Tornado

That assumes it short notice. This may have been booked weeks ago. But then tbf I have known Allerleys turn out less than 24 hours after a call to get a loco so nothing is impossible

 

Usual first person singular glory grabbing stuff from him. No mention of the rest of the team, especially those who did all the hard yards, several of whom were discarded along the way.

 

I note that the "Driver Experiences" are on the NVR calendar for the 20th and 21st.

 

I'm sure he'll be as quick to take responsibility for all of the mistakes, over promises, under delivering and miscommunications along the way. I'll get my coat!

 

How much is he paid for this responsible position, posts above suggest not inconsiderable amount, I thought originally it was purely volunteer.

 

As A1ST is a charity, its annual accounts will probably publish payments to Trustees.

 

Thanks for that, the figures do indeed make interesting and rather surprising reading.

 

They have paid staff including the wife of a recently former (still not announced) trustee. It’s worth looking at current and past accounts on Companies House and Charity Commission websites for details of payments and expenses.

 

It's probably already booked, I can't recall exactly the details, but when you are moving something which is subject to the STGO rules and regulations, the haulier needs to inform the relevant authorities about the planned route etc, two clear working days springs to mind as the bare minimum I think.

 

I could be wrong but I don’t think charity trustees are allowed to be paid, other than expenses.

 

It would seem there are ways to pay trustees according to the rules and regulations.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/payments-to-charity-trustees-what-the-rules-are

 

In my experience of (non railway) charities it's not unusual. Trustees come and go, and organisations evolve.

I'd probably be more concerned about those with entirely unchanging leadership personally, particularly where the role of the charity changes significantly – I worked with a charity which, as a result of changes in our sector, went from direct support to lobbying and providing guidance, and the type of trustees we needed were different following that change of direction. In the A1 group's case, the skills necessary to build are likely different to those for operation.

Obviously it could also point to rampant mismanagement, poor leadership and unpleasant behaviours, but despite the Henny Penny / Chicken Little tendencies of some in this forum, from an outsider's perspective those don't seem likely to be the problem here.

Simon

 

100% – only a few days to go before we see if Steve Davies' target is met, Tornado steams at the NVR, and returns to the mainline reliably in due course… proof/pudding/etc.… From memory the target was to arrive at the end of this week, but I assume there's a little leeway for 'early next week'.

Simon

 

First NVR driver experience course starts on Tuesday morning. So it'll need a warming fire on Monday, I'd suggest.

 

I'd suggest that the level and timing of churn are indicators of something going on, but not evidence of anything in itself.

 

Looks like they've been moved to the first week of September on the NVR website now

 

I don't think churn is automatically a sign of anything. I also think harping on about salaries isn't hugely helpful without benchmarks. Given the whole model of the A1SLT was professionalism, paying people is rather implied in this.

Equally... even if they do hit this milestone, that only means they are no less late than they were on the last promise. Or the one before that, or the one before that.

As Tom points out, they are solvent (which is a key duty of any operational trust), and there have been some understandable delays (now they are mentioned).

An "as built" programme with all the activities and dependencies may reveal a lot. After all, it may be that the ETRMS was the overarching delay for the duration, and the faffing with the boiler makes no odds. But it would be nice to see.

Ironically, I suspect the trust has solved a huge number of technical problems and shot itself (and various partner railways) in the foot with poor comms.

 

That might be because of the potential fire risk at the moment?