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Sheffield Park Loco Works News

Discussion in 'Steam Traction' started by tom92240, Mar 12, 2009.

  1. dgraw

    dgraw New Member

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    Exactly the point I tried to make at the bottom of page 9 only probably put a lot clearer!
    I also like your idea on the shunt front, although I think it is a shame the Bluebell isn't 100% steam, and I would probably prefer it if the 08 left, it makes a lot of sense to keep it for non - peak times.
    Your posts contain a lot of sense bluebellnutter.
    I'm looking forward to Branch Line Weekend 2011, two P Class's, a farewell to Fenchurch, 592, possibly 65, and 263, with possible support from the E4.
    When does the ticket on 753 expire?
    I've probably mentioned this possible future line up before, but I think it is a very exciting prospect.
     
  2. David-Haggar

    David-Haggar Member

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    And hopefully a lined black T9 to add to the line-up!!
     
  3. dan.lank

    dan.lank Member

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    Slightly on a tangent. Well, mainly on a tangent, but I was just flicking through a very old copy of Bluebell News from 1983 (obviously got too much time on my hands), and it mentioned Baxter having an "incident" while being lowloadered... Anybody know what happened?
     
  4. bluebellnutter

    bluebellnutter New Member

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    I understand that it "fell off the back of a lorry" while being loaded having been to a model exhibition in Croydon and was in the procees of being returned to the railway. Not 100% that is what actually happened as this is obviously before my time, but I believe it not to be too far from the actuality.
     
  5. tamper

    tamper Member

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    It had been on display outside Fairfield Hall and negotiating '5 Ways' junction where the A23, A232, B271 and B275 meet, the holding down chains slipped/broke and the loco toppled off the low loader onto it's side right in the middle of the junction. Damage was mostly cosmetic with the odd part bent etc. The haulage company called in a crane and the loco was re-loaded and returned to SP.
     
  6. PiliPili

    PiliPili New Member

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    Just seen in the works tonight, that the H boiler is now inside, and 323 as a whole (apart from wheels) is outside on the boiler trolley next to 178.

    Pil
     
  7. Orion

    Orion Well-Known Member

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    Locos for hire?

    I find it interesting that the argument is being put forward that these two smaller engines have other purposes besides hauling trains out on the line.

    Surely the overhaul of 'Baxter' wasn't so that its use can be that of a train heating boiler? Even a very small boiler like that of 'Baxter' must have cost many tens of thousands of pounds, perhaps up to £100k. There must surely be another use for the engine in these straitened times. If not then the overhaul of the engine has been a waste of money; no business that is properly managed would spend such a large sum for such little benefit. It used to be the practice that the engine rostered for the 'Monday Shunt' would carry out train heating duties for the Pullman stock. Now the shunting is done by the hired in '08' there is no engine to do this. Clearly the overhaul of 'Baxter' is part of the hidden cost of the '08'. Not that I am saying that this cost has been deliberately hidden, just that there is a cost to having the '08' which doesn't directly hit you in the eye, and the cost of train heating is one of those.

    I think the case put forward for overhauling the 'P' so it can be hired out simply doesn't hold water. Yes, 9017 has been hired out twice, just twice, but I don't see the GWR preservation community queuing up for a third opportunity to see the loco on their lines. And yet the newly painted engine, which looks so good in black, should be a natural for the many GW themed lines there are around. If the 'P' was to be a candidate for hiring out it must be in the BR lined black livery, so that it will match the BR Mk1s that virtually all the SR themed railways have. I don't see any preserved railway wanting to hire it as the blue liveried 'Bluebell'.

    The 'P' would be the ideal engine for the 'Monday Shunt' the carriage heating duties and the tip removal job, but whence the '08'? Personally I would like to see the back of the diesel, but I would doubt if the board would see it that way. The '08' has been a public relations disaster for the railway, and it has been proved to be insuitable for the tip removal operation, but it remains.

    Regards
     
  8. 1472

    1472 Well-Known Member

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    The absence of further hires of 9017 to other GW lines is not for the want of a queue of those willing to hire it!

    It is due to the unwillingness of the BR to entetain further hires!
     
  9. David-Haggar

    David-Haggar Member

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    Yes I agree locos such as the P would be a good loco to send around other railways as a roving ambassador such as the E4 has done in the past. I'd imagine railways such as the Spa Valley and K&ESR would love a brief visit from our P. In terms of the BR livery, P's only carried plain black not lined black. It's great to see that 323 has gone back into the works and hopefully it will be ready for next year's 50th anniversary event. I can just about live with it in blue, don't like it, but understand why for commercial reasons. But it's such a pity it seems that 1178 is still to be outshopped in some form of experimental "red" livery even if 323 will be ready for the gala. As I said in my earlier post I was really looking forward to seeing this loco steam for the first time on the Bluebell but now the powers that be seem to be messing about with it's identity. SECR, SR or BR should be the only identities 1178 should be outshopped in, such a pity the management have decided this but they pay it's bills ultimately I guess.
     
  10. Christopher125

    Christopher125 Part of the furniture

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    With regards to painting the P red, it seems very sensible to me, arousing a bit more interest in a loco whose restoration wouldnt otherwise get much publicity outside of the railway. Besides, its only paint, it can easily go into a more usual livery in due course. I wouldnt like it to stay that way for the rest of its ticket, but i dont think it's been suggested it will.

    Chris
     
  11. Orion

    Orion Well-Known Member

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    9017 for hire?

    I suppose I ought not to be surprised that the barmy army at Sheffield Park have been turning down offers from other railways to hire 9017 but I am! One point though, doesn't this mean that the reason given in earlier post for the overhaul of the 'P' is spurious? If the management of the Bluebell will turn down hiring offers for 9017 won't they do the same for the 'P'?

    In reply to an earlier post where it was suggested that the managers of the railway are the persons who own it; the owners of the Bluebell Railway are the members of the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society, NOT the management of the railway. Just thought I'd get that out of my system. Feel a lot better now! :p:p:p

    Regards
     
  12. gavin

    gavin New Member

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    Indeed the Society is the owner of the railway through its majority shareholding. It was the Society Committee that set the policy on restricting the hire of this engine to other railways, which partly, though not exclusively, reflects the wishes of the previous owner for it to remain at Bluebell.

    Gavin
    BRPS General Secretary
     
  13. bluebellnutter

    bluebellnutter New Member

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    Really? Not in anything I've been reading or seeing, except from the few die-hards. In fact the majority of people saw the need for the 08. I can only assume you're mixing it up with the 73, which was a more controversial venture for many reasons, but I wouldn't call the 08 a PR disaster. Seems someone has an axe to grind somewhere. [-X
     
  14. Orion

    Orion Well-Known Member

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    Doesn't take long for 'bluebellnutter' to get personal! I suppose it shows the benefit of a university education, or not.
     
  15. bluebellnutter

    bluebellnutter New Member

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    Nothing personal in it at all, merely stating that from your various attacks on "the management" it wouldn't suprise me. Obviously it touched a nerve.

    Although it strikes me you're desperately looking for a fight, especially given your attempts to bring my personal life into it, so I shall go no further along this particular strand, interesting though it probably wasn't.
     
  16. tom92240

    tom92240 Part of the furniture

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    Well, all well and good attacking "the management" but the Railway votes for who it wants and gets the leaders they deserve....
     
  17. ady

    ady Well-Known Member

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    This is becoming a bit 'Handbags' at three paces now isn't? We already having 'an issues with the Bluebell Railway' thread in under the name of 'Nameplates on the Dukedog' could we keep to one only at the very least?
     
  18. tom92240

    tom92240 Part of the furniture

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    Quite right, the last few posts probably reflected my state of mind. As Gordon Brewer said in the Dukedog thread, best get on with some preservation!
     
  19. Orion

    Orion Well-Known Member

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    If you say that I have a grudge (which isn't true) then it is you are getting personal and obsolutely without any provocation. Personally I find the 'instant rebuttal' tactics that you and others employ to serve the obsession with the Bluebell Railway to be a pain in the neck; all too reminiscent of Blair's New Labour.

    The truth is that the Bluebell Railway is in trouble, big trouble. Its attempts to raise money for the EG Extension are floundering, deeply in the mire. And yet it continues to be utterly inept in its attitude towards the very enthusiasts who would normally rush to help. It's crackers, totally crackers, and the attitude of the obsessive few to whom the railway is life the universe and everything, the few who have turned a railway into a religion is just not helping the cause at all.

    The railway needs to reach out, not to look inwards.
     
  20. tamper

    tamper Member

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    Know this for a FACT do you?

    Best stand for election then and put every thing to rights.

    But then, nobody actualy knows who you are.
     

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