Re: Surviving R classes (was: West Coast Railway and 6042 - AD60 Garrett)

["John Wayman" <trecker@optusnet.com.au>]

But R704 isn't a stock standard R. It did have extra bits and pieces added
before it entered service.

I get annoyed when museums display all these ugly duckling one off engines
and bits of rolling stock, which gives the impression of a very different
rail system to the one that actually operated. They should preserve one of
the other Rs, but then run 704 which was always a special engine.

Cheers
John Wayman
"James Brook" <ajmbrook@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
3882DEF2.4F788B27@ozemail.com.au">news:3882DEF2.4F788B27@ozemail.com.au...
> MattyQ wrote:
>
> > > Is R704 in any state to be restored, or has it been out in the open
too
> > > long? What about H220?
>
> I hope they don't return it to service. At the moment R704 is the only R
class
> left without any plans to return it to service. Any R class that is
returned to
> service will require modifications for modern operation. On top of the
essential
> modifications, all the current steam operators end up adding headboards,
> nameplates or just about anything else that ruins the historical
significance of
> their locos. R704 should be kept in the musem as an example of an original
VR R
> class.
>
> > I would dearly love to see H220 restored to operating condition.
However, I
> > am told by a "reliable source" that there aren't many tracks around
strong
> > enough to cope with the extremely high mass of the loco (approx 260 ton,
I'm
> > told). Still, one can only dream   :-)
>
> It would be too expensive to maintain and operate. Also as H220 is one of
a kind
> it should not be modified in any way.
>
> --
> - James Brook -
>
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