Swanage Railway General Discussion

In post 1473 Mogul explains the use of sand at Swanage.

 

Thanks for the reference. In the 1950s I rode behind T9's up the 1 in 77 out of Okehampton with 7 on in rain with no problem but of course there was no 25mph speed restriction to limit momentum. In the other direction speeds of over 80 were common! Those were the days!

 

While chasing 60009 on Thursday (23rd August 2018) I ended up with a few hours to kill, so went for an amble lineside around Corfe Common. Not realizing the fun and games going in at Weymouth I unfortunately left before 33012/D6515 went to the rescue

 

Dodgy looking character leaning out of 31806 there! Nice shots.

 

The railway is a bit short of motive power but 257 Squadron will be available in a couple of weeks time. Sir Keith Park not long afterwards and in 2 years time Manston and Eddystone should also be running. Sidmouth a bit longer!

 

Plus there is the N awaiting its boiler and the Drummond M7 boys are no slouches.

 

The N cant of been in that bad a condition then?

 

Apart from the boiler the only major defect was a frame crack and wasted drag box wasn't it you have to remember this engine received new front frames and cylinders at some point in it's BR life and the boiler was due to an BR era patch that isn't acceptable now.

 

Good to hear....its one engine I cant wait to see back working! So much for the people claiming it was in worse condition than when it left Barry.......

 

Er, 31874 has a new rear drag box and a new section of frame!

 

Whilst I cant disagree that a new drag box and frame section is substantial works, isnt this amount of work now common with steam engines of this age? I can think of a number of engines of the same era and younger needing similar work.

 

My point was that the frame “defects” Martin1956 quoted have already been repaired by SR.
I had no intention of decrying any work done by any other organisations.

 

31874 has had an awful lot more work done at this overhaul than it did when it was first restored at the Mid Hants. It definitely was in worse condition than when it left Barry.

 

Whilst you are almost certainly right on the first point; the second point is fairly speculative/hypothetical... not to mention inflammatory!

 

It stands to reason that if more work was required this time, then it must have been in worse condition than when it was first restored doesn’t it? I don’t see how anyone can argue otherwise.

I’m not trying to be inflammatory, or blame anyone. It’s now 40 years older and has had a lot more use. It’s not surprising that more work is required.

 

I can't comment on the context of any language used that could be construed inflammatory or otherwise but I would have thought that since 31874 spent a relatively short spell in Barry compared to others (10 years?) then from regular service up to withdrawal in 1964 after nearly 40 years of being worked and maintained, I could see how it's condition may have worsened after 44 years in preservation with on-off usage that this would give through the various overhauls undertaken along the way.
As the locomotive ages, I would expect overhauls to become more costly and complex?

 

Bingo = exactly the point we unfortunately have to realise/come to understand as these locomotives get on! Railways/owners need to expect the worst and have sufficient funds as the overhauls become more costly and complex.

 

Engines like the N still had a lot of service life left from its BR days, so required less work to return them to steam, very often just a retube and remetalling of bearings of course facilities were very basic back then, So as things wear out more work does get needed plus we have better facilities and are able to undertake more serious overhauls, I think that in the case of the N, its the first time the frames were actually lifted and completely stripped down .

 

Plus I think it spent longer stored in the open out of use at the Mid Hants before moving to Swanage, than it did at Barry.

 

Shame the about the boiler situation