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Big Chinese thing at the NRM


Sweeps
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Each time I visit the NRM I never fail to be blown away by the enormous size of the Chinese steam locomotive it's a brute. I suppose due to its size it would have had to arrive at the NRM by road but even so it would have been a tricky operation. I don't suppose these's anything similar preserved in working order?

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There's some Chinese QJs preserved in the US

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Railways_QJ#QJ_Class_in_the_United_States

The NRM loco is a KF

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Railways_KF built in the UK, hence being in the museum.

The only place in the UK to see bigger than UK loading gauge locos running is the Nene Valley railway, who have a Danish and a Swedish loco, although neither are particularly big.

Edited by Talltim
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There's some Chinese QJs preserved in the US

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Railways_QJ#QJ_Class_in_the_United_States

The NRM loco is a KF

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Railways_KF built in the UK, hence being in the museum.

The only place in the UK to see bigger than UK loading gauge locos running is the Nene Valley railway, who have a Danish and a Swedish loco, although neither are particularly big.

 

 

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There's some Chinese QJs preserved in the UShttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Railways_QJ#QJ_Class_in_the_United_States

The NRM loco is a KF https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Railways_KF built in the UK, hence being in the museum.

The only place in the UK to see bigger than UK loading gauge locos running is the Nene Valley railway, who have a Danish and a Swedish loco, although neither are particularly big.

A Chinese JS Class (2-8-2) was actually bought brand new by the Boone & Scenic Valley RR in Iowa in the late 1980s.
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There's some Chinese QJs preserved in the US

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Railways_QJ#QJ_Class_in_the_United_States

The NRM loco is a KF

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Railways_KF built in the UK, hence being in the museum.

The only place in the UK to see bigger than UK loading gauge locos running is the Nene Valley railway, who have a Danish and a Swedish loco, although neither are particularly big.

There's also one of the Finnish Tk3 2-8-0 locos in working order, but it's on a private site.

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I think it came by road from Liverpool Docks.

 

 

Jason

Well yes, but it still had to be delivered by rail over the last bit, iirc, as it's not possible to access Leeman Road with high loads due to low bridges. The NRM is a bit 'land locked' in that respect, in the same way as the GWS at Didcot has to have stock moved in/out by rail

Edited by MarkC
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  • 2 weeks later...
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Maybe we should take the wires down so we can run full size trains.

 

Locomotive exchange - 60103 gets a holiday across the pond again and we get 4014 fresh out of overhaul? Of course all the steam sites in the UK would need to donate the coal just to run it for one season....

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  • 11 months later...

I was chatting to a former NRM employee and one of his jobs was to clean the Chinese loco in the NRM. He said he liked cleaning it as the loco has a huge deep tender and that enabled him to have a few hours "kip" 

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Locomotive exchange - 60103 gets a holiday across the pond again and we get 4014 fresh out of overhaul? Of course all the steam sites in the UK would need to donate the coal just to run it for one season....

Possibly, but seeing the U.P. are converting it to an oil burner.......

Ray.

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The only place in the UK to see bigger than UK loading gauge locos running is the Nene Valley railway, who have a Danish and a Swedish loco, although neither are particularly big.

 

HS1 and the Eurotunnel terminal also operate larger than UK loading gauge locos. The Eurotunnel locos need moving by road to and from Brush at Loughborough for maintenance. 

 

But you're right about the NVR for steam locos. It's a pity they no longer have the Kriegslok. 

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ISTR it spending soime time on the back of a low loader parked in Woodhouse station yard near Sheffield, so probably came in via Harwich?

 

Mike.

 

It came from Liverpool Docks. Where it went from there is a different matter. Probably not a good idea to go over the Pennines so it maybe went south.

 

There were photographs of it in the magazines being lifted by the big crane that was used for lifting locomotives. Mammoth.

 

Built for exporting locomotives built at Vulcan, Beyer Peacock and other local works. They've used it for other locomotives including Flying Scotsman and the two A4s.

 

Flying Scotsman.

 

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/incoming/gallery/liverpool-docks-through-the-decades-7294190

 

Here it is picking up the Pakistan engine going to Manchester.

 

https://blog.msimanchester.org.uk/pakistan-railways-sps-3157-part-two/

 

And here's a similar sized locomotive coming from Manchester for export.

 

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/steam-locomotive-type-8-10-0-built-by-beyer-peacock-and-co-news-photo/3288650?#/25th-may-1948-a-steam-locomotive-type-8100-built-by-beyer-peacock-and-picture-id3288650

 

 

 

Jason

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Steamtown at Carnforth had French and German pacific locos but they only ran on the short lines within the site. Bought by Peter Beet, both engines now returned to mainland Europe I believe.

01 1104, the German Pacific, is due to return to traffic this year. 231 K 22 is on display at Heilbronn.
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I discussed this thread today with a dear friend who helped facilitate the shipping to the UK, and was part of the presentation party at York. A rather smashing tale and he will write it down so I can post it here with his permission.

 

And here it is:

 

" I got involved when I was at Bob Symes summer Get together Tony Hall-Patch approached me and said Peter I know you are in shipping, and I have a problem. I asked what it was and he told me that it was 120 tons on the quayside in China.

 

My immediate thoughts were that I knew little of the China shipping scene, I did recall the Rickmers Line had traded with China through the cultural revolution. A week or so later I attended the Australian & Far East shipping conference meetings which were held in Claridges. The evening before the meetings we had a private dinner for the delegates. The chairman that year was the MD of Hapag Lloyd so after dinner when coffee was served I went round the table to talk to him. I explained the problem and asked if he had contacts with Rickmers. Oh yes, he said, they are a sister company. He said he was also a lover of railways and would arrange for Rickmers to carry the loco at cost. My reply was to thank him and offer him another Port!

 

The loco and tender were loaded on the ship using two wire strops which bent the coupling rods. All went quiet until the ship was due into Rotterdam and road trailers were on standby to bring the loco and tender back via north sea ferry.

 

About four days before the ship was due, we heard that she was coming to London. It was to a berth on the Surrey/Kent side opposite Tilbury Docks. I made enquiries with the London authorities and they said no to taking the loads through London. So I called the PLA office in Gravesend to find out if they still had the Mammouth Crane in service. I was greeted by the Port Captain who I turned out had been in service with my family ship owning company.

 

He said they would arrange to lift the loco and tender with the crane and take them across the Thames to Tilbury and load the road trailers there.

 

The great day arrived and a fine party of railway journalists and other rail seniors joined us on the ship. The loco and tender were lifted off and the crane made two trips without incident. Job done so far as I was concerned.

 

I heard that the loco and tender were dragged through York Station's middle road at about 5am. I can find no photos of this.

 

Some time later when the cosmetic tidy up was completed the formal handover by the Chinese ambassador was held in the NRM. We travelled up on the HST and I was awarded a footplate ride. The elderly Colonel Cantley who was the rail consultant for the original building and purchase of the class was able to see his baby returned.

 

Hope this helps "

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