2015:- The best year in preservation so far for........

Yep.

Tom

 

Meanwhile, at the KESR, motive power will be provided by either a USA tank or a pump trolley....

 

'15 should be a good year for Spamcans, too. 92 Squadron is coming together, so is Swanage, though Wadebridge may be withdrawn before 105 is ready. Winnie will be back on display at the NRM in January, looking marvellous. City Of Wells will be nicely run-in by the new year, too.

 

Would be a good year for Maunsell designs as well: with the right will, it would be possible to get a Lord Nelson, Schools, King Arthur, S15, U and Q all in steam together ...

Tom

 

Hate to be the downer, but every year we set up expectations of what to see in the next, which invariably do not happen.
6100 has been hauling the Great Britain every year since RTC started it.
35006 has been months from steaming for many years
76017 looks quite a long way from ready when I saw it last week.. the tender even further than that.

there's been many disappointments in the last few years 850, 4079, 6023, 7029, 34046, 35027, 44767, 46100, 4472, 61306 all of which offered mainline promise years ago (and apart from 1 none have yet to make it to the starting line up)... and some disappointments too 777, 4953, 5029, 60007, 61264, 70000, 71000, 76079 which have suffered long term mechanical issues, early mainline withdrawal or been enticed away from the mainline.

There's also an upwards trend of mainline steam pushing out lower powered locos, the last class 4 being 76079 (save 2 pannier tanks and their bi-annual trip to Bullring shopping centre)... with the dawn of the 75mph class 5 (2x B1s, Std5 and 3 Jubileess).. will the Black 5 become the thing of the past ? - even the hall has gone from 3 on the mainline down to 1.

The next few years will see coming of age for firm favourites 46115, 5043, 70013 even 70000 isn't that far off and 34067 will eventually need big work doing... it's been going strong nearly 12 years !

I don't know if mainline steam has a 2020 plan, but it might start to think about one.. following the eradication of the <5MT classes, the next step might be the 75mph only railway.... the main issues seem to be:

1. Unknown issues that bring about unexpected steam bans
2. Shortage of working locos (periods where everything ends up laid up)
3. Lack of substitute locos in railtour plannings.... if this was done at the outset maybe there might be less of a last minute scramble when something goes pop..

 

Can 4953 really be included in your list though when she was sold to a heritage railway who clearly didn't have an interest to have her mainline anyway? And unless I am mistaken aren't there still two mainline certified Halls?

With regards to Black 5's I can't see Rileys pair disappearing from the mainline any time soon, there is still 44932, 45305? & 45231? not to mention 45212 is due to come onto the mainline next year. And in the lower classification, 76084....? http://www.standard4.com/go-NR/index.html And according to the G5 new build website, she is also being done to mainline standards aswell.

 

Yep pretty sure 4936 is still "valid", course it will see limited use with VT when they have 4965, which separates it from black 5's is that old favourite of gauging and sticky out cylinders, reckon mainline Manors would still be on the menu if there wasnt gauging issues.

 

4936 and 4953... both to the point..and 45305

when have either done any mainline work recently ? - they haven't.. they've gone off the mainline, might be certified.. but they are off the network.
the space for anything below a class 7 is a bit of a limited market these days... less the tours to support them and a bunch of engines sitting in the space ready for the work, that work invariably is substituting for a none available class 7/8...
With more 75mph capable <=6MT machines coming in.. that space is going to get squeezed a little more.
As it's going the big railways' only going to be the preserve of big engines, WHR for a class 5, and the occasional dog and pony show for the Railmotor/Pannier soon.

 

Meanwhile, in other news, a steam locomotive has been spotted not running on "the mainline" - numerous NP posters dismiss the sitting as a "figment of some-one's imagination......."

(Most journeys behind steam in the Uk aren't on the mainline, even if most published photographs probably are!)

Steven

 

Become a bit of an amusement that, although it is getting closer, apparently 20 years ago it was 2 years off all the time, now it's only 1! Thing is they seem to put things on then take them off again, not really sure why...

Still, I imagine when it does eventually emerge it will hopefully be a very reliable engine having been restored to such a high standard over a (large) number of years. Could it possibly be the longest active restoration ever? having said that, although she arrived at Todd in the '80s, I don't know if she was worked on regularly throughought.

 

There must be something about Merchant Navy locos in this respect - or perhaps the people who restore them? On my first day training on the Watercress Line I was told that 35018 British India Line was only 18 months away from steaming. That was July 1983! However, it looks like she really is about to return to work... any day now...

 

Waiting to underline 35006 in the book

 

Always the same though, making predictions about whats going to steam in the coming year. On the other hand it's been pleasntly suprising that Leander and Lizzie haven't taken too long to have a fire back in their belly. Be intresting to see what 2015 brings. Hopfully 7802!

 

true, but mainline steam is more high profile, and more at risk than your average social club on rails.

 

Not exactly sure that it is "more high profile" - over the last couple of years, the number of times national newspapers have run photo stories on heritage railways has surprised even me, but I suppose I have been conditioned by the preservation press to see much of the heritage railways sector as merely being tolerated as long as it stands quietly in the corner and coughs up workshop, locos and staff when the mainline requires it to.

As for "social club on rails", I presume this is an attempt at deliberate trolling? Does Administrator status mean you can do that when others aren't allowed to? If you try examining the pages of this forum, I would suggest that the many pages of linesiders banter on mainline threads looks more like a (quite exclusive) social club than most heritage line discussions, not least because of the mod warnings issued when anything similar seems to be starting between members of individual heritage lines. I suppose having an administrator who is anti-heritage railways may explain why that is!

Steven

 

I wonder how many people have travelled on mainline steam tours this year compared with heritage railways?

 

I agree that it is important from a realistic standpoint to know which locomotives shall be a sure thing when returning to service. I mean what was the 7029 status at the last Tyseley open days for example? Will there be any more snags with 4472?(more optimistic that 2015 could be the year). So on and so forth.

 

Hmmm ... A quick count up on uksteam.info indicates 281 mainline steam tours this year that ran (or are still to run). If you assume each has a loading of, say, 400 passengers and runs, say, 200 miles behind steam, that gives about 112,000 passenger journeys and about 56,000 miles.

To put that in context, just one heritage line with which I am familiar (by no means the biggest in the country, either in mileage run or passenger numbers) hauled 175,000 passengers and about 40,000 steam miles last year. It alone operated steam on more days than the entire mainline sector.

You can have a day out on a heritage line for about an average of £10 - £20. A mainline trip is likely to cost upwards of £60 or £70 at least.

Taken together, those "social clubs on rails" dwarf the mainline scene when it comes to the opportunities afforded to the general public to ride behind steam. I also suspect they have a rather better track record (no pun intended) of actually delivering what they say they will - just look at show many tours on uksteam are suffixed by "postponed", "rescheduled", "new times", "cancelled" or ended up with diesel haulage for more of the journey than was initially advertised ...

Would be interesting to see some full analysis of the numbers. But I wouldn't be surprised if the heritage line sector, in passenger numbers and steam miles, dwarfed the charter market by perhaps 25 to 1 at least.

Tom

 

I agree, a HR is the heart of steam. I don't know if this is true for everyone, but If I was given a choice between a mainline steam run and, say, a gala on a preserved railway, I'd be much more likely to choose the preserved railway. rolling through some grotty network rail town station just doesn't do it for me compared to the much more idealistic beautifully maintained nods to the past that are most heritage rail stations. If it weren't for the "social clubs on rails" you wouldn't have a lot to run on the big railway, so a little less belittling of us heritage railway people please.

 

I was chatting to some guys about 35006 and they told me that they had some delays caused by needing some welding done to the main steam pipes by a coded welder. The boiler inspector who did the inital inspection left his insurance firm and was replaced by a new man who wanted to start from scratch with the paperwork. They are hopeful for early 2016 but you never know with 35006.