Three live ‘Castles’ for Tyseley
…if you can help raise a million
Tyseley could have three operational ‘Castles’ as early as 2020, but it needs an estimated £1 million to do it. After Nos. 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe and 7029 Clun Castle, its dormant No. 5080 Defiant is needed to ensure that a large Great Westerndesign 4-6-0 can be promised for every ‘Shakespeare Express’, and Vintage Trains dining excursions to places such as Oxford, Hereford , Chester, York and Llandudno. Raising the cash is at the centre of the grand plan, which is where Tyseley is hoping you can help; it aims to raise the money through an appeal that had its public launch at its September 16-18 open weekend. Chairman Michael Whitehouse wants to be a big part of the City of Birmingham’s drive to increase tourism - which he says is up 30%, thanks to the influx of middle-class tourists from China, Korea and India. Is this the biggest ever single fundraising appeal for a locomotive overhaul? I suspect so - though these days £1m is assuredly not the most that’s ever been spent.
Thoroughbred
Tyseley is keen to emphasise that its plan for No. 5080 is about more than just returning another ‘Castle’ to the fold. Firstly, rebuilding the 1939-built Collett 4-6-0 would add a genuine GWR thoroughbred to Tyseley’s ‘Top Link’ four-cylinder fleet. When finished, it’s planned that Defiant will be turned out in 1940s ‘G-crest-W’ livery - in keeping with the engine’s rather splendid name. In contrast, 1936-built Earl of Mount Edgcumbe is in double-chimney BR condition, while 1960s celebrity classmate Clun Castle wasn’t even built until after nationalisation. Resurrecting No. 5080 also bolsters the claim of the former ‘84E’ as the premier GWR main line outfit in other ways - adding as it does to Rood Ashton Hall and pannier tanks Nos. 9600 and L94 (7752). That, in essence, is one reason why Tyseley has gone for Defiant rather than other options - the obvious one being its LMS ‘Jubilee’, No. 5593 Kolhapur. “Our brand is running a BR Western Region or Great Western train, and we’re just adding to the brand,” says Tyseley chairman Michael Whitehouse. “It’s single-chimney, and it’s authentic.”
New blood, new money
At the same time, Vintage Trains’ parent body is hoping that the way its big fundraiser is structured will help draw much-needed new blood into the main line fraternity. The idea is for Defiant donors to become ‘trustee shareholders’ of the 4-6-0’s future
It’s single chimney - and it’s authentic
owning company, 5080 Defiant Ltd which, among other things, means they’ll be able to attend AGMs. To explain that further, Tyseley’s collection is currently owned by 7029 Clun Castle Ltd, a charitable organisation that ‘lends’ the engines to VT for operation. However, transferring Defiant into the new dedicated body means ‘trustee shares’ can be issued, which are then held in trust for the charity. Charity status, and Tyseley’s role as a ‘Top Link’ steam depot for the 21st century, is the reasoning behind its positioning of Defiant as the “people’s main line engine”. More prosaically, donors are also to gain benefits such as free ‘Shakespeare Express’ tickets with both Clun Castle and Defiant, and visiting Tyseley to see the under-overhaul No. 5080, together with another ‘Castle’ in steam. In return, Tyseley is looking for serious engagement from those who take part. Specifically, it means giving £1,001 over the life of the project. Now, while that level of commitment might sound scary, it may be a bit less so when you put it into the words of Tyseley’s official info - that this works out at “the equivalent of £1 a day for three years”. Nevertheless, the Birmingham organisation knows that is still too much for many. So it says it will also accept the equivalent money from buddied-up groups of up to ten people. Although only one of those can then become the ‘trustee shareholder’, it brings individual commitments down to a much more palatable £100. Despite that, this is still a big appeal: to hit its target of £1m, Tyseley needs some 1,000 people - or the equivalent to buy into it. Not a small ask. Assuming it is happy with the progress of fundraising though, what happens? Defiant has been displayed at Quainton Road since 2002, but Michael Whitehouse tells me it could return home within months if money starts to arrive in encouraging quantities. “If there’s significant interest then it’s likely to be back this winter,” he says. Once back in Birmingham, the Swindon engine will be overhauled by the Tyseley Locomotive Works bit of the ‘family’ - and as well as tubes and stays it’s believed that boiler work may need to include fitting new tubeplates. The ‘bottom end’ needs a thorough going over, new platework will be required and modern safety gizmos for main line running will have to be fitted. There’s one other thing to note about the way the overhaul is structured: this is effectively a contract job - which will be placed by 7029 Clun Castle Ltd, even after the establishment of No. 5080’s own company. Overhaul charges, say the fundraising blurb, “will be the same as applied to any contract engineering work”. In other words, Defiant’s overhaul will be treated almost like any other (external) rebuild, not least in terms of cost - and therefore the money Tyseley is asking for is to effectively pay itself to do the job of giving itself an engine. Why, you might wonder, is it taking that approach? Michael argues that doing it this way means Defiant can be progressed on time - rather than letting the economics dictate that it would have to make way for commercial work from outside. “If we raise the money it’ll be done in three years, so it won’t be like No. 7029 and put aside - it will get done,” he says. “The only way to be fair to subscribers is to do it that way.” In the event that the appeal did fall short, however, the appeal information says that “the balance will be paid or raised by 7029 Clun Castle Ltd, assuming this is practical.” In that case, says Tyseley’s chairman, No. 5080’s overhaul would take longer - and it might have to fit around other stuff. Assuming all this works out as planned, there are other obvious questions to nail down. For example… is there enough work for three ‘Castles’ that, while not as wide across the beam as Rood Ashton Hall, are not the most ‘go anywhere’ engines? And what, indeed, of that popular two-cylinder 4-6-0 that’s currently the only GWR-liveried steam locomotive on the network?
“It doesn’t mean anything for No. 4965,” responds Michael. “It’s in the fleet and it’ll always be in the fleet. It’ll still be the main ‘Shakespeare Express’ engine. All the engines stay in the fleet once they’ve joined it. This isn’t ‘Defiant in, ‘Rood Ashton’ out.’” As for there being enough work for the bigger engines too, Michael says his team expects the number of VT trains to increase, and that the plan “is to have three live ‘Castles’ and at least two in service at any one time. “We will then always be able to offer a ‘Castle’-hauled express train to popular destinations, which is saleable all over the world. “The City of Birmingham wants to run more ‘Shakespeare Expresses’ and we know there is the market for more dining trains, especially out of the city.” Michael also points out that a recent amendment to the modern railway’s franchising process could end up being of benefit. That is a Department for Transport requirement “for franchise bidders to collaborate with the heritage railway industry” which Tyseley’s chairman says his organisation wants to use to safeguard its Birmingham-Stratford operation “including the option of paths for the train on Saturdays.” The ‘Shakespeare’ currently only runs on Sundays - but it has just enjoyed its best year ever. Now, Tyseley wants to add its third ‘Castle’ into that mix… and it’s one with proper GWR pedigree and a great name to boot. Says Michael: “Our organisation can fix it, run it, maintain it, promote it and conserve it properly. And now we are asking people to join us.”