Bluebell WESTERN Extension - so what's occurring then?

I never said it wasn't authentic

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Ardingly branch being steam hauled and I would forsee it being steam-hauled in day-to-day service. However, as the steam age recedes further and further into history, there becomes a case for recreating what started in the steam age and has now dominated traction in the South and South East for the past 70 years - 3rd rail electric multiple units. 3rd-rail operation is most likely a non-starter so I'm thinking alternatives - if there isn't the interest there to do it then it won't happen, I was just positing an option that would fulfil a gap in heritage railway operations.

 

I've suggested before that it would not be rocket science to put a suitable gen-set into an EMU vehicle with little alteration. I am talking about a fully soundproofed one so that it cannot essentially be heard outside the confines of the engine room. It may mean sacrificing a bit of seating but the silent atmosphere of an emu and most other aspects would essentially remain. The biggest problem would be the weight issue but I don't think that would be a huge problem.

 

It seems to me that with the demise of third rail now almost a certainty, some form of preservation scheme could be appropriate. I just wonder if a non-SR location that could operate in dual fashion could be used - LT lines, for instance?

 

Erm, the TC units weren't powered, the T in TC standing for Trailer, so though they might have the appearance of an EMU, they weren't in actuality.

Cheers,

 

The Eden Valley has fitted at least one MLV with a gen set. I'd be interested to know how effective that has been.

 

I just question the relative balance between cost and attractiveness of EMU preservation. Lots of cost and complexity, plus the issue raised earlier about the fact that having an EMU is "all or nothing" with regards availability, set against the fact that, realistically, apart from a few diehards, who (especially amongst the public) is actually very interested?

I don't buy the argument that people of, say, my age who grew up with EMUs (4VEPs between London and Reading, in my case) will be nostalgic for them in the way our parents are nostalgic for steam. My experience of talking to our visitors is that they want to see steam, even those who are younger than me and who presumably have even less formative experience than people my age do of slam door, Mark 1-derived stock etc.

Being slightly contentious, I think there are some facets of the "modern"[sup]*[/sup] railway that are simply unpreservable as operating attractions (and maybe, in some cases, even as museum pieces) because the interest they will engender and the space they will occupy simply won't compensate the resources needed to preserve and operate them. I'd include in that list any realistic portrayal of modern block freight operations (who could operate a class 58 and even 10 or 20 MGR hoppers? Anything less isn't a realistic portrayal); 3rd rail EMUs (except maybe a special case like the 5-BEL running on the mainline); overhead electrics (EMU or loco-hauled); the Intercity 125 etc. Between them, our heritage railways can offer a fairly convincing spectacle of what the historic railway scene looked like between about 1880 and 1980; but I'd venture to suggest that no preserved railway will ever offer a convincing view of what the railway looked like in more modern times beyond occasional fragments.

Tom

[sup]*[/sup] And accepting that "modern" can mean 100 years old in the context of 3rd rail EMUs.

 

I'd speculate that when the Class 43s get withdrawn the NRM may have one to pair up with the prototype power car they have. It's such an icon of rail travel in the UK it would be hard to think of them all going to the mincer.

 

Quite likely. But an HST is not just two power cars, but also seven or eight coaches. That's a hell of a lot of space and complexity to store in a museum, or to run on a preserved line. Hence my view that the modern railway is essentially unpreservable.

Tom

 

I wouldn't be surprised if all or most HST sets were eventually exported.

 

A lot of it will be, but unlike steam in the 60s it's unlikely to disappear overnight thankfully. That said, seven or so 'preserved' mark 3 coaches could be combined with different sorts of motive power to create realistic recreations of a lot of 90s-2010s style trains (or 'realistic enough' as the case may be).

 

Just on the point of battery operated MLVs, I think (not 100% certain) that the East Kent Railway (which is probably the unofficial home of SR EMU preservation to some extent) has done this in the past

 

Quite about the 4Cor. I think it was in one of the sidings sidings behind Platform 1 at Horsted when I went to the East Grinstead Opening Gala although not hidden.