New newbuild

I don't know if this is new or not, first time I've heard of it

http://gallopinggertie.webs.com/

 

Its been featured in the magazines. The project is based at the Swindon & Cricklade Rly, so presumably once its finished it will move somewhere else!

 

Presumably when Galloping Gertie is finished climate warming will have been averted and Hell will have frozen over, rather like the Swindon & Cricklade, which doesn't run from Swindon (although Swindon is building out to meet it) to Cricklade and probably never will. I'm sorry, that really was a cheap shot and I apologise. However, I very much doubt if Galloping Gertie, or Galloping Alice as it was known when in MSWJR service, will ever get built and that is unusual coming from me as those who know me know I'm a real fan of these new-build thingys especially 82045. No, I cannot see it happening unless it has a massive financial backer and work force (which it might of course) because really, Gertie/Alice does not really have the appeal that so many other locos have to make a replica worth building. Standing by to be proved wrong!

 

Its a nice loco, but you need to find many many hundreds of people who'll commit money to it, and i just dont see how they'll find them. I guess the main issues are that it isnt based on a railway with a large membership to appeal to; it isnt a 'big 4' or BR loco which people will have seen a lot of either in real life or in photos, plus of course people arent exactly flushed with cash at the moment... I hope it happens, but i think its probably one of the least likely to succeed out of all the new-build projects going on.

Chris

 

I thought the article was an early April Fool.

 

Strange design, its got three chimneys \/
(look at home page)

 

Perhaps a more realistic new build would be one of the MSWJR flagship passenger 4-4-0s such as this one, number 8, seen leaving Marlborough in 1914. These tidy little locos with their 5 ft 9 in driving wheels were built by the North British Railway Co for the MSWJR and must have looked very attractive in the maroon livery. Some were taken over by the GWR after 1923. Personally I think that this loco would be a more attractive proposition but even then, not enough to convince enough people to part with the money required.[attachment=0:ydltzxc5]Marlborough MSWJR 440 No 8 1914.jpg[/attachment:ydltzxc5]

 

Driver must be a heavy smoker!

 

Plenty of progress being made on this new-build which was launched about 12 months ago.

Well, if there is, I haven't seen or heard of it.

Anyone seen or heard anything more about this somewhat fanciful locomotive new-build?

It would be very good if it happened but I don't think current economic circumstances are going to allow anything like this, especially when there are so many other more well-known and popular locomotive types being built at present.

 

Depends what progress is.
We have found and original bolt and forged the nameplate! Nearly there

 

unless you have major parts such as a boiler and the cyclinders already cast, i cant see any of the new builds seing the light of day, the exception being the march alantic and the ex gw grange and saint, because they have the major parts already availible and the fund raising is already well advanced on these, all the others are just wishfull thinking if i am honest there are so many outlandish ideas that get hatched that they dont get taken seriously and will fail because of it, im all in favour of someone making a standard sized set of frames for an inside or outside cyclinder and motion along with a boiler that could be mas produced to form a replicia loco to be what ever you want it to be where the whole movement contributes to the build, it could even be a way to prolong steam something like a 0-6-0 that could with modification be a tank ,or tender loco and with frame extensions a 2-6-0 or a 4-4-0 as long as a suitable sized boiler fits the frames or am a joining the outlandish ideas brigade?

 

Surely if you already have some major parts and intend to use them, the project becomes a restoration ?

Take a look at www.82045.org.uk and see what wishful thinking has achieved in a little over 12 months. 82045 is a REAL NEW BUILD, and the team and it`s supporters are very determined.

Sorry to say your idea of a" standard set of frames" is the outlandish one.

 

Anyone looked at the photo gallery on the website, and those rather low-slung sticking out cylinders?

 

Hmm,.. i'm surprised this isnt a didcot project...

Getting a spare GWR tender, and they have a spare Boiler..4ft driving wheels cant be that hard to do ?, as with every project the frames come first... then it's in a good way.

We will see.

 

Hmmm, so it seems "galloping Gertie" hasn't even stood up yet, let alone galloped. As a supporter of both the 82045 and Patriot new builds I'm very much in favour of these new builds if there is substance behind the style. As 82045 has shown in the last year or so, where there's a sensible and practical will then there's a way. 82xxxs could be found in several regions of the UK and they would not look out of place on any heritage line with BR Mk 1 Stock, indeed, I'll go further and say that heritage railways in 10 years time will probably be ordering them in batches! The Patriot, well it's always had a huge supporters club and the British Legion link adds to the kudos but a funny little 2-6-0? Sure, if someone's got loads of money and a skilled workforce why not but to be quite honest, I don't think so.

 

It is kinda cute though. And presumably a lot more use on 25mph lines than many bigger locos.
Boiler in GWR days was a 57 with a bigger firebox. With 4ft wheels and the full 200psi of a 57 boiler you'd get quite an awesome tractive effort, but presumbly an ability to slip that would make a light pacific jealous...

 

most new builds to date have actually been "funny little" locos...

Planet, Iron Duke and replicas of Rocket, Sans Peril, Locomotion etc etc.. they have a better track record of being complete for less than millions, less than decades and less on volunteers,

finally less nay-sayers as well.

In fact the next new build completion could well be a "funny little" locomotive... 670 the LNWR Bloomer looks closest to the finish line to me than any of the post 1923 design rebuilds I believe you are comparing against.
I think the educational, informational, explorational heck even the colourful value of such locomotives is much more than something saying "british railways" on the side that looks a lot like something we already have in preservation.

However this may be a odd ball, etc etc, but at least someones thinking about doing it, dont knock them for trying or even dreaming.

 

ADB968008, I'm not knocking anyone for trying to build a steam locomotive; what I am saying is that virtually 12 months have gone by and nothing further seems to have happened. We live in a 24 hr media society and, because of media such as the one we are typing on and reading today we can harness tremendous potential. If the people who launched this project, in quite a slick way actually, are serious then they need to show some progress. The Bloomer that you mention is another example, it's been "on the stocks" for years but at least we have been kept up to date. I'm a great fan of the MSWJR and I would love to see this little 2-6-0 built but, unlike Planet, Rocket, Sans Pareil and all the others you mention, which have a significant place in British Railway history, the MSWJR 2-6-0 does not - it was an interesting locomotive but it played very little part in shaping the railways of Britain - 2 of them were only purchased by the MSWJ because they were needed for the increased traffic that was coming onto the MSWJ at the time. The lovely North British 4-4-0s, pride of the MSWJR, which pulled expresses from Cheltenham to Southampton before 1921, would be a far better bet in my view. It is only my view and I accept that of course - I'm not the one trying (and not getting very far it seems) to build a new 2-6-0. However, at least one almost identical example already exists in Australia!