Current and Proposed New-Builds

Crampton Locomotive - this is a project that for a long time seemed to have gone into abeyance, but has flared into life over the last year or two, with really significant progress.

https://cramptonlocomotivetrust.org/

The website has had a revamp (though annoyingly, I can't find the really good technical design documentation they produced some years ago). There is a page of "latest progress" photos, which concentrate on the boiler; however, there is more recent progress producing the frame - it seems like the best place to follow that is the Northern Heritage Engineering Facebook site, as they are carrying out the construction: https://www.facebook.com/northernheritageengineering Thus far it looks like the boiler and frames are largely constructed, so the form of the loco is starting to emerge.

The project also aims to raise money for some replica SER carriages of the era, and in due course a shed to store the loco, It is interesting to wonder how they consider it will be used. What is impressive is that they have quite quietly got to the point of having real tangible parts of the loco constructed - it seems to be far from a speculative "construct a smokebox door and hawk it round every railway gala going" sort of affair.

Tom

 

Fascinating!
And so much progress (although you look at the size of the components, they are significantly smaller and lighter than the other new-builds).

I wonder where they plan to run it?

 

HS1?

 

Obviously I can't make any definitive statements, but in the 'Not to distant future' there could well be a 12 mile line not to far from the South Eastern mainline.

 

Just briefly looked at that website. And it occurred to me that if they went for main line running, given the size of the driving wheels, Network Rail would probably limit their speed to about 200 mph.

 

Only needs to hit 101 to annoy Tornado... what are the rules on "assistance" by a Pendolino....?

 

Yes. Maybe not with their replica 4 wheeled coaches, though. Perhaps they could make a lightweight, non-structural streamlined casing to fit over the loco and shield the crew from the airflow at high speeds ...?

 

….. but where’s the necessary brake force coming from, without a trailing load that would snooker the speed?

 

Well, they are not actually likely to get permission to run it on Network Rail, so think about a preserved line where there is a long straight stretch. Would need access when a single engine in steam could be given the run of the whole line, or a substantial part of it, with no forseeable need for sudden braking. So maybe not the KESR, sadly, despite that line being correct for a loco which fits that part of the world. Great Central? Or HS2 just before it opens ??

 

If Jeremy Clarkson were not tied up with a troublesome farm and other awful things right now, I could see this as being firmly in his territory.
"The very first sports train... In the world."