6201, her new lease of life.

I think @Bean-counter will confirm that in the past the owning group turned their nose up at guesting at gala events, whatever money was on offer, theirs was a mainline loco!

Chickens will always come home to roost, or should that be roast in this case.

Sawdust.

 

Personal experience from ELR days is similar. The impression given was that we should feel privileged to give the loco a home. We set a number of operating days per year as part of the host deal but more often than not something intervened which meant ELR could not use the loco as planned.
71000 group was better and helped out quite a few times when there was a loco shortage, even FXP once or twice.
As you say 6201 group has principles but they are perhaps incompatible to the operating context today compared to 40 years ago.

 

Was lucky enough to get a FXP on a Monday, after one of IR Black 5's failed a FTR, with 71000.

All the guys responsible for the experience were first class, and could not do enough for us.

 

Yes the 71000 group were much more committed to ELR as their hosts than 6201 Society and much fairer to negotiate with on contracts. They recognised the quid pro quo element necessary for the back scratching exercise to work for all concerned. 6201 Society were more reluctant in my experience.

 

Some of the behaviours described to me here seem utterly archaic and bonkers in context of the changing face of mainline steam.

 

In a nutshell yes, that is probably the root cause of the malaise afflicting this fine loco.

 

Not every owner of a main line loco is keen on heritage railway running on a regular basis but IMO it can be a useful earner, especially if the loco can get three years worth of earnings after it's nominal 7 year main line ticket has expired. One wonders how the 6201 situation would have developed if the owners had been more amenable regarding heritage railways.

 

Proof that pride does indeed come before a fall?

 

Especially as the chairman of PELS is a director and secretary of Mainline Steam Locomotive Operators Ltd.

 

So it is said. I think the crisis for 6201 has been predictable for a long time simply because the Society decision making has not evolved with the times and the key figures are not so influential within mainline operations. The Society never forged any lasting links/base since Hereford so it is always at the mercy of events and there seems to be inflexibility in how it is prepared to work.
As many know, decent money could have been earned with livery changes, heritage line work and the like. It may have been small beer in the grand scheme but every little helps plus it may have built some helpful bridges.

 

Got to agree with that statement.

 

I think it shows a complete contrast to the way locomotives like Tornado, Duchess of Sutherland and similar have been managed. You have to adapt to change with the times.

 

The general impression over the last several pages has been that the Princess Elizabeth Society made some bad decisions (whether or not they might have seemed good at the time) and has been too resistant to any sort of change. Sidmouth's post above indicates that the situation is more complex but that the complexities have to be kept confidential. Whilst it is indeed sometimes necessary to avoid saying too much, there seems little prospect of very much money coming in unless and until there's a bit more open-ness towards potential donors about the way forward.

 

Mr Mojonnier's comments about Tyseley in S.R. a few months ago (assuming he was not misquoted) appeared to me to be rather less complimentary, implying that only the society's lack of funds and the outcome of the legal wrangling over 6024 were putting him off being openly critical.

 

The quote from CM was 'We're never going back to Tyseley again' with a comment like that, that sounds pretty final. I appreciate we can say things when we're angry that we don't mean, but should something like that have been published? Looking at what Team Meanly and Co do at Tyseley and the reputation they have, it just seems very strange, as various people have attested to on here something is not quite right in the Lizzie camp.

 

I'm sure that those closer to the ELR could confirm the full story, but they didn't even apparently say anything to the ELR when 6201 left on a mainline job and just didn't come back with ELR staff left waiting for it at Heywood.

 

Are you saying that the path agreed with NR to return to the East Lancs Railway, and agreed probably several weeks earlier, was abandoned after the loco left the ELR, and a new path requested from NR at a moment's notice?

 

I'm told that 6201 apparently came off train at Crewe as booked, went to Heritage Centre for 'servicing' as booked but then didn't go any further. Paying for the coal etc that the ELR had supplied apparently took some months to be resolved.

 

Accounts for coal and consumables for the mainline venturers was always a headache .