Russell's restoration

I've been looking for any information on the restoration of Russell, the WHR website does not have anything. Can anyone update me on the progress and likely completion date please?

Russ

 

Would'nt it be wonderful if a politics could be set to one side so that this loco could head a (short) reopening train in 2010 along the whole length of the WHR?

From a publicity viewpoint this important link with the past history of the line would add to the story to be told.

Reading Steam Railway an effort is to be made to return Dolgoch to steam for the 60th anniversary of the start of the pres movement. Russell to reopening the WHR must surely be a close second over the next year or so.

Is it a lost cause???

 

Yes.
It's still in cardboard boxes. There is no mention of it in the latest WHHR mag.

The FR has Palmerston, Prince, Merddin Emrys and even two Hunslets, bits of which were torn from Moel Tryfan's still warm corpse.

All of these locos have a longer history on the WHR than does Russell.

 

I'm just after the information on Russell, lets not turn this thread into a WHHR/FR/WHR thing please?

 

But Mr Thomas is so pathetic that he has to turn everything into a war of words.

 

Russell Restoration

Was supposed to have been finished for Easter 2009

There was a website detailing the amount of work and progress done, although this seems to have disappeared in to the emither.

Not seen anything publicly on the restoration for some time. Is any thing happening?

 

Don't quite follow and am not really interested in your attempt to rewrite history.
Russell is the loco which very often appeared on postcards of the old WHR and to many Russell is the most tangible remaining link with the old WHR.

What I am saying is that it looks rather pathetic from a distance (yes I have no involvement here BUT I am involved in S Gauge pres in a major way) for there to be no apparent joint will to return Russell to its origonal haunts for the reopening.

For me that would be reason enough to pay a premium fare to ride - I don't believe that I am alone in this.

 

Gigantic grunting Garratts driven by big bearded brownies will swoop down on poor old Russell and bite his chimney off, grow up. Long live Russell !!!

 

If you look in the right place the WHHR very often post photo updates on Russell's progress www.whr.fotopic.net. Would you rather see the money bring raised to get it running and a maintainance fund prepeared, along with the work being done, or a more regualrly updated website?

Are those the people who haven't noticed the railway that's been built on the trackbed of the old one? As the view from the window is quite similar (apart from more trees) to what it was in the 'olden days'.

 

Well, if the WHHR are paying for their website anyway, I can't see how it would cost any more to update the page on Russell that actually exists (and is out of date). Also, webmastering can be done from home by those who are not normally involved with fund-raising or loco engineering!
So, IMHO, the argument doesn't hold: we can have both fund-raising and rebuilding AND and up-to-date website. Furthermore, up-to-date websites encourage people to donate; very old sites do not!
Think on't

 

Nice of you to volunteer to come to Wales regulary, take the photos, go back and update the website.

 

I wouldn't describe it as 'still warm'. Battered to death, dismembered and buried under the shed for a couple of decades is more like it.

Tim

 

Christ you`re clutching at straws with the Hunslets aren`t you? I know of a 2` gauge loco that has a bit off of Bittern on it plus a Stanier hooter, I guess the owner should be exploiting its East and West Coast Mainline credentials with the railtour promoters....

 

It's up to the WHHR to keep their sites up-to-date if they want to look like a serious organization.

 

While the apparent lack of visual progress is proving quite a frustration to both WHHR members and followers of/donators to Russell's progress, the quality and level of detail being lavished on this project it quite astounding. I am told perfection takes time.

The WHHR has set it's self several large projects to complete in the last 12 months, it has been a busy time for the railway, and in many cases deadlines have not been met completely...

The new museum did receive visitors on the first day of the season...
The Buffet car was finished for the May bank holiday Gala...
Replica coach 25 did arrive on site before the May gala, but was not completely finished to the standard required and so is being finish off on site to provide a finish to rival the buffet car, and durability to ensure years of trouble free service...
Russell is taking a long time, but name any loco restoration project which runs as quickly as everyone expects? Russell is an important artefact and deserves the appropriate care and attention...


While the website has not really kept pace with the loco's restoration, and has not been updated for a while, it has to be remembered that this is all done by volunteers, and while they may have had time at the beginning of the project to set up the website, personal circumstances change and things can not always be fitted in. I personally became involved in the railway actively in 2007 and since then my life/personal circumstance has changed beyond comprehension, and so has my ability to give time to the railway, and I think if we are all honest with ourselves this will be true for each and every one of us at some period in our life. This is one of the down sides of being a smaller operation, there is not always a large resources pool to draw upon...

Could I suggest that patience is the virtue here, and maybe wait to see how RUSSELL looks when complete. Believe me there will be a large noise made when he is finally ready!!! I think you will have to be living on Mars to miss that fact that he will be returning.

 

Given that resources and money are limited, would it not make sense to finish one loco before starting an appeal to rebadge an innocent Baldwin as 590?

 

Hello there,

The latest on Russell's restoration is that the driving wheel axleboxes are currently on the milling machine being shaped to fit the locomotive. A picture appears here:
- http://whr.fotopic.net/p60238811.html

The machining should be finished within the next week or so - the picture you see is of axlebox number six; the others are almost complete. Once the outside of the axleboxes has been machined, they need some oilways putting in them, and radiuses putting in the edge of the brasses to fit the journals.*

This all means that within the next few weeks, we should be in a position to put Russell back on its wheels, at which point, the spring gear, brake gear, pony trucks and their axleboxes will all be reunited with the frames. The exact timing is still under discussion as the Locomotive Department are still debating whether to do the slide bars before or after the rewheeling. The frames also need painting before the wheels go in, something which is likely to take place after the August Bank Holiday.

We'll shortly be having a review of what will be the next stage. The Locomotive Department are also keen to finish the job of converting the WHHR to FR-style choppers over the winter, as they're not too keen on the mixture of old and new that we're running with at the moment. We also need to get the new Ashbury Carriage, Number 25, sorted down below. But these are all jobs which require the input of the same two people: it's a juggling act.

So when will it be finished? I've deliberately avoided putting a final date on this for two reasons. Firstly, all deadlines of this nature seem to have a tendency to slip: think of a preservation project that's been delivered on time. Secondly, we recently completed restoration of the original WHR Buffet Car. It did meet the deadline, because this was set by a grant we received. But this was only at the expense of three people working from eight in the morning until two at night for several days, something which I'm keen to avoid in future.

I'll try and log in again in the near future, so by all means fire any questions this way.

Best wishes,

CHRIS
Chris Dearden, Vice Chairman, WHR Ltd


*Non-technical translation: the brass face which rubs against the axle needs to have a curvy edge put on it to avoid dodgy right angles harming the end of the axle.

 

Chris, thank you for yor update on Russell's progress.

I do think it is a tad rude to all of us who have contributed to the Russell fund that the restoration website is so out of date.

Russell

 

Given that Russell was there for the opening of the WHR in 1923 and there at the closure in 1937, how do you work that one out ?

Richard

 

Palmerston was used in the construction of both the NWNGR in 1876 and the WHR in 1923. Prince hauled the first train from Dinas to Port in 1923, it was also a regular WHR loco in the 20's and 30's. Merddin Emrys link to the WHR is a bit more tenuous it's believed to have run to Beddgelert once as a test but double engines often prime from the lowest down end on steep climbs so it probably wasn't that popular.

Tim