Progress on newbuild LNWR George the Fifth Class 'Prince George'

Sorry slightly confused here..... what do you mean if the skills exist? The Patriots boiler is under construction.... the barrel is parallel and simple, even the firebox is simple. They have done more complex work on existing boilers than they are doing building ours.

 

I agree with Gavin. The skill-sets are here and new-build projects such as the Patriot help to keep them here. They're on track (excuse the pun) to complete their engine within a fews years time and there are a number of other builds that will also see completion within that timeframe. Our's is admittedly a longer term project (and we don't expect anywhere near the volume of funding that the P2 has received in the same timeframe), however support and momentum are building.

 

As said previously, a "few years" is not "swift". This is not intended as a criticism of any particular project but it is all too easy to be facile about the work involved.

P.H.

 

Well Paul, I was agreeing with Gavin's assertion about the skills being present in Britain. I really wasn't engaged in any pedantry over the word 'swift'.

Perhaps your comment isn't addressed at Gavin as I'd say that the Patriot team, more than most, aren't be inclined to be facile about the work involved.

 

If at some point in its career the loco ends up at an event where it wears a face, can someone please try and make it this?

 

(a) Nothing pedantic at all about pointing out that "swift" is an odd description about a construction period lasting "a few years". Be enthusiastic by all means but don't let enthusiasm carry you away.

(b) I have no particular thoughts about the Patriot project and certainly none about those involved. However no new large boilers have been built in the U.K. for over fifty years and at least one built in a country with more recent experience has had problems.

PH

 

Ok.

 

Here's a photo from the ceremony at Quorn. The children are Noah and Poppy Cull - the grandchildren of Trustee, Paul Hibbard - who had the honour of unveiling the nameplate. Photo by Bruce Nixon.

 

Hello people. We're a bit late with this one but here is a brief update on the progress on what most people would regard as the 'meat and potatoes' of any new-build and undoubtedly the heart of any locomotive. Here are some photos of the cutting of the front frames, which recently took place at Tata Steel, Wednesfield. Issues with scheduling prevented this work from being undertaken sooner as we'd discussed. These frame plates will be stored at our site at Heckmondwike. Present were Paul Hibberd – LNWR George the Fifth Steam Locomotive Trust. Brian Hayes, Chairman of the LNWR Society and Tom Mainprize from the Trust.



In other news, we have successfully met our fund-raising obligations to procure the third tranche of £5,000 from our generous benefactor. We want to thank everyone for their support. Your donations not only go further through gift-aiding but assist us in unlocking these tranches of promised matched-funding. We are currently assessing the next phase of fabrication and we hope to announce this soon.

 

From the folks at "New Build Steam" website..... a Q&A with the project leaders, posted 2 days ago.

https://newbuildsteam.com/2017/07/23/qa-2013-prince-george/

 

Evening gents. Any further progress to date?

 

I see that the George project has published an end-of-2019 progress update:

https://newprincegeorgesteam.org.uk/progress/

 

Has it been decided to put in a center bearing for crankshaft or not?

 

Is it a George or is it simply a modified Georgesque project?

 

Isn't every new build and every mainline loco a modified version of the original design?

Keith

 

Georges were built 1911-15 .
Center bearing removed 1925?
Last scrapped 1949.
It is a guess that they did most revolutions without centerbearing

 

Not necessarily - older locos tended to run lower annual mileage as they cascaded down, for example a front line express loco might in time become a secondary loco on less demanding duties, and maybe end up used just for peak relief etc. For a long-lived loco of that age, covering half its ultimate mileage in a third of the lifespan wouldn’t be unusual.

Tom

 

Not been an update for some time on this thread. No doubt the pandemic has caused delays to this project as to others. The project web-site indicates that there has been progress, notably the delivery in December 2020 of the main frames.

Regarding the question posed above by @Hermod, the project web-site implies that the new build will not include the LNWR centre-frame and bearings. Instead, the main frames themselves have been made thicker and stronger, at 30mm rather than the original 1-in (25mm).

https://newprincegeorgesteam.org.uk/news/page/2/

The boiler, cylinders, bogie, motion and wheels are among the components still to be constructed, so the project must be some years from completion. I imagine that the Patriot is currently the top-priority new-build project for LMS enthusiasts?

 

Interesting. If that's the case, surely a change of that magnitude means this isn't merely a new build, but effectively a new design. Thoughts, folks?

 

Its an interesting philosophical question. It isn't that great a design change in the grand scheme of things but does change the original design. But modern practicalities and practises can render parts of a design a bit like an appendix.