Built in 1936 to the design of Sir William Stanier this locomotive (the remains of) now sits at Birmingham Railway Museum in Tyseley. Its future has been secured by a Trust and work is in hand to restore it to full working order.
The Galatea Project aims to restore Galatea to a fully operational condition. All the work will be done to MT276 standard, which will enable her to run once more in passenger service on Britain's main line network.
The total cost of the restoration project is likely to be around £250,000, including the purchase of the locomotive. The first £40,000 has been provided by the consortium of a dozen people who purchased Galatea in the summer of 1995. She was then placed under the charitable umbrella of 7029 Clun Castle Ltd in order to be able to safeguard her future and to take advantage of the tax benefits available. A separate trust has been formed into which Galatea has been transferred. Galatea is owned by the Trust not by the individuals who financed the purchase.
Much of the missing motion and other parts are in the possession of Birmingham Railway Museum, having been salvaged from another Jubilee, No. 5662 Alberta. So far we have begun to dismantle and inspect the locomotive, along with fund raising and efforts to secure commercial sponsorship. Much of the work will be carried out at Birmingham Railway Museum's Tyseley Locomotive Works, with the help of members of the consortium and volunteers who want to see Galatea back on the main line.
The regular work parties at Tyseley are making slow but sure progress and up to date information regarding progress "at the coal face" is regularily posted on our own web site.
The Friends of Galatea - the group working to restore former LMS Jubilee Class 45699 back to traffic -have just made their purchase on behalf of the engine. The locomotive is now covered by a huge tarpaulin ctually an ex-US Army ground sheet - which covers her from the very front right up to the cab at her resting place at the Birmingham Railway Museum, Tyseley.
And this week they were completing the finishing touches to create a "loco tent" in the absence of a shed, using pieces of scaffolding and ladders to create a frame in order to stop the rain from forming "Lake Galatea" in the tarpaulin!! Spokesperson Hazel Evans told SRN: "Thanks to the tarpaulin. 'Galatea' has stayed dry underneath and we have been able to perform work underneath in the dry and sheltered from the wind. Unfortunately the dark winter nights have reduced the amount of work we have been able to do, and we have decided to use some of the Friend's contributions to purchase two 5 ft outdoor fluorescent lighting strips which we can attach to the loco. This should enable us to work more effectively in poor light and should extend our working day.
Another portion of the contributions is going towards a compressor. Andy and Hazel already own a needle gun. but have been reliant on using other people's compressors. Russell Oliver (son of the project's late founder Brian Oliver) has sourced the compressor which he is currently overhauling. The Evans' spent a fruitful Christmas period scouring car boot sales for tools finding a useful variety old spanners, sockets. taps and dies up to 1 inch Whitworth. Unfortunately they have not come across anything larger. Stuart Scott has made the sandboxes his own, and these have now all been separated from their tubes, cleaned out and the rust removed.
John Hunt is pressing on with his work to form the 'Galatea Locomotive Trust' while Stuart Scott is currently setting up an Internet web site. The ongoing restoration has been helped by members viewing an important 21 minute long black and white LMS publicity film from the 1930s Crewe archive, 'General Repair' showing the works overhaul of 5X No 5605 'Cyprus from start to finish in just 12 days!
Next working party date is January 24. And then February 8. February 21, March 8 and March 21.
Work is continuing to strip down Galatea. Those of you who visit regularly will have noticed that parts of the outside motion have been removed, and less noticeably, certain items have been removed from the inside of the frames.In the absence of an empty shed, we are seriously contemplating building ourselves a "loco tent" for the winter in order that we can achieve more in inclement weather. Otherwise this winter some attention will be turned to the contents of the Evans garage, which contains, among other items, motion parts including coupling rods and an unused Jubilee chimney.
Fund raising is also progressing. There are a number of people who covenant regular amounts to the 5699 Appeal Fund, and there are 50 or so "Friends" of Galatea who for £10 a year receive three copies of the Galatea News during the year and invitations to Galatea events as and when they happen. A superb 4mm scale model of Galatea was commissioned from Bachmann Industries as a limited edition of 600, and all of the profits from their sale are going to the restoration project. Any readers who are interested in supporting the Galatea Project, the model or the Friends of Galatea can pick up a leaflet at the shop at the Museum, or Hazel Evans will be pleased to hear from you (her details are below). Anyone who would like to help by spending a day knocking mud, rust and parts off the loco is most welcome to join a working party: we're a friendly lot and can find jobs for everyone!
Not all of the support for the project has been financial. We have a sponsor for the running boards and splashers, a couple of individuals have expressed an interest in sponsoring the casting of the new wheels when the time comes and IEP Doncasters of Blaenavon has repaired the first of the sandbox tubes. We also have a friendly printer, the Print Centre in Warrington, which has sponsored some of the promotional leaflets and gives us good prices on other work, notably the Galatea News. The Northern Freight Company has also offered to move consignments of up to 20 tonnes around the country for us free of charge, too.
Galatea has its own web page on the Internet which can be found at http://www.em89.demon.co.uk/rail.htm. The pages are likely to become very large, so if anyone out there would like to sponsor our space on a web server we would be very pleased to hear from you!
SURPRISING news comes from the Friends of Galatea carefully dismantling the 'Jubilee' at Tyseley. A chimney, bought at auction, has never been used. Working party organiser Mike Purslow enthused: "It was a spare, never fitted to a locomotive, bought direct from the works by a collector in the sixties. You couldn't have a more mint item."
Regarding the former controversy about rebuilding 45699 as a Patriot', Mike said some 'Jubilee' and 'Patriot' parts are interchangeable anyway. Friends secretary Hazel Carter said: "We have a full set of four 'Patriot' coupling rods, although we don't know from which one yet. Spares from scrapped Jubilee 'Alberta' are available, but the group are still hoping further parts will be donated or offered at low prices by enthusiasts".
Working parties, meeting once or twice a month are carefully removing parts. Mike added : "Skilled manpower amongst the volunteers is in short supply although we're all learning without causing the locomotive harm. Although basically a case of unbolting parts, some have to be cut off, using oxyacetylene equipment, but this is used sparingly".
Mike said: "The boiler is not going to be touched for quite a while - it's in very good condition. It'll probably be dealt with last, because it's the boiler that determines the length of the insurance ticket".
The corroded middle cylinder was punctured when being needle-gunned to remove corrosion.
Enthusiasm for the project still continues but there is room for more volunteers who should call Mike on 01142343395. The group are especially interested in skilled people and financial support is needed for buying tools and materials. Mike concluded: "What is most encouraging is the groundswell of favourable response from people like former BR staff, who are so pleased someone is doing something to get her back to main line condition".
"She's a bit of a cause celebre and the onus is on us to do a proper job".
Ever since its 'rescue' from Barry scrapyard in 1980, ostensibly to provide a spare boiler for sister engine Leander, the prospect of a working future for Stanier 'Jubilee' No.45699 Galatea has been a source of continuing debate within the enthusiast world. The movement of the hulk from Carnforth to the Severn Valley Railway last year prompted speculation that the remnants might yet be scrapped, and caused Galatea to become a live issue once more.
Could 45699 run again? Who would pay? And just how much would it cost? Now, for the first time, these questions are answered, by SVR loco group the 2857 Society - and their feasibility report makes fascinating reading.
AFTER the 2857 Society handed its Churchward 2-8-0 over to the Severn Valley Railway Company in 1986, the dozen-or-so members of the restoration team found themselves in something of a vacuum. For the better part of 11 years we had been pre-occupied with the rebuilding of our locomotive; the question now in everyone's mind. quite simply, was 'what next?'
A fresh challenge was what we needed, and several ideas were put forward. We looked at the possibility of buying GWR 2-8-2T No.7229 then being offered by the Plym Valley Railway, and restoring it for use on the SVR - but the Railway Company board ruled that there were already enough ex-Barry engines on the railway, and in any case, the 2-8-2T would be a bit of a 'track basher'. Another idea put up, was to investigate the possible building of a replica GWR 'Dean Goods' 0-6-0, based on the boiler, frames and cylinders of a pannier tank. A third option was the amalgamation of the Society with another SVR-based loco group (sorry, but it wouldn't be politic just now to say which one), to complete the rebuilding of their partly finished engine but they turned down our approach.
More disappointing still, though, was the rehuff we received from the National Railway Museum to our offer to restore the rotting LNWR 'Super D' No.49395, which has been the subject of so much debate. We had offered to talk about sharing the cost. but in his reply NRM keeper Dr. John Coiley stated: 'It is not our intention that this loco should be restored to working order."
And then there was the idea to restore the hulk of Stanier 'Jubilee' No.45699 Galatea - a plainly controversial move considering all the arguments which have surrounded the future of the loco in recent times - but the suggestion did have several points in its favour. First of all, as a loco restoration group, another locomotive project was what we were best qualified for, and most inclined to tackle. Secondly, it was a more glamorous engine than old 2857, which has always been an uphill job to 'sell' on the fund raising side, and the correspondence in Steam Railway suggested there would be considerable support for a Galatea project.
Thirdly, a lot of prestige would attach to restoring such a forlorn hope. After all, the Severn Valley Railway as a whole had to do something to match the fantastic achievement of our friends at Loughborough with Duke of Gloucester! We also received some rather back-handed encouragement from the SVR, who were reluctant to be seen as the first railway to scrap a locomotive.
On the debit side. the engine was obviously going to cost a fortune to put to rights - but just how much nobody knew. Our feasibility study, outlined here, is really an object lesson in the financial realities of loco restoration, and the arithmetic alone (to say nothing of the volunteer aspect) carries its own message to those well-meaning folk who have been clamouring for Galatea to be restored, and who believe that with willpower, it can be done on a shoestring.
The first job was clearly to go and have a look at the remains of the loco, then lying at Carnforth, but destined soon to find its way to the SVR, ostensibly as a provider of spare components for sister engine No. 5690 Leander. The results of that preliminary survey, updated in the light of further discoveries, form the basis of Table 1.
Enthusiasm took a sharp knock when the full extent of the task became apparent. However, we were given further encouragement and offers of help by various Bridgnorth-based individuals.Aand so decided to at least workout some basic costings. At this stage it seemed sensible to take both SVR General Manager Michael Draper and Chief Engineer Alun Rees into our confidence, as the Severn Valley (Holdings) PLC owns both the hulk of 45699 and sister engine No.5690 Leander, the latter currently in working order.
This revealed further snags. From the point of view of maintenance of their loco fleet, the SVR would prefer to have one 'Jubilee' with a stock of spares, than two 'Jubilees' with no spare parts. At the next major overhaul of the boiler currently on Leander, the Railway would be looking to replace it with that from 45699, principally because 5690's boiler will require a new front tubeplate. Whilst Leander's fire box is still perfectly sound after the work done on it at Bridgnorth, the inner firebox on 45699 is virtually new.
It is believed that all four of the 'Jubilees' in preservation - 5593 Kolhapur, 5596 Bahamas, 5690 Leander and 45699 Galatea - are still on their original axle sets. When Tyseley's 5593 ran a 'hot box' recently. the axle journal was scored and had to be turned below minimum size. If a similar fate befalls 5690, it would be useful to have spare axles, but to utilise those from Galatea would probably show only minimal savings.
Clearly the main undecided factor so far as the SVR company was concerned, was whether or not it would want to exchange parts, and this would affect the value of the hulk as a restoration project. However, it has frequently been shown that if a loco is stopped for want of parts, then the problem is overcome a different way, usually by repairing what exists, or building anew.
If 45699 was to be restored, then ultimately the Company would have another engine to support, but, by the same token, wear and tear on the remaining locos would be correspondingly reduced. The price for Galatea would probably be set in terms of 'scrap price plus a bit' to reflect the value of the usable spares to the Company. Thus for us the asking price would probably be in the region of £10-12,000 subject to the approval of the SVR Board. It was stressed that this would be for an SVR based group; for an outside party, the price would be higher.
We then looked at the whole question of fund raising. The sums involved, we reckoned, would necessitate a nationwide appeal, though we were warned about the risk of another appeal spreading tne money available to railway preservation too thinly. When one considers the £500,000 plus subscribed to the Kidderminster extension, this 'accountant's argument' should be treated with a little caution. Was this money inevitably destined for the railway preservation movement? And if so, for what other projects might it have been offered?
In order to be able to offer prospective donors something new, we were all agreed on the adoption of BR green livery from the start. The age of the average 'steam buff' is now over 40, and today's 20-30 year old enthusiasts tend to be diesel orientated. This suggested that a high cost, high epeed restoration would be required to maintain interest in the project.
To safeguard our Society, it was agreed that a threshold target figure should be set for fund raising to test public reaction, and that until this pre-set figure was reached no work would be undertaken. Off the cuff, Michael Draper felt that we could be reasonably sure of getting £40,000 in 60 days, for example. However, the most fundamental point which concerned us all, was that under no circumstances must any 45699 project jeopardise the future of 2857.
Looking to the long term, we felt that we should aim to phase restoration, in order to give the SVR one 'Jubilee' in traffic at any one time. To have two available at once, followed by both being out of traffic together, would be somewhat counter productive, to say the least. The next step was to work out some budget costings as reasonably as possible and these are shown in Table 1. Before anyone rushes a letter off to Steam Railway to contest these costings, I should point out that the majority of these figures are our own 'guesstimates', based on our experience with 2857, but which we feel are a tolerably accurate beginning.
The most startling thing about Galatea, to anyone looking at the loco for the first time, is the cut pair of driving wheels. These were burned through by Woodham Bros' men after a derailment in the scrapyard, to save themselves the trouble of rerailing the engine. Fortunately, it was the plain middle axle which was affected, not the more complex front cranked axle. The cost of replacing these wheels was calculated as detailed in Table 2.
We discovered that some LMS type wheel pattern equipment was available via the East Lancs Railway- but the number of spokes would be wrong for a 'Jubilee'. For the sake of 1% on the overall cost, we felt it would be a shame not to aim for maximum authenticity. We would be venturing into the unknown in trying to salvage the middle axle. Any attempt to pull the remains of the wheels off the axle would certainly result in 'spalling' ie : the wheel tearing metal out of the wheelseat as it is dragged off.
A better course of action, we felt, would be to cut the wheels down to the basic hub and then patiently machine the remains off the axle in a wheel lathe. Even so, no guarantees of success could be offered, and it might well be necessary to fund the purchase of a brand new axle in the end possibly at a cost somewhere in the region of £2,000.
It might also prove necessary to have the new wheels dynamically balanced, which would add yet more to the price. for it is unlikely that volunteers would be able to perform this work. This could well prove to be an extremelv difficult task, and in fact we were unable to establish a definite price for this work.
There is a surprising amount of motion still in place on Galatea, but having said that, a lot of work would still need to be done on those items. For example, the expansion links, whilst complete, are badly corroded and would require regrinding to get them to a usable Condition. This would then have a knock-on effect: the die blocks which slide up and down inside the expansion links would no longer fit, and so a new set of these would also be needed.
Connecting rods would be a problem. Somebody expressed the view that Stanier 8F rods might do for the outside motion, but it would appear that they are three inches too short. Rumour has it that there is an inside rod lurking somewhere in darkest Staffordshire,and if this was available, the £5,000 we budgeted for this item would be significantly reduced. Coupling rods are available, but in very poor condition, and would require all the holes to be rebored and new bushes cast , machined, white metalled and pressed in; not exactly a five minute job!
The price for boiler fittings- £31,000 was a budget quotation from Hugh Phillips Engineering of Tredegar, based on a full set for a BR Standard loco. It might be possible to reduce this figure somewhat if secondhand fittings could be acquired, but for this costing exercise it was felt wise to stick to the Hugh Phillips figure. Another £1,000 was added to cover copper pipework that would be needed.
It was observed that the front buffers could be obtained from a withdrawn BR Class O8 diesel shunter- which helps explain our apparently optimistic pricing of the buffing and drawgear. Any attempt to estimate the cost of the boiler overhaul before inspection by a qualified examiner, we knew would border on the foolhardy. However, in view of the fact that both Galatea and Leander were known to have basically sound boilers, we felt that the cost of new stays, tubes, superheater flues and any welding and rivetting could be related to what we had spent on 2357 - ie: £15,000, plus about £800 for all the cladding sheets, insulation and fitting by SVR staff (2857 volunteers loathe that job!).
A new dome (not just the tin cover) would be a fairly costly item for its size, being to pressure vessel standards, and we have allowed £250 for this. The other fittings such as top feeds, safety valves etc. were included in the Hugh Phillips price. If we ended up with Leanders boiler, the new front tubeplate would cost in the order of £3,000, this figure being based on the cost charged to the Erlestoke Manor Fund for 7802 Bradley Manor's boiler, with approximately an additional £2,000 for fitting it to the boiler shell.
The tender was identified as being in a pretty sorry state, but would be relatively inexpensive to sort out as shown in Table 3.
And so we come to the final totting up:
Purchase of loco from SVR___________________£10,000
Rebuilding of loco (see table 1)_______________ £107,690
Rebuilding of tender (see table 2)_______________£11,200
Total___________________________________£123,890
Once again I would stress that this figure should not be taken as 'the price' to the nearest pound. and whilst savings would be possible here and there. 'Murphy's Law' would certainly ensure that the final cost will be higher than anyone imagined. For all this, what do we end up with? An express engine that, by the time it is complete, may or may not be allowed out on BR metal, which is rather too big for the majority of preserved lines, which will be competing for attention with three sister engines, and, above all, after the blood, sweat, toil and tears, will only be worth, at today's prices, somewhere in the region of £100,000. Not a terribly shrewd investment. it must be admitted, and by all logical judgement. there isn't a snowflake's chance in hell of Galatea turning a wheel in anger again but if there are people out there prepared to blow £150,000 in donations to the 2857 Society, or who have the financial clout to look an impossible situation square in the face and sav 'Dammit - this engine will run again'... then I know the very loco group to do it!
Finally, I would like to thank the following for the help they gave in the preparation of this costing exercise and article: Jack Bond (SVR/75O69 Fund), Frank Cronin (SVR/47383 Fund), Michael Draper (SVR General Manager), Terry Jenkins (SVR/Erlestoke Manor Fund), Bob Kyte (SVR/2857 Society Chairman), Andy Morris (SVR/2857 Society), Andy Pearson (East Lancashire Railway/26B Group), Hugh Phillips Engineering Limited, Alun Rees (SVR Chief Engineer), Steve Whittaker (SVR/2857 Society), Cohn Wrangles (ELR/8OO97Group).
I read with interest in the October issue that Crewe wants its own loco - and why not? There will be many like myself who think this is a great idea, but which engine would be the most suitable? I'd like to suggest the 'Jubilee' Galatea.
This engine, at present lying dismembered on the Severn Valley Railway, has come to a sad end - one I believe it doesn't deserve. Born at Crewe in the 1930's and resurrected there in the 1980's, it would make an ideal monument to the people of this town who over the years have cpntributed to the Crewe legend.
The cost of this we all know will be enormous, but I'm sure that with help from Crewe & Nantwitch Borough Council, BREL Crewe, and possibly Cheshire Borough Council, this could be achieved.
Permanently housed at the new Crewe heritage Centre, Galatea would be its biggest draw for many years to come.
E-mail to : em89@bcs.org.uk
Back to :
Stuart's Home Page