Tornado

You clearly don't understand the legal structure of The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust. It is not a society with members but a company limited by guarantee with charitable status. Its only members are its Trustees/directors. Its supporters are merely donors and we have no rights. The only on action we can take is to stop our donations, which many of us do not want to do.

 

Back doing what may I ask? It now has no operator, no rolling stock and no planned mainline tours (the Sept train will not run). Those of us who have supported Tornado for decades care and will not let this debacle be brushed under the carpet.

 

That presumes that trust remains in the management to deliver on promises. At a purely commercial level, if I were considering a supplier who had missed a series of deadlines, and had developed a reputation for saying "all ok" until it suddenly wasn't, I'd be very cautious.

 

It's all about trust and confidence, both in operations and fundraising. Trust has been broken and confidence shattered. Fundamental change will be needed to correct this.

 

I am reluctant to conclude that "fundamental" change is required - but trust has to be rebuilt, and that cannot be done with more of the same.

 

I don't, and from what you describe I'm not sure why anyone has been so generous to a project over which they appear to have apparently literally no control, sorry to say (and bring it back to politics), but is also sounds very much like The Reform Party (Ltd).

 

Because in the past its leadership followed a set of core principles which I have previously posted, its ability to bring in the right person for the right job was second to none and it delivered on its promises. And this worked well for almost 30 years

Sadly, the new regime has chosen to disregard those principles and fill the board with yes men/women - and this is now the position we find ourselves in.

 

There are more than a few similarities when you consider the way they operate and all their ‘spoilt rich kids’ junketing.

 

Oh dear

 

One operator that might be willing to operate Tornado, subject to agreeable terms, is West Coast. Under their present circumstances they certainly could do with another loco able to operate air braked stock, and a Class 8 would be especially useful. How long they will be in this position is of course unknown to those of us outside Carnforth.

 

I have heard that WCRC won't operate Tornado.

 

Since when have the railway press ever behaved like proper journalists and looked under the surface?
Pat

 

I think the specialist press in any industry never likes to bite the hand that feeds, because they have too much to lose. (Advertisers, access to the big stories / key players).

From another field, when rumours about drugs started to swirl around Lance Armstrong, the major English-language cycling magazines were pretty much in a state of denial until the truth became too obvious to ignore. It was non-specialist press who had less to lose (and potentially deeper pockets) who ran with the story - specifically in that case the Sunday Times in the UK and I think Der Spiegel in Germany.

Tom

 

I’ve just taken a look at the NVR website to see what they have planned for Tornado’s visit.

The programme starts on Tuesday 20th with three days of driver experiences, all sold out. That’s 30 tickets at £595 totalling c. £18k.

After a days break this is followed by 3 days of public running including a sold out Fish & Chip diner ….

So that leaves just 10 days to complete any outstanding work, steam test and rectify any issues, run the loco in, then split it, transport to the NVR, reassemble and recommission.

 

Are they journalists or merely article writers?

Regarding what @Jamessquared said, "I think the specialist press in any industry never likes to bite the hand that feeds, because they have too much to lose. (Advertisers, access to the big stories / key players)", I think it works both ways - is investigative journalism what the the readership are after? Or simply a few updates and some nice pictures to look at?

 

Well most of them are "cut and paste" merchants taking everything at face value. Investigative journalism takes time and money. I doubt the budgets of the heritage magazines will run to this. They must already be as profitable as heritage railways. I doubt there is much conspiracy here, just a number of well-intentioned people completely out of their depth.

 

Fair challenge, and from some posts here and elsewhere, I suspect there are many enthusiasts who just want to be reassured that all is well in their hobby. But I think that if specialist journalists did challenge their area, they might find that they gain support rather than lose it.

 

That certainly was the case, but then in the second half of her last ticket agreement was reached and Tornado ran quite a few trips under West Coast - indeed I travelled on some. What has changed please, as I could foresee Tornado picking up a lot of work for RTC (& perhaps Pathfinder) through West Coast?

 

If the supporters have no say, in how the chairman, and board run things, Then as I see it, you really have no choice but to stop your subscriptions, and sponsorship, to force change, otherwise nothing is going to change, only that should the current chair, and board stay in place, the damage will be that much more worse, So far, have they done anything different, as long as the money still keeps coming in, they can always promise jam tomorrow, until tomorrow comes, and they have bankrupted the company,