Current and Proposed New-Builds

I agree with @hyboy I think there is now enough. A few significant gaps in preservation have been/are being filled and there's only so much funding and labour to go round

 

The only slight issue with that, I suppose, is that you're assuming there that if a new build isn't being built then something else within railway preservation gets the funding and labour....

For the avoidance of doubt, I agree with your sentiment, but I don't think turning off the taps on a new build The Great Bear* creates a pool of people suddenly looking for a new outlet for their time and money and thinking 'ooh, a Barry condition GC Fish Engine* - I'll work on/fund that instead'

*chosen at random so as not to cast aspersions on any actual current project

 

Shame I was hoping the A1 trust was going to build a K3 one day

 

Would be a great choice but with a K1 and a K4 in preservation I feel it’s an area that’s roughly covered. I am/was particularly looking forward to the V4 and subsequently floated V3 but I’m not sure we’ll see either. Having said that, the A1 Trust still appears to be planning for the V4 so hopefully I’m wrong.

I wonder what became of the frames of the ridiculous Doncaster P2 proposal?

 

Still going (in theory!):
https://www.cockothenorth.co.uk/
although the website has no news section and the last update seems to be some photos showing the frames being moved to the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum in September 2017

 

I'd say the V4's a fairly certain prospect, they've had a few lucky breaks which put them in a good starting position (tyres, wheel pattern, tender spring hangers and others)

 

Simon Martin's bought them to turn into a Thompson Pacific...

 

I tried finding their Facebook account - maybe someone with an account could find out?

 

The last time someone said that on here I was approached in real life and offered cash towards a Thompson new build. A surreal moment for me. At least it's a change from being accosted for my views on Thompson, I suppose...

 

But. . . there's always the pre-grouping locos.

 

It appears to have gone the way of the frames and disappeared into thin air. The frames are visible on the wagon on Google Streetview in April 2019, but they've gone by the next view in November 2022.

 

I always thought that second P2 was a daft idea, in the same category as the second attempt at a B17

 

There's a Facebook logo on their website, but no link.
I have searched Facebook but cannot find them, so as 5944 suggests, it seems to have been deleted.

 

They had a stand at the York Model Railway show this year, with some leaflets and a money box for donations....

 

One preserved Star already exists. If you're thinking of the postulated Didcot project starting from the bottom half of Thorbury Castle, it's uncertain whether that was ever a real intention and it has been explicitly ruled out.

 

nope , just listing the less obvious ones including the two WIP.

 

It might be worth contacting them and asking what the current state of play is then.

I can't help but feel that after the initial "tulip madness" of new-builds, that reality is now taking hold. After all, soon there will be a generation for whom steam means absolutely nothing - and that could even be extended to first generation diesels.

I await the formation of The Class 66 Preservation Society, and no, I'm not joking.

 

I believe it may already exist… TBF how many years did the 125 group exist before they finally got the chance to work their magic on 41001 before acquiring their own power cars?

 

There was a tongue in cheek "Hunslet Austerity" newbuild page appeared on Facebook a few years back that was I think, in response to the series of bonkers- non achievable schemes that appeared (some even got an airing on here.....)

 

Interesting to think that the oldest 66s ( from 1998) are now starting to exceed the years in service of many of the older diesel fleets.