6023 King Edward 11

May be connected to 9466 going back to the MNR next summer. Dennis Howells will be able to look after 9466 and be owner's rep for 6023 at the same line, so it makes sense.

The MNR news item mentions that they intend to hold their first ever two-engine steam gala while they're both there. That could well be an excuse for me to pay my first visit there.

 

Interesting that the GWS should spend 20 years and £650k+ on this engine, only to send it away 3 months after it's completed. Perhaps it's a bit premature to be talking about commercial suicide, but how exactly does Didcot Railway Centre benefit from this? And please don't say 'hire fees'!

 

Didcot will launch 6023, then run it for 3 months, but with the need to get some miles clocked up, and Didcot only having 3/4 mile demo line it is felt necessary to get some miles under 6023`s belt. During 6023`s visit to the MNR 6023 should do apprx 1500 miles, before returning to Didcot for the main summer season, then hopefully a return to the mainline in the Autumn. The running in is covered in the MNR`s press release, on their website.

regards George Saville

 

So much for the original idea for the running in to be done at the GCR.

 

I think George has got the answer, in that it is with connection with the running in. One return trip on the MNR is equal to approx 22 return trips on the Didcot demo line (the Didcot website gives the length as 1/2 mile) - if a rake of coaches is attached as well it means there is even less room!
The other point is that the MNR does have a mainline connection - possible transfer by rail?

 

I'm sure the mainline can wait. Better, I would've thought, to have kept the engine on site for say 12 months, and milked it for what it's worth, rather than let someone else take a piece of the glory. Seems these days that the GWS' engines/projects are rarely viewed in relation to the place that is their home.

Ciaran

 

It'll be a roaming ambassador for you. Take a load of leaflets with it, and those that are impressed enough with 6024 may well decide to visit Dicot when they are next over that way. The publicity generated from the restoration itself will be of benefit as this project was a so called no-hoper originally. Then there is the increase of positive working relations with both NVR and MNR which will surely only be of benefit to Didcot? There is also the hire fees as well, though you yourself don't seem to think this will be of significance, but end of the day they will still be a form of income for Didcot.

 

It's got the rest of its boiler ticket to be a roaming ambassador, right now, when the interest is greatest, you want the people to be coming to you, and be spending money in the shop, restuarant, bar, and donation boxes etc. Hire fee money won't go anywhere near them, and if past practice is anything to go by, it won't go anywhere near the engine either. One of the benefits at Didcot is that you have to pay to see the stuff, you can't just turn up on a platform. At the end of the day, if it's a choice between a half mile ride at Didcot or 11 at Dereham, those inclined to travel will naturally favour Dereham. At least it should be back on site for August.

Anyway, the big men have made their decision, so there we are.

Some more info! http://www.didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/news/latest.html#news01

 

It's a gamble really isn't it.

The choice is leave it at Didicot for say 12months, and hope that the interest is significant enough that tickets sales at Didcot along with souvenir / restaurant / bar sales are greater than the potential income from hire fees of sending it to another railway.

Personally, as a visitor I would be more tempted to go and see a loco like 6023 on a longer line. No offence to Dicot, but having a King run up and down their half mile demo line with 2 coaches does not interest me as much as seeing her haul 7/8 coaches on a 20+ mile round trip.

That's me though, as I prefer to travel on a train and hear the loco working. There are others that would be more than happy to see her at Didcot on 2 coaches, as then they could go on and see the rest of the collection for they gain an enjoyment from simply seeing a collection of locos like what Didcot has to offer.

As you say though, the decision has seemingly been made and so all we can now do is look forward to her return. A single chimney King may even give 5051 a run for her money in the noise stakes!

 

Chuffing up & down that short demonstration line at DID certainly is'nt the best way of running in 6023 in if it is to be in the best of condition. It needs to get properly hot, get some gentle miles into the bearings & do a bit of constant work with a modest load at reasonable speed.

Observation of operation on the short DID line normally reveals the following - thrash, coast in near full gear sucking cold air into the cylinders followed by an unecessarily hard brake application to stop in time!

 

It is tempting to be a bit disappointed that its going so soon, but it also makes a lot of sense if Dennis is going (and can therefore oversee 6023) to the MNR at that point, and it means its back for the summer, and potentially ready to hit the mainline before we get into leaf fall season!

I personally suspect that a lot of GWRland punters won't trek all the way over to the MNR, and conversely MNR will do itself a lot of good drawing in curious eastern dwellers who probably wouldn't naturally visit Didcot anyway. Its going to use a fair amount of coal to run 1000 miles so it might as well use someone elses coal doing something useful. Just have to mark out the May Bank holidays to make sure I get an early viewing - Easter is already booked away!

Anyway its great that its going to be back, its going to be going mainline so will be working properly, and in all probability (being Didcot based) most of its work will be GWR lines so we'll get more than our share. I'm looking forward to a still summer evening in the garden and hearing it whistle and steam through Bath back where it belongs - that's worth making sure something decent to drink is on hand to toast the guys that have put in all the hard work.

 

At the end of the day the people who have worked on the locomotive during the last 20years, and who will continue to stand by the running of the locomotive have earned the chance to enjoy the running-in of the engine on the railway they see fit!!

I'm sure that before she leaves the centre at Didcot there will be plenty of people paying at the gates to see her...!

Don't you think that the MNR is a fair distance from Didcot and gives people from the other side of the country a good chance to see her??

 

I live not very far from Didcot, and certainly I will go pay to see her at Didcot. Then I will go on my travels to ride behind her at NVR and/or MNR. I personally think it's a great idea to get her onto a heritage line where the running in can be done properly, and also where you can get a good long ride behind her. If it had been a poll I'd probably have voted for the WSR or the GCR, but what the heck, I've been there and I've never been to either Nene Valley or Mid Norfolk, so a new experience for me

 

It's not about stopping people from ultimately doing anything, be it running the engine, or being able to see it, but I do feel that during the initial stage, Didcot should be getting the maximum benefit from the engine, and not have it disappear to someone else after just 2 months. Yes it's not going for long, but it'll be right in the middle of the busy season. Once the honeymoon period is over, it's not a problem where it goes.

For the record, when we finished the 53xx, we did say that we didn't want it going anywhere for the first year, so that the Society could get some benefit from having a 'new' engine.

But never mind eh, let's move on!

 

When you finished 5322.... I'm gathering that you enjoyed the running on the other railways with the engine then?!? With that in mind I would think the group who are finishing the King will also enjoy the chance of giving her a run out.

Going by the dates given Didcot Railway Centre will get plenty of time to earn money from the locomotive from April until June. Then again when it goes back in July for the rest of the season!!

 

Not bothered where she goes really, but anyone know the reason why those lines were chosen, just out of curiosity?

 

Very likely because Dennis is already involved with those particular lines.

No, actually I didn't. I was in Hull. And that's beside the fact that it had already been running at Didcot for 18 months.

 

In Hull... that's a long drive you must have every weekend to be a part of what goes on with the locomotives of the GWS and 5322 which you work on and keep running!
As for the running at Didcot for 18months. I seem to recall a mention on here at the time that loco was finished, that a member of the group wanted it to go and feature at Llangollen SSS gala only 5/6months after it first ran, now who was that I wonder?!?

 

Think you'll find it was the other way round actually. We (6880) wanted her to visit for SSS2 so she could work alongside 9017, recreating days gone by of the the Ruabon-Barmouth Line where 4300 moguls were the mainstay, and also to do a recreation of the Ian Allan's Daffodil Express with 3440. Due to various reasons though this did not go through and so our plans changed (we ended up with 246 and 1306 instead!).

However, starting to get a little off topic now aren't we?

 

I'm surprised that the folks at Didcot didn't decide to take 6023 to the GCR, afterall the GCR is (I believe) the only heritage railway in the country that allows you to test a steam locomotive at 60 mph for mainline running (It was done for "Tornado" and I think "Oliver Cromwell"). Although I would be more than happy to see 6023 running on GWSR aswell. Their plan to take 6023 to the MNR is unexspected but I have a suspicion that it could be the fact that the MHR do have a mainline connection, something that both the GCR and GWSR don't have, yet...

Still I'm very pleased to hear about 6023 "King Edward II" soon to be returning to steam at last, finally after many years we will have 2 Kings in steam, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who looks forward to see the 2 Kings getting together... Perhaps though his royal steamy majesty "King Edward II" can at some point in the future grace the GCR's and GWSR's rails...

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