KWVR - Plus ca change...

Had a nice trip on my Local Heritage railway and theres a nice piece in the Beano about it too.

The timeless branch line is still doing the same old thing and doing it pretty well, theres always a few familiar faces.
The Loco roster has been fairly familiar of late too, but the batons are now starting to be passed fairly regularly and the MP in 2013 will be very different.....

The Taff Vale tank went last year (Straight into an overhaul) and the Jinty has also recently retired, 45212 due to finish before the year is out, cant be long before the Ivatt 2 Tank goes out also
.. The L&Y Ironclad only has another year . the Standard 4 tank has another two

So by end of 2013 of the current Roster only THE WD 2-8-0 and the 4F will still be out there with the addition of (fingers crossed) The Standard 4 (tender) & the BLS Coal tank .
Hopefully 2013 will also see the USATC 2-8-0 coming over the Horizon.... and then theres City of wells and the Lanky tank

Interesting times...

 

Is progress being made with the Lanky tank 752?

The LYR Trust website hasn't mentioned any progress for some time now?

 

Hard to tell, the Chassis is still parked next to the shed, the Saddletank was outside in the sunshine having been recently painted gloss black.

Presumably the boiler has gone elsewhere for refurbishment and i dont know when its due back...

 

I thought 80002 had another four years left? And that Big Jim is tentatively due to be done by next year?

Either way it does seem to be all change. Anybody know what the plan is with 45212 - is the owner going to put it straight into overhaul or will it go on display for a while? And any plans for the 8F?

 

45212 is owned by the KWVR and a decision on overhaul options has not yet been made

 

The 4F, WD 2-8-0, Standard 4 4-6-0, and S160, supplemented by the Coal tank, would pretty much cover the needs of the railway for the medium term. 752 and City of Wells will emerge whilst the above are still in ticket (fingers crossed) next up for being no 85.
Whats next in the overhaul queue ? i dont know ! BLS Will move onto 'Bahamas' and Standard 4 group thinking of going onto the Standard 2
guess we will just have to wait and see.... would have thought 80002 and 41241 would be close to the front but the prospect of having all 3 2-8-0's has a certain amount of appeal...

 

80002's ticket expires during May 2013. 41241 is at some point during 2012.

 

Around lunchtime on Friday 26th, 34092 was being worked on outside at the south end of the yard, and the frames of 75078 (currently running as a 4-4-0!) were out the north end of the shed by the car park, also being worked on. Both had been moved back inside later in the day though.

Good to see CoW progressing. Boiler has been tubed, though superheaters haven't been fitted yet. A couple of guys were installing conduit for the front lights. Still a lot of work to do, the cab looked completely bare for example, but visible progress.

 

Re 752 - Doesn't it have a deadline tied in with the lottery funding, possibly Sept or Oct this year for completion? An article in Steam Railway stated it was going to be tight hence it initially running in plain black with BR numbering over the winter months prior to repaint into L&Y livery. No doubt BR style will be popular with charter organisors & get some no doubt much needed funds back in the coffers. They did the same thing with 52044 if I remember correctly, that was very popular in BR plain black.

 

Oh right. I was thrown by the fact that the current Moors Line suggests the owner is Peter Best. I hope it does get overhauled.

As an aside can anybody fill me in on the smokebox numberplate? I noticed it's been red since the loco returned to the KWVR. Did the Black 5s run with various coloured numberplates depending on what shed they were assigned to in BR days or is it purely decorative? I notice 80002 runs with a blue one too.

And (totally off topic) I wonder could anybody tell me the email address I need to send a photo into the magazine?

 

45212 had a red-backed smokebox numberplate in 1968 at the end of steam on BR. 80002's smokebox numberplate is painted Caledonian Blue. This was common on the Fairburn and Standard 2-6-4 tanks allocated to sheds in the Glasgow area during the 1960s.

 

Wasn't this deadline and story regarding the LNWR coal tank (1054?), rather than 752?

 

Any news on 90733 ?
is it going to be fixed in time for Santa Specials... ?
To have the Coal tank in front of it as its 'Running in' turn. would be a bonus...

 

As far as I know 90733 is still at the back of the shed. I don't expect to see that until next season now. As for the coal tank, see quote:

For the Santa specials, I think 4F 43924, Std 4 80002 and the Ivatt 41241 are all available. The only doubt there is 80002. Its was stopped for a while to have replacement tubes fitted. It steamed for part of the Beer festival but I haven't seen it since. So it may well be fully mended, or they have found something else. Personally I think that the 4F will be stopped and the two tanks will do the Santas as they did last year, but others may know more.

 

I understand the Santas this year will be single hauled with diesel assisting in the rear when travelling up hill.

 

Looking that way when I asked on saturday, no price for guessing it will be the 4F as well, however if I was to stick my neck out on a hunch, maybe 41241 could sit inside to provide extra steam heat if and when it gets colder.

 

Looking that way when I asked on saturday, no price for guessing it will be the 4F as well, however if I was to stick my neck out on a hunch, maybe 41241 could sit inside to provide extra steam heat if and when it gets colder.

 

Remember once asking the question Why the Santa specials werent steam top and tailed ? I was told by KWVR Bod on this forum that banking of passenger trains was forbidden, and the deisel on the back didnt assist (much) but meant that no runaround was required for the return...
but this then meant that double heading ( or something as big as the WD) was now needed to take the 6 coaches plus diesel up the line....

Having steam at the rear would also make watering a little more complex (IF both steam locos are on the front, they can water at the end of Oxenhope station ?, or move together in keighley station Limits) But, if top and tailed the loco at the keighley end is in effect working light engine/ taking the train downhill and it wouldnt be using that much water.... The only reason for persuing this was that Steam at both ends (and maybe even turning a small tank to face downhill) surely presents a more attractive train, the diesel if required for 'insurance' could still go inside at the oxenhope end of the train ....

 

Don' like the sound of oxenhope end, at the back you carn't see it or hear it.

last year santa's.
[video=youtube_share;efOmi1LkjA4]http://youtu.be/efOmi1LkjA4?hd=1[/video]

 

Its not just KWVR that use diesels though is it. Just about every railway in the country stick one on the back. And they all say its to save time on turn around. I've always thought it serves two reasons:
1. The obvious water issue, and
2. The diesel is cheaper to run than a 2nd steamer.

The only case where this didn't make sense to me was when KWVR double headed last year, But that was before I'd seen how steap it was, and before i knew that 41279 was lilmited to four coaches on its own.

I do have to say though that both as a steam fan and a photter that I hate being forced to see the diesel on the back. I've nothing against them, but it ruins the photo (or video). Its all very well cropping but distance shots can be quite hard to get it out without killing the photo. For videos i imagine the sound is a pain to try and get rid of.