July 2007 Newsletter
NORTH BRITISH LOCOMOTIVE PRESERVATION GROUP
Hon. President Sir Hugh Reid
July 2007 NEWSLETTER
Hello All,
It’s been another incredible month for our Group with a huge milestone to report ! North British 15F No. 3007 is at last back in the UK and will soon be on display in the City of it’s birth. All our other major projects continue but please forgive us if we dwell for a moment on the 3007 story, as told by one of our keenest supporters, Professor Dugald Cameron :
From the Karoo to Kelvingrove, or nearby !
A Class15F 4-8-2 steam locomotive has returned to her birthplace from South Africa.
Locomotive No. 3007, delivered to South African Railways in February 1945, has now returned to the UK being landed at Immingham Docks at 16-30 on Monday 30th July 2007. It will soon be transported to Glasgow for display in George Square prior to going into storage for the new Riverside Museum.
South African Railways NBL 15F Class 4-8-2 being unloaded at Immingham
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As is well known, the North British Locomotive Company of Glasgow, was established in 1903 and lasted until 1962. With its constituent companies it built more than 28,000 locomotives for the world. Over two thirds of these were exported, sailing from the Clyde, often in ships built on the Clyde. This locomotive, No. 3007, is one of 255 of her class, 204 having been built in three batches by NBL in Glasgow for the South African Railways. She will be a wonderful centrepiece in the new Riverside Transport Museum.
The 15F’s were the largest locomotive class numerically on the African Continent and, excluding the short lived ownership of the Clyde steamer ‘Queen Mary II’, 3007 will be Glasgow Museum’s largest exhibit. Though a very large machine she was built to run on the ‘Cape Gauge’ of three feet six inches, much narrower than the UK standard gauge. Four other former SAR Cape Gauge steam locos have already been repatriated, these being NBL Garratt No. 4112 at Summerlee, North British 25NC No. 3405 at Quainton Road, Sharp Stewart 4-8-0 No. 993 at York and, the odd man out, Beyer Peacock GL Garratt No. 2352 preserved in Manchester Museum. Much of this success has been due to the untiring efforts of enthusiasts in the NBL Society and other volunteer preservation groups.
There are still over 600 NBL built locomotives surviving throughout the world, far more than any other UK locomotive builder, though not many remain in use today. No. 3007 will be a powerful symbol of the huge contribution which the City of Glasgow and Clydeside made to the development of railways the world over and will commemorate the thousands of Glaswegians who designed and built such fine examples of the art of engineering.
The origins of the 15F’s lie in the Class15E designed by Allan G. Watson who did his time in the Neilson Locomotive Works, Springburn whilst attending the Glasgow and West of Scotland College of Technology (now the University of Strathclyde). The first Chief Mechanical Engineer of the newly formed SAR in 1910 was one David Hendrie who had been chief draughtsman to David Jones of the Highland Railway at Inverness and whose 4-6-0, No 103 is currently displayed in the Glasgow Transport Museum. The 15F’s were an advanced design owing something to transatlantic practice with bar frames and roller bearings. They were used on both passenger and freight duties throughout the SAR system. No. 3007 was one of the second batch from order L.947 and built at Queens Park works in 1945 being shipped out in a Danish ship, the SS ‘Kina 2’ in February of that year along with five others.
Appropriately enough, she came to back to Immingham on another Danish vessel the ‘Vega’ having been transferred at Hamburg from the ‘Diamond Land’ which took her from Durban. It is said that Britain gave railways to the world. If that is so then Glasgow’s contribution was truly substantial. No. 3007 should celebrate that achievement magnificently !
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No. 3007 is lowered onto her trailer, ready for a triumphant return to Glasgow.
The story of Glasgow’s 15F is a long one strewn with many disappointments, difficulties and amusements on the way. The City had some time previously been offered a Class 25 Condenser, No 3540 during the mid 1980s but the time was not ripe for it. The Director’s room in the Glasgow School of Art in 1995 is where the 15F story might be said to have begun with a telephone call or two after which the author found himself soon being offered No 3126 ! The City still wasn’t ready for it however
and the 15F story went cold until about 18 months ago when NBLPG members Nick Newport and Graham McWilliams went on a farewell tour of the remaining loco dumps in South Africa.
(Preservation Group Secretary, Ken Livermore now takes up the story :)
Nick came back to the UK determined to save at least one more engine and immediately enlisted me into the scheme ! The Group itself was already committed to two major repatriation projects so Nick convinced me that we should buy a loco between us. We would worry about transport and restoration costs once the engine had been saved from the scrapman. Based on Nick and Graham’s observations, the 15F’s at Bloemfontein seemed in relatively good condition and we contacted Lucas Nel, the former shed foreman for advice. Lucas pointed out that loco No. 3007 was the best NBL candidate for preservation having been withdrawn from service following a minor shunting accident, shortly after it’s last overhaul.
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3007 was therefore chosen and, ironically enough, as we always intended that the engine would one day return to Scotland, the first place we contacted for assistance was the Glasgow Transport Museum. The Museum turned down our proposals when they realised that we were just two private individuals and the scheme was not being promoted by the Preservation Group itself. At that time, the Museum were focussing on Rebuilt NBL Condenser No. 3488 which was subsequently sold to the Sandstone Railway (but that’s another story !) Undeterred, by the lack of support, Nick and I pressed on alone and applied to Transnet for the Tender Documents to purchase the engine. No. 3007 was subsequently taken out of the scrap line at Bloemfontein to prevent further deterioration.
Shortly after this, I was forwarded an e:mail message by NBL Group Webmaster, Steve Knapman. It was from a Mr. Jim Mitchell who had been asked by the Glasgow Transport Museum to find a suitable large North British engine for their new Riverside Museum. Jim had seen the NBLPG website and wanted to ask if we had any good contacts in South Africa who could help him with his quest ! After climbing back off the floor, I immediately phoned Jim and introduced him to Nick Newport. Nick took Jim down to Bloemfontein to see No. 3007 and the 15F saga moved into top gear.
(back to Dugald)
It has taken until now and the support of Lord Provosts and the tenacity of many within the Museums and outwith to bring this story to a successful conclusion which will see No. 300 7 in pride of place when Riverside Museum opens in 2010. There could be no better example of our past to inspire us for the future !
Dugald Cameron 30 July 2007
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A Hard Act to Follow !
Well, I’d certainly be struggling to follow that so I’ll just close with a few snippets on current activity. As I write this, our Hon. Chairman, Nick Newport is in South Africa following up on our application to THF to purchase a North British 19D 4-8-2.
THF have now sold four more engines for scrap at Voorbaai including North British Class 24’s Nos. 3660 and 3683. No. 3660 was the former green liveried star engine on the George to Knysna branch so it shows that nothing remains sacred. We must act now to save what we can before the remaining locos are gone for ever.
I’ll be back soon with more news on our projects and hopefully some photos of No. 3007 in George Square, in the meantime, please spread the word, get your friends to join and help us to keep the North British flag flying !
Many thanks for all your support and interest, Best Regards, Ken
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COMMENTS & INFORMATION
If you would like to comment on our preservation activities or would like further information on any of our projects, please contact me by letter, phone or e:mail.
New Members and Shareholders are always welcome.
Remember, there is no annual Membership Fee, just a one-off joining fee of £10 which will give you regular news updates and the option to purchase ownership shares in any of our locomotives if required.
Please Address Correspondence to : Ken Livermore, Hon. Secretary, NBL Preservation Group,
4, Porchfield Close,
Earley
Reading
Berkshire
RG6 5YZ
New home phone number will be :01189 864 706
Web Site www.nbloco.net
Telephone : 01189 864 706
e:mail : Ken Livermore@btinternet.com
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM
NAME :
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ADDRESS :
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TELEPHONE NUMBER :
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E:MAIL ADDRESS :
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ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP JOINING FEE : £10
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DONATION TO DUBS ‘A’ CLASS SHIPPING FUND : £
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DONATION TO CLASS 24 PRESERVATION FUND : £
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TOTAL ENCLOSED : £
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ALL DONATIONS & MEMBERSHIP SUBS WILL BE ACKNOWLEDGED ASAP. PLEASE FORWARD TO :
NBL PRESERVATION GROUP,
Earley Reading Berkshire RG6 5YZ
New home phone number will be 01189 864 706
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT