Bulleid Pacifics - Past or Present

Great news. Having a love affair with bulleids another MN is wonderful. But I am also a realist. A Merchant Navy is all well and good charging around on the mainline but with coal bills rising year upon year. Will preserved railways benefit from using such a machine?

 

Do you mean 35027 or 34046? and I think the Super Merchant was going to be 35009 but I don't know whether it will happen and I think after that plan was announced Ian put 35009 up for sale but glad he's going to give the loco a go after not finding a new owner for her.

One worry for me is will there be enough mainline work for 3 Merchants (Maybe 4 depending on what happens with 35022 I've excluded 35028 because of VSOE commitments). I know the Black 5's and A4's find it easy but not sure about the Merchants. I guess 1 or 2 could work up North with 35027 and 35028 in the South. How long before a Merchant Double header.

Also Merchants are really moving up overhaul queues.

35006 - Due back fairly soon
35009 - Overhaul expected soon
35018 - Overhaul to be started soon
35022 - inspection for return to happen
35027 - work started again
35028 - in service with VSOE

The article says that 35018 will be restored over 18 months but in steam 2-3 years after 35009. So are they looking to overhaul 35009 rather quickly.

 

It's rumoured that Mr.Riley has a standing order in for black paint. He needs a reliable continuous supply.

 

If anyone can do it, I suspect they are the people who can. And the benefits of having several members of the same class in the fleet can mean that items can be transferred between the locos, reducing lead time on waiting for components which can be a bit of a drag for many restorations/overhauls.

 

Interesting to speculate why Ian has bought a second MN. I'm not simply talking about such things as it has a better boiler/tender but a more general 'why'. The days of people restoring locos as a hobby are long gone and no-one, except a multi-millionaire, is going to invest money in a loco unless there is a good prospect of a return on that investment. Unfortunately, I don't think Ian fits the multi-millionaire description so he must have a sound business case and a projected regular use for one. Two in fact......

 

Well considering they got 45407 overhauled in 100 days last year and maintainance on 44871 quickly this year I guess anything's possibly.

 

I'm hoping that 35018 will have the unique 'S' curve in the small ejector piping above the RHS nameplate (and other 'one-off' parts), too, as it is a particularly historic member of the class for obvious reasons. Maybe the unique bits are part of the reason why it will follow 35009 a couple of years down the line. Regardless, I'm still bowled-over that the unrestored MNs are finally getting the attention they deserve.

 

I too would like to see 35018 restored to the condition it was when first rebuilt with its unique features. It would mark it out from the rest of the class.
However if there are any mechanical/reliability reasons that would benefit from the later modifications applied to the rest of the class and if it is destined for a mainline future, i suppose the later modifications would be more neccessary.

 

Is this likely to be fact or just speculation. AFAIK nothing has been decided yet.

 

Try 34016?

Chris:

 

Is John Bunch moving 34016 to Southall/Carnforth then and going by Green Five maybe 73096 as well.

 

I hear both locos have been sold to West Coast.

 

this is very interesting, but i would wait for an official statement from West Coast if it is true, i would expect 73096 to be returned to the main line first mostly because its a 75 mph rated 5 and is well known as being a very good performer

this does pose one question though, is John bunch selling off his collection , if thats the case could he gift the N class to the NRM?

 

As long as it's operational then it would be nice for it to be NRM owned.

Is anything confirmed with 34016 & 73096 though or is this just rumours again? As surely nothing can happen till after 2014...?

 

thats what i am wondering? but lets say for once that it is true, then given the change of ownership, the MHR would most likily allow the engines to be moved away, unless West coast decide to enter some arrangement with the railway that would see one being fast tracked with the boilerwork being carried out at carnforth , but my money is on both leaving to go to carnforth after september once the boiler ticket is up

 

Agreed, although i dont see why a change of ownership should preclude an early release. The MHR can allow the out of ticket locos to leave earlier than 2014 and free up some space in the process.

I guess we will just have to wait and see if West Coast have bought 34016 and 73096.

This just leaves the three Maunsell moguls, i suspect that if there were enough income raised from the sale of the above 2, there would be enough money available to allow 31874 and 31625 to be repaired, but where will they go?

31806 of course, is assured of a busy 3 years ahead at the MHR.

Incidentally was there any truth in the rumour that the NRM offered to buy 31874 from JB many years ago, but were politely turned down?

 

Getting back on topic, to 35018, i find SR`s description of the loco as an "Unrestored hulk" a bit disrepectful.

Partially restored would have been a better description.

A lot of work was carried out on the MN at Ropley up until about the late 1990`s.

A measure of how far she was coming on, in the mid 1980`s can be seen by John Wrights photo of 35018 in the shed on the MHR website letters page.

 

What do you think Kieran?

regards
Chris:

 

I know a lot of Railways would give their eye teeth for these Loco,s but without the owner.

Draw your own conclusions from this Andrew?

Best regards
Chris:

 

Doesn`t leave many then, under current ownership!