Tyseley Single Wheeler.

Indeed. I'd take a bet that within about twenty years the fad for "I don't care what it is provided it has a cycling lion on the side" will have faded considerably, to be replaced with a much broader range of interests. Sure, BR steam will still be part of the mix, but everything from early steam replicas to the heyday of the grouping will assume relatively more favour in enthusiasts' eyes than they do now - fueled, because those enthusiasts who do exist will have had their enthusiasm awaked by a wide variety of stimuli, but "what I saw when I was a boy" will no longer be one of them (except for those interested in diseasals).

Tom

 

Curiously, although I have very vague memories of BR steam (out of King's Cross), what fired my interest in all things railways and steam was a trip (when I was 5) behind a marvellous light green machine numbered 488. There must be quite a few whose earliest memories of steam are what have been preserved. I would love the opportunity to see (even if they are replicas) locos and stock from the earlier years in action - in my opinion a much better use of resources than building replicas of yet another mid 20th cent 4-6-0 or Pacific.

Steve B

 

The "what I saw as a boy" could also apply to the heritage scene and future generations of enthusiasts may be equally inspired by the BR green A4 they saw on a main line excursion as well as the SECR liveried 0-6-0 on vin ate stock at the Bluebell. It will indeed be interesting to see how the movement develops over time.

 

Just a thought Bob,

on the SVR, Hagley Hall currently has its own supporters group. In return for (I believe) ownership of a proportion passing to them, they fundraise for the locomotive, which naturally helps it to 'jump the queue' at the SVR and are aiming to raise £100,000 for the locos eventual overhaul. I'm sure you know all of this.

Is this an option that could be considered for the Bloomer? Fundraising, in return, if not necessarily for part ownership, then involvement in the locos operations, glossy quarterly magazine? The society would basically be self-sufficient (I would expect the society to deal with all the society bumph like accounts, magazine, membership - you'd only have to deal with them at the top) but provide dedicated support for the Bloomer both financially and in physical effort.

 

Hallo Spamcan. I didnn't know about these 1860-s working lokomotives. Can you say more more about them?

Thanks.

 

As one of those " what I saw as a boy" post 1968 generation.. I say I agree...
Ive only ever known 850, 925, 35028, 5690 and 6201, 60009 in one colour...saw them all working in preservation as a kid in the 70's/80s And again as a bigger kid today.
Similarly I've seen lots of British Victorian engineering decorated elaborately in Brass, without much wind protection for the crew in museums around the world... I've always wondered what it looks like in steam... There is a big fascinating gap of working steam in preservation of 50 years c1860-1920 designs.
As an adult I've seen umpteen 1960's liveries on steam locos, good as it is, but in 20 years time i'd be happy if a number of Black 5's were in museums and a bunch of pregrouping replicas (I'm an L&Y fan), so an L&Y 4-4-2, Dreadnought, 1008 , dreadnought tank were to be amongst us.. I wouldn't be moaning.?.and from the LNWR, claughton, prince of wales and the bloomer of course !

 

Basically all GWR stuff then?

 

Furness Railway no.20 is the prime example. Furness Railway Number 20's story
Move forward into the 1870s and you get the Stroudley Terriers, two in working order on the Bluebell Railway, one at the Bressingham steam museum and two in working order on the Kent and East Sussex Railway. On the industrial front there is 0-6-0WT Bellerophon from 1874 Bellerophon So you can see the UK has a number of working locos that were built around 150 years ago.

 

Plus one working Terrier at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway with a second to re-enter service with a new boiler in 2013.

 

Is there? Currently, six out of seven of our operating fleet are between those dates! Taking our whole fleet, I think we have about 20 locos form between those dates.

There is a big gap in preservation (even if you define "preservation" to include museum pieces that will likely never steam, and not just locos in working order or likely in the future to be in working order), but I think it is earlier than you say: I'd say the real gap is form about 1845 - 1870. Before 1840, there are a number of significant historical survivors (Rocket, Locomotion, Sans Pareil, Puffing Billy etc) and many replicas (Planet, Steam Elephant, Firefly etc). After 1870s, there are many engines (ten Terriers and three Beattie Well Tanks from the 1870s alone, just to take a couple of examples).

But between 1845 and 1870, what is there? A couple of LNWR locos in the Science Museum (Columbine and Cornwall). Furness Railway No. 20. The frames of an OW&W loco. I'm not sure what else - I'm sure someone could compile a list and maybe come up with a few others, but it was a period of tremendous advances in locomotive design, but because it was also a period of great expansion and increase in loads, locos tended not to last too long, and certainly not long enough that there was widespread enthusiasm for preserving them. So for me, roughly 1845 - 1870 is the great "dark ages" in railway preservation.

Tom

 

Wider horizons than GWR, but illustrates my point... To many post 1968 Victorian brass= GWR and 3440 / 9017 as that's what works.
theres much more than that to be had when one opens the door, or the history books.
sadly almost all of it is museum bound as part of the NRM and museums overseas contain non working victorian designs built in the UK.
It would be nice to see more of what it was like before Stanier, Maunsell and Gresley but more worldly than a shunter.
Sadly 1923 was about replacing it, all being life expired already and so missed the preservation history books save a few by the NER for its York museum at the time and some lingering examples due to WW2.

Seeing the NER no1 or GNR 900 running would be nice, there's also 32424 coming (it carried BR livery so it has a much higher chance).

 

And "Baxter" from 1877. Not to mention Skarloey and Rheneas (sorry, "daddy mode" kicked in: I mean Tal-y-llyn and Dolgoch) in narrow gauge, from the 1860s.

Tom

 

Indeed. I knew my list wasn't an exhaustive one.

 

Very interesting, Guard Jamie. And (at last) a positive suggestion.


As Ben Vintage-Trains wrote about the Bloomer project, two years ago: "It's not as far from completion as it looks. The majority of the parts required for completion are on-site; it just needs some attention... We must get it finished. It represents an era that is very poorly represented in preserved railways."

 

Whatever your thoughts on the matter, it comes down to one thing. If you are that concerned to see it finished, don't bitch about someone else's perceived lack of action...shell. Get your hands in your pockets and throw some dosh at the job, better still, organise a load of other like-minded souls and throw a lot of dosh at it. That gets people's attention. Over the last 20 years, I've put a couple of £k into the SMF and, for several years, have had S.Os into 4930 and 82045. In the New Year, (when something else finishes) I will stick one into NG15 134. And I could probably buy a 3 - bed detached with what I've spent at the SVR over the last 41 years...

I love being on and around ex-BR machines, because that's what I grew up with, but the oldest engine I've had the pleasure of was "Blanche," then 115 years young and the newest is "Lyd," about 1 this year. I would love to see a Bloomer, or anything else I've only seen photos of, or anything I've only seen stuffed and mounted, but, like everyone else, I only have so much to go around. If I ever win the Euromillions though...

Mencken, if you want to see the Bloomer sooner, throw some money at it.

 

Thank you jtx.

So I'm glad to see such an old Engine working (very unusual in England I think). I have a family connexion with the Engineer, hence my interest.

So where do I throw the Money? Is there a Fund?

 

Haven't the lists of vintage working locos convinced you that it's not that unusual to see locomotives of a hundred years of age working in England?
Sind Sie wirklich österreichisch?

 

Nein, preussisch, aber -

Is there a fund for the old Bloomer engine?

If not, why not?

 

Although they have said they will accept donations for the Bloomer Tyseley has other higher priorities for fundraising at the moment, as stated in another thread. Somebody on both threads seems to believe this means the Bloomer will never be completed. I don't believe that is true. Its time will come, it just isn't now.

 

Yesterday Jamessquared rightly described the period 1845-1870 as "the great dark ages in railway preservation" and instanced the LNWR Columbine (1845) and Cornwall (1847) as two of the few from this time. But of course Cornwall is now in a much-altered state, and is as it was when running c1920, and Columbine is as it was c1875 - apart from a ludicrously wrong weatherboard added by the NRM, and the attentions of probably the same paint-scraping obsessive who seems to like polished boiler mountings.

There's also the Crewe narrow-gauge Pet (whose dome has also been scraped!) of 1865 to add to the list of the few pre-1870 shunters and n.g. items.

But express passenger engines before 1870? Anyone?