'Lew'

If someone (not me) thinks "Lew spotting" forms part of the L&B agenda then this issue needs to be addressed. Arguing the toss about whether they are justified is not the issue. If people are dissuaded from supporting the L&B because they feel their contributions are going towards a jaunt poking around in South America then they need to be re-assured. A simple denial will suffice. D'oh!

 

Probably a simple update on the page about Lew might help
The mystery of Lew | Lynton_&_ Barnstaple_Railway
Just saying that whilst it would be nice to know what happened no funds from the current operation will be used.
Who knows, one day more information could come to light..

 

Perhaps the following update to the page The mystery of Lew | Lynton_&_ Barnstaple_Railway will be sufficient to encourage all those potential members who are holding back from supporting the efforts at Woody Bay to now reconsider their position...

Joining is cheap (£12/22/16 per year for individual junior/adult/senior membership), quick and simple, and can even be achieved on-line, through our secure shopping service.

For full details, just see: Join the L&B Trust Online Today | Lynton_&_ Barnstaple_Railway.

Once you are a signed up member, you can also subscribe to the online members page, where the latest news will be reported first ... and if you do have LEW stuffed into your garden shed...

 

I hope that now you will be snowed under with applications for membership.

 

...One of the reasons why we should never give up looking for Lew, it could well be in a place such as this one ...FOTOS DE  Ajata (Tarapaca), VER IMAGENES CHILE

 

..Another link ..LA INDUSTRIA AZUFRERA Y EL FERROCARRIL DE TACORA, EL MÁS ALTO EN EL MUNDO | Instituto Ferroviario

 

My personal view is that LEW ended her days years ago and nothing is left. I still feel that we would be better off trying to bring back something else to the UK such as a Steam loco or two that could do a job on the new L&BR, at least we would then have something we could make a start on without up setting the purists.

Lets be honest, even if Lew was still about you could not justify rebuilding her to work on the L&BR as you would have to throw away to much of her in the first place, if you want to see LEW in action on the L&BR come to the L&BR spring Gala (see the L&BR website for details) and see LYD doing what LEW used to do.

 

...there's no harm in looking !

 

Probably more use in PR terms remaining a mystery. A pile of rusting bits is far less romantic.

 

They shouldn't give up looking. It's amazing what can turn up. When I heard that somebody had found a King under a car park in Leicester I was really excited until I found out it was a load of bones .

Bob.

 

And think about all those castles in Wales.

Meic

 

I found a Crab on the beach........

Keith

 

Did you find any Snails whilst you were there?

 

I didn't thinks Snails on the Beach were legal to talk about ....

 

...Found this Narrow Gauge Railroad Discussion Forum :: Narrow Gauge Discussion :: Re: The adventures of a ColoradoNarrowGauge Cowboy and his Baldwin Belt buckel in Brazil

 

Nope, that's definitely NOT Lew!

It is certainly possible - however unlikely - that Lew is still out there somewhere in a semi-recognisable form, but as there is scant if any evidence to say with any certainty which COUNTRY in South America it was originally shipped to (or even if it ended up in South America at all!) it really is an "eye of a needle in a forest of haystacks" scenario, and whilst a chance encounter may reveal the truth, it just isn't economical to launch a specific search. Certainly not anything the L&B itself is going to get involved with.

 

A reminder of what it looked like...

 

....but it does go to show that things are picking up down there and that there are those active in searching around, a positive sign.

 

Why is this engine such a story anyway, plenty of other ExMainline locos have left these shores to the great unknown...

theres a missing WD 2-8-0 that allegedly went to the US, Jintys lost in France, various 2-8-0's in North Africa etc..
A surprise turn up of some deans goods 0-6-0s in North Korea would be nice ! Why Lew and nothing else ?