WHR ltd Baldwin Fund

Welsh Highland Railway limited are ecstatic to announce...

It is with great delight that I can announce/advise you all that we have received a donation of £150,000 for the Baldwin Fund. This incredibly generous donation will enable work to re-start on the restoration of the BALDWIN locomotive once RUSSELL is delivered back to us and for rapid progress to be made. There will still be some additional fund raising to do which is currently estimated at approximately £50,000, but the combined figures are a realistic estimate of the remaining work required on the locomotive. We have set a target of having the locomotive back at Gelert’s Farm during 2017 which is the Centenary of the locomotives original construction. Martyn Owen WHR ltd Chairman.

A large chunk of the outstanding donations required will be accrued over the next 3 years from current subscribers, but as always there is room for everybody to do their bit. As a well know supermarket always says, "every little helps"

 

Link to Baldwin fund in my signature

or click here

 

"In August 2003, with Peter's assistance, an agreement was signed between Duxford and the Welsh Highland Railway Ltd (Porthmadog) for the long term loan and restoration of Baldwin "794". It will be reconstructed as "590" and it will once again haul heritage trains between Porthmadog, Beddgelert and Caernarfon on the reconstructed Welsh Highland Railway."

One would hope that it will be vacuum braked? You are still at an early stage in the restoration and it is not too late to incorporate a dual braking system. This would also be seen as a sign of your intention and willingness to work together and cooperate with the owner of the neighbouring 25 miles of railway you'd like to run this loco on.

 

It's a nice idea but I suspect it will boil down to money...!

 

Air braking is not a barrier to working on the main WHR. A number of trains using WHHR air braked locos and stock have run in recent years. As for money, as the OP announced £150,000 has boiled down from a single donor so if The Italian Tank or someone else wants to cough up for the cost of dual braking I'm sure it will be welcomed.

 

Indeed air braking is not a barrier but think of how much more work this engine could find for itself if it were compatible to run with ANY of the F&WHR's locos and rolling stock. So far I could count on one hand the number of times the WHHR air braked train has been out to stretch its legs. It all depends on long term aspirations of the WHHR I suppose... To my mind dual braking would be money well spent so that you can run your heritage rolling stock on 25 miles of authentic railway on a frequent basis, as opposed to confinement to a short running line except for occasional trips out under special circumstances. That's just how I see it.

 

But realistically, the FfR would never hire it for regular services - they have enough engines of their own. If they want to hire it for a gala, it can simply run double-headed with an FfR loco as Russell did on the WHR in 2000. So really, I reckon the only extra work she might pick up from being dual-braked would be photo-charters.

(That said, though...if charter organisers can raise money for repaints, perhaps they could raise money for vacuum brakes?!)

I would hope tha '590' need not be "confined" simply as a result of being air-braked; I would hope that the WHHR will soon be able to run their own trains out onto the WHR on a regular basis.

 

A signalbox is being built at the junction - must be a good sign.

 

The F&WHR is known for enjoying and making the most of a good publicity 'stunt', and has just taken delivery of "Fiji" from Statfold Barn. Sure this loco won't replace a Garratt on a service train but it will be used extensively for gala shuttles, footplate rides, photo charters and I wouldn't be surprised if it appeared at some point on 'The Snowdonian', the annual 40-mile through train next Saturday. This is the kind of work that crops up regularly for small home fleet or visiting engines, and who's to say 590 or Russell couldn't be a part of that? The privately owned Bagnall loco Isaac was sensibly dual braked and was able to take a rake of bug boxes across town to Gelert's Farm last summer. I want to see authentic heritage trains on the WHR route as much as anyone, and I imagine that in time, you will be allowed to run a limited service on the line with your air braked train. But I still believe vaccum braking would increase the usefulness and compatibility of the WHHR's rolling stock.

 

The locos for the Snowdonian have been announced - see http://www.festrail.co.uk/content/publish/news/365.shtml for details - K1 and 143 on the WHR and Prince and Lyd on the FR.

Steve B

 

Indeed, but Fiji appears on the loco roster that day (the exact details are unclear), so it will definitely be out and about.

 

Thanks - I'll look forward to seeing this loco sometime

 

Saw '778' running at Leighton Buzzard yesterday it looks so smart and sounds excellent - look forward to when '590' is back in action so they can hopefully run together.