Flying Scotsman

The Garage thats done a lot of work where needed will probably have seem potential areas of future concern and costed accordingly. The one that assumes the previous garage has sorted all the major issues and will only have a ' maintenance' job to do will cost accordingly...
who wins ?

 

There was a procurement. One company was successful, presumably one or more others weren't. The successful company now has to deliver according to the terms of the contract. It's likely that the client (the NRM) and the supplier will have regular supplier meetings to monitor how things are going. Beyond that, unless someone has the contract in their hands with precisely what the contract requires, I'm not sure there is much to be said. (And in any case, contracts can be varied by mutual consent).

There seems to be a lot of angst about the ability of the winning bidder to deliver a heavy mainline programme of the sort we have become used to. But that rather pre-supposes that that is what the NRM actually want. My hunch is they want maximum accessibility, which I think is best delivered by a combination of heritage line visits and maybe seasons of low risk, fixed-itinerary short mainline trips. (Do two fifty mile circuits per day rather than one 200 mile epic and you double the number of people who can ride, while having a lower-risk, turnkey operation and less wear and tare).

Tom

 

Contracts can be varied by mutual consent, but this is a public procurement so the NRM will be constrained by the original tender in how far they can vary it.

At the moment, all that can be said with certainty is that Flying Scotsman has had a relatively low profile, and that it appears that the NRM and their supplier have struggled to mobilise since signature.

 

If accessibility is the name of the game, they have definitely achieved it over the last month.

Over 6 public runnings days she hauled over 10k people. Multiple thousand more came for static cab/tender visits, and countless thousands more on the line side.

On the one day I volunteered I spoke to visitors who had come up to Peterborough from Hull, Folkestone Summerset, and even one group who had travelled from the states and this was the tentpole of a 2 week holiday.

There's a Scotsman mania that is unlike I've ever experienced before. Tornado at the height of her post-Top Gear fame doesn't come close, nor do Thomas days, or general galas. Her own unique fan club which you have to experience to believe, so making her accessible on heritage railways, whilst not exactly doing what she was designed for, gets her out there for a wider audience. The other option is her just flashing by at 75mph, with 500 people onboard paying £200pp.

 

There was a Scotsman mania when she was first preserved in the 1960s. It has never gone away.

 

We call it York over here... president will not be best pleased with yon remark ... booking surely?

 

I don't suppose there's any chance of bringing back the 1980's version? The morning York- Harrogate - Leeds circle, followed by a trip to Scarborough, then the reverse circle in the evening, all for a standard fare plus a £1 supplement.
I know we can't bring back the likes of Evening Star, Number 9, Truro etc, but it would certainly suit Scotsman.

 

Used to enjoy the harrogate loop that sometimes ran as part of the trip... no doubt out of gauge now

 

Or the 1980's (86ish??) version I did with Truro in association with the Miss United Kingdom pageant... IIRC we had a stop at Malton to pick up the beauties on the way, pity I can't find any pictures of the event, the headboard she had on was terrible....

 

I saw it, I hope it doesn't happen again.

 

He probably doesn't realise we still have a gibbet and stocks here downtown....

 

When it comes to livery this is my preference:

 

It is probably in gauge (except for Duchesses!) although the relined Bramhope Tunnel would need checking. At one point Tornado was going to run from York to Leeds that way before everything went pear shaped. But the real issue is slots. Now you have half hourly trains from 0600 to 2000 seven days a week plus an LNER every two hours. With the single track sections, could you get a daytime path from York to Leeds? And even more doubtful could you get a path through Leeds stn and back on the main line? You can't cross over from the Harrogate line to the Leeds avoiding line unfortunately.

Whereas York to Scarborough just as Scotsman did in the Marchington era would be feasible if you could get some coaches.

 

I dunno, 6233 didn't fit on its first trip, but after taking a big chunk out of a bridge, I'm sure it'll fit second time round!

 

Why not use one of the NRM collections diesels assuming at least one still has its main line gubbings, for the Carnforth to York leg, and return, This is exactly the sort of short easy runs that one of the national collection's engines could be used on, other than Scotsman, the compound, or Cheltenham , would be about the right size, I would have no problem if after this ticket Scotsman were to be retired and another engine returned to mainline use, in its place, or if the Arthur or Oliver Cromwell were to do a season, inbetween other duties, and Scotsman went to the GCR, once the gap has been filled,

 

I have to say that the last time I went out of my way to see Scotsman was on the 1st July 1968. Went to Newark to see it pass on the last ever non-stop.