Flying Scotsman

You've got it all wrong I'm afraid. The way to support the NRM is to not go there and then criticise everything it does based on "what somebody told me."

 

Excuse me?!

You sir are way off the mark. The NRM is a national treasure and does absolutely outstanding work. Its a testament to its success that anyone from any walk of life and with all levels of knowledge and interest can go there and be fascinated with railways!

How narrow minded do you have to be to say that against the NRM given the subject matter of the thread alone?!

 

It will be busy during school holidays, I know my grandchildren like to go. The NRM is a jewel, a wonderful place to visit........and yes, even I put a few pounds in the tin.

 

In light of the current problems on the network, myself and brother, feel obliged to offer our services to take control of 60163.

As you can see our crew are ready for anything!!!



Could you ever see this happening again....

 

I'm sorry to stretch out a point, but...

Time and again in railways, whether it's model railways, preserved railways, narrow gauge railways, railway societies, or even railway writing, we hear the doom mongers calling out that our numbers are dwindling, we need fresh blood, we need the youth to gain an interest and we need this urgently.

Never mind the fact that heritage railways are struggling for volunteers and this will become more acute as the population ages more. Never mind the fact we're competing with hobbies and life style choices placed above ours because their perception isn't bottom of the pile. Never mind the fact that we've all know about this problem for years...

In order to make railway preservation and all the railway related strands off it viable, we need the children of today to gain an interest for the hobby of tomorrow. We're not even talking about them having the interest in their teens anymore: we need volunteers in the mid to late twenties and upwards all to way to retirement age and beyond.

Heritage Railways now have to compete with a lot of different factors to get volunteers. If you're like me, and you're late 20s trying to get a mortgage and working six day weeks - forget it. You can support monetarily the bare minimum but wages are not increasing at the same rate as everything else.

The point I am trying to make is this: if part of the NRM was a kids playground with railway themed attractions, and if even a small percentage of those kids remembered their time at the museum fondly enough to want to get into railway preservation, then we need to do everything we can to support them going forward.

That includes changing our business and volunteer models to suit the drastic changes in lifestyles new generations are undergoing. How many of you owned your first house in your twenties? That's now a pipe dream for millions in their twenties today. How do you convince the people like me saving up every penny they can to find the money for petrol, accommodation and similar to do effectively unpaid work? (and I say this as someone who is actively looking to volunteer soon, once things have calmed down at home).

Railway preservation's biggest problem is not adapting to changing times to getting people through the doors in all capacities, volunteer, paid staff, punter, gricer, etc.

 

I know this is is sacrilege to say on this forum but... no hobby, pastime or recreation of the past has a divine right to exist. Life changes, society changes... one day railway preservation may indeed die out.

What is most important, in my opinion, is that those doing it now enjoy it and make the best fist of it they can. In my opinion endlessly worrying about the future just wastes the precious, very limited time we have on this planet. The only things certain in life are death and taxes, so why waste the time we have worrying about what happens when we're all worm food?

 

Because many of us do want to see this continue. It has value both historical, practical and entertainment value. It is easy to do nothing and countless times throughout human history inaction or a refusal to adapt has seen the end of a way of life or life itself. It is hard to adapt but the rewards are endless.

 

This really sums it up perfectly. You good sir, have nailed it! Time is such a scarcity for a lot of people that hobbies and general social altruism are very squeezed to the determent of everyone in society.

The home ownership/generation rent is a massive problem, but the housing market here is a joke.

 

Are all Flying Scotsman's tours sold out for the most part?


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Almost all are sold out, have a look here http://www.flyingscotsman.org.uk/events/scotsman-on-the-tracks/

 

I just sort of think that might be our savior this year.


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Wow...I never thought we'd discuss such deep, philosophical questions on NatPres. It certainly makes a change from "livery froth"!

I understand your point of view; I completely agree that one should, to some extent, "live for today", and try to squeeze as much enjoyment as one can out of one's time on Earth. But frankly, I think that to carry that philosophy to an extreme would be selfish. I hope to be a father one day, and I hope that my future children and grandchildren will inherit my passion for railways. But even if they don't, I'm sure somebody else's children will. Because I know how much our railway heritage has enriched my own time on this planet, I want future generations to have the opportunity to get just as much enjoyment out of it.

Of course, that's easy to say; actually putting into practice is harder to do, and I admit, for various reasons I'm not currently contributing as much to the railway heritage movement as I would like to. But I try to do what I can, even if it's just sending a small donation in to an appeal once in a while.

At the end of the day, if you don't care enough about anything in life to actually fight for its future, then why are you bothering to live at all?

 

Sold out, but will they run? Is 'sold out' a nicer way of saying cancelled???!!!

 

DBS have come to the rescue of Scotsman's program so yes they will

 

Latest pictures from Heritage Painting on FB. Glad to see its getting proper BR livery - painter smoke box door hinges included

 

Speaking as a publically declared and unrepentant preferrer of Apple Green, she looks splendid in BR livery!
(Not to let the best be the enemy of the good).

 

Yes, I am very glad they painted the smokebox straps too. It wasn't something the A3s really had in that livery in their later days. Made Scotsman look very Pep A1-ish with the burnished straps. That said, so does the split handrail and lower lamp bracket.

I cannot wait to see her next week. Only six days to go

 

Who gives a monkeys about the colour, has it got a full set of ruddy wheels on it yet!

 

Wheelset arrived at York today.

 

Whether you've seen this film before or not, it's well worth a watch before Thursday to get into the mood!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p011vfqw/4472-flying-scotsman#group=p01277qd