Best & Worst Locos to Drive

Have you any experience of marketting (he says going yet further off topic)?

PH

 

Whether it increases net income is much more to the point.

PH

 

Yes I have. But it's a moot point and irrelevant to the overall point.

Ignore the potential for marketability at your peril. There's possibilities everywhere if thought through carefully.

 

You are merely quoting from "The gricer's handbook of excuses to waste money".

PH

 

Suit yourself Paul.

But marketing is a big deal and as we've seen with a number of big, green and named steam locomotives over the years, it can be made easier when you have something to market well.

Think of it in the round in the full context of selling the best preserved railway possible.

Or indeed, as we've seen with Tornado, the ability to market successfully with a good and known branding with clear aims.

 

Yep, I'll certainly be back to see Foremarke Hall

 

That's exactly what this lococentric obsession doesn't do! Cleanliness of lavatories, carriage insides and catering facilities are of much more importance to most paying customers than the presence of oversized motive power at the head end. I recall an articulate correspondent on Tripadvisor expressing her surprise that at Railway "X" she had found one tourist line that actually cleaned carriage interiors.

PH

 

What has any of this to do with this thread?
We have been over the arguments time and again: PH wants people to see that running (in his opinion) more economical locos of reasonable and not excessive power class would keep railways in the red. This is then characterised as "should only run Ivatt 2MT tanks", and countered with "we've got what we've got". Paul then points out there are a lot of Class 5 and above locos in service and a lot of class 2/3/4 quietly rusting. Someone then alleges that enthusiasts keep preservation in business and someone else (probably Mr Hitch) that they don't, it is the general public who don't know a Stirling Single from a Spamcan. All allegations made with no supporting data. And so on ad infinitum. Is rehashing this going to get us anywhere?

 

Paul, I am not arguing that you focus on locomotives at the expense of all of that.

If you feel I am that's your hang up because you've not mentioned that until now.

You're very good at deflecting, dodging and generally twisting the debate to suit your world view so to be frank I'll agree on the point that railways should consider the whole, and not just the locomotive - with the caveat that the locomotives aren't just the power at the front of the train, they can be used in other ways too and marketing is one of those ways.

Night all.

 

Well, two. And if we're talking about promoting one's own world view, both of which a certain Mr Martin in particular got a bit over-excited about...

 

Funny, that's just how I consider you. (Sorry andrewshimmin, I am really in agreement with you)

PH

 

Well yes you're right there. On both counts. But as we can see from the Patriot, a unique selling point can help wonders.

Every railway has hundreds of USPs potentially. It's about exploiting that in every way possible. Austerity and economy is not enough to grow a railway.

 

Incredible. We agree on something! We're both good at deflecting.

On that bombshell...

 

Merely to "grow"an operation without proportionate net revenue increase is pointless.

PH

 

Wossallthiststuff about Panniers then? All this cobblers about them being really uncomfortable is just... absolutely true. It doesn't mean they are not fun, though. A 57XX Pannier is a Class 4, and a seriously gutsy machine. I have fired them on 8 coach trains on the Valley for years, driven them too. I also drove one on ten coaches and it pi***d that too.

I'd be the first to admit they are an acquired taste, but, I guess it's what you are brought up with. My two driving mentors were both ex - Stourbridge Junction men, and I learned my trade from them.

Despite that, you would be hard - pressed to beat a Black 5 on any job that did not require a Pacific. I include 2968 in that assessment as well.

Our two Bulleid Pacifics are also an acquired taste, and I am happy to say, I have acquired it.

In short, they're all brilliant; you just have to learn their idiosyncrasies and cherish them.

In the same spirit, I also love Beyer - Garratt NG/G16s, Double Fairlies, Penrhyn Quarry engines and Quarry Hunslets! I have driven and fired them all, and they are fabulous in their environments.

A number of their regular crews have visited me at the SVR and been similarly impressed. It's not what you've got, it's how you handle it.

Regards,

jtx

 

Unlikely I am afraid, unless the "big name" is Flying Scotsman or Tornado. Nothing else has name recognition. I think that generally the general public prefer green locos with names, but apart from the two locos above, I don't think they are so very bothered whether the loco is Wadebridge or Foremarke Hall or Mayflower. I think it is a pity that the Southern didnt name the Us and the Ns. You can more easily "appeal" for funds for a named engine (experience suggests) and as I say the visitors like to be hauled by something green with a name, but if you advertise that you are running a particular locomotive on a particular date it will appeal to a limited number of additional people (general public) unless it is one of the "golden pair".

 

I can but hope!

 

The NRM seemed to have healthy Joe Public visitor numbers when it gathered all six A4s together the other year, but I bet they were still a drop in the ocean compared to those who flocked to see Flying Scotsman at the lineside this year.

To me Mallard has a far greater claim to public acclaim than FS, yet I bet if it was put back out on the main line, it wouldn't attract as many punters.

As my mum used to say, there's nowt so queer as folk...

 

92214 and which other one? #confused

 

worse engine to ever had fired, Kolapor, but she was so out of sorts, that nothing any of us did made any difference, Best has to be any of the moguls, U, or N, Both very free steaming easy to control , and as with any Ashford machine well able to provide any amount of steam i only everr got my hand on the regulator a few times, so cant pass judgement but i would say an A4 because if the way everything is laid out . but having never driven one other than one time running round, and that was under very strict supervision, ihave to say worse cab layout for me has to be an Austerity, backhead injectors that you bang your knee on, a double handed regulator handle that if your not carefull can rap your knuckles if the driver catches you unawares, and any GW tank loco