|
August saw by far the largest number of hits on this website following the news appearing that Andrew had decided to reduce the size of the collection. We thank those who have offered their good wishes and invite those mystified by the sudden reversal to "read between the lines" and remember that Andrew (and his Dad) do this as a hobby, which ought therefore to be relaxing and enjoyable. We have stoically tried to stay out of politics at more than one railway (and on one occasion, ended up being accused by both 'sides' of supporting the other!) but the Elsecar situation was in many senses a final straw.
On the good news side, Andrew is pleased to announce that North British "Coronation" has been sold, and will be leaving Elsecar in a couple of weeks to return to its first home in preservation - the Foxfield Railway. Its page on this website has therefore been closed and it will henceforth appear in the "Gone, not forgotten" page, as will the others that Andrew is intending to release. Again, a condition of sale is that should the new owner(s) decide to sell again in the future, Andrew is given the opprtunity of buying it back, should future circumstances suit.
Sentinel steam loco "George" is on offer through Heritage Transport Supplies - contact Martyn Ashworth for more information.
Sentinel 0-6-0DH "Tom" has now moved from Rutland Railway Museum to Telford, although its torque converter still remains further east! Andrew visited the loco at the August Bank Holiday weekend to do a more detailed assessment and found a number of things that would be better dealt with now, rather than have to stop the loco for further repairs later. Notably a broken bolt in a flywheel dowel and spalled rear engine mounts -which appear to have gone hard with age - together suggest that a power unit lift to improve the mounts, swop flywheel for a spare and fit the converter before re-installing the complete power unit would be a safer and more sensible course of action. Nevertheless it is planned to progress this work as early as practical to get the loco into running condition.
"Tom" at Horsehay on August Bank Holiday Monday, 2010
Some work has also been carried out on "Beverley" at Scunthorpe, with the revamped radiator filler cap being fitted, threads cleaned preparatory to reassembling the casing front, and the second converter cooler hose being connected to the new cooler. New power unit mounts for the 03 at Scunthorpe have been delayed while a new flex-mounting system is devised for the Class 14's engine at Peak Rail, as it was planned to order all components together.
The exhauster for Drewry 72229 has been moved away from Elsecar for safe-keeping. It will be reassembled shortly and fitted back to the loco - two railways have offered homes for the loco but no immediate decision has been taken for its re-location.
Finally, the last few weeks unwelcome developments caused a minor crisis at Railway Magazine which had just finished an article on Andrew's collection, but a judicious re-write by Messrs Pigott and Thomas salvaged the situation. We invite you to buy the October edition (pages 21-3) to see for yourself.
|
