5551 WORK IS OUT TO TENDER AFTER LLANGOLLEN DISPUTE
Boiler of ‘Patriot’ The Unknown Warrior to be trial-fitted at Crewe for Armistice centenary.
Part-built Fowler ‘Patriot’
No. 5551 The Unknown Warrior will leave the Llangollen Railway next month for a trial-fitting of its newly constructed boiler in the frames at Crewe Heritage Centre – but the engine’s return to Llangollen, its construction base since 2007, is no foregone conclusion. Distinctly unhappy at what LMS-Patriot Project Chairman David Bradshaw has described as “elements of overcharging and inefficiencies by our contractors at Llangollen” (Llangollen Railway Engineering), the Project has invited two other leading locomotive engineering companies – Riley & Son (E) Ltd, and Tyseley Locomotive Works, to tender, in competition with Llangollen, for the final stage of construction of the ‘national memorial engine’.
The pre-tendering meeting called by the LMS-Patriot Project at Llangollen in August will have come as a surprise to many who have supported or followed this new-build venture over the past 11 years – it was widely expected that Llangollen Railway Engineering would complete the job that it started in 2007, without having to compete with steam railway industry rivals.
Although Llangollen Railway Engineering has settled the ‘overcharging’ dispute by the issue of credit notes to the Patriot Project, the episode, which effectively brought all work on The Unknown Warrior to a halt between December 2017 and May 2018, has left a sour taste, and what David Bradshaw has described as “a serious loss of confidence in them [LRE] on our part.” Nevertheless, he is insisting that the tendering process to complete the ‘Patriot’, and to have the engine running by September 2019 is “a level playing field, with no sneaky stuff. We concluded some time ago that we needed to get a closer handle on what was going on, and how the project was being managed.
“All three interested parties – Rileys, Tyseley and Llangollen – have the same document, which includes a list of our requirements. They have all been invited to comment on it, and to give us a quotation.” The time element, he ventured, was no less important than the pricing. “We just need to move forward,” he said. The locomotive chassis, originally due to have been completed at Llangollen last year, will leave the LR’s works by low-loader during the week commencing October 22, for transportation to Crewe. Crewe Heritage Centre has been chosen for the mating of boiler and chassis, said David Bradshaw, because it has under-cover facilities for lifting the boiler – something that Llangollen does not have. Similarly, the chassis could not be sent to the new Huyton, Liverpool base of boiler construction firm Heritage Boiler Steam Services for the same reason.
The project hopes to be able to announce its chosen contractor for the completion of the new-build, at its annual general meeting, which is to be held at Crewe Heritage Centre on Saturday November 10. Twenty-four hours later, on Sunday November 11 – Remembrance Day – the project will stage a display at Crewe Heritage Centre, which should allow donors, supporters and members of the public to see No. 5551 with its boiler installed in the frames – the first ‘complete’ Fowler ‘5XP’ since 1962. Another setback for the locomotive has been the discovery that the keyways on the crankpins of the driving wheelset have been cut incorrectly, meaning that the return cranks cannot be fitted. The group is in discussion with South Devon Railway Engineering to resolve the problem, which may necessitate dropping the wheelset from the frames and sending it to Buckfastleigh.
●● Llangollen Railway business manager Liz McGuinness was unavailable for comment as Steam Railway went to press.