Tag Archive for: Volunteers

A new smokebox door for a new LNWR George the Fifth!

Well here is it and I’m sure you’ll agree that even with a temporary coat of paint, the result is fantastic and it’s worth noting that this is the first large LNWR smokebox door with original fittings seen since the 1920’s. The work is a credit to Jamie and his team at Keyte Smith Ltd.

Since we posted this on our Facebook page, we’ve received over 100 hits on the photos in the first 20 minutes. As mentioned in the previous blog update, the door will on display at the Great Central Railway’s ‘Easter Vintage Festival‘ at Quorn Station from tomorrow through to Mondat 21st. So come along, be a part of something special and help us create a legacy for present and future generations by donating or volunteering your time!

Door-Outer-1Door-Outer-2

Successful weekend at the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition

To begin with, we’d like to express our thanks and gratitude, both to the organisers of the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition for organising this excellent event and for the support they’ve shown to us, and to the many visitors who paid us a visit at our stand over the two days of the exhibition. We are truly humbled by the enthusiastic interest and many epxressions of support the project including dozens who signed on as ‘Friends of George’. We would also like to thank those existing supporters who dropped by for a chat. Thanks one and all! (Incidentally, if you would like to become a ‘Friend of George’ it’s of course never too late. There’s absolutely no cost and you will receive periodic news updates from us on the progress of the build – so to become a ‘Friend of George click here!)

While we manned the stand, it was gratifying to have people came up to tell us how important our project is; ‘an iconic British locomotive’ and how different it is, a pre-First World War engine and an 4-4-0 for mainline running. As one person put it ‘Of all the new build projects this is the one where success is most important.’ Who are we to disagree!

Additionally there were a few invitations from various societies inviting us to give them a talk on the build. One gentleman told us of his grandfather who used to drive Georges and that at his home in Crewe he had a picture of a George on one side of his mantelpiece and a 4-6-0 on the other – he called them his ‘ladies’! In addition to the usual team Mrs Hibberd had a go on the stand on the Sunday and in the end was putting up a very credible solo performance -as she puts it ‘you just need to say the word superheat every so often and it goes down very well!

In no small part, part of the pleasure derived from this project arises form the people you meet and the personal stories they share, either of dim personal memories or of close family members and loved ones, often now passed, who had some association with the class and the London & North Western Railway or London, Midland & Scottish Railway. These personal stories enthrall us. They mean as much to us as your support and each account paints a picture of the life of the class and of the men and women who worked on the LNWR and the LMS.

We hope that this project will be a testament to their stories and their legacies.

If you would like to share a personal account – a personal reminiscence or a family story involving the LNWR George the Fifth class or more generally, of any London and North Western class, we’d like to hear from you. With your permission, your accounts will be published here and we’ll open these accounts to comments from our readers. To share your story, send it to GeorgeVtrust@gmail.com.

It would be remiss of us not to mention the fine chaps at ‘The Unknown Warrior’ who had a stand close to ours and with whom we have a strong rapport. Their project is an inspiration to us, and their advice has been invaluable.

Members of the LMS Society

Members of the LMS Society, David Hunt and Adian Tester, both authors of several definitive works with Tom and Paul from the Trust.

Our Stand at Warley with Tom and Paul discussing the project with a visitor.

Our Stand at Warley with Tom and Paul discussing the project with a visitor.

Paul and Tom manning our stand at Warley with 'The Unknown Warrior' looming in the background!

Paul and Tom manning our stand at Warley with ‘The Unknown Warrior’ looming in the background!

These photos taken by Bruce Nixon, who was in attendace and is one of our trustees.

October Newsletter now available.

We’re now making our October Newsletter generally available to all to download. This was sent out to our supporters and friends in October. You will require Adobe reader installed to view the document. If you don’t have it installed (and most people do), you can download it for free here: Adobe Reader

Get your copy of the October Newsletter here:

LNWRGeorgeV_Oct2013_Newsletter

To view if you have Adobe Reader installed just left click on the link. If you wish to save it first, right click on the link and select ‘Saved Linked Content As’

 

The London & North Western Railway Society 40th Anniversay Meeting

The trust will be present at the 40th Anniversary meeting of the The London & North Western Railway Society at Kidderminster Railway Museum on the Severn Valley Railway on the 3rd August.

Admission is free and open to the public. Events kick off at 10:30AM and will continue through to 5:30PM.

10.30am-12.30pm – “The Crewe – Shrewsbury Line” by Bob Yate, author of The Railways and Locomotives of the Lilleshall Company, By Great Western to Crewe” (the Wellington – Market Drayton – Nantwich line), The Shropshire Union Railway and Canal Company and The South Staffordshire Railway, plus numerous articles in magazines and journals. 

1pm – 2pm – The Build a George the Fifth Project – A Progress Report.

2.30pm-5.30pm – “Coal Tank 1054 – its Restoration and Operation” by Pete Skellon, author of Bashers, Gadgets and Mourners, the Life and Times of the LNWR Coal Tanks.

 Exhibition of paintings by Gerald Broom, Roger Markland and John Wardle. 

There will also be a number of stands, including our own displaying LNWR artifacts including nameplates, memorabilia, archives and models. The LNWR Society will also host a stand.

We cordially invite our followers, supporters, their families and friends to come along.  Please drop by to say hello and while you’re there be sure to check the exhibits at the Kidderminster Railway Museum and take a ride on the marvellous Severn Valley Railway.

We’re in the latest issue of Heritage Hub

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Rowan and the lads at Heritage Hub for the write-up in their latest issue of their excellent digital magazine. If you’re unfamiliar with Heritage Hub we strongly recommend checking it out. The UK Heritage Hub exists to foster interest in the wide diversity of heritage available within the UK. Galas, open days, and themed events. A group of dedicated volunteers, the lads at The Heritage Hub provide a vital service to the heritage rail movement as well as a cracking good read. You can find the current issue (featuring us) and back issues here:

Heritage Hub download page.

You can also follow them on Twitter here: @UKHeritageHub

Richard Coleby

As fabrication finally gets underway we’ve been critically assessing the designs and pouring over reports of the engine’s performance whilst in service to identify flaws and investigate where and how to incorporate the best of modern practice while remaining as true as possible to the original design. To this end Ted Talbot, Peter Stanton and Jamie Keyte among others are dedicating their invaluable time and expertise to the task, and we hope to report more on their involvement as the project progresses.

A task of building a new-build of an extinct class is a fine balancing act – that is, how to be true to the original design while ensuring that any design flaws when identified, aren’t repeated or are at least mitigated. In the case of the LNWR George the Fifth class, we are dealing with a design that is over 100 years old. We have the benefit of hindsight arising from reports into the service life of the class (which themselves have to be investigated for their veracity or potential bias – take the reports of ‘flimsy frames‘ for example, which appears to have been unwarranted) and of 100 years of subsequent practice in locomotive engineering specifically and engineering and metallurgy more generally.

And so in addition to the tremendous pool of expertise and knowledge mentioned above we are also pleased to announce the critical assistance of Derby-trained Richard Coleby who has kindly agreed to investigate reports of possible valve-gear errors in the original George the Fifth design. Richard’s impressive resume includes serving an Engineering Apprenticeship at Derby Loco Works in the final years of steam during which he gained an in-depth knowledge of the repair and maintenance of steam locomotives.

After leaving BR in 1969 he established a partnership dedicated to building large scale miniature steam locomotives and was responsible for the design of several engines including the famous Stapleford Nickel Plate Berkshire (at the time the most powerful 1/5th scale locomotive in the world) and the 59 class Garratt now residing at the NRM.

In the 1980s he was responsible for a rebuild of the Stapleford Curwen Atlantic ‘John of Gaunt’ which included many features designed to reduce maintenance requirements, such as the enclosed toary-driven valve gear, roller crossheads and big-ends and balanced slide valves. In 2009 he led the project to build ‘Norfolk Heroine’ the second Garratt on the Wells & Walsingham Light Railway and is currently working on a completely new Garratt incorporating as much modern practice as possible into a large miniature engine design.

We humbly thank Richard for his invaluable contribution, helping to ensure that this new-build George the Fifth, while a true member of the class and externally indistinguishable from its siblings will nonetheless incorporate the best of modern practice where absolutely critical so that maintenance can be minimised and service-life extended. We aim to build-to-last – an engine that will well outlast us – ensuring many decades of enjoyment for all who see her and ride behind her.

23rd Annual Crewe Luncheon of the LNWR Society

On Saturday 17th November, Paul Hibberd, Bruce Nixon and Tom Mainprize attended the annual Crewe Luncheon of the LNWR Society. There, they presented the project to the attendees. Young Tom (only 21) gave a rousing speech that was well-received by the audience. Here is the speech in full:

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you very much for allowing me a little time to speak to you.

I am Tom Mainprize and work for and with the LNWR GVT in many aspects!, I am also a trainee fireman at Didcot Railway Centre, and I help at PRCLT in the engineering works with 46233 and others., They of course have the LNWR Royal Special Saloon 5000, built at Wolverton in 1923.

Your are all probably wondering why someone aged 21 is about to talk about matters relating to the LNWR!… I do not wish to talk so much about the History of the LNWR, there are many far more informed and distinguished people in this room than I who can do the subject justice. The subject I wish to speak on, is my experience of the LNWR as someone who is from a different generation, someone who has no recollection of Steam on BR as the norm.

I may therefore perceive the LNWR and the future of the LNWR and to some respect the LNWRS in a slightly different light…

I wish to tell you the story of how I have become interested, and why I am actively involved in building of an LNWR engine that I can neither remember, nor have ever seen!
Railways are in the blood of my family. I still have a granddad who remembers streamlined red and gold, silver and blue Princess Coronations speeding though Lichfield Trent Valley ..super Ds, Big Bertha and even the occasional clanking George! I was aware that the North Western had been a really great British institution, but living in Reading it was some years before I had a firsthand experience of its territories.

It wasn’t until the age of 8 or 9 that I finally ventured to Euston. My family and I were heading to Scotland on the ScotRail Caledonian sleeper.

Arriving at Euston, by taxi you’re thrown into a concrete box, a monolith of ‘Beeching Rail’ and the world of modernisation (something of which I knew little about- apart from the obvious axing of railways). It did not occur to me that this place had ever looked different, but there was something , that for some reason in my mind set it well above Paddington, maybe it was the vast scale of the place, 18 platforms and the Caledonian sleeper, the length of which I had never seen before! Maybe it was the fact this place didn’t reflect its size and importance with a grand structure like Paddington, it just didn’t add up, and I put it to the back of my mind not thinking much of it for many years to come.

This experience which I have told you about has precious little to do with the LNWR bar the metals and places we were on. And that was the problem – I’d been to Euston but not found Euston!. It was through my readings that I finally found the conclusion to my tale, the callous wanton destruction of such a Historic and Iconic terminus. More reading followed and led me to the sad story of the LNWR, second best not only in 1923 but in 1961-2, it left a vivid impression on me: The Doric Arch- Gone, The Great Hall- Gone, Old Euston- Gone, Old New Street- Gone. Curzon Street- my only tangible link to LNWR infrastructure.

Of the locomotives it’s a similar story- the famous picture of a Precursor, Prince of Wales, and Claughton lined up at Crewe ready for the cutters torch says it all. What we have left we must cherish and appreciate them, they really show the glory of the ‘Premier Line’- the best coaches in the country (IMO) many survive thankfully, Cornwall, Hardwicke, and the only two working examples; the Super-D and the resplendent coal tank.

There is something telling me, ‘although we are very lucky to have these pieces, the LNWR faces becoming a distant chapter in our railway history’ … Why you ask? The LNWR was once the largest joint stock company in the world, but how many people actually know or remember anything about the LNWR? Even here in Crewe I’m sure average Joe couldn’t tell you why there is a road named ‘Claughton Avenue’. Maybe I am overly sceptical, but through my own experience within railway circles I heard very little about the Premier Line and I wonder how many railway enthusiasts of around my age know much about the LNWR? … I want to help correct this.

This leads me to my final words, the LNWR George the Fifth new build project is the perfect project to do this. We have an opportunity to build an LNWR express locomotive of the 20th Century and fill a big gap in LNWR heritage. It is not that other LNWR projects aren’t worthy projects; far from it they are hugely important. But this can be the flag bearer for the LNWR- a mainline engine, capable of feats not seen since Wild Duck, Deerhound or any of the other Iconic names that disappeared as it seemed for ever. An engine that will not only be of national importance but one that ‘average Joe’, railway enthusiasts and the like will come and see, I have seen it first hand with Tornado.

This George will in my eyes help revive the LNWR- the Premier Line to greatness. The commitment, along with an engine must be to excite and educate people… most importantly the next generation… on the LNWR so that this George will be seen to be deeply entwined into its history along with the other surviving locomotives and all that has been lost.

We thus achieve many things with one project, these are things that the preservation movement is grappling with and reaching inadequate answers to thus far. We can lead the way. Just like the LNWR of old. My message is therefore simple; join the George the Fifth new build project; donate if you can through subscribing or a one off donation and be part of the revival of the LNWR- and its new chapter in history!

Tom at the LuncheonMembers signing.

———

Behind the scenes work continues on finalising the contract to manufacture the smokebox door and plans are well underway regarding the next parts of the locomotive to fabricate. I know what it is and it’s very exciting, however regrettably I’m unable to share it at this stage. I know it’s very unfair of me! Finally we should have the newsletter going out shortly.

 

Upcoming events and other news.

We’ve been busy filling our calender with events for the remainder of the year. Here’s the busy schedule we’ve set for ourselves thus far…

On the 28th October, the Trust will be present with a stall at the ‘Tyseley Steam Open Day‘. We encourage all our supporters to make their way to Tyseley for a wonderful day of steam. Tyseley will be throwing open the doors of its magnificent workshops and depot so the open day is rare opportunity for the public to glimpse behind the scenes including a chance to see the progress on the restoration of 7029 Clun Castle. While there, drop by and have a chat with us and show your support with a donation or by becoming a member.

On the 9th November, Trustee Paul Hibberd along with Brian Hall of the B17 Trust will be presenting a talk on the aims and challenges of building a new build steam locomotive to the technology group of the U3A (University of the Third Age) – ‘a collection of self-help, self-managed lifelong learning co-operatives for older people no longer in full time work, providing opportunities for their members to share learning experiences in a wide range of interest groups and to pursue learning not for qualifications, but for fun’.

Paul will of course be discussing our new build project. There is a wealth of technical and practical knowledge out there, as well as unbridled enthusiasm amongst Britain’s seniors – knowledge and experience that is scandalously under-utilised in today’s society. We will of course be encouraging those interested to join us on this project.

Finally, on the 17th November the Trust will present the project at a luncheon held by the LNWR Society in Crewe. A number of the LNWR Society’s members are either actively involved or supportive of the Trust’s endeavours. We will be presenting progress and outlining plans for the future.

The luncheon is open to LNWR Society members only, however membership provides access to a wealth of knowledge and the rare archival material on the endlessly fascinating LNWR – material that has been painstakingly preserved and collated over the years by the Society’s members to become the largest single repository of information and relics pertaining to the London & North Western Railway and its constituents.  This tremendous depth of knowledge also extends to the membership, which is some 700 strong.

An update on the build itself. As it can be inferred from the previous blog post (below), the part we’ve selected for fabrication is the smokebox door. This will be the first new component of a new-build LNWR George. Building a new-build locomotive of an extinct class is like archeology. It’s proving both fascinating and enlightening to dig down through the layers and glean a better understanding of the history of a locomotive class, with all the incremental changes during the course of its working life.

The detailed plans we’ve obtained from the NRM were produced by the LMS’s Drawing Office in 1930 (signed off by Hewitt Beames – the last CME of the LNWR and successor to Charles Bowen Cooke, the designer of the LNWR George the Fifth class) and entail a few small changes to the original design, notably a door-mounted MR/LMS style lamp-iron, which differs markedly from the square-slot LNWR-style lamp-iron (these were mounted above the door with the handrail integrated in LNWR days). Checking this detailed drawing against the original LNWR drawings in our collection and against photos of Georges in service under the LNWR confirms that the door in the detailed LMS drawing is the original profile and design sans the addition of the lamp-iron and the placement of the dog-bolts (which we won’t be fabricating at this stage).

We’re currently double and triple-checking everything before proceeding as we want our George to be ‘as-built’ but things are looking good to go for the door and we hope to have more news in the coming weeks.

George at the Great Central.

What a sight that would be! A new-build LNWR George the Fifth in full-flight on Britain’s (and the world’s?) only preservation society dedicated to preserving a former mainline and operating an extended double-track where the one can experience the trill of steam engines passing at speed!

To get to this stage however, numerous small and incremental steps are required. One of those steps was the GCR Gala at Loughborough where some of the team (Tom and Paul) as well as friends and members,  Marcello Gabrielli and Richard Walsh of the Jinty Appeal (more anon) were were in attendance, manning our modest stall, taking donations, memberships and fielding questions. The response again was tremendously positive and we thank everyone who paid us a visit. We also thank the wonderful staff at the Great Central Railway and we heartedly recommend a visit if you’ve never been, and a revisit if you have.You may notice in the photo below that Paul and Tom are holding a drawing. This is a fairly obvious clue to what we’ll be fabricating first. Yes that’s letting the proverbial cat out of the bag somewhat earlier than intended but the lads are justifiably excited by this development. We hope to officially announce this shortly once all the T’s are crossed and those I’s are well-and-truly dotted.

Regarding the Jinty Appeal. We’d like to encourage our readers and members to consider assisting Marcello and Richard at the Jinty Appeal with the overhaul of 47357, an LMS 3F Jinty at Butterley. £40,000 to complete the restoration properly and the task is being undertaken by the Midland Railway -Butterley‘s younger volunteers. If you wish to assist with a donation, however small while helping the next generation of rail preservationists carry the torch you can visit the appeal’s site here.

And remember, you can be a part of making a new George the Fifth a reality. Donations can be made and memberships forms can be obtained from our website here.

See us at the Great Central Gala at Loughborough!

The trust will man a stall at the Great Central Gala at Loughborough on Sunday, 7th October.  If you’re planning to attend or just happen to be in the area, drop by to say hello and have a chat!