The ones that got away!
 

Oooh, first post in this forum!

Right, what do people on here think is the most glaring omission from the current UK preservation field?

A couple spring to my mind.

The first prototype of mainline diesels such as LMS 10000/10001 or even the southern 10201-10203 are obvious ones historically. But what about products from the Glasgow NBL factory? I think im right in saying the only existing mainline engine made by NBL surviving is 84 001?

Any other suggestions??

Paul

Missing classes...

Well lots! Baby Deltics (class 23), NBL type 2s (Classes 21, 22 and 29),plus various prototypes... Lion, Falcon and Kestrel spring to mind.

To my mind the biggest gap is Falcon, as she was a prototype in the development of the class 47, and she came soooo close to being preserved.

Rich

Do you feel that the prototype like that is important to preserve? Falcon did lead to the most important model of that diesel era. What about models that were dead ends like the Baby Deltic, do you feel that it is important to preserve them even though they didn't lead anywhere in diesel development?

It's hard to define how important the preservation of a given loco is. For instance, how important would the preservation of 10000/10001/1020x be, given that the 16CVST lives on in 40s and 50s? I'm of the mindset that sees the bread and butter as important to preserve, as the unusual will inevitably be well documented. As such, I'm pleased to see the preservation of locos such as 47s, which though might not be considered especially interesting represent the everyday railway. The humble DMU is another example, again not considered especially interesting by many (I love 'em myself), but much more respresentative of the railway as a whole than, say, the Royal Train.

As for glaring gaps, I don't think that there are any. All major classes have been preserved already, the missing examples are as you note, either prototypes or unsuccesful. I'd love to see Kestrel in the flesh though.

Richie

Oh, La, La
 

What about the Michellin Railcar!, now that was an odd beast...

What about the D600 Warship that languished at Barry for so long? That was an opportunity missed. :(

i think at least one example of eny Steam, Diesel, Electric, DMU, DEMU, EMU. locomotive or unit should be "or should have been" preserved, in operational condition. ;)

I think that Kestrel is a definite contender for the title of 'The one that got away' especially considering that it was only eventually scrapped in the early 90's. :(

Although I always was a fan of Falcon, I dont think she was a prototype of the class 47...she looked a bit similar but was more like a diesel electric version of a Western....I think Lion (albeit a BRCW produst) was more in the 47 mould as she had a Sulzer engine but I guess the true forebear of the 47 was the 46.....

Electrics are the ones which probadly wont be perserved due to the fact that there is no perserved lines with overhead electric gantrys to run them and hence wont be saved.

I think Electrics have done very well mainly due to the efforts of the AC group. I think there are plans to return one or two to the mainline.

It is very sad that 10000 was not preserved. 10201 would also have been nice; it and the other two were regular visitors to Birmnigham New Street in the 1950's.

It is probably just as well that many of the 1st generation diesel failures have not been preserved! However we do have the Co-Bo and the Class 17!

The biggest hole for me in steam is the LMS Patriot and there isn't even a full set of drawing to build a replica!