Baldwin "Lyn" new build.

Mhmmm, is it just me, or do others detect a less than positive view of 'Lyn' from Charobin, from various posts to this thread?

 

Over the course of six years I have made four posts on this thread - two questioning if it would be finished in the original heavily promoted timescale given the then progress (it wasn't), one pointing out where money could be saved and the last one.

If you would like 'cards on the table' I will happily admit I am skeptical about some of the design modifications to Lyn and am interested to see how it turns out. She could prove to be the 'best thing since sliced bread', equally she could prove indifferent or a very poorly performing engine. Like any machine the engineering may look good on paper (especially to non engineers) but you don't know how it works until you actually put it all together. Every experienced steam man I have spoken to about Lyn has expressed a degree of skepticism ranging from 'may be a bit of a challenging engine for irregular volunteers' to 'going to be an absolute disaster out of the box and need a lot putting right' - but then I am sure there must be a number who are positive about her.

As always I would be quite happy for my skepticism to be proved wrong.

Incidentally whilst you're quite welcome to refer to me by username, my 'proper' name is on the bottom of all posts - and I'm always happy to chat and give my personal opinion about Lyn or any other railway matter to any NatPres member who might encounter me, either at Launceston or out at an event with the portable baby train.

 

Hi Charlie, I am glad that you have a different view to me over LYN. I am hoping that she is going to be the best thing since sliced bread, sure there are going to be engineering issues that have not been done before or for a long time and this has to be accepted as part of the new build.

For what it is worth I will hold my hand up and say now that I was the one who introduced the L&BR to Keef's for the new build a few years ago. I had a number of long chats to Patrick while we were at Leighton Buzzard driving his steam loco and I was one of the guards a few years ago before the Lyn project took off. The point is for me it is important to get to know the people you work with and I trust Patrick and his family to do a first class job.

Due to family and work commitments I have not been able to get to Buzzard for the past few years and I do miss having those conversions with the guys there and to find out who has been doing what and where.

It will be some time yet before I can get back, as I now have to care for my mother.

Having said all of that, I do have faith in this project and if I had the money then I would put more into it if I could so I need to win the lottery to do so. I am also taken by James Evens new project and once again if I had the money I would back that idea as well, I guess you could say that I would back a lot of fancy railway ideas, but then it would only be if it has something to prove like the 5AT loco project http://www.5at.co.uk/

Regards

Colin Rainsbury

 

Ooooh, what's James' new project?

 

I think this refers to the proposed 'Fairatt'

Keith

 

I've known liners grab before being fully home and I've known the problem be rectified. Perhaps you should talk to a certain Mr Riley.

 

Update on Lyn via the Lynformation page (http://762club.com/762lynformation33.php). About 96% of the required parts are now complete. The last remaining effort is the actual build at Keef's.
However, due to some unfortunate glitches in the production of some parts, costs have increased. About 100K is still needed to complete Lyn. Maybe about half of this will come from the 48 remaining memberships, but a new "LYN Assembly Fund" appeal will be launched soon.

In the meantime, if you want to see Lyn steam sooner rather than later, please do consider buying a membership (or another one!). Details at: http://762club.com/762membership.php (You can pay online, just email the club treasurer for details. Also, you can pay in installments.)

This is what we're working towards:

 

http://762club.com/762lynformation34.php

Fames are start building.

 

Or frames even

 

P.s. We still need moolah!!

 

What does "Lowthers have found a few parts missing" mean?

 

I think it should read "Lowthers have found that there are a few parts missing...."

 

Which was my assumption but why were there missing parts?

 

To all fans of Lyn! There is an Open Day at Alan Keefs Works in Herefordshire for all supporters to see the 'Big Frame Launch'. Details: Saturday 28th November starting at 09.30 and running to 13.30. Address: Lea Line, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire HR9 7LQ. http://www.alankeef.co.uk/
Members, or sponsors, with friends, and family all welcome. If not a member then sign up today for only 762 pounds (payable in installments if wished); alternatively (or in addition!) become a sponsor by sponsoring some of the parts still available on the 762club website, from as little as 45 pounds up to 2000! http://762club.com/762sponsorship.php
More details on the Lynformation pages of the club website, especially Lynformation 32 and 33.

 

Interesting new Lynformation bulletin just posted with photos of the frames now complete...

 

What was Lyn like compared to the other engines? How will it compare to Axe, Isaac and Lyd?

 

What was Lyn like compared to the other locos? Well, when the Southern identified a need for an additional engine to cover for boiler washouts etc during the summer season, they didn't order another Baldwin.
As for a comparison with Ace, Isaac and Lyd, as nobody is quite sure how well or badly the original Lyn performed, New Lyn with added variables precludes a meaningful estimation.
We'll just have to wait for completion. When that is projected to be I am not sure. Perhaps someone can provide a date?

 

Well, there was a spare boiler for the Mannings and it was part of the Southern Railway ethos to standardise, even when it involved replacing newer equipment with older. A example of this is the Isle of Wight.

PH

 

Ermm... Have to disagree with you on that one Paul. Of the Big Four the Southern was surely the least standardised concern? Compared to the GWR's standardised component system and the LMS's ruthless cull of smaller classes during the 1930s, the Southern was very tolerant of small classes and different details within types, the Adams Radials being a case in point.
After all, they didn't scrap one-off Lyn, did they?!

 

Agreed. Certainly for most of their existence, capital on the Southern was quite constrained except for electrification and other modernisation projects, so there was a general presumption for re-use of assets where possible: even some of the original electric stock was made by joining pairs of old six-wheeled carriages on new bogie underframes. What they did do was a certain amount of local standardisation within those capital constraints where it made practical sense (especially from a maintenance point of view). The IoW being an example, where the loco stock was standardised to just three designs (A1x, E1, O2); all air-braked carriages and most wagons being ex-LBSCR so sharing standard fittings. That was certainly standardisation of a kind, but standardisation based on locos and rolling stock that was old even by the 1920s!

Tom