The LNER Encyclopedia

This today from the NRM:-

http://www.nrm.org.uk/flyingscotsman/see/photos.aspx

Also read in the latest version of the Railway Herald that running in at the ELR is planned for the last two weeks in May and a main-line test run provisionally booked for 31st May:- Bury -> York

Fingers crossed!

I feel exhausted by this overhaul, I wish she was just back. I realise we will be better off with the work done and that it is all good in the long term, I am just (as I already said) exhausted by it.

Those picures show a frightening amount of extra work being done to a loco that was thought to be virtually finished (and looked fully assembled) last summer!

I just hope there's enough money in the budget to get 6229 restored next year, with Green Arrow hopefully following up on that.

Yet another delay, not sure if a fresh problem has been found or whether the work is taking longer than expected.

http://www.nrm.org.uk/AboutUs/PressOffi ... tsman.aspx

Bad news indeed.
I was at a railway talk late last year when Steve Davis gave his absolute promise that Scotsman would be ready and said that he would resign if it wasn't.
I sincerely hope that he does not as he is a very forward thinking and innovative director, but the whole affair make you wonder what on earth has been going on; they could have built a new A3 from scratch in less time and for less money - when the dust finally settles, I thinkl it is our right as taxpayers to know the full facts behind this debacle, there has obviously been some gross incompetance and ignorance amongst those who are paid to know better.
Some of the individuals involved should never be allowed near a locomotive again.

60041 wrote:they could have built a new A3 from scratch in less time and for less money

and could have got Mallard restored for her 75th

blackout60800 wrote:

60041 wrote:they could have built a new A3 from scratch in less time and for less money

and could have got Mallard restored for her 75th

i am sure that the ffestiniog kept making new parts for one of their fairlies but hung on to all the old parts then put them together as the original locomotive (stuffed and mounted) and all new parts became a different loco with a new name

Apparently latest news on Scot-thing:- it's knackered!!! It won't be featuring at Barrow Hill for their celebrations, and is now decidedly iffy for the Railfest show in June. Apparently, the overhaul has found that the problem with the driving axle hornblocks is not just isolated to the mainframes. The bogie hornblocks are goners too, so they need to be worked on before it does any running in, or anything else.

Anyone know how much new frames would have cost, against the money spent so far on repairing this set?

Saw it yesterday in Rileys. Its all in bits awaiting new hornblocks. Looks a right sorry sight. If only they had known what a dreadfull mess it was when they started they could have stuffed and mounted it and built a new A3 instead.
It does seem to be cursed that engine. The only ones who seem to have escaped its wrath are those who did nothing with it!

If you read even the most superficial of histories of the loco one fact comes to light more than others - it was knackered in the first place, that's why it was headed for the breakers. It needed new equipment all around, and it's only ever been patched up ready for the next thing to break. A1's, and then A3's after they were rebuilt, were notorious for needing new frames for a start everytime they went in for overhaul. Standing joke amongst LNER guys was that the things were sponsored by Castrol for the amount of oil they went through on a trip.

Trouble is, whenever anyone brings up the idea of putting her on gate-guardian duty (effectively like the Midland Spinner and Mallard are now in York), the people with the biggest voices starting decrying that it is a unique locomotive dating from 1923 and needs to be kept in working order. Not true. In one overhaul, way back in the mists of time before it became a "National" loco, a very thorough audit was carried out as to what bits of it date from the 1923 build. The cabsides. That's it. Nothing more. The rest dates from overhauls it had prior to withdrawal by BR and after. I, for one, suspect there are more original bits on the Stirling Single No 1.

Now, I'm not against keeping her running, far from it, but surely it would make more sense to give her a proper overhaul - replace the worn out parts, heck even beef them up if the folks doing the work understand the nature as to why they've worn out the way that they have - and all the while shoving two fingers firmly up to the people who would start foaming at the mouth screaming that it isn't authentic anymore. If they want to keep it authentic, then that is their call, but they can't have that and a working engine in that case.

I do agree with the above comment. I am glad that all of this is being discovered and corrected, yet frustrated by the ever lengthening time scale. I have never seen Scotsman close up and I intend to once she is finished and back on the rails. So long as she is working then more and more of her will be replaced and renewed, that is just the nature of the beast.

I look forward to the day when the detractors are silenced and she steams successfully again even if that is not before 2013. Two things can be taken for certain in this ever lengthening saga she will steam again and she will be in the best condition she has been for a long time.

I will be there for a ride, I will bet my flat cap on that.

Ay up!

It certainly does seem as though all those bodges "Just to get its new ticket" are catching up with her now.

Still look on the bright side. If there is summat wrong, Mr Riley will not only find it but know how to fix it. She's in very safe hands.

Is there still a spare A3 boiler knocking about, we could build the rest up at not much more than this restoretion and have Flying Fox as well as Scotsman.
Edit- even better we could call it Grand Parade and not be to far wrong.