Originally Posted by Admiral Halsey (Post 2145098)

think we should make an effort to always save the lead ship of every class. Thank god she was still saved from the scrappers.)

Originally Posted by Oberon (Post 2145359)

Nope, gotta bite on this one. :haha:

That's not quite how it happened, although God I wish it was.
Although some lead engines of their class were preserved, they were generally rather exceptional engines such as the Stirling No. 1 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNR_Stirling_4-2-2), but generally speaking they were few and far between. However the real preservation drive began at the end of steam in the 1960s, and it wasn't that organised because it was enthusiast groups trying to grab any locomotive they could before the scrapyards cut them up, in that way the Barry Scrapyard in Wales would be the lifesaver of many locomotives because they were very lenient on accepting money for locos or putting locos to one side until the funds could be arranged. Many 'Standard' locomotives were preserved (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BR_stan...andard_classes) because they were quite new at the time and thus could be put into service on preserved lines quite early, likewise the Austerity classes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunslet_Austerity_0-6-0ST) because there were so many of them dotted around the network in coal yards and industrial sidings.
As such, when the iron dust had settled, there were gaping holes in our preservation list, we had an A2, A3 and A4s but no A1 until Tornado was built from scratch by the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust in 2008. Scotsman was the only A3 to be preserved, and thankfully Alan Pegler was able to step in and grab her before she went but she's become bogged down in a constant state of overhaul to get her back to mainline running status.
Needless to say though, a LOT of steam locomotives were saved, and we should be eternally grateful for this, but we couldn't save them all, and certainly the lead loco of each class were not saved (otherwise we'd still have Silver Link of the A4 class) but thankfully we did get quite a few lead locomotives, particularly those of the Great Western and LMS area because they went to Barry scrapyard and were able to be grabbed from there.
We have a lot to thank Dai Woodham for:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Woodham
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodham_Brothers

Originally Posted by Admiral Halsey (Post 2145447)

Still at least they tried to save some of the important ones which is more then you can say about the US. I mean for cripes sake we didn't save a single New York Central Hudson. Also the saved steam here is almost always either a 2-8-2 Mike, 2-8-4 Berkshire or the 4-8-4 Northern and it's mostly Mike's.

Originally Posted by Jimbuna (Post 2145489)

Maybe so but look at all the ships you have compared to our mere handfull.

Originally Posted by Jimbuna (Post 2145489)

Maybe so but look at all the ships you have compared to our mere handfull.

Originally Posted by privateer (Post 2145515)

You all never got over the "Tea" fiasco so suck it up.
:haha:

Originally Posted by Jimbuna (Post 2145657)

Wellington and his army would have been sent over