Are there any engines the NRM would NOT restore?

I agree 100% with that, excellent post.

 

Looking at it this way, there is a very good argument for returnnig the Midland Compound back into steam. We may have lots of working locos but compounding is something that very few will have knowledge about and how to drive and maintain it will become a lost art. AFAIK the only active compound in this country is the Tasmanian Garratt and I don't think it is anything like the Midland compound in principle.

 

Would it have been July 1950, when UTA closed the Ballycastle Railway and the remains of the Ballymena and Larne?

It's a few years ago now, but Merlin has been active in recent times. Not sure what the future holds for her, though - being too big to stray far off the main lines, especially down south, was rather a limitation.

(Mr Coulls will recall his one and only trip behind her...)

 

No85 is probably next in line for overhaul at Whitehead, as she requires the least work to be done.
No131 and No171 both require major works.


Keith

 

1247 please \/ [-o<

wonderful looking loco with nice history

http://www.nrm.org.uk/collections/loco/1247.asp

 

Just going back to NSR No.2 I know a survey was carried out on it many years ago when it escaped from Shugborough County Museum and I believe it was one of those cases where you need 6 new wheels and something new on top! It is not in original condition having been reboilered by Hunslets during it's NCB career with a belpaire firebox whereas the original firebox was round topped, plus a number of other Coal Board modifications. Having said that, yes please....... as the only remaining representative of one of the last pre-grouping companies (I think I'm correct that the North Stafford wasn't brought into the LMS at the same time as the other pre-grouping companies?) and not being in it's original form it would be a good project. \/

http://locomotion.sedgefield.gov.uk/ccm ... ve-no-2.en

Now Anthony, about the Brush loco at Snibston..... #-o

 

what about the L&Y 0-4-0st whos name escapes me either dot or whren

 

The NRM's 18" gauge L&Y Horwich Works loco is Wren; Dot is the roughly similar Beyer Peacock Gorton Works loco in the NGRM at Tywyn. Confusion perhaps with Pet, the Crewe Works loco of the same gauge, different design, much older, much longer out of service, and while I haven't seen it since the NRM recalled it from Tywyn, it would be a shame to disturb its "very old museum exhibit" patina. A working replica would be fun...

I don't think anyone's yet floated a case for steaming Agenoria...? ;-)

But back to the original purpose of the thread, what the NRM has in spades and the rest of the UK preservation scene hasn't is Victorian express locos. In terms of working locos the only bigger historical gap is a Victorian 0-6-0 hauling coal around the country, but that's not going to pull in the punters (shame!). Truro fills a useful gap, but it's out there mostly because of its celebrity status, and it's in no sense "typical". Even if limited to preserved lines, running something like the NER 4-4-0, Gladstone, the Stirling Single, Hardwicke (or Cornwall if we enter the realms of the sublimely mental) would allow us to experience a major element of UK railway history that we're too used to just seeing stuffed and mounted.

 

I seem to recall it being said a while ago that if you can come up with a good enough business case for 1247, then you never know. It has a history of steaming in preservation, so I don't think its one of those locos that wouldn't ever be overhauled.

 

IIRC, Cornwall was considered for steaming in the Bellwood/Coiley era and even went to Bridgnorth for assessment. A hole in the boiler put paid to the idea. It would be good to see Hardwicke back in steam again and I'd be interested to know what condition Gladstone was in. It's effectively been stuffed and mounted under cover since it was withdrawn from traffic so possibly not too bad both mechanically and boiler wise. Having said that, nobody would put it into steam without a thorough mechanical strip down and gutting of the boiler just to make sure.
There is certainly a shortage of working 4-4-0's and 0-6-0's around; once the backbone of our railway system.
4-4-0's: 3440, 9017, 30926
0-6-0's: 65, 592, 1300, 44422, 65462
Can't immediately think of any more but there probably are!

 

4-4-0's: 246 'Morayshire'

 

Err, 2818. Superb example of the class that was the mainstay of GWR goods trains for over half a century.

 

Butler Henderson would represent a lovely loco to return to steam. With 63601s ticket due up soon, the GC is going to be under represented, plus, it is a fascinating loco.

The NRMs fleet has always been a very strange amalgam of random acquisitions. There is no Pannnier tank, no Barry wreck and a reluctance to include later diesels. That which remains is very hard to divide into catergories of "to steam" and "not to steam."

 

Isn't 9400 a National Collection loco? You could argue that 35029 was a Barry wreck but I know what you're meaning!

 

Has any thought been given by the NRM to including an "as bought from Barry" loco to show people exactly how much work goes into rebuilding a loco?

 

Yes. :-#

 

Yes - the full list is here:
http://www.nrm.org.uk/collections/locomotives.asp

Richard

 

I'd give it about 12 months, and then the demands would start coming in for it to be steamed. ;-)

What would I like to see done up? The L&B coach.

 

Is there not a GWR 2-6-2T or 2-8-0T at Swindon that is actually on display in Barry Condition? I recall reading something about that somewhere.

Off topic, I think a bridge girder or some other suitable load for the 290tonne capacity 'Boiler-Set' (the largest wagon to run in the UK) would make a stunning static display (one of my favourite and least known items in the collection):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chris_adams/3051985893/
(not my picture)

 

Please, please please NEVER restore Bauxite! (that's the Black Hawthorn 0-4-0ST in the Great Hall that most of you mainline obsessives will have walked past without a second glance).

That paintwork looks great and she truly is an example of as withdrawn, well ok presumably she's been cleaned but thats it. Besides there are two other standard gauge Black Hawthorn 0-4-0STs both capable of restoration to steam. Any chance of making her more prominent in the collection though? Much more interesting than all these big shiny express engines that are two a penny in the collection.

As for locos to return to steam - any of the ex NER stuff that hasn't already been steamed post preservation. Although even I have to admit that Aerolite would probably be an outsider to attract sponsorship etc no matter how technically important it would be.