We are asking for you to sponsor the purchase and installation of a Boiler Tube in GWR Castle Class Number 7029 "Clun Castle".
At Tyseley Loco Works, the Birmingham Railway Museum Trust are in the process of restoring 7029 Clun Castle to Mainline Steam condition. We are targeting the 2013 Summer Open Weekend as Clun Castle's return to steam.
We are asking for a sponsorship of ₤;;35.00 for a Small Tube and ₤;;215.00 for a Large (Superheater) Tube.
Clun Castle requires 138 Small Tubes (2 inches in diameter) and 28 Large Tubes (5 1/8 inches).
Included is a tube-plate diagram from Clun's overhaul in Swindon Works dating back to June 1962. When sponsoring your tube, please request a tube lettered A > AB for the Large Tubes and numbered 1 > 138 for the Small Tubes. We will do our best to reserve the tube you wish, but it may have been previously selected. In this instance, we hope you accept our offer of the nearest available tube.
Shortly after receipt of your sponsorship, we will send you via post a Certificate confirming your sponsorship and the tube number signed by our Chief Engineer. We will also include a high-resolution Tube Plate Diagram detailing the location of your tube.
Boiler Tubes have a very varied amount of time in service. Typically Large Tubes last between 7 to 10 Years depending on the location within the boiler and the amount of times the engine is steamed. When your tube is decommissioned, we will send you a 4 inch length to use as a paperweight, door-stop or any other imaginative use you can think of! If you need a longer length, you are welcome to it but we might insist you pick it up in person!
We appreciate you assisting us with returning Clun Castle to steam. We will also include add you to our monthly electronic newsletter that details our progress with Clun and the other engines in the Tyseley Collection.
Ben is raising money for 7029 Clun Castle:
Making a donation through CharityGiving is simple.
charitygiving.co.uk is operated by The Dove Trust, a charity with over 27 years' experience of helping individuals, charities and good causes globally, so your giving is safe and secure. CharityGiving will reclaim gift aid tax on your donation (if you are a UK taxpayer), meaning any donation is worth around 25% more. They also charge less than most other fundraising websites, so more money goes to this great cause!
We appreciate your support.
Castles For The Future:
Visitors to the NRM's '1968 An All That' remarked at how wonderful Clun Castle looked, and added that it ought to be back on the mainline. Birmingham Railway Museum Trustees want to do just that, however they need your help.
An appeal fund to overhaul 7029 Clun Castle entitled 'Castles For The Future' was formally launched at the Tyseley 100 Open Weekend in June 2008.
The overhaul has started, but will only progress as far as funds permit. Further contributions will help to return to the main line this star of the 1964 'Farewell to Steam on the Western'.
Who knows? It may even get a chance to have another crack at that epic run! With your help we could try to make it happen?
7029 Clun Castle:
7029 Clun Castle is the engine that started off the preservation era at Tyseley in 1968. It was saved for eventual preservation on the Dart Valley Railway, but after the withdrawal of all steam on the Western Region was kept at Tyseley for use on enthusiast specials. It 'stayed on' after all other steam activities had ceased and became the flagship locomotive for the Tyseley Collection giving its name to the collection's owning company '7029 Clun Castle Ltd'.
7029 was constructed by BR at Swindon in May 1950 as one of the last batch of 'Castles'. In its present condition it represents the final development of the class incorporating the modifications made in the 1950s. Outwardly, the only indication of enhanced performance is the double chimney, but internally the boiler has a four-row superheater and altered smokebox draughting arrangements. 7029 was the last 'Castle' to remain in BR service and was withdrawn in 1965.
Prior to withdrawal, in 1964 'Clun' achieved its finest moment at the head of an enthusiasts special commemorating the end of express steam working on the Western Region. On the descent of Wellington bank in Somerset, the locomotive achieved a top speed of 96 mph on the fastest ever recorded timing over the arduous route from Plymouth to Bristol. It hauled the last steam service train from Paddington in 1965 and was also the last steam engine to leave the former Snow Hill station with a passenger train.
Since preservation, the engine has travelled widely on excursions and to Open Days in London, Newcastle, Carlisle, Leeds, York, Liverpool, Stratford. Didcot and Hereford. During 1985, 'Clun Castle' played a prominent part in the Great Western Railway 150th Anniversary celebrations by hauling main line trains as far away as South Wales and Cornwall.
Clun Castle was the last steam engine to haul a train from the original Moor Street station before it closed making way for the 'new' Moor Street station situated on the through lines to Snow Hill. Indeed this was the last train out of the original Moor Street station before it was closed.
Clun Castle was the first steam locomotive to use the new Snow Hill station which was opened by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales who rode on the footplate through the Snow Hill tunnel to Moor Street and on to Tyseley. Clun has seen spells of duty at the Great Central Railway & Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway, and was a popular engine on the Steam Locomotive Driving Experience Courses which were run at Tyseley.
Her current 'certificate' ran out at the end of 2001 and she now awaits her turn for overhaul in Tyseley Locomotive Works.
An appeal to fund the overhaul and return of Clun to the mainline was formally launched at the Tyseley 100 Open Weekend on 28/29 June 2008.
Charity Registration No: 10409047029
Donations
12 donations made so far
Display Name
Date
Amount
Gift Aid
Message
Roger Tonkinson
18/10/2011
£35.00
N/A
Good luck on the overhaul, can't wait till it is in steam again as i was a signalman on the GWR at Whiteball Tunnel in the early 60's.
David Clark
14/09/2011
£70.00
£17.50
Can't wait to see Clun in steam in 2013. Good luck!
Dave Andrew
01/07/2011
£250.00
£62.50
I gave to the
Mike Tegg
09/06/2011
£35.00
N/A
Bernard White
04/04/2011
£35.00
£9.87
I had the pleasure of driving Clun Castle as a 40th Wedding Anniversary present in 1995
Steve Fox
31/03/2011
£35.00
£9.87
Peter Pascoe
15/03/2011
£105.00
£29.62
Good luck Clun. Go to www.gwr-preserved-locos.co.uk to view details & recent photos of all existing GWR locos
Mike Pym
13/03/2011
£35.00
£9.87
I saw 'Clun' on her record Plymouth to Bristol run in May 1964. Would love to have a journey over the Devon Banks behind her.
Tony Jackson
06/03/2011
£105.00
£29.62
Just had to support a wonderful engine - and a fine Shropshire name.
MaggyW
25/02/2011
£35.00
£9.87
MattPym
23/02/2011
£35.00
£9.87
A very worthy cause, can't wait to see such an iconic engine back in steam!
Geoff Bottoms
15/02/2011
£70.00
£19.75
The sooner Clun Castle returns to the main line the better so let's all do our bit!
