As Mike says, the engineering staff at Pendre have been very helpful when we
have needed advice or assistance with No.7. In the case of the leaking tube, the
TR's Engineering Manager came over to Maespoeth at short notice, diagnosed the
problem and lent us the tools to fix it. (We are now seeking our own set for
future use).

No.7 has had a number of faults which have had to be addressed since delivery -
from the PW viewpoint the worst one was the pony truck being broad to gauge (to
the detriment of the track), and there was a problem with the nylon bushes used
in the brake gear, which tended to stick after a day's running. The ashpan
design has been modified, as has the west side running board. We have also just
realised that the builder omitted to lag the front of the firebox, and this will
need to be attended to in due course.

By the time No.4 was built in 1921, Kerr Stuart had been building "Tattoo" locos
for over 15 years, and had been given details of the work it was expected to
perform, and yet it proved unsuitable for the workload it was given on the
Corris and had to be re-boilered when only six years old. Since 1951 the TR have
made a number of further improvements and the loco that is now running on the TR
is only superficially the same that was outshopped from the California Works
eighty-eight years ago.

It is therefore hardly surprising that Winson/Drayton did not get everything
spot-on in building a one-off loco, and while overall No.7 is giving excellent
service on the Corris, there are still areas that are being improved. Where
appropriate, the Talyllyn's advice and expertise is being sought to help with
these improvements. At the same time, our own volunteers are rapidly adding to
their knowledge and skills regarding the work needed to maintain a steam loco in
good order.

Only when No.7's postponed visit to the Talyllyn takes place will a direct
comparison be able to be made with No.4 in terms of the ability to operate
successfully on a seven-mile run (assuming that that visit takes place before we
re-open the Corris from Machynlleth to Aberllefenni ;-)

The Corris and Talyllyn maintain friendly relationships on a number of levels,
to the benefit of both railways; many people are members of both Societies, and
some volunteer on both railways. Long may this good-neighbour situation prevail
- it is only necessary to look a few miles to the north to see what can happen
when two heritage groups get at each other's throats. No disrespect to the
lawyers of Southern Meirionnydd, but I would rather not be lining their coffers
!

So can we please keep this discussion on a positive level and drop the personal
criticisms.

Richard

--- In corris-discuss@..., "Mike Davies" <m54321@...> wrote:
>
> --- In corris-discuss@..., "ijohnston_ian" <ian.groups@> wrote:
>
> > Those would be the "allies" making snide remarks here about No 7's
shoddiness and unsuitability for real work, would they? What, precisely, do the
people at Pendre think is so rotten and "model engineering" about our pride and
joy?
>
>
> They would be the allies who helped out with tube expanding equipment when
Trefor recently needed this for 7. We're not talking about "snide remarks",
we're talking about real concern (from people who know more about engineering
than I do) that 7 is a mere shadow of 4 due to some inappropriate decisions made
during design or building.
>
> You could always ask them what they think? Or maybe the views of the people
who maintain 4 are irrelevant?
>
> The tone of this thread amazes me!
>