7027 Thornbury Castle

Many disagree with that.

 

And many of us wish that it had never been taken, but acknowledge that we must now hope for the best.

 

I disagree with how it was done and how it happened. But I honestly can't see what can happen for any decision to be reversed. I do like a Castle indeed. Definitely over a Night Owl.

 

Maybe this thread could be merged with the one a few years back for 48518 as its more or less word for word identical. Loads of tears and froffing but ultimately no pound notes. In the end a gas axe beckoned for the remains of the 8f and no doubt will for the castle.

All the talk was just that. So its goodbye Thornbury Castle and hello Night owl. The people with the cash won and it got away despite a bit of needlegunning and painting

 

the number 1 boiler would be fine if the loco was destined for preserved lines only, do any railways have any turns where a class 5 isn't enough?

(big) IF going mainline, and i'm a bit sceptical of this happening (but would love to be proven wrong), the larger boiler would presumably make a quite significant difference to potential loadings and pathings.

 

At the end of the day, who knows what might happen to them in the next 50 years, reality is only 1 of them is really truly safe in a proper secure museum, No 8 is fairly safe, No 10 appears to have fallen out of favour again. The others are private property with individuals or organisations that when the funds dry up they might well be left outside to rot or worse!

 

Seeing the remedial work and progress required just to get 4709 to the rolling chassis stage any need for a boiler is still a very long way off.

 

Very sad what has happened and I only hope it comes back and bites a few folks inc the GWS on their arse. They certainly wont ever see any of my cash or support again.....

 

That is why, i believed the pragmatic way, would have been for the GWS, to have announced that its going to carry on with the restoration, work done at the GCR, and restore 7027, whilst fund raising for 4709 using a spare 28 boiler as the prototype 4700 then to launch a new boiler appeal over the ten year ticket life to build a new boiler of the correct type for 4709.

 

So you would be committing them to the pointless purchase of a loco that they don't want or need, fundraising for its restoration, finding the resources for its restoration whilst also committing to to funding and building 4709, including restoring one boiler and building another new one? I have to admire your optimism, but I don't think it has much grounding in reality!

 

We should all try to refrain from further rehashing what has been done to death in this thread. We have our respective opinions about the rights and wrongs of the fate of Thornbury Castle, of the plans for 4709, and of GWS governance.

However there may be new things to be said, in particular about anything happening to the bottom half, so this thread could remain open for that.

A better place for any further discussion about 4709, both the story to date and future developments, would be https://www.national-preservation.com/threads/new-build-night-owl-4709-begins.34874/
Edit: Inserted missing "been" in first sentence,

 

Clearly the most logical answer is to use Thornbury as a test bed for post-coal steam technologies. One of Rolls-Royces Small Modular reactors in the tender providing steam, water supplied by the boiler-shaped water tank up front. Obviously it'll need a barrier coach made of lead, there's plenty of rotten Mk1's to act as donors. I'll chuck a fiver in to get the ball rolling.

 

You need to decide on a livery before you start fundraising...

 

I think you need the reactor in the boiler, otherwise the adhesion changes dramatically over the course of a run as you use water. The shielding provides useful additional adhesion weight where you want it - over the driving wheels. Converting the tender coal space to carry only water gives you a useful 6 tons, or 1350 gallons, of extra water capacity without needing any changes to the springs etc, which probably amounts to a range extension of about 30 miles over a conventional loco between water stops. Time between fuel stops probably measured in decades ...

Tom

 

I hear that there are some ex-navy nuclear subs being decommissioned. You could crane one of the reactors out and drop it on the frames. Just add some shaped cleading and de-rate the operating pressure and you are good to go.

 

Ah, so you were the one giving Bulleid his ideas…

 

But where would you put the flux capacitor?

 

Just beside the turbo encabulator of course.

 

Did they need to purchase 7027 in the first place,?
there was funds starting to be raised for a new boiler So why the urgency to acquire 7027's boiler?
I am of the opinion this is because of one man's desire to see his dream realised within his own life.