7027 Thornbury Castle

The owner wanted a quick sale. In those circumstances, I'd be surprised if he asked. If he did, what does it matter to him? He wants to sell it. It's up to the new owners to take on the "wellbeing" at that point.

 

Actually, no-one has forgotten, and his actions are a large cause of the anger that many feel. We all thought that 7027 was finally in safe hands after her somewhat chequered ownership. The (nameless) owner was keen enough on the loco to be funding a fast-track restoration at the GCR7027 Thornbury Castle
Look at pages 20-39 of this thread, posts such as these7027 Thornbury Castle seemed very supportive of the work going on at Loughborough, and the updates from Flying Phil were positively welcomed.
This is why the actions of her recent owner have caused such anger. He claimed to be, and appeared to be, committed to her restoration- then in a bizarre episode of tantrum, he has betrayed 7027, and sold her to a bunch of WIBNistas at the GWS, knowing their intention to end all hope of 7027's restoration by taking the boiler for their bodge-u-like 47xx pastiche.
I am equally appalled by Mr Gregory's actions, the intention of the 4709 group, and the GWS's complicity/duplicity/denial etc. etc.

 

You and many others are appalled, but there's nothing that anyone can do about it (apart from moaning) unless someone organises a large pot of money to offer to the 4709 people for them to relinquish 7027 and order a proper No.7 boiler.

 

Get yourself a life - it's only trains and no-one has died. Most of the loco will remain much as it is now.

 

I feel this is somewhat harsh. We are all here because we are committed to, and passionate about, preserved steam railways and locomotives. Part of that is the principle of restoration of steam locomotives. This whole saga has been generated out of indignation at the breaking up of a locomotive from arguably its most important commodity - the boiler, amongst other issues. People are going to be angry, that's their right.

The overwhelming feeling I get from this is disappointment. The whole affair from start to finish has not shed a good light on the business practices of a few groups and individuals, nor on their ethics where railway preservation is concerned.

Of course, one man's castle is another man's Night Owl boiler...

 

And it does no credit to the heritage movement when unfounded comments are made.

 

I'm deeply sorry - my sincerest condolences to the family of whoever it was that died.

 

Black 5 type 3b and 8F type 3c boilers are not interchangeable. The 8F boiler is about a foot shorter.

 

Ah give it to the 47xx group, they can sort some inconveniences in a jiffy!

 

I'm left wondering who he believes he speaks for. The GWS? If the GWS have too many Castles then why not 'borrow' a boiler they already had sitting on 5051? Otherwise I do not think he speaks for the wider preservation movement where he uses the term 'we'.

 

I would disagree.

As a 'consumer' I naturally have choice and as someone who has visited & supported GWS and their projects for past 50years, I can choose to spend my money where I like on projects I deem to be 'Preservation' rather than projects that are not preservation at all in my mind. As a complete coincidence, a current volunteer at Didcot recently encouraged me to don some overalls and get involved as a volunteer. I got as far as obtaining the forms and then .........

Sour grapes? No just disappointment as I have misjudged what I thought GWS were about. Attempts then to distance Didcot management from 47xx group have only made their situation worse in my opinion.

 

Hardly an unsurmountable problem.

 

Will the GWS have any way to know how many people are not turning up (as volunteers or visitors) who would have turned up but for the Thornbury affair?

 

Consumers make purchasing decisions all the time based on what is important or unimportant to them. If GWS have their eyes on their revenue income and marketing, then it might be important that they know the answer to the question you raise. On the other hand, they might just believe that this will blow over and enthusiasm & volunteering will return en-force?

 

They may well not BUT it might put people off in the long term, particularly perhaps the more able and motivated?

 

The thing is this seems to have really upset a lot of the long standing volunteers at Didcot. I am not a volunteer (several hundred miles and a young family preclude that), but if one reads the echo regularly (and follows the place on social media) there are several names that pop up time and time again as being deeply involved. Interestingly several of those names have popped up on social media strongly condemning what is going on and also the general management of the place, I have never seen this happen before and it suggests that this is really bringing what has been festering in the background for a fair old while (as hinted on here and elsewhere in the past) into the open.

 

AIUI the visitor numbers at Dicot have been declining for some time, and there are a number of likely and well known reasons for that (a general air of dereliction, limitations of a short demo line, the seeming abandonment of the Broad Gauge line and so on. I can't see the new build controversies making much difference, the place needs a whole new business plan!

 

No, but totally unnecessary had they not sold its boiler off... What was the point of that? In my humble opinion, the best thing for 44901 now would be for it to re-join its rightful boiler in the hands of Mr. Riley.

Richard.