Steam engines available for traffic in 2014

The IoWSR may be ahead of the game but I suggest that it is not unique. The SVR, Didcot, KWVR and Bluebell already have carriage sheds that offer covered accommodation for most of their fleet and the NYMR and WSR are starting to draw up plans to catch up. Despite the emphasis placed on getting locos under cover, in reality they are far less susceptible to the ravages of the weather than coaches, particularly if properly prepared for storage. I'd suggest that the first priority ought to be to get all coaches and wagons (including long term projects) properly protected.

Structures do not matter if there if different groups are working to the same aim, and the proper agreements are in place - and those agreements should include maintenance, they do in the case of the LNERCA and NYMR - and I think that the evidence of ones eyes is sufficient reassurance that groups such as the LNERCA, the L & Y Trust, the GWS, the SVR Rolling Stock Trust etc. are just as capable of restoring vintage caches as the IoWSR.

 

Don't quarrel with your thoughts about C&W storage one iota. Nor that the number of lines who are doing something about C&W issues is increasing although one I can think of (which had better be nameless) had let things go a bit before they reformed.

Complicated ownership structures (which I call Byzantine) however, lead to administrative complications and infinite possibilities of internecine arguments. Of course such things can be made to work but IMHO needless complications are to be avoided if possible.

PH

 

A useful list, although twaddle about the WDs. It tells us that the national resource of kettles is split more or less equally between industrial and main line origins. I didn't know that, so thank you. Perhaps this will help determine what the underlying trend really is.

There are 37 (and a half) Bullied Pacifics. How many can I travel behind this year? I know of five; Clan Line, Sir Keith Park, Wadebridge, Tangmere and Braunton. So 32 are, one way or another, hor's de combat. Only two, Ellerman Lines and Winston Churchill, are out of service by design. The rest would prefer to be in steam and earning/having fun, but they are not. So if the five working in 2014 number is right (and if I have missed any, do please let me know) does anyone remember how many were working 10 years ago?

I believe there are 77 Austerities in UK. No more than 10 are certified this year. It is actually quite hard to hire one and they attract a chunky appearance fee. One of the 10 that work is for sale, for £180,000. That might be optimistic but the vendor probably didn't pluck the number out of the air. A decade ago they were being given away.

 

Why do you think its necessary to be at one extreme or another? Surely each organisation needs to strike a balance that's appropriate for the visitors it gets, the facilities it has available, the location, the volunteers, all the rest of it.

It would be foolish for say Didcot Railway Centre, with damn all distance to run in, but an unrivalled environment for displaying GWR Locomotives, to be very different to what it is, a combination of operating display/museum and historic technology demonstration. On the other hand somewhere like the West Somerset, with places people genuinely want to go and scenery to die for, would be crazy to move too far away from the operating end of the balance. Its not either or, its a spectrum, and each line will have its own best place on that spectrum. Face it, if half the lines were identikit operating lines, all with identical stock and locomotives, why on earth would anyone want to go to more than one. Far better that each line should offer something slightly different: its own best place between museum and operating line.

 

..

Eddystone and Manston you can add to your list ..

 

Kettles? Tut, tut.
Bullied Pacifics? Tut, tut, tut.

 

35006, 34081 and 34092 may just make it too before the year's out. I don't think 34059 is that far behind either.

 

It's all those people telling them that they are too big for heritage line use and should be chopped up - enough to make any engine feel a bit insecure!

Tom

 

Possibly a bit marginal for 2014, given what is ahead of her in terms of workshop occupation, but 2015 looks likely. 21C123 is quietly accumulating money and spare firebox components.

Tom

 

A little harsh if I may be permitted to say. A perfectly normal and everyday part of the banter of the great unwashed, to be found nationwide in any establishment where steam and diesel fraternities share the road. Kettles and Paraffin Cans are terms of endearment and gentle ribbing between groups with differing principle interests. Much milder and certainly more descriptive than terms used by many other disparate groups e g. road users. Of course not terms commonly in public use by august bodies and organizations, and not as yet defined in The Concise Oxford Dictionary.

There is plenty of intense and serious discussion on Nat Pres. and a little well meaning and light hearted comment is always to be welcomed.

 

TBH 2015 is more likely for 34081's return bit it only takes a few pairs of hands with a bit more time to spare for things to speed up considerably.

 

34007 - In service
34010 - Under (long term) restoration
34016 - Awaiting overhaul once moved away from MHR
34023 - Awaiting overhaul - on display
34027 - Under overhaul
34028 - In service
34039 - Under overhaul
34046 - In service
34051 - Undergoing cosmetic restoration, but never going to be anything other than a static display loco
34053 - In service
34058 - Awaiting restoration
34059 - Under repair
34067 - In service
34070 - In service
34072 - Under overhaul
34073 - Stored, Awaiting restoration
34081 - Under overhaul
34092 - Under overhaul - nearly complete
34101 - Under overhaul
34105 - Awaiting overhaul

So of the light pacifics there are 6 in service, 8 under restoration, repair or overhaul, 5 not actively under overhaul currently, and 1 not ever likely to work. Of the ones under, or awaiting, restoration, only 2 (34010 and 34073) have not been restored at some point in preservation, which is quite a good proportion.

35005 - Under overhaul
35006 - Under restoration - nearly complete
35009 - Stored, Awaiting restoration
35010 - Stored, slowly undergoing restoration
35011 - Stored, slowly undergoing restoration
35018 - Under restoration
35022 - Stored, Awaiting restoration
35025 - Stored, slowly undergoing restoration
35027 - Under overhaul
35028 - In service
35029 - Sectioned, on display

Not such a good showing on the Merchant Navy front, but they are not regarded as a good loco for preserved lines, generally, so its not really surprising. Of the 9 not is service, I suspect we will see 35005, 35006, 35018 and 35027 in steam in the short/medium term, and possibly 35009 if Ian Riley wants to make it happen. 35010, 35011, 35022 and 35025 can be considered in the long term projects, if ever, field I guess, along with 34073 from the light pacifics.

I'm not sure where the 37 1/2 Bulleid Pacifics came from though, assuming the 1/2 is 35029, then I can only make it another 30.

 

Interesting point.

When I first became involved with preservation at Quainton Rd back in the early 70s, there were about 35 steam locos on site, mainly industrials and many privately owned. Some of those privately owned locos were not seriously expected by many of us at the time to steam again.
The number of locos at what is now the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre is much reduced, some of those which have left are now in regular use at other railways or museums, and others are being restored by fresh pairs of hands. Some of those which were privately preserved are now owned by the society and some which were not expected to run again are now operating.
There are of course a few which are still awaiting funds for restoration, but undercover display as static exhibits is now possible in the former "buffer depot" and so their deterioration is slowed.

 

No post...

 

I hadn't expressed myself very well! What I should have said and really mean't was; "where the customers find it difficult to decide what the railway is." One of the best things about the Heritage Railway movement is its diversity, but that does lead to people wondering why a loco is treated as a prized, albeit static, exhibit at one railway, whilst a similar machine is derelict at another line nearby, merely because there are insufficient funds to give it a "10 year".

 

ah, fair enough. My mistake.

 

You are on record as saying that new builds drain the rest of the heritage movement of manpower and funds that could otherwise be diverted to restoring/overhauling what we already have so I don't think I've really misquoted you at all.

 

At the risk of going off topic, it would be interesting to do the same sort of 10 year comparison of miles available on which to run the steam locomotives. In the heritage sector I suspect there has been reasonable growth due to new sites (Epping Ongar, Aln Valley etc.) and lengthened lines (Bluebell, Gloucester Warwickshire etc.). On the main line however, I suspect there has been a significant decrease due to locomotives mysteriously becoming heavier and wider.

 

34101 and 34027 are both getting close and may return to traffic this year. If you are a reader of this forum I'm surprised that you have not picked up 34092 's return to steam, or the likelihood that 34067 may not run this year. Maybe this explains your impression that the number of locos available for use is dwindling!