46447 Overhaul

Work is coming along nicely with the stripping down of 46447 at Cranmore with the boiler lift not far away now.

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Good to see an old friend making a recovery. Well done, lads!

 

Taking advantage of having a crane for 4247 the dis-assembly has started in earnest!

 

Work progressing apace with this overhaul still. The loco and tender frames were re-wheeled yesterday. On the boiler, the new section of throat plate has been welded in, and the relevant stays fitted. It also now tubed with the flues going in this week.

Photo Lee Thorp

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Good stuff. Are the staff in the photo training to be local councillors staring sadly at potholes for the local paper?

 

Out of frames steam test passed on Monday! (Photo Steve Masters)



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What's that, 17 months since withdrawal, if that? Cranmore clearly wanted her back! Well done to the team!

 

17 months since withdrawal - but LESS than a year since the boiler was lifted out (11th April 2025)

 

They don't seem to hang about at Cranmore!

 

I was fortunate to be able to visit Cranmore engine shed yesterday. 46447 was outside in the sunshine with more parts being assembled. What struck me was the average age of the young fitters as it was probably only in the mid twenties. Well done to all the engineers at Cranmore, your hard work and dedication is really appreciated. [BJ]

 

I never recorded the first number when visiting sheds . If say like 66A Polmadie ,which was a LMS shed and had a few LNER loco's on, I would just put the 6 in front of them .Some lads just missed the 4 off a LMS loco's eg ,a 2P 0452.The first stop at a shed after getting permission was the shed board, just outside the office ,that's where drivers would see what loco he had for his job. No 3/4/6 or what ever were down. 5580 Burma was the last LMS named loco I had to underline in my ABC's ,it was a Blackpool engine ,several visits there to see it resulted in failures, the board was scrutinised every time ,nearly always gone to Manchester or London .Never did see it. .Even signal box register lads done the same,no first number. This situation had been going on since the formation of the big four , so any one getting confused is a surprise to me. . At Kettering we had 6400/1/2/3/4 ,6444 ,6495/6 .They were always known as 64s.
I once read that BR in 1948 ,when choosing the number scheme, decided that GWR loco's would have a 6 in front ,after doing a few at Swindon it was decided that was going to be very costly ,and foolishly , replacing the brass number plates and switched the 6 to the LNER. Maybe putting a large M for ex LMS loco's( there is a photo of a Black 5 like that) , above the loco number would have been a better idea .

 

As this post appears to have been exhumed, I’d just add that was our normal usage too on the WV in the early 70s, it’s probably the same today. So 12-41, 52-12, 50-25; we always pronounced them as two numbers.

 

The boiler is now reunited with the frames.

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Things continuing to progress on 46447, motion now reassembled and the cab pipework coming back together.

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