92220 Evening Star

I think there was a thread on this some time ago but I can’t find it. Reading Railway Magazine today (May issue) page 63 Readers Platform. The story of 92220 Evening Star keeps rolling on and now David Shepherd has come out and said “My team and I were preparing 92203 for repainting when we discovered patches of Brunswick green paint under the cylinder covers. He also reveals that at least one component is stamped 92220” What do you all think about this and all the other reports about 92220 which are now appearing in the railway mags?

 

I can remember seeing 92220 in the siding at Pontypool Road in Summer 1966. At the same time 92203 was a Birkenhead engine. To my knowledge 92220 went straight to Crewe works for restoration & I can remember seeing her finished in the Crewe paint shop - early 1967 I think.
Meanwhile 92203 was still running at Birkenhead & did so until Nov. 6th 1967 when she pulled the last steam hauled Summers ore train. Many locos. have parts on them originating from other locos. When we restored 47298 at Southport we found 'S & DJR no. 25' stamped on at least one slide bar end.

Bob.

 

Haven't read the mags lately, what do they say?

 

Usual drivel by the sound of it!

 

Err, 92220's cylinder clothing is painted black and always has been.

 

The component stamped 92203 is the drivers side window deflector - the right hand side isnot stamped, makes you think that as it was the last one, everything was stamped 92220. I have also been told that the vacuum ejector is from 92220 as well. Although I know that 92203 was at bath green park in 1961 and 92220 was there in 1962, i dont know if they were both there together. I'm sure someone will know. Makes sense that bits got swapped if they were.

 

It's all nonsense. The 92220 we have now is the same one that was outshopped from Swindon in 1960. The boiler is the same one that it was originally fitted with, because it was never changed. Likewise 92219 which has the boiler number immediately preceding it. Various parts have no doubt been changed, which includes the wheels. The ones on it now were down to scrapping size in 1980, and I would guess the originals were taken for another engine still in service when it was last in the shops. Crewe did that with engines due for preservation. One of the reasons why 71000 was taken off the preservation list - in fact maybe even THE reason - was that it was robbed of fittings over the years after it was withdrawn. Whenever they were short of a BR standard part in the erecting shop that 71000 still had on it, a fitter was sent off to take it off. In the end there was virtually nothing left on it in the way of fittings. The same might have happened to 92220 if it had been stored there for any length of time. I also remember 70000 was robbed of parts at Stratford. At the time it was alleged to be due to vandals, but I happened to know for a fact that it was done on the instructions of a BR manager.

 

Excellent post, Hotspur. Makes very good sense, particularly the points about boiler numbers & bits being taken.

 

Could the green pain could have been undercoat ? sometimes you would use green as undercoat for black but as someone else has said cylinder casing alway is black on any standard loco so the chance of it being anything else is vertually zero

 

A close inspection of any preserved loco will reveal stampings of several different loco numbers as parts were swapped between locos at times of overhaul simply because it was quicker than making or repairing parts.
I would think that this was more often carried out on BR Standards, despite their newness. Otherwise why standardize?
As for finding green undercoat on the cylinder covers, I'm trying to think when I ever saw cylinder covers on mainline locos painted anything other than black.
I should think that an undercoat of dark green would be suitable for taking a black top coat.

 

Of all the locos that resided at Woodham's the only one that was anywhere near to original was 71000. All of the others, and I mean all, carried parts from other class members and often different classes, particularly those of Great Western lineage.

Meic

 

Just realised my post from the 7th April was incorrect - meant to say that 92203's left (drivers side) wind/rain deflector IS stamped 92220 - would be great to know how this ended up on 03? Bath Green Park was the only reasonable request - unless David has been out with the spaners during preservation!

 

As 71000 was a one off, just how many parts were interchangeable with other BR locos? Cab fittings seem the most obvious items.

 

As you say, cab fittings and many other non-ferrous items were interchangable. There were many other components that were used on the Duke, Britannias and/or Clans. Coupling rods, bogie and pony components are just some of the numerous items.

 

Yes, of course, but 71000 arrived at Barry in a pretty much stripped down state. If there were any cab fittings, they disappeared very quickly. As far as I recall, the cab retained its brass spectacle plates but these vanished quite quickly. What was left was a boiler on wheels and the middle cylinder with its associated Caprotti gear box. I'm not sure, at this distance, if the rod for the middle drive was still in place. Somehow I doubt it but it might have been in one of the tenders at the yard.

Meic

 

It was not just BR that swapped parts around between locos. Putting it politely many parts were 'swapped' in Barry.

 

The question was about interchangability of parts, not about the state of 71000 at Barry.

 

I have a colour transparency taken by my Father which I have come across recently of Evening Star at Severn Tunnel Junction sheds in June 1966. It looks a right mess, the boiler is rusty, the front has been damaged, front number plate, name plates and the plaque under the name plate have been removed, the only way to recognise it is the number on the cab, and the marks where the name plate and plaque were, so I can well believe parts were swapped to make it easier to restore.

 

I notice only one of the mags is running with the story, so i suspect it's a gaint hoax or April Fool thats got out of hand, all we need now is for someone to suggest that the REAL 92220 is in full working order in the Woodhead, being maintained in case of invasion.

Parts interchangability was the whole point of the Standards and all of the 20th Century GW locos, take a look at 6000 (impossible when it was at STEAM) the number of different stamps on the motion, marked it out as a real Frankenstein creations, there's bits no bobs from memebers of every 4 cylinder Gw class.

 

it might well be that any parts on 92203 could have come from92220 via another loco, after all parts got swoped between engines all the time and something such as a wind deflector would have been an easy part to just change if you were due to take an engine out and found you had a broken one , it could have even had gone to barry in that way and been gotten by mr shepard to replace a missing one,or at its last shed prior to being preserved , its not a major part , not like finding that the frames etc carry another classmates number its all just a non story, records of boilers and major componants show that 92220 and 922203 are both as they should be and not other members of their class