850 Lord Nelson

The real tragedy is that as it sits there it's boiler and mainline certificates slowly tick away

 

If it's a tragedy and waste, then dig deep and put in to the ERPS funds rather than moan about it here. At least it's dry and under cover - and on display... has it ever been on show at York before?

 

Given that 850 is part of the National Collection and that the Lottery put up a lot of money on the basis that the loco would be accessible to the public, the NRM is a very good place for her whilst everyone waits for the results of the engineering survey. She's under cover and a great visitor attraction. If she'd gone to a preserved line (MHR or any other) she'd be taking up space needed for their own locos (either working or under overhaul), probably outside and probably not accessible to visitors for much of the time.

Last time I was at the NRM, their Schools class 4-4-0, Cheltenham, was on one of the roads next to the workshop, in Southern green. I'd love to see Cheltenham and Lord Nelson side-by-side.

Personally, I really hope that 850 will be repaired for further main-line work and will remain in the care of ERPS. I wouldn't expect her to be based at the MHR in the near future, though she'd be very welcome there, I'm sure. Who knows, if things continue to go well with 828, that might be possible later on. There was mention in the last ERPS newsletter (published before the failure) of an agreement with the ELR for 850 to be based there when not working tours in the south. Nellie also made many friends at the WSR. But it all depends on that survey and what the NRM and ERPS decide to do...

 

im glad i rode behind her in march had my head out the window all the time what an engine ill be putting some cash in soon for her

 

From what Im told Chris, if the boiler is repaired then new certificates etc etc will be required anyway so the existing ones will become null and void as currently happens on a yearly basis with any loco. Hopefully going to head up to York at somepoint soon and see how shes fitted in.

 

Excellent Ian, at least she's not "losing" any time while awaiting the work to be done, heres hoping for a speedy return to service

 

Interesting parallel there actually, as 1264's boiler was also overhauled by Pridham's and the I recall reading at the time that part of the original repair didn't work, so the boiler was lifter after a few months of preserved line running, sent back to Pridham's who re did the problematical part in a different way and as you say it seems to have worked now.

All boilers are repairable - just that some come at such a cost that it would be cheaper to start from scratch.

Out of interest, has Sir Lamiel had its certification renewed following its year off for unexpected boiler surgery?

 

i would guess so as all tickets run to 10 years barring mainline ones it will be interesting to see if they have pulled its registration from the mailine then it may get a new ticket

 

IIRC they still have a 10 year ticket but can only run mainline for 7, so something could do 7 on the mainline then retire to a preserved line for 3 more years. Unfortunately not many mainline engines seem to do this, with the exception of the MHR engines

 

Mainline tickets can be extended to the full length of the normal 10 year ticket, but it requires a fair bit of work to do this.

 

Think about it Stepney... a catastrophic failure of the boiler would mean it looses its ticket and mainline cert anyway! IS there a ticket to "tick away"!

Before it comes back it would need to be re-examined by all the parties issuing certification, and will probably get a new one!

 

Re 850.

As MM posted earlier, we were both at the NRM over the weekend. Very sad to see 850 there in the circumstance.

Although the boiler has encountered this major problem, at least the bottom end of 850 will still remain in an 'as new' condition. Lets hope the boiler gets sorted out so 850 can be appreciated back on the mainline.

 

Should she of had a new boiler fitted instead of repairing the old one that was know to be in bad shape and with the cost of repairing the boiler again was it a repair too far
#-o #-o

 

i wouldnt go there mate not the way to discuss it and will end in a big off topic argument

 

???

How do we discuss it then?

 

It's pretty on topic from what I can see (see RIR thread for real info on how to go off-topic, largely instigated by you I might add!)

 

WhatWhat... Off Topic Discussion

 

I believe the reason that 850's overhaul was so long and expensive was that the cost of the boiler overhaul started out as expensive and rapidly became more expensive hence having to go back cap-in-hand to the HLF for more money (several times i seem to remember but dont quote me on that)

Its a shame no one took the issue by its head and decided that a substantially new boiler would be better than trying to patch the old one, but whether that was possible i dont know. Certainly its a big shame that the problems with the boiler were not identified earlier for the sheer cost in the end certainly benefited Pridhams! Lessons to be learnt hopefully...

Chris