Wednesday 5 December 2012

Website Update

A quick update on the website. As some of you have reported it is currently down, this is planned as part of the revamp mentioned in our last update of which we send our apologies for it taking longer than we first hoped. 
We hope to have it back up soon and we will keep you updated here. 

Wednesday 21 November 2012

21/11/12

We are currently working away in the background on the project and as we have said before some of this such as a Business Plan will be shown soon. The website is currently being given a bit of a re-fresh which should be finished by the 28th so please bare with us in the mean time.

We are still receiving supportive comments, however some people have asked what is happening about Project Phoenix as we haven't been seen much this year. 
We would like to remind our supporters and other people interested that when we announced the Claud as a new build this was to gain support and interest for the idea. We will always welcome idea's, help and support especially from other new builds and people with experience. 

We hope to attend more events in 2013, hopefully to be started off with something very exciting at the start of the year alongside another new build project of which we are delighted to be working with. More on this in the coming weeks!

The drawing below is one of the latest to be made into CAD, a template set up using some of the drawings gathered from NRM. Some parts are missing. The large 7ft driving wheels are just a quick drawing to show the size.


Archive October 2011 - September 2012

30/09/12
We have obtained a revised quote for our bogie wheels and we can have them cast for just over £2000 each as soon as we are ready. 
Our merchandise is selling well, particularly the mug "Carrying the King to Sandringham" and there are only 4 left!  
We are currently planning an exciting program of events next year to raise money. Keep an eye on our events page for more details. 


14/09/2012
We would like to apologise for the lack of updates. We are still here but working away in the background. We hope to have some thing's to show from this including a full business plan and prospectus in the near future. We would like to thank everyone again for their continued support of the project.

April news update 20/04/2012
Firstly we would like to thank everyone who came to see us at Holt Station on the North Norfolk Railway during their Spring Steam Gala Weekend, the response to Project Phoenix was brilliant with many  supportive and positive comments along with hearing some great stories and memories of the class. The stand included a large model of Phoenix made my Dan & Chloe. Also seeing a 'bigger Claud' - B12 8572 looking stunning after her overhaul was great. 
In other news we have been granted exclusive use of a never seen before photo of 8783 hauling the Royal Train. 

Another new face joins the team! 04/03/2012
We would like to give a warm welcome to Chloe Martin who has now joined the team. Chloe has a great interest in railways and Project Phoenix.  You can find out more about Chloe by visiting The Team page on our website.
In other news George & Dan has appeared in Norwich Evening News and on BBC Radio Norfolk talking about the project.

Welcome to 2012 06/01/12 
As we enter 2012 we would like to give a warm welcome to Tom Soar who has joined the board as our Industrial Contacts & Sponsorship Manager, you can find out more about Tom here by visiting The Team page

The CHLG also features in a new book by Robin Jones 'Steam's New Dawn' which is availble from all good book retailers. 

Update 20/11/11 - Phoenix to go mainline?
We will be looking into if Phoenix will be suitable to run on the mainline, this will enable the loco to reach a wider audience and haul 'short distance' charters such as London - Norwich and return on the Great Eastern Mainline as well as opening up the prospect for it to visit more heritage lines. 
The reason for this is the fact that the Clauds were always highly thought of by loco crews who regarded them as the 'Rolls Royce' engine of the East Anglian network. Even after loco's such as B17s were introduced crews preferred the Clauds, and indeed in many cases the Clauds out performed the newer engines and kept up with faster timings and heavier loading's with ease. 

National Railway Museum Visit 10/11/2011
Three of our members visited the National Railway Museum at York during the last weekend of October. Here they went through all the Stratford Works drawings of Claud Hamiltons, We will soon receive copies of them which in turn will be converted to CAD. 
While at the NRM we posed our headboard on a few of the locomotives in The Great Hall including the world famous "Mallard" - the fastest steam locomotive in the world, and "Evening Star" the last steam locomotive to be built by British Rail.  Photos of these can be found in our Gallery page on the website. Please note we gained full permission from the NRM to put our headboard on the locomotives and to use the images.

'Press Release "Phoenix" & 'V499' Twinning' and more! 13/10/2011
Two new build steam projects on the opposite sides of the globe to each other have officially been twinned.
The UK based Claud Hamilton Locomotive Groups 4-4-0 ‘Claud’ No.8783 “Phoenix” has been twinned with The Victorian Steam Locomotive Companies 2-8-0 ‘V499’ in Australia. 

The Claud Hamilton Locomotive Groups Chairman Christopher Allenby said: “"We are absolutely delighted that “Phoenix” and ‘V499’ have been twinned. While both locos are at the very early stages of being built we hope the twinning will raise the awareness of both projects, and also the Australian preservation movement in the UK. 
The Victorian Steam Locomotive Companies V499 is Australia’s first steam new build project inspired by the success of the A1 Trust with 60163 “Tornado” here in the UK and we are delighted to be supporting them.”"
The V499 project is also being supported by the world famous Puffing Billy Railway.
Both projects are very similar, they were both released to the public at about the same time during 2011, both projects are being run by groups of young people, and by coincidence 15 of the 16 members of the V Class were built in Victoria by the 'Phoenix' foundry. 
The two groups will work together to design a plaque which both ‘V499’ and “Phoenix” will carry when built. 
You can find out more about the V499 project here: www.vicsteam.com