MHR Restorations and Overhauls

Morning:

From comments that I have seen on this thread and others, I think the bottom line here is funding for if the money is available for a particular Loco then that Loco will get priority.

This is exactly the same with the wagon restorations for if the finance is available from either groups or private owners , it will be restored.

Regards
Chris:

 

I was led to believe 34058 is being worked on by Mike and his group and with the help of the railway. So there is no reason why 34058 shouldn't be at the back of the running order of loco being overhaul. I also hear that 41312 shouldn't take that long to overhaul. Most of the bottom end of this loco is in very good condition and won't need a lot of work doing to it. The tanks are also in good condition and shouldn't need repairing and the big plus about this loco you can remove the boiler with out removing the side tanks. I'm looking forward to seeing 30499 in steam for the first time. I hear she will be having a stovepipe chimmey fitted to her. I wonder if she will sound different to 30506 with her later BR chimney

 

Yes 828 is a separate group - they still need to find the money to fund their activities though!

You can be as surprised as you like about the timescales, but the constraint is how fast boilers can be pumped through the works....unless extra money is available to send out some work, which is back to the main point. Furthermore the MHR doesn't NEED the loco much quicker when you look at the fleet situation.

 

As you say the fleet situation is good at this present time, but we must keep the ball rolling as we would not want a shortage in a few years time.

Best regards
Chris:

 

Totally agree Chris, it doesn`t take a genius to work out that given that a loco has an average of 7-10 years on its boiler ticket and a requirement for a minimum of 3-4 service locos, then you need to outshop a loco from overhaul every 18 months to 2 years.

The MHR, i believe, tend to get this bang on nowadays.

 

Of note is that 34046 tender has arrived at Ropley for use on 34007 . The tender with 34007 is ex 35005 and of a larger capacity than that restored to run with 34046 . 35005s tender will now go to Mr Hoskins and run with 34046 on the Main Line at some point....

 

Is a tender still being made for 34007? She seems to be going through quite a lot of other class members tenders!

 

The new tender frames are in Ropley yard a few weeks ago. I'm led to believe the wheel sets are being put together at the South Devon Railway. The tender tank is still in the Meon loop at Alton. There is some work needed to rework the tender frames for the Bulleid wheels to be used. The tender was originally going to use class 33 wheels sets. I have no idea when this tender will be completed.

Talking about 35005 I was told she never run in BR service with the larger type tender is this correct?

 

Looking at the latest weekly shed blog on the MHR website, there is a picture of the newly arrived tender from 34046.

I can only conclude that this is the first tender that 34046 ran with, that was borrowed from 35027"Port Line" as it has BFB wheelsets.

The tender that went with 34046 to Bury was the new build tender, using disc wheelsets.

I take it that there has been a problem preventing this tender from being certificated for mainline running, or is it just the water/coal capacity?

Looking at the Braunton website it looks like the new tender is of the 5250gallon type.

 

Yes it sure is. On the 34007 website there is an update to the current progress.

 

Or mabye theres a swap with 35005s tender, as I was told that the tender is FOR CP but is going to run with wadebridge till its new one is finished, as 35005 might not be intended to run on the mainline for a while, unlike Port Line, so 35005s tender being 6000 gallons, is better suited to Port Line, which is only 5000 gallons, so more suited to running on the Mid-Hants? Just a thought, so the only connection to 34046 is the fact that PLs tender ran with it?

 

Possibly right.

The tender now at Ropley leaks like a sieve i believe and is only marginally better that the previous tender that ran with 34007 borrowed from"Boscastle".

So the Ropley guys might have to weild the welding torch before long!

 

Indeed. So with 30506, 76017 and 34105 plus 30925 all due out over the next few years, you get back to what I said which was that 75079 isn't needed into to traffic until about 2018. There might be a bit of a gap developing though due to the fact that 34105 is happening perhaps more quickly than would ideally be the case.

The ex-Port Line tender is a swap for the CanPac tender, with the former being intended for the mainline, and the latter not, it makes sense all round. As 34007 doesn't have its own tender yet, and 35005 doesn't really need its, Wadebridge will borrow the ex-PL tender for a while. Assuming it holds water of course

 

So the story of Bulleid tenders is (for the clinically geeky) interesting, so here goes.

34007 originally was paired with tender 3368, this was swapped with 3266 ex 34006 Bude in 1947 and scrapped at Britton Ferry sometime after 1969 and before 1980 as Woodhams Bros sold the tender 3266 the the steelworks as a ingot carrier.

34007 left Barry without a tender and as the Bulleid faithful will know the early batch of light pacific's (34001-70) had a 8ft wide cabs and tenders and 34007 has never run with a correct pattern tender since withdrawn in the 1965. The tender which is being built is a 4500 gallon high sided type correct for the locomotive, I assume they will number the tender as the original 3368?

35027 Port Line arrived at Barry with tender 3130 that was sold to the owners of 34067 Tangmere (who were based at the Mid Hants at the time) they removed the 5100 gallon tank (retaining the frames) and then sold the tank on to the owners of (I think 35006) later constructing a 5500gallon tank more suitable for a light pacific.

Port Line left Barry with the last available Bulleid tender in the yard a early build 5000 gallon version numbered 3116, which had spent its entire working life with 35006. Tender 3116 later was used by 34046 Braunton and now has moved to the Mid Hants for use behind 34007.

When in late 1965 Woodham's purchased 35005 Canadian Pacific she had 6000 gallon tender 3348 which left the yard behind 34039 Boscastle. Subsequently this tender was leased to none other than 34007 for the initial period after restoration and move to the Mid Hants.

Tender 3319 a 5000 gallon version (ex 35009 its life long pairing) left Barry with 35005 and this is the one that is now being used by 34007 and is said to be going to be swapped with 35027.


So 34007 has used no less than 3 tenders since restoration whilst awaiting he own to be built. 3116, 3348 and now 3319.

 

Just a slight query.
According to Richard Derry`s book "The Merchant Navy Pacifics" 35009 ran with tender no: 3119 all its life, not no: 3319 which apparently is attached to 34023"Blackmore Vale"

If this is the tender that is currently belonging to CP and on loan to 34007 and is 5000 gallons. What would the point be in swapping with tender no:3116 as this is also 5000gallons? Confusing.

 

Yes 3119 is correct, that was my fat figures.

As for 34023 she was originally built with tender 3273, later swapping to 3311 which had a number of rapid changes in the early 1950's - in order 34043, 34058, 34034 and finally in 1954 to 34023 - in 1967 34023 swapped this tender with 3319 ex-34019. The odd thing is that 34019 was withdrawn in late 1964 so presumably 3319 must have been stored from that point until July 1967.

I am not a member of the Bulleid society so I cannot confirm this but I understand that the swap took place after 34023 was withdrawn and just prior to heading down to Longmoor, also the only tender in original condition - ie high sided raves, one of 4 never modified - number 3277 was still in existence which was originally built for 8ft wide locomotive 34021 but after 1957 attached to 9ft wide 37072 and at still extant at Barry. Sadly this tender was apparently inspected with a view to purchase a 'original tender' but was rejected as being to costly/rusty etc for the fledgling society and was sold by Woodham's to Britton Ferry Steelworks in March 1969 and later scrapped.


Tender 3277 attached to 34072 at Barry - 34072 Barry 14.5.66 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

I now seem to recall that the tender attached to 35005 tender no:3119 was modified during the last overhaul at Tyseley.

What i am am not sure of is if it was modified for extra water capacity, coal capacity or both and how it was achieved.

 

Regarding the need for locos, surely you can never have too many, after all surplus ones are good for swapping and hiring out. Today for instance, 34007 was stopped leaving 31806 nd 33053 to top and tail the Countryman and the other service in the rather smelly hands of the Hampshire Unit! Of course, it is always a question of cashflow and manpower which determines timescales, if not the order of the queue

 

Hi Steve,

Any news on what was wrong with 34007.


Cheers

 

Comment had been made were the Mid Hants taking it easy with 31806 .. Well not today they wernt as she worked the 11am Alresford with Countryman coaches and an idling Crompton on the rear. The Crompton was not under any power when it passed me with a trailing load equal to 300 tones .
1125 was covering the other diagram which was so good to see her doing what it was built for on the line it was built for !!
Hampshire Unit 1125 Thumping over the Alps Today 19.02.2012

David