23 January 2025
Whilst I am known for a particular affinity for her (very slightly) younger sister Linda, like almost everyone else on the FR I hold Blanche very dear to my heart. At the tender age of 13, when accompanied by my maths teacher on a school trip, Warren Shepherd guided my hand to the regulator and I drove a narrow-gauge locomotive for the first time. That changed my life!
With Taliesin and Prince about to appear back in traffic for the 2025 season our thoughts are turning towards Blanche. She gave sterling service in 2024 far beyond our hopes and expectations, but we know that she is now very tired mechanically, despite having a year or two left on her boiler ticket. We would really like to do a comprehensive overhaul this time around in much the same way as we did with Linda. That, you will recall, was made possible by members generous donations.
It does seem rather incredible that this will be the fourth occasion that I can remember when Blanche has needed ‘rescuing’. Paul Martin explains things better than me but it was the efforts of the Ricket-rescue gang, first time round, in 1993, that inspired many of us to think it was possible to help other engines stay in traffic almost continuously rather than languishing in the back of a shed, or worse in bits around the yard, awaiting their turn for overhaul.
So what is needed you may ask? Well you will recall that Blanche is fitted with fabricated steel cylinders and piston valves rather than the slide valves she was originally built with. These were fitted after her arrival at Boston Lodge and to say they have served us well is an understatement. They have been in place for more than 50 years but we think they are now trying to move. This is not good. The ‘Lady’ design has the smokebox sides rising up from the frames and it is in this area that the cylinders are fitted. The whole of this section of the locomotive is very tired, with some pockets of rust around the rear of the smokebox, and the top of the smokebox is life expired. We also think there is corrosion in the joint between cylinder and smokebox/frames leading to something known as rust-jacking which may be pushing the cylinders away from the smokebox. In essence we need to fully dismantle this whole section and make good or renew as appropriate. The cylinders are probably OK to use again but the unused spare set made for Linda is available if needed. (Linda has new cast, slide-valve cylinders waiting to be fitted next time round). This front-end overhaul will require a lot of careful work. In addition the chassis will need a relatively heavy overhaul.
With a volunteer team quietly waiting in the wings the plan is to fund-raise now so that the job can be done quickly, with the volunteers doing their bit and the paid staff doing the bits which need their specialist skills. Also a tight timescale would help garner support for the overhaul from the ranks of new volunteers who have thoroughly enjoyed working on Blanche’s footplate in recent years. If like me you think that life is too short to have Blanche sitting around waiting in a queue then I hope that you will help by making a donation to the Ffestiniog Railway Society Blanche Fund.