4920 Dumbleton Hall

Or simply that the others offers were not high enough, or the cash wasn’t needed at the time those offers were made?

 

You have to wonder how long Harry Potter will remain popular. In 10 or 20 years will people have lost interest, and an appeal be launched to bring 4920 back again.

Presumably WB have been the new owners all along, and contracted WCRC to turn it into a Hogwarts Castle replica before shipping it to Japan.

 

There's lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth - but when all is said and done, a loco of which many classmates survive is being taken to a place where it will be stored under cover and seen by millions. There are unique locos and carriages disappearing before our eyes largely unseen and uncared for.

Tom

 

No doubt more of the story will come out, but so far its looking like a disaster for the loco, being stripped of parts and sent to the other side of the world probably to never ever run again.

I bet the SDR are wishing they hadn't sold it, or at least to someone else. I expect they were under the impression that they were selling it to have a working future and I suspect they feel duped about what is now actually happening.

 

When the SDR announced it’s sale early last year, they seemed to be under the impression it would be returned to steam. So maybe someone wasn’t entirely honest about their intentions when they bought it. Or maybe the SDR just assumed a move to WCRC would mean a return to steam.

Maybe they wouldn’t have sold it if they’d known. However the £300k sale price was probably hard to turn down for a loco they never used, at a time when covid lockdowns had made a big dent in the finances of most railways.

 

No one has thought that the japs might be wanting one that they can turn into a working engine. This engine will be the main engine for a ride at the new park but I expect they will need a diesel to incase it breaks down which they could do like the mission impossible engine was. But it would have been better if Painton had buy it so it could go back there and run again. Also the man likes to trick people as in putting different names on engines so it may a trick that it’s gone as no one has seen it.

 

Q

 

The DHPS shareholders weren’t aware. The DHPS committee, only they can answer…

 

From a book perspective I think Harry Potter as a series will remain one of the all time greats, along the same lines as series such as Lord of the Rings or the Chronicles of Narnia. Personally as somebody who loves the books I don't enjoy the films that much and think they are very poor in comparison, but that's often the case with film adaptations of books which are so rich in detail. But I do also think the films and the franchise in general will prove popular for decades to come, certainly much longer than the creator will be around, despite her views which have attracted a well publicized amount of controversy. As has also been said, it's not as if we're short of Halls. Plenty still to go round.

 

I am not sure I buy the 'plenty more Halls' argument.

There are 10. Only one of which is operational. Three have never steamed in preservation, 5900 hasn't run since 1979(?), 5972 is a de facto static exhibit. The fleet so to speak is really only 4 strong - Hagley, Pitchford, Kinlet and Rood Ashton.

 

There are a few more than that. Granted , one has been backdated to a "Saint" but there are also about half a dozen other Modified Halls - surely thats plenty enough for everybody.

Peter

 

Those of us of an East Coast persuasion can only dream of such an embarrassment of riches.


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If that is true then I imagine the legal eagles are sharpening their quills in anticipation. Misleading fellow committee members and disposing of major assets without members' approval - the arguments could go on for years !

 

On the one hand, I do understand the case for it going somewhere where it will be protected and cared for, and it will at least be better than just having it sit rotting in a siding for another 20 years. However, it is still a shame that the loco is effectively being stripped of its own identity to permanently masquerade as another, with likely no indication in its new location that it isn't in fact the real Olton Hall. There is something rather sobering about seeing a loco that has been restored and run in preservation before take such a dramatic turn in fortunes.