7027 Thornbury Castle

There's more to this 'organising a group' malarkey than meets the eye. Thinking such thoughts myself, I enquired whether the domain ' thornbury castle dot co dot uk ' might be available, only to find that some blighter has appropriated the name for a hotel in Gloucestershire.
EDIT> Clearly a is required to show this is tongue in cheek

 

I think you will find this place has a lot more history than its namesake locomotive. It is also a going concern.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornbury_Castle

 

If that is an accurate statement of GWS's intentions, it implies willingness to sell all of 7027 that currently exists, not just the bottom half that is no use for 4709. If they were only offering the bottom half and keeping the boiler, there would be no need for the 6-month moratorium.

If I were in their position I would be much inclined to look for at least a little profit on the deal, to help towards a new no. 7 boiler and whatever other bits are still needed for 4709. They do need to restore their good name, but offering to re-sell and allowing 6 months goes some way towards that. Going through all the hassle to end up exactly where they started but delayed by 7 months doesn't seem all that attractive.

Let's hope to see a definite plan before too long and an appeal for the required amount of cash. Then we'll see whether enough is contributed. I wouldn't want to bet either way.
Personally I am more inclined to contribute to something else. There are more than enough other deserving causes, in railway preservation (including Defiant) and elsewhere.

 

Both thornburycastle.org and thornburycastle.org.uk seem to be available.

 

I rather suspected that the potential purchaser immediately started negotiations with an agreement that there would be no further announcements until a deal was or wasn't concluded. It seems common, even standard practice for these sales to happen on the grapevine and behind closed doors. Consider 4920 for a very recent example.

 

I wonder, would GWS agree to another GW engine as a swop, Would the Bluebell be interested in swopping 9017 for the Castle My thinking is this, assuming a castle would fit, it would be safe, Didcot would get the duke dog, either do it as a permanent loan, between the two organisations, the Castle could then be restored to run on the Bluebell, where, with their need for something able to cope with the type of weight, and gradients, plus if being based on the bluebell, it becomes a home engine, it's a ready fit for any giants of steam gala, plus could be loaned out for gala's at other railways, It's Only a thought?

 

Full marks for blue sky, even outer space thinking! And I'm sure the Dukedog would be a very welcome addition to the Didcot collection. I'm rather less sure, however, that the Bluebell, with more than enough work on their hands for the foreseeable future with the locomotives they have, would welcome another box of bits, let alone an out of area one.

 

Yeah, and then once restored we'll arrange a loan agreement with Swanage so they can run a regular shuttle service to Salisbury ...

As has been explained on numerous occasions, the Dukedog isn't going anywhere - it was an explicit condition of its donation to the Bluebell that it remained based there. More generally, the Bluebell - in common I suspect with most preserved railways around the country - doesn't need any more unrestored locos, it needs the capacity to (time, money, space, skills) to restore the ones it already has, which includes one remaining Barry-condition loco of much greater use and historical relevance. It has also disposed of two locos in the last twelve months that would likely never have been restored in a reasonable timeframe otherwise, which rather illustrates the point about future acquisitions.. So - thanks, but no thanks.

I think the 4709 Group plan to use parts of the loco was severely misguided and has probably done them considerable harm in PR terms - but that doesn't mean I have a good alternative plan. Resources are stretched thin across the industry and my feeling is that for most of the well-established lines that could actually realistically use a loco of that size, priorities will be focused on restoring existing locos, not taking on a new project of the size of Thornbury Castle.

Tom

 

Just a very big NO! - for several reasons.

 

You’ve not come up with any useful suggestions for what Didcot would turn the Dukedog into… I’m struggling to see them getting a Saint out of it…

Simon

 

Back-convert to a Duke and a Bulldog …

Tom

 

Would they be able to scavenge some parts from City of Truro to complete that?

 

Which of yours is still in Barry condition? What are its prospects?

 

80100 I think

 

80100. Long-term prospect.

Tom

 

Wide chufferitis?

 

Aberdare or Kruger?

 

It not that just called normal commercial confidentiality. I spent decades at work telling engineering and other client area that the commercial negotiations were nothing to do with them unless we need their input.
No sensible organisation conducts any commercial negotiations in public.