Class 7 & 8 current situation

Last week I made a few charts on the current rostered class 7 and 8 locos and the picture is looking slimmer by the day.

7's
46115, 70000, 34067(after today), 70013(tyres)

8's
46233, 60009, 60163

I'm sure many of us hope that this gets better. From the charts the picture should improve but shall it?

Class 7 additions
46100 has been steamed and scheduled for svr fall gala and running in.
34046(December)
60103(when)

Class 8 additions
6201(soon) and the 2 kings
35018(when)
6024 would be nice in 2016

My big 2 cents

 

What about castles for class 7s? EoME at Tyseley, and Clun due back at some point, then Pendennis also due back at somepoint, is there much left to do on her?

Then Southern locos you surely must put British India on that list of due to come into service in the short term future? And any news on Hoskins MN of Port line?

Surely at the moment it is looking not as strong but why does everything have to be about class 7 up?

Class 5s and 6s can haul 9 comfortably, and before window hanging was banned being closer you can actually hear the engine. Last year i went behind no9 and the duchess to scotland and couldnt hear the locos at and being stuck right in the back few coaches. So i for one would prefer to pay an extra £10 per seat to enjoy my day out.

 

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But your not taking into account that the hire of a class 8 is more than the hire of a class 5/6. So minus those costs, minus the hire of those extra coaches.

 

I think it (or 35022) will take its turn in the queue after 60532. There's also Ian Riley's 35009, but that isn't going to appear for a while.

 

It's not being worked on at present AFAIK. From what can be gleaned from 'The Works' current attention is focused on contract work and 5212. Even the overhaul of Ian's own Jinty (47298) has taken a back seat recently.
I think if someone made Ian a reasonable offer for 35009 he would accept, as he seems to prefer LMS locos!


Keith

 

7298 seemed to jump the queue a bit there just when the MN turn might have arrived, money and time diverted. Pity, there would be no shortage of demand. Maybe it is that LMS bias!

 

Are 35022/7 heading to Crewe for eventual overhaul?

 

I think that was the plan, but I'm only quoting what I've read (and hopefully not mis-read!) in the railway press. I get the impression that while the overhaul of 6024 will carry on according to the original plan, all other Hosking/Icons of Steam loco overhauls will now take place at Crewe. 46100 has led the way and 34046 will follow on probably by the end of the year. 60532 will be tackled next and 4464/60019 will also head for Crewe when there's a slot, although it could work next year on the MHR if the two parties were keen for this to happen. I'm not sure whether 35022 or 35027 is scheduled for completion ahead of the A4 (and of course, there's plenty of capacity to overhaul more than one engine) and am open to correction if anyone more knowledgeable has more up-to-date information. 35022 has never run in preservation and will need a new tender as well as a lot of other new parts . 35027 needs extensive boiler work (indeed, I think 35022's boiler is the better of the two) but is otherwise complete.

 

Makes sense to use the boiler off 35022 on 27 in that case. Is it just frames of 27 at Bury and the whole hulk of 22? Read somewhere that the plan was to have the frames overhauled at Bury in parallel with a boiler at Crewe. Clearly at least one element hasn't occurred!

 

I can't help you on this one, apart from mentioning that I did understand that the original plan was to use 35022's boiler on 35027. Sorry about this.

 

Sorry, I did not think the castles were 7's. Glad they are.

 

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