the future of A2 Blue Peter ???

Yep, definitely looking "just so knackered" in that photo!

Tom

 

Does anyone have any further news about 60532? Are NELPG still involved with the engine (their website says they are)? I'm assuming they paid for and carried out the cosmetic restoration a few years ago.

 

Well she is still at Barrow hill awaiting the money for her overhaul but there is a wealthy person on the look out for an LNER pacific as they went for one of the two borrowed A4s which was not liked so Blue Peter would be the next best thing?
thanks
Patrick

 

Just because an individual was interested in acquiring an A4 doesn't mean he/she would be interested in an A2

Keith

 

If the owner doesn't want to sell at a realistic price there's no way of forcing him to - and that seems to be the case from what I've heard. The price paid for 4472 was the culprit, and te loco is reportedly in need of as big an overhaul as 4472, if not bigger.

 

It would be nice if one day it could join the A1/P2 stable under some sort of agreement - so much commonality of components etc, and what an Apple Green stud that would make

 

Well if the P2 Needs a new boiler, and then ideally an interchangeable 3rd boiler as spare perhaps Meiningen will do a 'buy two get one free' offer ! Certainly would sheff, we can but dream

 

But will we ever learn... £3m for an A4 and £2mn to restore it...or build a new one instead and have a cheaper, longer and healthier existence ?

 

Well the person who tried to buy 60532 wasn't willing to pay the silly asking price. But for some people a replica just isn't the same as the real thing and perhaps that's why he hasn't gone down that route.

 

I take it that the loco is still owned by the Drury family?

 

impossible ! would be brilliant to have this loco back in steam, I went to the fab four thing at barrow hill 2012 (disapointed that a certain scotsman had failed to turn up) it would be brilliant to have an A1,2,3 and 4 in steam together, but I suppose they'd have to get a move on to do that, there's Tornado obviously, blue peter which needs overhauling, Scotsman (if/when it is finally finished) plus a number of A4s, although I've no idea as to boiler tickets with any of the currently in steam ones...
Alex

 

I've been here before. They are the last ones who should go near it.

Seeing so much money go for Flying Scotsman is indeed the culprit, but Blue Peter for all its a fantastic engine is not worth the same, nor has the same gravitas. Im sure that when 4472 returns the crowds will surge to see the most famous engine return to steam and then the mainline, silencing the doubters who think such costs are needed, while also it should make the next overhaul a lot easier. 60532 however now needs serious work, which actually you would think should lower the cost of it being available for sale. Anyone paying for it then has to spend tons to return it to traffic. The longer it remains in this situation the worst things will get. The engine does have power and does grip better than most. It probably is the most missed big engine on the mainline, aside from the Duke which has returned recently, but its name and reputation have deminished given its absence from traffic.

Now on the scene today overhauls have to be quick and fast and engines must return to keep thier place with tour orgnaisers and the raitour companies. The work of 60009 is a testament to this modern practice, while Duchess of Sutherland is another. Both have had overhauls, both return and both keep bookings paying for the next repairs and overhaul. Some engines do make a return, either B1 is a candidate for this so for Blue Peter its not impossible, but soon the mainline will become the preserve of a select few engines that have all the modern kit and run on all the tours needed by the opperator, princibly WCRC. In 5 years time the mainline fleet will look very much the same... 46115, 48151, 44932, 45690, 45699 all WCRC, joined by 45407, 44871, 70013, 46233, 62005, 45305, 45231, 60009, 61194, 61264, 61306, 70000, 71000, 34046, 34067, 35028, 5043, 5029, 4965, 4936 all pretty much affiliated to the Carnforth outfits safety case. The likes of 60163 will sort itself out, with DB.

But while some think that the list is bigger than you might expect, the issue will be maintaining these and crewing them for the years to come. With groups memberships declining, it will become a niche market where the tourist is the key. Railtours will decrease as the travelling public wants to spend their time in other ways. Trips on the train, even mainline will be a novelty some in the future will remember as tourist attraction, rather than days of old. It all points to preserved railways moving to own their own engines, or will be bequeathed them when owners or groups go and on the mainline that means a even smaller select few that will haul the trains and tours as joe public just wants an engine up front thats steam - it will have a diesel attached to turn at the destination or assist on the rear, so get used to that too.

Engines that dont keep steaming will be plinthed and housed as a well restored example. Railways like the KWVR already show what your massive steam fleet will do when you only need to keep a select few and even the NRMs ideas of outstations in the future seems to confirm this. The message for fans of Blue Peter is clear. It needs to come back and it needs to be soon. Either it gets sold on and returned to cement its place in the future, or it is either destined for a preserved railway to take on the task of rebuilding this engine when its price drops so low due to its bad state. Failing that... it stays as it is, plinthed and looking for a decent permament home.

 

Have you bought it, then? If you haven't, you can't possibly know what the future holds for it. The only person who knows what will become of it for the immediate future is the person who owns it. For my own part, I think it will remain at Barrow Hill for a while yet.

 

Blue Peter is a premium locomotive, no matter it's current condition, going on 3 generation of British families has grown up watching the television program of the same name.
That will always attract a headline in a news paper and a premium on the mainline.

It may be an over priced A2 to us, but it certainly is only 1 place behind Tornado when it comes to Potential.

 

i agree with ADB9698008,

i remember seeing BLUE PETER emerge from doncaster on TV in 1971, and arguably the loco has these days a more well known name and pedigree than FLYING SCOTSMAN. last time i saw it in steam and rode behind it was on the GCR and she has fantastic good looks and aesthetic appeal similar to TORNADO which IMHO FLYING SCOTSMAN doesnt have. thats a lot from someone who went on FLYING SCOTSMAN's footplate when a small kid and who has always been a Brighton and GWR fan!

cheers,
julian

 

I agree that the engines listed above are likely to continue to operate on the main line, there will be a few additions to the main line fleet by then, plus several completed overhauls of old friends:-

4079. 6023, 6024, 7029, 35018, 35027, 45212, and 45596 spring to mind, along with possibly 6201 (No idea how long this overhaul is due to take), 6990 (I'm open to correction here, but I thought I read somewhere that main line running is a possibility) 34092 (Ditto) 35009 (if Ian Riley runs out of black fives to overhaul), 44806 (depends on who has bought it) 76084 (I believe the plans are for this loco to go main line in a couple of years) and, of course, the big unknown - 4472. It will also be interesting to see what will happen to 73096 and 34016 after the end of 2014.

60007 and 4464/60019 are also missing from the list above, along with Tyseley's panniers and 47298, which may go main line..

Even looking beyond 5 years' time, a few further main line débutants can be expected. The groups working on 45551 and 6880, so I believe, are looking to main line operation, and possibly 2999 as well. 72010 is a long way off, but that was origianlly planned to work on the main line. Some other engines may well return in the longer term after a long absence, such as Tyseley's 5080 and 5593, possibly 5051 at Didcot and 46203 may come back at some point. Mainline débuts for non-new builds? 35022 and 7027 possibly. Of course, a loco may change hands if an owning group feels it lacks the resources to restore it, and if the right person comes long with the dosh, who knows what else we might see on the main line??

 

Trains everywhere on the network can get by with a class 5 its not just up north. Paths for some jobs depend on higher speed engines being used, so another express engine like Blue Peter would go down well. It actually would be a fantastic addition to the WCRC collection. Trains like the SSE, Jacobite and Waverley can all use a Class 5 or bigger, due more to the path than the power needed. Its the same elsewhere, hence a Black 5 recently standing in on the Torbay, its just that the WCRC tends to allocate other engines like Tangmere, to run over its former metals. Speed is still needed for tours where they run on the mainline, the Christmas Specials in a few months will show that, but equally the big engines are needed today to travel further for longer between points where they then stop to water.

It might remain at Barrow Hill for a while yet. But the options for the engine are obvious and youd be blinkered not to realise what they are.

 

I believe it is accredited to the Drury family on the Barrow Hill blackboard so presume it is they that pay the rent for it being there.

 

you do know that the TV programme and the loco merely share a name don't you? One is not named after the other, although, ultimatley their names do come from the same source. I can't see the name Blue Peter exciting too many colomn inches in the way FS does.