1306 sold?

60163 is not unique in requiring funding other than steaming fees to keep things afloat.

 

Yes but the level that Tornado is able to generate is much more than others in preservation. Covenentors still pay 5, 10 kiwd a month to Tornado. Most groups would pay, 10-15 a year for membership. Perhaps that is a way to go in the future - but thats a debate for another time.

 

Well done to the A1 team for generating that level of income I say. There sales team is pretty impressive too. What they are doing is little different to a multi millionaire underwriting the running costs of a loco and nobody complains when that happens.

 

Hold on!

I've always said that all preservation groups could learn a great deal from Tornados use of PR and the sales and marketting team. It really is a fantastic outfit they have.

No one does complain when someone under writes engines either, but thats a far cry from professing that your engine group and its engine is fantastic, when operation and success lately have been shown to be wanting. Yes I know Tornado is having a tough time, a lot of that though is by their decision to use certain contractors against the wishes and advice from WCRC and landing themselves in such a predicament. Still, other groups have come back from this and while some might think Mayflowers use with them as custodians is a vote of confidence for Tornado from its new owner, WCRC might think differently and Im thinking that they might just.

Will be interesting to sit back and see how things develop.

 

The A1 is a fantastic machine and the whole support organisation is an example others could follow so what's your problem? And how is their success been found wanting? They'll earn a fair bit of dough from heritage railway appearances. Main line running is not the pot of gold that many seem to think.

 

And what is the problem with having covenanters? Money is money, regardless of how it is obtained - there is no law saying "income from mainline charters good, income from any other source bad" is there - except perhaps in your own head? In fact I'd suggest covenant income is rather attractive, since firstly its regularity allows the Trust to undertake some long term planning with reasonable certainty that the money will be available; secondly I'd assume that covenant income can attract Gift Aid, increasing its value.

I'd say that far from your doom and gloom, that actually the A1 Trust have been rather astute in developing four main lines of income (covenant, mainline running, heritage running, merchandise) such that they are not overly reliant on any one source. What's not to like?

Tom

 

The second sentence in the second paragraph above is simply not true.

 

And back to 61306... Photo somewhere (probably Facebook) this morning showed 61306 parked up in Sheringham car park on a low loader at 8am.

 

Good thing others stepped in and told it to The Black (Armchair Gloomer) Hat as it is, as I was reving to have a go myself!

As for the WCR issue, 61306 I'm sure will be (if desired so) looked at and treated as a completely separate affair from Tornado. If not, then you really need to question WCR's effectively childish, unprofessional attitude towards it, for not letting old dogs lie. Plus frankly it will be their loss, as it's a superb machine.

I'm sure things will work out though, and in time Tornado will join the WCR stable too, grudges can't be held indefinitely on this matter, it would be totally unprofessional otherwise, in my view.

 

I think presuming anything on the basis of past experiences can be more troublesome. I still can't get my head round that the newest mainline steam locomotive in the UK can't get work from WCRC on the basis of who did the cylinder lining, as opposed to how good the job was, but there we go. Perhaps it is time all sides put aside any (perhaps somewhat perceived) animosity and looked afresh at the current situation and what advantages of having 60163 on WCRC books might pose for both sides.

Regarding 61306 (please can we retitle the thread? The locomotive was never been 1306 in her working life, only 61306 when built by NB in 1948, and is numbered accordingly now) I can't imagine that the custodians alone would invalidate her working with WCRC? So why presume so?

The biggest problems with preservation are assumptions and hearsay in my view. Less of that and more facts - and where nothing is known, calmly awaiting events - would be beneficial to all.

Besides, I am sure we can agree the sight of an apple green and authentic matching A1 and B1 together will be one to behold...

 

I appreciate that what went on is common knowledge, but I have to admit that I wasn't fully paying attention. Does anyone have a link to the information. Now that it rears it's head again my curiosity has been raised and I'd like to know more of the reasons for Tornado not working with WCRC.

Nick

 

I too must have missed the full details? Is it an engineering matter? The thing seems to work pretty well!!

 

I too must have missed the full details? Is it an engineering matter? The thing seems to work pretty well!!

 

If that's really all it is - surely the fact that the thing has worked pretty consistently for 5 years is enough to prove that it's ok? Sounds very much like a p***ing contest that's got out of hand to me....

 

It does seem strange..wc operate other peoples locos all the time, and there can't be THAT many different contractors/specs that they have not encountered the same problem elsewhere...