Castle

Hi Keith, When answering that question, you have to remember the way that locomotives were overhauled at Swindon. For a major overhaul, it went in and was dismantled. The tender went to the tender shop, the boiler to the boiler shop and so on. Parts were checked and if they needed work, the next available refurbished part was taken from stores and the previous went in for refurbishment. As a loco got older, there was less and less of the original locomotive left. I’ll predictably quote from the record sheets of No. 4079 as it is the engine I’m most familiar with and I published them in the back of my Haynes Castle Class Manual (all good book stores and all!) so you can see the actual document that is in the GWT collection at Didcot. Over its 40 year working life, Pendennis Castle had: Three new sets of cylinders 18 boiler changes 37 tender swaps and 40 visits to Swindon - the equivalent of one a year! Most of those are what is called light repairs which meant that the whole loco wasn’t stripped down. But if you think that every time that happened, bits might be exchanged - the only bits we are sure is Pendennis Castle from construction in 1924 are the main frames. The number of repairs and the amount of stampings of the loco number on them confirms that much. We can also confirm the name and number plates. The rest is open to debate and indeed the following modifications were done to the locomotive itself off the top of my head (by no means an exhaustive list): Buffers Sanders (all three configurations have been fitted) 3 to 5 glass lubricator which added the second oil pipe cover on the fireman’s side of the smokebox Bogie brakes removed Different styles of driving wheels The addition of the fire iron tool tunnel on the fireman’s side running plate Removal of the vertical brass trim on the front edge of the cab Steam pipes from smokebox to outer cylinder style changed So the answer as far as the original Windsor Castle goes (it was of similar age to No. 4079) - probably not a lot. The Ex No. 7013? Being newer, a little more. It goes to prove the old thought about steam locomotives in the main being like Trigger’s broom or Cromwell’s Knife. The parts might have been changed many times but the engine goes on and that very tricky word ‘originality’, is somewhat a moot point... I hope this helps! All the best, Castle

Hi All, Is this one of those ‘send him to the naughty step’ moments? All the best, Castle

Hi Rob, That’s interesting having preordered it - I haven’t received any notifications at all... Full write up on Little Didcot when the work is done of course... All the best, Castle

Hi Scott, That is exactly how I did it. I used glue and glaze as well although I must admit to cheating with the top tiny wimdows. I just used the glue and glaze which works very well and will go flush if you are careful. A few of the panes required the lightest of passes with a fine abrasive of your choice. Best of luck! All the best, Castle

Hi Adam, There is also a rule on the forum to never trust a new forum member to the hands of a Boris. You should also never get a Boris wet or feed a Boris after midnight. The amount of cleaning up and repairs we had to do after the last time was frankly unbelievable... Welcome to the madhouse! All the best, Castle

Hi All, That’s great to know that seeing the bits count as a cop because as a child of the mid 1970s I get to tick all sorts off! Take a look at No. 4079 and there are bits from Nos.4074, 5030, 7024 and many more! There’s King and a Star in there too... All the best, Castle

I agree - it means that the engine starts to appeal to the next generation and is truly enjoyed! I know the purists might balk a little bit I don’t think it hurts on occasion and it’s the best way to get younger fans interested. One of the reasons we do it is so that as many people as possible enjoy seeing and riding behind her. I can’t wait! All the best, Castle

Cheeky! It will before Christmas. I’m just saying WHICH Christmas... All the best, Castle

Hi Pete, Shows what memory does for you! I could have sworn that... Thanks for the save mate! Any Castle Class Loco questions anyone? Anyone? I’ll get my coat... All the best, Castle

Hi David, Now we are into the oddities! The thing to remember about No. 111 is that very little of the original locomotive remained after the 1924 rebuild. Some say that it was a portion of the frames were reused and others say new frames were used, making it more an ‘accountants rebuild’ type thing. One of the reasons for her rebuild was that the cylinders were worn and it needed a new boiler and therefore the opportunity was taken to make it a more standard and useful machine without the large weight penalty. Don’t forget that the Castles were more powerful than The Great Bear by 13% but had a far wider route availability. The locomotive was to all intents and purposes the same as what I have referred to as a ‘Mk. 1 Castle’. So much so that the works shot of No. 111 with its unique tender was dated as being taken in March 1924. Quite remarkable when you consider the engine wasn’t completed until September... It was definitely a production Castle in temporary disguise in that picture! She had many of the modifications that all the fleet had during her career and I would recommend a photo of your chosen time period for accuracy. Unlike Nos. 4000 and 100 A1, she did receive a tool tunnel on the fireman’s side running plate as did all the other locos that weren’t built with it. Note that locos that had the tool tunnel added rather than being built with it, lost the vertical brass heading on the front of the cab. She was also built with bogie brakes but these disappeared fairly early on. No. 4079’s were gone by the time she was on the LNER in 1925. One of the reasons you don’t see it often modelled I suspect is that she went to the great shed in the sky fairly early on in 1953. The Hornby model of Caerphilly Castle would do for an early representation. Tender swaps would be required for later incarnations as per my model of No. 4079 which can be found on Little Didcot. She carried a Churchward 3,500 gallon until a light repair at Swindon in mid 1929. After that, according to the record, she was always paired with a Collett 4,000 gallon unit. That’s enough wittering on from me! All the best, Castle

Hi All, How about I introduce you all to 10 River Gardens, Purley-on-Thames - err - I mean Dean six wheel family saloon No. 2511. http://www.didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/coaches/2511/2511.html This one is a really important survivor as it has a full original GWR interior in over 60% of the vehicle. If it was good enough for the well to do of the Dean era then it was good enough as a house too! One end is empty (used as the kitchen) and the other (used as the living room) was used as withdrawn in 1937. The GWR bathrooms are in there too! Enjoy! All the best, Castle

You’ve got it Simon! All the best, Castle

No worries! All the best, Castle

Hi Keith, Right, as has been said - not all of them made it all the way with the scalloped or Vauxhall type inside cylinder valve covers. There are of course two types of the Vauxhall style cover. The early narrow version is on what I like to think of as the Castles with the Star style joggled front frames. Think of this as your Mk. 1 Castle. Your Mk. 2 Castle is the first type with ‘standard’ straight through frames with the dish to allow clearance for the front bogie wheels to turn. These had a new wider inside cylinder block and as a result their Vauxhall style cover was wider too. So the first point is I assume you mean the Mk 1 batch (4073 - 4092) and not the Mk. 2 batch (4093 - 5012). As has been pointed out, Star conversions complicate things a bit but I also assume we are talking thoroughbred Castles here... Before we get into it - yes, all the preserved Castles have the later curve/curve style outer cylinder steam pipes. The earlier ones which were curve/straight/curve were prone to fractures and were replaced as a matter of course. The list of Mk. 1Castle Vauxhall front retention as I can best see it goes like this although this is a quick scan through a couple of books and is open to being wrong! Looking through the list, Nos. 73 & 79 were REALLY lucky to survive with the original look! There are lots of other stuff that changed too and if you want to know the full story then all the loco histories are presented in Ian Sixsmith’s excellent tome - ‘The Book of the Castles’, Irwell Press, ISBN 978-1-906919-04-7. All of the shed, boiler and tender allocations of all 171 are in there. I hope this helps and if there are any more questions or revisions to my list please shout out. I’ve put a question mark next to the ones I’m not sure over with a cursory glance. All the best, Castle 4073 - Y 4074 - N 4075 - Y 4076 - N 4077 - N 4078 - N 4079 - Y 4080 - N 4081 - Y 4082 - It’s sort of complicated! The engine withdrawn as 4082 (really 7013) N and the engine withdrawn as 7013 (really 4082) N. Actually, as they both were withdrawn without, I guess it isn’t complicated. I’ll get my coat... 4083 - Y? 4084 - Y 4085 - N 4086 - Y 4087 - N 4088 - N 4089 - N 4090 - N 4091 - Y 4092 - Y?

Hi Scott, Right - her we go! There is a cross bar behind the window which is the white line you are seeing. The second shot with the vertical bars is the REAR windows of No. 190 at the luggage compartment end. No. 190 is presented in the condition that it was built in. These windows were removed later on when it was found that coal falling off the locomotive smashed them on a regular basis! They were eliminated entirely on later versions. Look at No. 231 which is Hawksworth and you will see that they were never fitted. Interestingly, No. 92 (Churchward era) was fitted with side windows and a corridor gangway. I’m not sure what you mean about the bell being central - it’s over the drivers window and if you have a look at where the controls are on my picture of No. 93, you will imagine where it is. I hope this helps! All the best, Castle Edit: Quick grab off of Wikipedia to illustrate the bell placement:

Hi Roger, No need to be silent, we all like a chat! I look forward to meeting you on the tour good sir! All the best, Castle

Hi Rob, Depends on the lamp type but many have a red glass filter that you can slide in to go from white to red. All the best, Castle

Hi All, The last bit is certainly true John - we need a bit of Stationmasterly advice me thinks... All the best, Castle

No worries Scott - it’s a pleasure to help! I forgot a little bit about the steam heat pipe which I have now added. All the best, Castle

Hi Scott, This might help a bit - it’s the rear cab of Railmotor No. 93 but it is essentially the same as any other GWR auto trailer. The fire extinguisher is a modern requirement of lighting a fire in a wooden bodied coach - albeit in a nice firebox at the other end... Here we go. Left to right we have: The cover for the mechanism that leads down to the universal joint that connects to the locomotive regulator (the power bogie in this case). The rod goes up to the regulator handle. This has a quadrant that is ratcheted and the pawl is engaged and disengaged by the lever on the handle. The short lever poking up through the floor is the sander. Then there is the handbrake. This is a standard coach type. The red thing on the pedestal is the vacuum brake and it is connected to the gauge above the window. The large chain has a loop to ‘lock’ the handbrake. The small chain has a small metal pin on it that is put into a hole at the base of the handle to prevent it moving when the loco or power bogie is being controlled from the other end. Top right is the whistle cord (a wire rope) and the bell system to communicate with the fireman. There is an electric bell at the top, then a cast metal plate that has the instructions on it and then the push button. I don’t think this is in the kit. Missing from this one but included in the Dart kit and in later vehicles is the ATC box which is a a rectangular box with a bell on top of it. The bell is brass and the box is green. It is usually mounted next to the brake handle to the right of the brake valve with the rounded top just poking up above the bottom of the window. Another bit not in here but in the auto trailer but also not in the kit is a silver pipe that goes in a sort of U shape horizontally across the middle bit of the front wall with a mason type valve (found on the upper left of a GWR locomotive back head) to the left of the mechanism guard and that is a steam heat pipe. It’s different in this one as the steam heat is all in one because of the power bogie at the other end. I hope this helps! All the best, Castle

Hi All, I spotted this in W. H. Smiths in Reading - I don’t know if this is funny but it’s a bit scary... Is murder a leisure / pastime activity now? Yikes! All the best, Castle

Hi All, (engage non-official mode) Phil - just to let you know, the vehicles involved were the Sleeping Accommodation Mk3, Hawksworth full brake No. 316 (buy far the worst affected), the tender earmarked for the 47XX project and brakedown tender No. 1. Thankfully, the shed full of locos just a few meters away in the shed were unaffected. Can you imagine the cost of the damage caused had they decided to go in there? It looks to my untrained eye and not knowing the inside ‘workings’ of such a mind, that it was all done to be seen from NR’s curve alongside the main demonstration line. On a personal note, it is soul destroying to think that we work so hard to preserve the country’s heritage for the nation and a few people like this can think it acceptable to undo our work at a stroke. It’s also just sad that they value stuff like this so little and in a way I pity them that they will never get the same sense of pride and wonder at this nations magnificent industrial past. Poor them. Sadly, the only way they will affect anything is that time, money and energy we have to be spent to sort this out. This of course delays everything else we do. That won’t stop me though... All the best, Castle

Hi Kelly, It would be great to see you both - I hope you can make it this time! All the best, Castle

Ok Liam - let me know closer to the time! All the best, Castle

Hi Andy, No problem - I shall note you down for a place good sir! No, Pendennis hasn’t been evicted (!), we have gone forward into the shed to use the inspection pit. It’s also given the No. 3650 Crew a chance to get stuck into dismantling the boiler internals. It also means that visitors get to see No. 4079 while she is in this almost complete state so it’s win-win all round! The K40 as I (a mere loco chap) understand it, the conversion as is being done was at least proposed by the GWR but not carried out. I’m sure Pete S (K14) will be along soon to correct me! All the best, Castle PS: a sneak preview of this summer’s ‘wee engine’ hire...