10.45 from Baghdad arrives at last

Any bets on which group will be the first to attempt to repatriate it?

Cheers David

How much would repatriation cost? I assume you couldn't drive a steamer through the channel tunnel.

One has been in the Chunnel during ventilation testing. Or avoid the Chunnel: wait for the Bosphoros tunnel to be built, then see if the proposed Belgium - UK trainferry (designed to avoid SNCF-land) has started up by then.

There is a recent photo of the 8F here:

I'm told by someone out there that it has been taken into store to make sure it survives while they decide what to do with it. Maybe it could be the start of a national railway museum - there are a number of kettles on plinths there.

If the loco shown has been stored dry, it may be a suitable candidate for restoration to running condition. In which case I hope that it does survive.

bet you someone somewhere is _already_ planning a recce mission to assess the quality of the 8F. either that or the baghdad branch of something like the RCTS or maybe say the WSR is gonna get formed! maybe someone will decide that its so valuable that it gets a heavy overhaul and is pressed back into service rather than preserved straight away! ;)

trevor

I presume that it's an oil-burner, if so then it probably hasn't been sitting around for the last twenty years with a smokebox and ashpan full of wet ash, so it's boiler may well be in good nick.

I think in the short term they are more bothered about someone nicking it!

There is also what appears to be a Sentinel shunter (a bit like the LNER ones) and a NG kettle outside Baghdad Central station.

That could be a problem! ;-)

Both of which sound very interesting, looks like it's time to consult my much-used copy of "Middle Eastern Railways", again.

All the best,

Mark.

How do you nick an 8F ?

Getting that through customs might require a spot of whistling and looking skywards :-p

-- Dave

(Updated almost every day)

Gas torch and a truck. No-one said it had to be removed in one piece, and there's some saleable non-ferrous scrap in one of those things. Easier still to strip most of the brass off it. Ahrons, in his discussion of the Lancashire and Yorkshire, gives some interesting comments on the art of stealing parts (sometimes quite substantial, and on one occasion a boiler) from locomotives standing outside the works, as practiced in Victorian Britain. I very much doubt if the residents of Greater Baghdad are less resourceful.

I would be surprised if it hasn't already been stripped of many portable and saleable parts. For a start, parts of the motion are missing. That said, it may be in no worse shape than some locos rescued from Barry.

Following on from David Bromage's message. . .

Who sold these locos to the "evil regime" in the first place? No wonder Woodhead is empty.

Certainly looks in better condition than the majority of the Barry Island 'saved' scrappers. Alan.

I don't think Persia was considered evil in those days!!!

Paul

Ahh, but 35 years ago,and until around 15 years ago they were our allies against the 'evil regime' in Iran! What has not been pointed out here is that the Iraq railways have been restocked with,iirc, around 100 diesel locos from India , but they hardly get used as the tracks are blown up every few days, making the use of them very difficult.Another report I read said they now have more locos than passenger carriages. Alan.

As is Box.

In message , A.lee writes

About time someone modelled them, then :-)

In small chunks with warm, ragged edges. :-)

And it has the added advantage of not having been stood in the damp, salt-air environment of Barry. The motion parts can be replaced, as can the other "bits" that are missing. Here's hoping no-one has been inside with the oxy, cutting out the box and tubeplates.