Spare Parts From Barry or elsewhere

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but IIRC Mr Woodham stopped selling just bits of locos at some point

 

Re: 45699 Galatea

I was involved in the original team extracting 34028 from Barry. When we first set up in 1980 the guy who had purchased 34010 had payed for but not removed the many valve motion parts still on 'our' loco. This included expansion links, radius rods, combination levers and so on. By the time we had raised the money to buy 34028 these had been removed. Years later some while after we had become a constituent of Southern Locomotives we acquired expansion links and those missing various valve gear items originating from other Bulleids(cannot remember which) at some significant cost. Now, 34028 has a welded repair (carried out in BR service) to her RH motion bracket which had caused it to distort- necessitating an offset bush in the outer expansion link bearing. Myself and a colleague spent many ours manufacturing an offset bush to make the replacement expansion link actuate to perfection! Then as most know SLL purchased 34010 from NYMR and with it came all the correct nicely stamped up parts-yes including the expansion links and perfectly serviceable offset bush!
Such were the strange circulations of ex Barry loco parts... resulting in pleasurable outcomes and sometimes frustration!
As far as I can make out -Dai stopped selling parts because at some stage in the mid 80's,everything got so stripped, there wasn't much to buy.

 

Re: 45699 Galatea

Trying to get the driving wheelset out of 45690 whilst she was still 'in situ' would be a problem, perhaps? The yard was chock-full at the time, & even if a mobile crane was available, there would be cost and access problems?

Mark

 

Re: 45699 Galatea

Thing is those parts are still circulating out there, in stores vans and overgrown grass around the country, separated from the original loco.
Ive seen parts of a mainline loco at a railway which that loco has never been, and presumably it's owner has had to remake those parts as it is on the mainline today..
thing is those said parts are probably now a waste.. as the other survivors of the class have worked in preservation too.

there's another line which has parts of a MN which has never been on their line and maybe won't anytime soon (at least they were labeled from that loco a few months ago..).. if it's owner knew maybe it would help it's restoration a bit.

Ive heard of one group which has a "christmas tree" stores van of spares...all of which dont belong to the loco they own (or have owned) for the sole purpose of "they may be worth something to someone".

I'm not suggesting they have been in appropriately acquired (though I'm sure a lot of that from Barry has) ... just oppourtunistic acquirements.

 

Re: 45699 Galatea

There is one group currently running a loco on the main line (not ex- Barry) which reputedly has multiple sets of motion spares acquired from Barry.

Bob.

 

Re: 45699 Galatea

As Bob says there were individuals and groups removing parts from Barry engines who hadn't even,at that time purchased a loco from there. In the late 60's/early 70's when a loco was purchased it seemed to be the practice to strip motion parts etc from two or three others "just in case" - the 45xx suffered particularly badly from this. In a way it was understandable as,at the time, it was expected that most of the survivors would be scrapped. There did seem to be a "code of honour" whereby you didn't take bits off a "reserved" loco and most people respected this. Ten years on it was being realised that there weren't enough bits to go around and Woodham's insisted that one could only take bits from other loco's to replace those already removed from "yours". I'm sure several individuals and groups removed parts simply to re-sell at a later date.
When the late Dave Rawlinson bought 5193 in 1979 it had no coupling rods and they were replaced with those from another (4115 IIRC). Some time later he was offered the original set from 5193 which he purchased, note purchased, from a "gentleman" who had them under his garden shed if I remember correctly! There were a lot of heroes at Barry but a few villains as well. Just my 2p worth. Ray.

 

Re: 45699 Galatea

How true... Amen.
At the time of these 'activities' it was always thought that not all would survive and that spares would keep the other locos operating. What a remarkable story that almost all survived.

 

That was carefully worded but think there is only one group operating a non Barry loco on the network that had classmates there!

 

Re: 45699 Galatea

That's how I remember it, too.

 

Re: 45699 Galatea

Think again.

 

Re: 45699 Galatea

A very comprehensive list of main line certified steam locos here including current operational ones in yellow, from uksteam.

Uksteam.info - Mainline steam locos

 

Agreed, but the other did go to A scrapyard!

 

Re: 45699 Galatea

There are seven of them and none came from Barry, but some other members of the class were at Barry.

 

Re: 45699 Galatea

Is this speculation actually worth anything? Unless there's evidence of wrongdoing, I can't see what is to be gained by it, and potentially much to be stirred up. As mentioned upthread, at the time no-one could foresee the 'Barry Miracle' happening, so it made sense for groups to obtain as much kit as possible before it met a fiery end.

Meanwhile, back OT, I guess that the wait for 45699's test runs continues...

Mark

 

But only one is operated by a "group". Sorry to draw the thread into pedants corner everyone.

 

Re: 45699 Galatea

There are several locos on the mainline, not ex-Barry which had class mates there..

Nope.. I can think of 4 without even trying (there's probably more)... 2 of which I believe have run this year and a 3rd about to.. I think we can eliminate the B1 though cant we.

If the loco was not ex-Barry, then in 1968 it became an endangered species and the only source of spares would be ... Barry.. and it's residents which in 1968 were... well quite definitely on the extinction list.. they were in a scrap yard after all.. not a storage yard.
I dont see lines of critics for people buying diesel power unit's or spare bogies for diesels from EMR, even if they may never be used for a generation.. will they be slated for allowed a knackered 37 being scrapped because of it's name of a 47 because of it's livery, but buying the power unit or bogie instead ?

can you blame them for going shopping to buy the last of the spares they may ever be able to buy ever... unrelated here...there wasnt any dreams of Tornado back then, though I do recall a mad man wanting to build at Patriot in the early 1980's... seems he wasnt so mad afterall.

so buying bulk spares would hardly seem the worst thing to do and pilloring a group for doing so... seems hardly fair...no one can predict the future

 

Re: 45699 Galatea

The only one I can think of is 35028 but I haven't looked into the subject in any detail.

 

Re: 45699 Galatea

7754, 44932, 44871, 45231, 45305, 45407, 61306, 35028 never went to Barry, are on the mainline, and had fellow class members in Barry 3 of them are "groups", if the definition of mainline was expanded to NYMR.. it grows considerably.

If anyone has the urge to splurge the group.. be prepared to say why they did and face a backlash from the group.

none of this is relevant to 45699.

 

Re: 45699 Galatea

I thought the caveat was that the engine was owned by a group - weren't some of those Black 5 bought out of service from BR by individuals? I don't think the B1 group would be able to get multiple sets of valve gear from Barry...?

 

Re: 45699 Galatea

David Shepherd in his book "A Brush With Steam" paragraph 6, relates how he took a 3 ton truck to Barry and obtained spares for both his locomotives. Spares, incidentally that he listed to Dai's brother Billy, and duly paid the sum of £110 for. Mr Shepherd comments that there was no finesse in removing parts because at that time scrap merchants had to agree with BR not to sell on complete locomotives into preservation. 92212 gave up parts for 92203 as it happens, because it had just arrived at Woodhams by rail, and Billy said they would strip the fittings of the loco the following week, so Mr Shepherd had better take what they wanted over the weekend.

David Shepherd comments that at that time there was no security as such at Woodhams, he says: "This was long before the hordes of railway enthusiasts descended like vultures, and the appalling thieving, which would later spoil things for everybody, started. These offences were committed by only a tiny unscrupulous minority, but in later years they reached such a pitch that the yard had to be virtually closed, even to the vast majority of honest and well-meaning enthusiasts who have always regarded Barry as a marvellous source of spare parts for their locomotives."...

That is from the horses mouth as they say. No further comment necessary.


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