60009

The cost of building a museum that meets compliance requirements would not be cheap either.

 

Anyone know if she's likely to be doing any running along the ELR once the work at Riley's is done? I've not seen an A4 in steam since Mallard as a kid, which I remember clearly in images but not actually very well.

 

The Lochty Railway. Middle of nowhere and not exactly on the tourist circuit.

 

Wasn't it the Lochty Railway?

 

Lochty Private Railway ran until 1992 and the Kingdom of Fife Railway Preservation Society (Fife Heritage Railway) took over most of the rolling stock when it dissolved. It's located in Leven, 10 minute drive from the Lochty site.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if a trust will be formed around the locomotives, so there's always a chance that they'll return in future as long as the trustees are willing and there's money to pay for it. I'm going to try and get some more mileage behind 60009 in the next two years- I've had two fantastic runs on both the ECML and WCML behind it in the past four years.

 

Maybe so, but you don't have to take it apart and re-build it every seven years.

 

There is a serious problem to be addressed in the not too distant future, even for the integrated operators. Workshop and workforce capacity to restore/overhaul/maintain fleets concurrently at a sufficient rate to meet operational demands seems likely to be the most acute problem. The two that are independently resourced regularly struggle to keep multiple locos in traffic and the length of time to restore/overhaul routinely takes longer than planned, with good reason.
Recruiting already competent engineers from a small pool will become harder too although apprentice schemes may help offset things.
In many ways, then, the question of affordability is secondary to being able to find a competent workshop with capacity. Neither IoS or CRRES/WC has much scope to carry out third party contracts and the other major workshops are part of heritage lines servicing their own needs. The options facing Mr Cameron will be the same in future for any owner without an engineering base of their own.

 

I really hope the Aberdeen Ferryhill project (to reinstate the turntable) gets off the ground this year. The prospect of another "last hurrah" for No. 9 on the Aberdeen line, 50 years after we thought it was all over, is really rather tasty. I can imagine a programme of tourist trips using a number of "standard" routes: The Waverley line; the Fife Circle(s); Edinburgh to Aberdeen, Carlisle or Newcastle and back; Stirling to Inverness and back... I guess the Waverley and Aberdeen trips could only run on Sundays since there's no spare paths Mon-Sat, IIRC. Other routes might be available on other days, though. Perhaps the loco could be kept in steam for 3 or 4 days at a time, once a month, and packages sold: book 4 trips for the price of 3; inclusive deals for travel to/from Edinburgh, hotel and a number of steam trips? A co-operation between Mr Cameron, the SPRS, Scot Rail, WCRC and Riley & Son might be quite successful. The marketing and advertising needs to be right, though, and if it's going to happen this year, discussions need to be well under way already with a launch to the tourist trade before Easter. It also needs to be a bit bigger than just a "No 9 Farewell". There should be at least 2 locos involved, able to cover for each other. That, in turn, implies a certain amount of support crew sharing which imposes further operating restrictions... let's hope it's not too much to untangle!

 

The trust has already been formed, registered August 2015, and the locomotives are to be displayed at Balbuthie Farm. All info from the public domain:

The Cameron Railway Trust Scio - Registered charity number: SC04586

Aims of the trust:
"The Trustees shall hold the trust estate for the following purposes:- (i) to provide a suitable exhibition space at Balbuthie for those locomotives and other railway heritage assets transferred into the trust for their public display for educational and historical preservation purposes and to arrange for the installation of the locomotives and other railways assets; and (ii) to arrange for the public display of the locomotives, numbers 60009 and 61994 and all other assets gifted to the trust or purchased by them, in a manner compatible with their conservation and preservation for the benefit of the general public and railway historians. "

 

It is already off the ground. The turntable itself was removed last year and sent away for full refurbishment.

 

Would it need to meet compliance requirements? I haven't read the article so maybe my point is covered there, but if the museum was only for Mr Cameron's enjoyment, then it could be a relatively simple, relatively cheap, building.


Keith

 

As suspected, and there's nothing in my interpretation of the wording to suggest that a future return to steam will be impossible. After all, mainline running is public display with the additional benefit of 'flying the flag' for the collection. The issue of conservation/preservation (I don't think they are necessarily the same thing; the former can relate to sustainable use, the latter to keeping things in 'current' condition) is weighed-up on a near-daily basis with the NRM's operational locomotives.

Would certainly be up for an Edinburgh-Aberdeen trip one day. North of Glenrothes is one of the rapidly diminishing parts of the network that I have yet to cover with steam.

 

One can dream! It would be a great benefit to FHR, especially with the current rate it is expanding.

 

See above post by @steam_mad.

 

While Mr Cameron chose 60009 because of its Scottish connections and has chosen to base it in Scotland recently, the period when it was based at the SVR won it a lot of friends in other parts of the UK - myself among them. Regrettably I have never managed a run behind it thus far, although my all-time favourite main line photo of any loco was taken at Battledown Flyover on 15th February 2003 when "Number Nine" was working the British Pullman train to Southampton on a sunny, cold, still winter's day.

Therefore, in view of how many other enthusiasts who live a long way south of Hadrian's Wall have fond memories of 60009, if is to be stuffed and mounted once its boiler certificate runs out, it would be good if it could run a series of farewell tours across the whole of the country rather than just restricted to Scotland.

I don't blame Mr Cameron for deciding that in view of his age, enough is enough. The money he has been willing to spend over the years to keep his beloved A4 running has given a great deal of pleasure to many people and we owe him a great debt for his contribution to main line steam. The support crew, who have had to travel hundreds of miles from their homes when 60009 was running trains in the south of England also deserve our thanks. Would they be willing to do this for one final period (Assuming the tour operators felt there was a market) to give their engine a final send-off? I hope so.

 

Maybe not - but once created it attracted a lot of tourists in its time. Tourist circuits will change according what is available to view hence a new circuit might be created once the museum is in existence with the FHR a potential support activity. Travel to Fife ; see stem in the museum then follow on to FHR to see steam in action ! Two attractions for the price of one day in the area.