6201, her new lease of life.

I agree with the principle of what you say, but will add that the question of "benefit" is fraught with complications, and also linked to the value of the donation relative to the value of the "benefit". I'm sure that the Brighton Belle people have taken careful advice, and that anyone with a major fundraiser should do likewise.

 

Interesting piece in latest Steam Railway Regarding Lizzie. Had a nagging feeling something wasn't quite right, it seems Mr Mojonnier has had his latest fall out and this time it's with TLW. He's saying that the 6201 group aren't happy that Lizzie needs another load of work doing to it so soon. On the other side of the fence Michael Whitehouse has said we could only do what we could with the money and the working members (or lack of them) they had. Ie the minimum, I'll say this from the outside looking in, trouble seems to have followed this group around since 2002 when Mr Mojonnier had a bit of a hissyfit that 6201 didn't get the 1st Royal Train job. There seems to have been various fallings out, disagreements and moves away from different sites along the way. Maybe some people in this group need to have a good hard long look at themselves, and their managment. Certainly while they're in charge I think it's safe to say not one penny from my wallet will be going into their coffers, I wonder how many people on here feel the same?

 

Appropriately designed fundraising schemes have brought in millions for other projects such as Tornado, GC bridge-the-gap, Broadway, etc.
The options for this lot seem to be
to come up with a comparably robust scheme and to reassure potential contributors by full transparency about what has happened and what needs to be done to put things right,
to hand over to new management,
or to leave the loco languishing out of service for the foreseeable future.

 

I'm very glad that at last people are waking up to the way 6201 have operated for years, from 2002 seems about right. If only they had been honest and straight with folks all those years ago, they wouldn't have had the nomadic existence that they seemed to have followed, alienating themselves and others along the way. Its about time some of their directors take their responsibilities seriously and become accountable for their own failures.

 

Sadly not confined to 6201. Historically, railway preservation in this country is littered with such events .

 

Assuming the piece is correct, It seems somewhat unfair to be trying to lay the blame at Tyseley's door when they were given the bare minimum of specs and funds to work with, essentially the 6201 society got what it paid for, an overhaul done on the cheap, It seems Tyseley even made them aware that the small tubes would have a somewhat limited life if not renewed.

 

But that does need to be plausible. Trying to lay the blame on an organisation with a reputation like Tyseley's makes it all too obvious where the real blame lies.

 

Whatever the wrongs and rights of the situation the Tyseley statement seems well considered, evidenced and factual. That from the Society reads much like toys exiting a pram, the fact that even after such a short period of time they have discounted any action against TLW say its all!

 

I think you could extend that to the entire heritage sector (the only charitable sector I have involvement in - it may expand to all volunteer sectors?)

 

Your not wrong, I've worked for charities in the past and some at the top seem to take the attitude that that status allows them to get away with cr*p that any normal company would quickly be up in court or a tribunal for.

 

Ah the MBE Chasers.....

 

Look at Tyseley's reputation as regards:

A) It's own in house restorations eg whatever keeps 5043, 4965, the panniers, and even it's class 47 on road is certainly not magic fairy dust is it?

B) Look at what Vintage trains does, and how many happy customers they have. Look at the people who are willing to entrust their charges to them, if someone like David Smith is willing to let you hire one of his machines, you must be doing something right!

C) Contract work, TLW seems to have a pretty decent reputation of what comes out of the 'factory' there. One example being 7802 having work done there and there are plans for its owners to send their other engine 7812 over for part of its overhaul. Lest we forget weren't a certain A1's frames laid down there too?

D) Those at the top at Tyseley seem to be willing to speak to the Railway press (Tony Streeter must have a special hot line to Tyseley, there's usually a piece in his pages in Steam Railway!) or on social media (certainly Bob and Ben make the effort on here).
I'm not saying everything that goes on over in TLW is perfect, but they must be doing something right. I think Lizzie's owners have picked on the wrong people this time.

 

I hope they don't upset the PRCLT as they are rapidly running out of places to park the big red one, not to mention those with the knowledge and expertise to help operate and maintain it.

 

I give it 12-18 months

 

Does this now mean that a new boiler inspection (and more) will need to be done at Butterley before any decisions will be made? Not good news for any supporters as I believe a long list of known faults have been published in 6201's members newsletter.

 

The latest plea for funds is much too late if the impecunious state existed well before the contract overhaul began and led to sound advice being ignored. Sorry to say that the judgement of those in charge of decision making seems utterly inadequate. Great loco, managed badly.

 

The latest issue of the Railway Magazine arrived today and it contains a very sad report in the Headline news section about the state of 6201. The boiler Inspector says that the boiler has to be lifted out of the frames so that repairs can be made. The list of work required to get her back into action is unbelievable considering she has recently come back from a "heavy overhaul". There are 35 key tasks that must be completed before she can be steamed again. It seems Tyseley were not given much money to work with at all.
I can't believe how many problems there are with the boiler. Shocking stuff to be honest.

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