6100 Royal Scot

I don't know about that. The most chaotic project that I ever worked on was run by a German company. If it could go wrong, it did and the blame was all with the poor (German) management. Well, all except the discovery of a cache of buried bombs on the site, leading to a hurried evacuation...... It was at Porton Down, though. I'll not bore you with the rest of the problems we had.

 

steve as you worked at porton down , do you still glow in the dark? or have the side effects now worn off

 

So do I understand that this was a project running in Britain, so presumably mainly staffed by Brits, and managed by Germans? This almost never works as the culture clashes are too powerful. Think BMW/Rover. The Japanese are far better at managing British staff because at their best they merge "them and us" into "us".
German project managers are not poor, they just have totally different assumptions about what's to be done, at what stage of the project, and how it's all to be communicated. They probably think "Prince 2" means Harry Wales.
I suspect, and hope, that DB Schenker (UK) has very few German managers relative to the size of the operation.

 

Well I worked at Porton Down for nearly 20 years and neither of my heads glows in the dark.......

Porton Down had a fascinating military railway, one branch of which ran more or less through where my back garden is. Traces of it can still be seen, but you need to be security cleared in order to be able to look.

 

I would like to remind everyone this is a public forum, it's not reccomended to single an individual out for speculative attention unless you have sufficient proof to back it up... you could land yourself in trouble. Think before posting, and if neccessary, re-read the post and edit it.

 

i have got to say some thing, answer to Mr. martin butler the air brake system on royal scot was not done with plumbing fittings, it was done to the standered that inter fleet laid out to do and inter fleet came down to Southall often to check the work on royal scot, they even did the drawing for the air system on the loco, once again empty profiles, can the people running this site and stop all this crap, and some one saying get the police involved, aim a volunteer, is this site for slander about Southall. fish7373 81c fitter

 

I've got photos that tell a different story.....

 

firstly, the comments were from a news paper artical to do with 4472 and the faults found on her when the NRM bought her, and whist not having anything directly to do with 6100 are in my view relivent i accept that my calling southall cowboys was incorrect , and apologies for this, but there is clearly something amiss here, be it bad planning, lack of proper control or what ever my comments are not aimed at the voluenteers but the management , if such things as cutting brake gear to fit air brakes on 4472 are indicative of engineering practices how can you not be concerned? when you then look at the faults that crewe found with 6100

 

well send them fish7373 81c fitter

 

cutting brake gear

we did not cut brake gear to fit air brakes, the thing we did was replace the brake arms, because 4472 was vac, and changeing it to air wemade new brake arms, so i do not know what you mean by cutting brake gear, i love to see photos mr 69621, my email address is kevin.fisher@tubelines.com and merlin3381c@btinternet.com, fish7373 81c fitter

 

How sad this saga has now become.

This debate seems to be bringing out the worst of so called steam enthusiasts. I should think Bressingham will think long and hard before looking at restoring another railway loco and the HLF will also think twice before dishing out money.

For what its worth I applaud anyone who gets an engine back into steam so well done Bressingham and all the other volunteers who have spent their own time on this loco.

As ive said before there are too many arm chair experts on these pages who seem to get a "buzz" out of criticising.

Jim S

 

I agree with you Stan (having been one who got his hands dirty regularly for over 20 years). Whats your view on why things appear to have gone so horribly wrong ?

 

The stories eminating from Crewe are concerning.

From the people on my team (non-railway), when I switch one engineer from one job to replace another in the middle of a job... almost everytime.. the first thing that happens is the new guy seeks to prove himself by doing a hatchet job on the previous guy's work and reputation. A good PM should be able to recognise this and guide the newcomer to continue in the style pattern of the work unless they can prove the work to date was not fit for purpose.

I'm worried the boys at Crewe are doing the same, it seems almost as if 6100 is having a second major overhaul.

Everybody has their own "style" but often the opinions of the newer tend to shout louder than the opinions of the older but it doesnt neccessarily mean the old way was "that bad" nor does it signal a green light to produce gold leaf 100 year solutions either.

Whilst there are no doubt issues to be resolved, the professional approach is to get on with the job. If there are truly issues of this magnitude then these pages should be overflowing with proof.. not speculation.

 

It makes one weep to read this entire thread

When so many struggle for years to put Barry wrecks back in to steam costing vast amounts of time and money

They are the ones who have earned the right to be truly proud of there journey to fulfill the presevationisats dream

Sadly 6100 and 4472 do not deserve nor i think will recieve the same emotion


I was extremely happy 6100 made Llangollen last year though

just my thoughts

 

I can't help but feel that this debacle will damage other railway based applications for money from the Heritage Lottery.

 

An interesting post with which I largely agree. I've experienced it myself when a job is transferred from one team to another, the incoming lot often find all manner of faults with the outgoing and promptly want to redo much of the work. I'm not for one moment suggesting Crewe is behaving in anything less than a professional manner but without any hard facts one does wonder just what's going on.

 

I started to read this thread but after a few pages I was so despressed that I stopped. How far is the boiler into its ticket now? 2 years nearly?

All I can say is that having spoken to various people involved in the project and knowing well the quality of the Crewe boys, I sincerely echo hopes that this will not put the HLF off investing in other overhauls. I also worry for the future of one of my favourite engines, 35027.........

 

Why? As I understand it, it's the next one going to Crewe, and as far as I can tell they don't have a problem with their reputation.

 

Evidence

Right, here we go this is a pipe fitted to 6100