Fire Destroys 6 Vintage railway wagons at Bowes Museum

Thats one railway that I like to visit. It looks like a nice railway by what I seen by pictures is it about 5 miles long? oh and its got one of me favorite locos there aswel SR Battle of Britian Class 34081 92 Squadron 😎

James

They have a fantastic WD 2-10-0 as well, if you go, make sure that you catch the train with the LNER buffet car, a few pints of the specially made Woodfordes bitter along the route makes it even better.
Last year I took madams Hungarian cousin, on his first visit to Britain incidentally, up there for the journey, I was dissapointed that we didn’t get the BoB pacific, but the GER 0-6-2 tank was very capable and matey was quite overcome by the whole experience, talk about photographing every nut and bolt.

Incidentally, for fans of ‘Royal Scot’, it is due to be run in on the Mid Norfolk Railway during the summer following it’s restoration, look out for that one.

At the wonderful North Norfolk Railway

Thats one railway that I like to visit. It looks like a nice railway by what I seen by pictures is it about 5 miles long? oh and its got one of me favorite locos there aswel SR Battle of Britian Class 34081 92 Squadron 😎

James

The Bowes Railway is a unique example of an industrial incline railway, but unfortunately it will never attract the neccessary public support, it ain’t going to feature A4 Pacifics straining at the leash with a line of restored LNER teak carriages, it needs government support and much publicity, but as Kev35 would say, their local grants are probably spent on one eyed, one legged, lesbian, illegal imigrant, single parent mothers from the Cayman Islands.

Was that a decent rant Newforest.

Only average by your usual standards I’m afraid. Maybe when the winds have died down and you get your full 220v back, you will be re-energized.:D I guess being up at 3.00 a.m. could upset your bio-rhythms.

their local grants are probably spent on one eyed, one legged, lesbian, illegal imigrant, single parent mothers from the Cayman Islands.

Wow – what heritage grants are they getting then……??

The problem with all preserved railways, wherever they are and whatever their high profile, is that they tend to have sidings full of rolling stock and even locomotives awaiting restoration and even then they can’t be guaranteed to be kept securely under cover when ready for service.
At the wonderful North Norfolk Railway, they have constructed a brand new secure shed for their expensively restored and unique Quad suburban set, which is situated in the middle of nowhere (not telling where).
However their day to day passenger carriages are kept in the station in the centre of Sheringham, I know, not exactly a depressed inner city area, but despite having internet accesible CCTV cameras, (try the NNR webcams), you can’t see owt when it’s dark, it only takes one moron with a few bricks in the adjacent public car park to cause mayhem, and one of these vehicles, the red and cream 1930’s LNER buffet car, is a beautifully restored gem.
The other problem is that commercial wagons, such as these at Bowes, aren’t revenue earners like passenger carriages, and tend to take a very low place in the restoration league, there’s currently a bit of a ding dong over the future of the famous Windcutter coal wagon set at the GCR based at Loughborough, it takes a lot of money and man hours to keep these things running, but they can’t carry passengers and make the money that these mainly charitable and volunteer run organisations need to earn in order to keep our railway heritage alive.
The Bowes Railway is a unique example of an industrial incline railway, but unfortunately it will never attract the neccessary public support, it ain’t going to feature A4 Pacifics straining at the leash with a line of restored LNER teak carriages, it needs government support and much publicity, but as Kev35 would say, their local grants are probably spent on one eyed, one legged, lesbian, illegal imigrant, single parent mothers from the Cayman Islands.

Was that a decent rant Newforest.

Thanks Grey Area, couldnt do it..

Thanks for the correction Pete!
GD Mods can you change the wording of carriages to wagons?

No problemo….. 😀

Thanks for the correction Pete!
GD Mods can you change the wording of carriages to wagons?

problem being with this museum…much like NEAM…both are stuck in the middle of two quite well populated towns, the majority of which are from the “chav” culture, im not stereotyping here, they will openly admit they are chavs.

Bowes Railway is in between Gateshead/Newcastle and Washington, along routes where local yobs dont have much to do except vandalise, problem being…the authorities wont do much as they dont tend to catch anyone in the act sadly

NEAM is located between Washington and Sunderland, so again we face vandalism problems quite a lot of the time, for example…look at what happened to our Valetta…or What HAS happened to the glass on the cockpit of Vulcan XL319, used as target practice by young kids who think they are the next Tiger Woods

we have CCTV but they tend to strike from the other end of the hangar where the CCTV does not cover

should have been tied to the railway lines outside Carnforth station and had their limbs removed by Pendolinos.

Now that sounds like a great idea much better then the slap on the wrist and dont do it again treatment 😡 or get A Freightliner Class 66 on an Intermodal freight train and run them over :dev2:

James

You had me worried there, they are NOT railway carriages, it must have been lost in the translation. I had images of glorious Victorian edifices of polished timber and horsehair seats being lost forever, not so.
We are talking flat trucks and 2 coal wagons, the timber structures may well be lost, but they have probably been replaced anyway in the past and timber has to be renewed eventually, and were probably rotten and neglected anyway. I doubt whether the main frames and general strucure have been affected, along with their builders plates.
This museum has been a source of concern for preservationists and English Heritage alike over the past few years.
Whatever their problems are, it could be a good kick up the backside for the obviously neglectfull local authority to rally round and give them some help, which is what they need.
Torching museums seems to be a fun project amongst local dickheads, a collection of Lincolnshire buses has been destroyed near Waddington Airfield, but worst of all, a collection of Nottingham buses, including the last NCT Renown has been destroyed in a fire at a museum in South Notts, and we are talking about a major museum here, well supported by the local authority.
Nothing is safe, but then, don’t forget the scumbags that were found guilty of causing umpteen thousands of pounds worth of damage to the carriages stored at the Carnforth site and used for the Harry Potter films.
Sentence, ‘Bad Lads, don’t do it again’, the *******s should have been tied to the railway lines outside Carnforth station and had their limbs removed by Pendolinos.
Is that OK NewForest.

Always confusing when you get the same town name in different countries! Still tragic news for any preservationists.