RMweb Gold adb968008 Posted February 26 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 26 (edited) 6 hours ago, phil-b259 said: I really don't see how a brakeman being sat at the end of a siding for decades can be counted as a 'celebrity' - by that same thought process the open wagon which has been sitting in the siding by the north portal of Haywards Heath tunnel must also be a 'celebrity' As for people with industry influence trying to save it - with respect even within the industry its very easy for people to overvalue something and elevate in their mind to have a status which is not warranted in a wider context. whats more incredible is 45015 has outlived it. 😀 The chance to see 45015 on a train with the haywards heath ballast wagon, the maidstone mermaid and the shenfield shark has been lost forever… but most preserved railways can create scenes of isolated dereliction. Edited February 26 by adb968008 4 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Steven B Posted February 26 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 26 Most preserved railways do create scenes of isolated dereliction. Most have sidings of stuff gradually rotting away - most historically more important that this Shark. Steven B. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
micklner Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 I last saw it pre Covid, it was rotten then. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Clive Mortimore Posted February 26 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 26 1 hour ago, Steven B said: Most preserved railways do create scenes of isolated dereliction. Most have sidings of stuff gradually rotting away - most historically more important that this Shark. Steven B. They might be more import as railway artifacts but to the thousands of people with no railway interest who passed the "Shenfield Shark" twice daily for 30 plus years it will be missed with some affection. 1 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickham Green too Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 2 hours ago, Arun Sharma said: ... were those distinctive buffers only ever used on Sharks? The LMS didn't use them on many other vehicles - but they're very similar ( if not identical ) to those you'd find on many GWR, SECR or SR wagons. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold adb968008 Posted February 26 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 26 3 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said: They might be more import as railway artifacts but to the thousands of people with no railway interest who passed the "Shenfield Shark" twice daily for 30 plus years it will be missed with some affection. They might miss it, but how many will pay to see it, if it were preserved somewhere else .? preservation isnt really about sentimentality any more, its about survival of the fittest. its conceivable someday we have a collection of boring emotionless assets with no history or persona, but they work mechanically, so can earn their keep. is that better than having a collection of emotional wrecks that will never work again and spend forever in housing needing benefits ? A lot of viable preserved diesels have bitten the dust.. just recently we were told a 31 was scrapped because of its tyres (which are the same size as a stanier tender wheel.. if its now that unforgiving an environment maybe we will see some stanier locos scrapped for cash or laid up forever costing a fortune due to cost of tender tyres ?) its a shame to lose the shark, but its memory remains, someday a later generation, with more cash, spirit and determination may preserve more of todays modern railway, but a gap in history will endure in the hobby from the 90’s to whenever that day may come… reflecting the change from passion to economic preservation, which will largely reflect the nations own state of economy too.. stories of the lost shark and other lost assets may feed that spirit. 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickham Green too Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 4 minutes ago, adb968008 said: ... its conceivable someday we have a collection of boring emotionless assets with no history or persona, but they work mechanically, so can earn their keep. ... ... but we'd only have boring emotionless people with no incentive to PAY for them to earn their keep. Wareham, 3/6/23 : a very 'got at' unit in compliance with every safety rule under the sun .... totally non-authentic and - I believe - NOT earning their keep. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold adb968008 Posted February 26 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 26 (edited) 1 hour ago, Wickham Green too said: ... but we'd only have boring emotionless people with no incentive to PAY for them to earn their keep. Wareham, 3/6/23 : a very 'got at' unit in compliance with every safety rule under the sun .... totally non-authentic and - I believe - NOT earning their keep. I’d love to ride the only 1st gen units that are easily accessible, on the mainline but the dates and times dont align... it feels more like a BR recreation than a practical train service. If this was a steam hauled service to Wareham i’m not sure it’d be much better on the current plan. imo the DCE from Victoria was better, just need a decent sized turntable, and they’d steal the weymouth railtour business overnight. Swanage maybe better copying Epping/Ongar’s model.. of running down the branch shy of the mainline to a new park/ride at Furzebrook and putting a vintage or opentop bus on to Wareham the competition isnt the train, its the car… and local feed is tourists looking for a day out arriving by car… As long as a rail ticket from Bournemouth for 2 adults and 2 kids costs more than a car park, the car wins… so Wareham adds no value imo… perhaps if it ran from Bournemouth once a day in summer it might do better… its a tourist train, not an SWR commuter service. Hopefully that DMU could do a few railtours away from “home”.. i’d love to ride that out of Paddington or along the gwml, might be a shrewd investment for lsl… Edited February 26 by adb968008 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 Is the Ancaster one still there? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Fox 34F Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 The Ancaster Brake Van was doing a good impression of an Ivy Bush, when I last looked at it in August 2021, whilst hunting for cows on the line! They had been a plan to remove it in about 2005, by dragging along the Siding to the station level crossing to place on a Low-loader. There was a corporate project to tidy up the railway at the time. The subsequent removal of the pointwork, put paid to that idea. Paul 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete the Elaner Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 I have only just seen this. I was thinking about it on Sunday, wondering if it was still there, when I saw one of my model Sharks on the table. I guess it would have been so seized that the easiest way to remove it was to cut it up on site especially as, per a previous comment, it was dumped there in the first place because of a faulty wheel bearing. & also, how long would it take before an untouched, rotting, rusting machine begins to be potentially dangerous? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
admiles Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 (edited) 21 hours ago, adb968008 said: whats more incredible is 45015 has outlived it. 😀 The chance to see 45015 on a train with the haywards heath ballast wagon, the maidstone mermaid and the shenfield shark has been lost forever… but most preserved railways can create scenes of isolated dereliction. You forgot the SR brakevan at Manea which is another forgotten East Anglian relic of near mythical status... Edited February 27 by admiles 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Bucoops Posted February 27 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 27 48 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said: I have only just seen this. I was thinking about it on Sunday, wondering if it was still there, when I saw one of my model Sharks on the table. I guess it would have been so seized that the easiest way to remove it was to cut it up on site especially as, per a previous comment, it was dumped there in the first place because of a faulty wheel bearing. & also, how long would it take before an untouched, rotting, rusting machine begins to be potentially dangerous? As I understand it they gas-axed the seized brakes, then rolled it to the other end where it was then broken up. What i don't know is HOW they rolled it and how easily or not it moved. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickham Green too Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 1 hour ago, Pete the Elaner said: ... how long would it take before an untouched, rotting, rusting machine begins to be potentially dangerous? Dangerous to whom ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted February 27 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 27 Just now Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Reorte Posted February 28 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 28 Any particular reason why it was removed now? Siding needed (whether as a siding, or pulled up and replaced with something else)? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium phil-b259 Posted February 28 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 28 41 minutes ago, Reorte said: Any particular reason why it was removed now? Siding needed (whether as a siding, or pulled up and replaced with something else)? Probably because it was representing a risk to the adjacent running line! Given its deteriorating condition it wouldn't have taken much for the body to become foul of the adjacent line with the potential for a in service train to crash into it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheatley Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 It's entirely possible someone got fed up looking at it instituted a 'Safe Cess' style tidy up and there's only 4 weeks left to spend this year's budget. Which is allegedly how Appleby P Way ended up with half the LMR's annual output of concrete troughing one year. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Clive Mortimore Posted February 28 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 28 3 hours ago, Reorte said: Any particular reason why it was removed now? Siding needed (whether as a siding, or pulled up and replaced with something else)? No idea but has gone 😟 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickham Green too Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 5 hours ago, Reorte said: ... pulled up and replaced with something else)? Probably a car park extension ............... incidentally, what's that brick hut ? - looks to be of some age. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northmoor Posted February 28 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 28 On 26/02/2024 at 09:30, phil-b259 said: In the case of the Shenfield shark I seem to recall the problem it was manifestly unfit to be hauled by rail but its location under 25KV OLE and right next to a running line meant repairs were programmatic and it was impossible to recover by any other means. Many years ago attempts were made to preserve a Class 304 unit that was parked in sidings South of Stafford. @25kVwill remember the story better but I think I've got this right..... There was road access to the site next to siding #1 (which wasn't electrified) but the unit was on siding #3 or #4, which were wired. It was insisted that the unit obtained a fitness to run (FTR) certificate - which might have allowed it to be towed to Aberdeenshire - before it could be shunted two roads to the left at 1mph. There were some difficulties arranging access to do this - probably because they would be working under wires - and eventually the small group had to abandon thoughts of preservation. The unit was sold for scrap and without obtaining an FTR, was shunted two roads to the left and broken up on site. I'm not nostalgic about the Shenfield Shark - yes, it would have been nice if someone like John Jolly had been able to buy it - but never underestimate how much some people will hide behind process when it means they can avoid doing something. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickham Green too Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 6 minutes ago, Northmoor said: ... would have been nice if someone like John Jolly had been able to buy it ... He's got a BR-built SECR one - but there seem to be about fifty others out there on http://www.ws.rhrp.org.uk/ws/wsearch.asp 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
25kV Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 1 hour ago, Northmoor said: never underestimate how much some people will hide behind process when it means they can avoid doing something. Oh yes indeed. I'd managed to blank the whole Stafford situation - 304 008 and 013 I think, if memory serves. I have photos somewhere, but I'm not even sure from memory if the road they were on was wired. It wouldn't surprise me if the "shunt" was carried out by means of the grabber. 😉 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Hal Nail Posted February 28 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 28 (edited) On 26/02/2024 at 17:16, Wickham Green too said: The LMS didn't use them on many other vehicles - but they're very similar ( if not identical ) to those you'd find on many GWR, SECR or SR wagons. Very similar to early BR hydraulic buffers used on presflos as well. Incidentally the photos of the other end of the Shark show different Oleos. Edited February 28 by Hal Nail 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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