering and financial terms.

 

talking to the support crew at Crew they were suggesting it would be back pretty quickly. All that has to be done is the boiler, the chassis was done recently and is still in very good condition

 

I seem to recall Blue Peter getting an extra 3 years on her main line 'ticket' after an intermediate overhaul.

 

There's a piece in the current Steam Railway (yes, I know, not always the most reliable source ;-) ) confirming that 6233 will be withdrawn from the main line this autumn and work for a month or two at Butterley. The overhaul will start during the winter and shouldn't take very long (relatively speaking), depending what they find when they inspect the boiler.

Lizzie, on the other hand, had some remedial work done on the boiler last winter, sufficient to get an extention to the main line certificate. IIRC, these extensions are for 6 months only, renewable after another satisfactory examination and are seldom renewed more than 2 or 3 times. Therefore, I'd expect Lizzie to work on the main line for perhaps another year. After that? See the thread dedicated to her, elsewhere...

 

Duchess of Sutherland is already on its 3yr extension and has been since 2007. Its boiler was first certified in 2000 and certification expires in March 2010. Given the Duchess does little work in the winter months I believe the PRCLT are seriously considering withdrawing it from the main line at the end of October so as they can get a 6 month head start on the overhaul.

 

Boiler apparently is already booked in at Crewe. She had a a fair amount of work done on her bottom end a couple of winters ago so I would envisage a quick turn around for this loco. The mainline is a much poorer place without a duchess...

 

There is an unconfirmed report that 6233 has now got an extension for 12 months :smt023 and will be turned out in....
























LMS Black. :shock:

 

A very daring choice, but we've had a Duchess in LMS red and BR red, as well as Hamilton in re-streamlined condition, City of Birmingham is in Brunswick isn't she? So I suppose LMS black will mean we've had a Duchess in every livery they carried. (Except blue)

 

If its only for a year hopefully even the most fundamentalist of the liveryphobes can put up with that ? ;-)

 

The LMS black livery with red and straw lining does look drop dead gorgeous though

Regards,

Dan

 

Hang, on didn't Duchess of Hamilton wear LMS black livery in 'simi' status before the streamlining was put on a couple of years ago thanks to Steam Railway?

 

Yes on 1 side. She looked stunning too!!

 

If anyone is interested about main line boiler tickets this was talked about on another thread a few weeks ago.
http://railways.national-preservation.com/showthread.php?t=21532&page=5

 

Not sure I understand that comment.

For the record, 6233 carried the LMS 1946 black with maroon/straw lining from (probably October)1947 to August 1950.

And yes, it really did look stunning!

 

Indeed, 6115 & 6229 (briefly) wore it well, woulden't mind seeing a LM pacific in Blue one day...

 

As a GWR fan I must admit that when we turned 6233 out in black with red and straw lining on one side it was quite stunning.
And if they decide to turn her out in that livery I for one wont be complaining.

 

Yes it looked gorgeous, even if only one side. I believe it was Ernie Bradley's handiwork.

Dave