Our news
Media contact – Media enquiries should be made to Dave Fuszard, Press Officer for 6024 Preservation Society Ltd at press@6024.com.
Set of bound GWR Journals and Backtrack for Sale
Model Railway Engines and Sundry Items for Sale
Due to health issues and a house move, expressions of interest are sought for the purchase of the following:
3.5″ gauge live steam modified Hall (out of boiler ticket, but has run), together with part-built Collett 4,000 gallon tender.
Reeves LBSC Princess Marina, LMS 2-6-0 with tender, constructed it is believed in 1944 (has run, but no longer in boiler ticket).
3.5″ bogie driver’s trolly.
Approx. 80 yard brass flat bottom rail with timber trestles both erected and unlaid, stored, unused.
Complete workshop including MK7 Myford lathe (1955), single phase.
Clarke metal worker pillar drill, single phase.
Alpine complex drilling and milling machine (1980).
Large quantity of steel and brass stock, tools and workshop sundries, together with work benches, shelves racking etc. etc. from 10′ x 8′ workshop.
The whole to preferably be purchased as one ‘job lot’, but would consider splitting. Photographs available. Buyer to remove.
Located south of Birmingham within five miles of the M42/J3. All enquires to Richard Abbey 01564 794343 or 07771 887172
Fundraising cycle ride
6024 member and volunteer, Tom Whittington, is fundraising to help with the final stages of the overhaul of 6024 by undertaking a sponsored cycle ride between Bishops Lydeard and Minehead on 11th September. The money raised will be split between the 6024 Preservation Society and our friends at the West Somerset Railway.
If you would like to sponsor Tom please visit his Just Giving page at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/tom-whittington-6024?utm_term=Bq3MvEqG8, or send a cheque to the individual organisations.
Support Coach Overhaul
Richard Corser has recently visited Arlington Fleet Service in Eastleigh to view progress on No.6024’s Mk1 support coach. The bogies, which have held up progress, are now onsite but we are still waiting on wheelsets and springs to allow them to be completed. New bolsters for the chassis to match the new bogies are being sourced.
The outstanding work list has been agreed which will be progressed as soon as the coach is on its bogies. This includes a Network Rail funded fitment of a Controlled Emission Toilet (CET) to make the vehicle compliant with the latest standards for mainline operations. Whilst the overhaul has taken much longer than originally planned this is working in our favour as the CET work is only now ready to proceed. If the support coach had been finished sooner it would have had to have been lifted off its bogies again for CET fitting.
Once completed the support coach will be moved to the WSR for further internal work, primarily a rework of the kitchen layout and a full internal repaint and varnish.
Work on the superheater header and associated components has continued.
Work on the superheater header and associated components has continued at our contractor’s premises. The header is ready for hydraulic testing. Understandably it has taken a bit of time to arrange the attendance of our insurance inspector to witness the testing. Once it is tested and has a clean bill of health it is planned to move the header and elements back to Minehead. These will be fitted to the engine over a couple of days of work which will also see the boiler barrel cladding being fitted.
No.6024 at 90
On 30th June 1930 No.6024 King Edward I was officially “rolled out” at the GWR’s workshops at Swindon. So, it is Happy Birthday to No.6024!
To mark this day we present five photographs of the locomotive at different points in its life, GWR through to preservation.
Whilst it has not been possible to complete the current overhaul of the locomotive in time for this milestone we hope to shortly restart work on the locomotive so it won’t be too much longer for No.6024 can be seen and heard at work once more. It is a day that can’t come soon enough!
2007 ‘Torbay Express’ – Three Part Video
In 2007 Shirley Turner produced a video on No. 6024 in action on the ‘Torbay Express’ trains. This is now available on this website, our thanks to Shirley for making this great record of a good season of operating a train so suited No. 6024.
Ninth Bob Robson Album
Album number nine from the Bob Robson collection has now been published. Sadly this is the final album in the collection, there are no more photographs to publish.
This selection of Bob’s photographs starts in 2003 with the odd older one also included. We hope you enjoy this final album and all of those previously published. They all provide us with an unique view of No. 6024’s life in preservation.
Album nine can be viewed here.
6024 News – Spring 2020
6024 News – Spring 2020
At this difficult time we feel it is important to bring news of 6024. As you will appreciate all work on the overhaul at Minehead had to cease in March. Government guidelines put the core of our working party in the “vulnerable” group and the West Somerset Railway has rightly closed its doors for the time being.
We had been working towards having 6024 near complete for its 90th birthday in late June. Clearly this is also no longer going to be possible. It is extremely frustrating that after an excellent start to 2020, following the return of the boiler, we can no longer predict when the locomotive will be completed.
That is the bad news but it is not all doom and gloom! There has been much progress in the past few months, a summary follows spread across several posts which are now available on the news area of the 6024 Preservation Society Ltd’s website.
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