#ThisWeekIn 1951 GSN is the last Southern Railway built Merchant Navy to lose the Malachite livery.

#ThisWeekIn 1951, 35011 General Steam Navigation left Eastleigh works following a light intermediate overhaul. During her visit to the works GSN had 400 steel stays repaired and 30 new “Howell” tubes installed. The major change was the new paint on the engine, gone was the Southern Railway malachite green replaced with the new British Railways Brunswick green.
General Steam Navigation was the last Merchant Navy built and operated by the Southern Railway to wear the malachite livery, having never worn the BR express blue livery. The short-lived British Railways express blue was dropped by the Southern Region as soon as it could with 35024 being repainted into the Brunswick Green livery in May 1951. General Steam Navigation would wear the Brunswick Green livery for another 15 years before being withdrawn in 1966.

35011 at Eastleigh works – Copyright Coffin

Putting Funds into the Frames 

Now that the boiler has been successfully removed from the frames for the first time in 61 years, see news item from 2nd October 2020 here, our attention is now turned to the restoration of the frames and the rear dragbox.

We have therefore set up a Fund for the Frames that will be essential for the successful restoration of  35011 back into her original condition. Not only do we need to clean and review the condition of the frames as they exist today, any corroded sections of the framework, the rear platform and dragbox will cut out and replaced. We also need to reverse some of the areas that were changed during rebuilding to allow a new middle cylinder to be installed and reinstate Bulleid’s unique patented chain driven valve gear.

This a general fund with no minimum / maximum donation or number of contribution limits, all monies donated to the Fund for the Frames will be specifically ring fenced for the frames. If you are able to contribute to this project in any way however great or small, we thank you for your support.

GSN collaboration with Loughborough University continues

Last week our Chief Mechanical Engineer took a group of students from Loughborough University to look at the smokebox and exhaust of Bulleid Light Pacific 34039 Boscastle that is currently undergoing overhaul on the Great Central Railway.
This was to aid their understanding of the geometry they’re studying as part of developing the internal aerodynamics and draughting of our 35011 General Steam Navigation.
Following the success of the 2020/21 Loughborough University collaboration projects  we are running further projects in 2021/22 to look at aspects of the blastpipe design in more detail.
The intention is to compare the potential performance of a Bulleid-Lemaître blastpipe with other concepts such as the Giesl and Lempor ejectors.
For more details on our University collaboration projects with Loughborough University click here.
Thanks to Andy Morgan and Mike for hosting us.

#OnThisDay 21c11 becomes 35011

#OnThisDay in 1948, General Steam Navigation re-entered service following an overhaul at Eastleigh works. The locomotive which now an updated livery featuring the BR Gills Sans numerals and lettering and the removal of the unique  bulbous casing between the bufferbeam and outside cylinders. Colour photos of General Steam Navigation in his particular livery are hard to come by but thanks to our friends at “The Battle of Britain Locomotive Society” you can see 34081 92 Squadron in steam in this particular livery variant.
It was at this time that General Steam Navigation was re-numbered from 21c11 to 35011. When Oliver Bulleid built his new engines he adopted a new numbering scheme for all his locomotives based on Continental practice. The Southern Railway numbers followed an adaptation of the UIC classification system of using letters and numbers to designate the powered and unpowered axles, together with a running number. This first appeared on Bulleids Q1 class of engine where “C” refers to the number of coupled driving axles – in the Q1s case three. All these locomotives therefore carried numbers which started “C” followed by the individual identifier from C1 to C40. The first Merchant Navy built Channel Packet a pacific class 4-6-2 locomotive became 21C1 – where “2” and “1” refer to the number of unpowered leading and trailing axles respectively, and “C” again referring to the number of driving axles, in the Merchant Navys case three followed by the individual identifier. The remainder were numbered 21C2-21C20. The scheme was abandoned by British Railways in 1948 and the existing locomotives were renumbered under the British Railways standard system in the series 35001-35020; the final batch appeared in traffic as 35021-35030.

When General Steam Navigation returns to steam this livery is one of the choices our members will be able to pick from when voting but to do this we need your help. The Trailing Truck Transformers funding group continues to be our primary fundraising campaign with its objective of funding the restoration of GSNs trailing truck. The Society is pleased with the number of members who have signed up for blocks and with work due to start in the coming weeks at the North Norfolk we need to get as much funding in place as possible . We are offering a maximum of 30 members the opportunity to purchase a ‘Lot’ for £500. Members are welcome to purchase as many ‘Lots’ as they wish up to the maximum target amount.
Members of the Fund Group would receive a number of benefits including:
⚫Certificate of membership of the ‘Trailing Truck Transformers’
⚫Name engraved on a suitable brass plaque attached to the refurbished Trailing Truck
⚫Regular updates on the refurbishment of the Trailing Truck
⚫An invitation to a VIP day at the Swindon and Cricklade Railway to see the completed Trailing Truck once it is returned to the railway.
 
For details on how to become a Trailing Truck Transformer please click here 
 
Thank you
 
Photos courtesy of Transport of yesteryear through the lens, 35011 archives and A C Cawston.