Bulleid Pacifics - Past or Present

Correct.

 

I get the feeling 35005 will be the last steam locomotive that will be done at Eastleigh for a while. The yard is becoming increasinly busy (recently built a new deisel shed) and we are in the old boiler shop so no actual track there. I personally would do the project if it did happen like you said but it would be a serious long shot. I believe it would be easier to do it at either one of the railways rather than Eastleigh.

That being said..... the owner of Alrington whose area we are in is a big fan of Merchant Navies so a deal could be possible in the future.

 

Just a bit of a heads up. I see today in WH Smith's Heritage Railway magazine have published a magazine\book on Southern steam. There's some great photos of Bulleid's in it.

 

When 22 was a Swanage asset we looked at un-rebuilding. A group was formed headed by Bill Trite and a number of ideas were bandied about. From gas producing boilers (unnecessary seeing as a Bulleid boiler produced enough steam) to attempting steam speed record. Certainly selling the idea of the steam speed record (in France or Poland)
to say Virgin and letting them have the film rights and use of the finished loco for a few years on charter work was one way of funding the project. I asked old Harry Frith about feasibility I recall he laughed it off, but there again that was the late '80's the heritage railway engineering scene has come a long way since then. I thought of the tag line to promote the project "save a Packet."

 

34027 "Taw Valley" : The boiler passed it's hydraulic insurance test yesterday at Bridgnorth. Frames are said to be ready to receive the boiler. Presumably an in-steam insurance test is imminent.

 

I would imagine a steam will be done either early next week or the week after new year.

 

This photo of 35006 appeared on facebook today by Daniel Wigg with the comment
"This photo was taken last week of 35006. Steam pipes in smokebox are now all in place, which now allows the smokebox to be finished. Then a few jobs such as fitting the conrods and all the little details that need fitting (which are what take the time!!), and she will be good to go!"

 

Looking good. This is by no means a snipe after all the hard work that's gone into this beast, but hopefully one day it will also get the BFB-pattern tender wheelsets this restoration deserves- and believe me, if I was lucky enough to have the money to get a set cast, I'd gladly assist. However, the main thing now is to get it earning some revenue for its first overhaul...

 

Oh god, don't mention that, they'll take it all apart again if they knew!

Looking forward to seeing it steam, it really should be 2015 this time!

 

Great to see 35006 out in the sun looking complete, although to the untrained eye it has appeared complete for some time! I recall seeing 35005 CanPac when it visited the GWSR a few years ago and was most impressed. Despite being a "foreigner" the Merchant Navies don't look out of place at all on most ex-main line railways such as the GWSR and the GCR in my opinion and, I for one, look forward to seeing this magnificent loco in steam very soon now.

 

BFB? I thought the plan with 35006 was to build a tender like the one she had in service? She only had one tender her entire career and thought they were just building a replica of that

 

And didn't that have BFB wheels?

 

AFAIK they are building a replica of its original tender, however it has wheel sets from a shoebox(ex.Class40) I think.

The new build tender for 34046 has ex diesel wheelsets also.

34007`s tender was also going to have wheel sets from a diesel, however after the loco arrived at the MHR, the owning group changed course and have now had Bulleid Firth Brown wheel sets manufactured.

Also 34027 has a tender constructed and fitted with ex diesel wheel sets AFAIK to date this is still the case.

 

BFB = Bulleid Firth Brown. The latter was a steel firm in Sheffield with whom Bulleid devised and held the patent for the distinctive wheel design on the Pacifics. Compare a photo of 35005's tender with that of 35006 and you'll see the difference; the current wheelsets in the tender are quite visibly not of BFB pattern.

The plain-disc Class 40 wheelsets are of larger diameter than the original BFB tender wheels, being 3' 9" instead of 3' 7". I understand that the extra 2" necessitated modification of the suspension to keep the tender at the correct height.

 

Who gives a monkeys what size the tender wheelsets are? Can't we just be pleased we have another loco in steam? (and a reason to visit the railway its based on?)

 

I didn't know what they meant by BFB thus me explaining my confusion.

 

Interesting, learn something new everyday

Let's get the loco into service can always sort out the tender in wheels in 10 years lol

 

Only purists would give a damn.

 

Who notices the tender wheels when the loco is running? Most people wouldn't know whether they should be spoked, disk or BFB. How many people noticed that 73096's entire tender wasn't correct?