567 Victorian 4-4-0 New Build

Somewhat surprised this evening to spot on Facebook that the frames, bogie wheels and other components have apparently moved on from Ruddington. I would have thought/ hoped that such a development would have been communicated to us supporters first by the management team.

 

FB link to that report....... https://www.facebook.com/groups/GCR567Loco/
Should work (did for me) if you don't "do" FB .
One wonders where the farm is and is anything actually going to happen to the kit of parts whilst there - or is it just for storage?
As JRH put in the previous post - rather strange no Supporters have been told anything about this though.............

 

Well that is unexpected! Did they(we??) jump, or were they pushed, is the obvious question.

 

Can't say I'm connected to this project at all but I did read the Facebook statement and what it did actually say was that the frames were going to be stored at farm before going to a workshop to be set and riveted with the drag box and cylinder block. It did also say the group remains connected to the GCRN and will have a stand at the next event there. No mention of leaving permanently or moving all the bits of tenders off site

So either I'm reading something at very much face value and missing the hidden underlying truth, or this is Spanish whispers on social media at its worst! No doubt this will be reported in Steam Beano next month as factual....

 

I know there is an ongoing (drawn out) programme of tidying up the site at Ruddington to try and minimise what is on site and in particular the board are keen for the site not to be a storage location for lots of stuff that is many, many years away from operation. Last I was aware the frames were stored in part of site that is publicly accessible, so it may also be wanting to create a bit more space for stands and the public at the upcoming event next weekend. This is probably more about having the stuff that doesn't absolutely have to be at Ruddington at the moment away to free up space and engineering capacity for other stuff that does have to be there, rather than a complete divorce between the two organisations. In the same way that a number of locos at Loughborough have had complete or partial overhauls conducted elsewhere like Tyseley - keeps space free at Loughborough and enables work to still be done

 

Is the Stanier 8F still at Ruddington?

 

No, that went a number of years ago. I believe it went to a (different) farm belonging to the owners

 

The F5 spent a long time away from a railway, the Bluebell Atlantic has only just gone into a shed connected to the network, the Clan and B17 are not in railway-connected premises. So it's not fatal. The unstated question is to why.

The point about noisy rivetting was interesting - is noise an issue at Ruddington?

As long as volunteers can access it and its dry and safe to work on, then should be no problem. There are no guarantees to all that of course.

 

I think as JRH and Johann have intimated, it is a bit annoying to long standing supporters of this project to find out, via public Facebook, about a major movement of virtually the entire project to a new location. Even a quick e mail to the supporters via the project database would take very little time and create much better PR to the actual supporters.

 

I think it is slightly stretching the point to say "the Bluebell Atlantic has only just gone into a shed connected to the network" given that it has moved all of about 20 yards! It's a quirk of the constraints of space that it was constructed in a building at right angles to the main track layout of the yard - it is all part of the same organisation! Hardly different from the Swanage Railway moving locos between their railway and Herston works. Clearly you don't want to do it too often, but once in the entire construction process is probably OK.

On new builds in general - I've said it before and I'll say it again - the best investment the Atlantic project ever made was building themselves a permanent building before major construction started. It sounds like a lot of money that isn't actually cutting metal, but it saved huge amounts of time and money later - plus at the end of the project, you still have the building. I don't know anything about the GCR 567 project apart from what I read here, but whenever I see new builds shuffling round from one site to another, I wince at the cost and disruption arising from such moves.

Tom

 

There's been a bit more on the FB group - the project leader saying it's a move that's been planned for some time and that they're only in temporary storage preparatory to going to a facility where the frames can be properly set and riveted up. Considering the cylinder block was taken away in January for its long-promised remediation works, it sounds a reasonable justification (though I do wonder why it had to move specifically now, having been sat on that apron at Ruddington since 2018).

It would have just been nice if the Supporters (who after all are paying for it) to have been informed prior to it being announced by someone on FB.

 

It does seem that the management of the GCR (N) since they have become closer with the GCR are very much in a tidy up mode. And while i am sure that the gc would take the locomotive back with open arms if it ever gets near completion, it does seem likes its a case of come back when you are closer, but not before. Unfortunately sometimes this can kill smaller projects with a lack of credibility, i do hope this is not the case this time.

Could Ruddington become the future site for the overhauls in the future too with the news this week about the shed at Loughborough coming down in the long term? Where else would you put a shed on the line? It would make sense as to why they are now clearing the site up. Or i could easily be adding 2 plus 2 and coming up with 5.

 

I thought a small fortune had just been spent on it, on the basis that it wouldn't be moving!

 

I think my point still stands. *even* the bluebell atlantic (which can stand as an exemplar of new-buildery) isn't connected to the railway even when on site. Completely agree about not moving, but a new-build is not a railway vehicle until nearly finished.

Although it seems logical to build it at a railway, from a logistics point of view it is in fact entirely irrelvant - shown by the fact that even where built at a railway, it's not connected to the railway until nearly finished.

The point about comms is interesting. There's always a balance between letting people know and getting things done. I have no idea as to the balance in the circumstance.

Tbh, it has (for various reasons) done little other than gather dust for the last few years, so simply being by a railway hasn't made train elves come and fix it, so a new site may turn out better.

 

Having had the latest Main Line arrive this morning, I see that the intention to move the frames from Ruddington is actually mentioned in the 567 news report in there, which makes, given magazine press dates, the lack of info to Supporters about it even more strange.....

 

Good point Johann, I saw that as well.
However there was also the good news that the pattern for the driving wheels has a funder, so hopefully the wheels could be cast soon?

 

It was good to read that the 567 group had their information stand at the CTL Seal "New Build" event with the Clan and B17 groups/locomotives. The FB(Facebook)567 group now has well over 600 members. The driving wheel pattern has been started I believe?

 

I thought the newsletter that arrived a day or two ago was very positive and upbeat;
- Drag box is complete
- Cylinder machining is next up
- Then the frames will be set
- Detail design work is progressing for the driving wheels
- Some rough numbers provided for the costs of the new tender tank and the boiler

 

The drag box is being machined at workshop X - I think there’s still quite a bit of work to be done on it.