LMS 2P 4-4-0

I think it's the nature of a discussion forum.

With existing overhauls there is little to post about other than provide links to the latest news on the owning group's website/fb page. The only real discussions tend to be about the possibilities for main line running or.... dare I mention the word?....livery.

But ask people what new creation they might like to see ..... the possibilities are limitless!

 

Maybe the few people that are overhauling existing locos are to jaded to tell those that don't.

 

Aaah .... now I get your drift.... I was just thinking in terms of proposed newbuilds ... sorry! I'm one of the many who habitually trawl quieter websites for progress and if anything significant occurs, will bung a link up. Dunno about you, but if anything recent of note is spotted, I tend to wait a day or so to give anyone directly involved the opportunity to post an update first. If it's been there for a month without being flagged, it's open season in my books.

Having a soft spot for 'industrials', if there's any news on 'Mardy Monster' (which looks as if there'll be something before too much longer) or 'St.Dunstan' (less likely but ... Thank Bob ... they've painted over the faded blue and those hideous wasp stripes), rest assured it wouldn't go unnoticed, but why some of the 'mainliners' seem to slip down the cracks, I don't know.

 

Mainly because it takes time to do such work that could be spent on overhauling the locomotive, given that running a website costs money and time that doesn't really pay for itself, I don't really see why any loco groups bothers with social media just to please the arm chair enthusiasts and the instant gratification society, it is mainly a waste of time and money.

 

Problem or opportunity? That depends on what it's intended to do, e.g. whether it's got some goodies to flog or at least an an e-begging bowl to drum up contributions. Bear in mind, yer actual punter has to make the effort (albeit minimal) to find any web presence in the first place, so in effect .... they're coming to you. What you do next, as the website owner, to enthuse your browsee is entirely a matter for you. The opportunities are there .... seize 'em or don't!

 

Actually we have raised a good few thousand pounds from people on Facebook over the years (LMS patriot project) and the website also has direct links to donations that would also add up to many thousands of pounds over the last 10 years. So to dismiss these as a waste of time really shows a lack of understanding.

Maybe the point about why there are a lack of updates on this forum from certain loco groups just shows that a lot of people don't like this forum. I can find nearly every loco group on Facebook, many with good regular updates, that dont appear on here. But then people will moan that they don't like Facebook. I don't understand why you can't create an account, don't have any friends but search for loco groups, heritage railways etc and then all the latest news will hit your news feed every day. Just have to scroll down.

 

Matter of principle. I had to give up and join Facebook in the end, but I didn't want to be one of the products they sell, and I completely support anyone else who doesn't want to be.

 

Ok, well you could easily create an email account from the likes of Hotmail, have a fake name on Facebook etc.
I can see where you are coming from though.

 

I`m not a member of facebook, but luckily you can still find lots of information /news from several locomotive groups and their projects without sign in to Mark Zuckerbergs universe.

 

Well, except it does and can do as an excellent portal for people to read about your project rather than you remaining deathly silent except when you set out a stand at a gala weekend or model railway exhibition. Or have to spend money printing a newsletter to send out by post (though plenty of societies continue to do that).

On top of that, there's about 38 million facebook users in the UK meaning that increasingly they're more likely to have a facebook account from a far diverse range of people age-wise than not. It's a lot lot easier for people to click the "like" button at the top of your group than it is to faff around with yet another sign up and log in on a forum such as this.

 

Which is basically like saying you're a vegetarian and eating bacon sandwiches when no-one you know is watching...

 

Or as Bill Bailey says. "I am Vegetarian, but I eat Fish.... and Duck. Well, they're in the water, ain't they? .... and sheep, pigs, chickens, cows, basically anything near water."

 

A Lebanese friend of mine had a similar approach, though in her case it was when her mum popped round. If her dad visited alone, he always swore by brown sauce for his bacon butties! Like many of her faith I know, she'd even knock the booze on the head for the duration of Ramadan!

 

"the arm chair enthusiasts and the instant gratification society". I hate that attitude, those people are your passengers and customers and probably contribute more to your line in a visit than most non-enthusiast visitors do, as they tend to bring along their friends and come back and back for more. Not everyone is able to get their hands dirty and they may well have done their share many years ago creating what todays volunteers are enjoying.

 

My dad is what you would call an "armchair enthusiast". But he also happens to be one of the founders of the SVR (founded the Birmingham branch and was an early member of the SVR), helped financially to buy 4920 and take it to the SDR (still the 4th largest shareholder at the SDR), is a shareholder in the SVR, GWSR, Paignton and Dartmouth, Southern Locomotives ltd and a member of the LMS patriot project, Swanage railway and DHPS but of course if his opinion is worth less that someone who is a volunteer who does their one day per month just to get a pass to get free trips on other heritage railways then......

 

As a recently de-armchaired armchair enthusiast I don't have the spare pennies to contribute to many, many beautiful newbuild projects. Especially with the newer favoured subscription models.

But will I seek them out at Galas and when they visit heritage railways when they make it into steam and thus contribute in a small way to them and the line that invited them?

You bet.

And I suspect lots of other "armchair enthusiasts" are in the same boat.

 

Only just seen this, but as others have said; rubbish! For a start it's free publicity, so no money down the drain. You're unlikely to be overhauling a loco whilst sat at home in the evening with a drink and your laptop, which is I suspect when most blog posts etc are done. And it really does bring in money, people who see progress donate, simple as. If a group is just quietly getting on with it, no one knows what's going and and donations are less.

 

Some people have engineering skills, as others have said on here, others should never be let near engineering ! (Not that I necessarily agree with that!) We each have our comfort zones and some like to volunteer at something different to what they normally do, others like to use past skills. Some can make it to where a loco is being worked on, others can't (for a huge variety of reasons).

One of the greatest limiting factors for railway preservation can be an attitude of 'if you are not wielding a spanner/regulator/shovel/flag/lever cloth, you are a waste of space' - many different skills are needed for a successful project. Tornado isn't celebrating its 10th year thanks only to the engineers any more than the fund raisers wouldn't have had anything other than an idea and a bank balance without the engineers, and nobody would have either without the project managers.

On the 2P, they seem a good size for many lines, maybe a bit big in the wheel, but an attractive design and they can't have been too bad - over 100 were built and they lasted until DMUs came along and took their work (around 30 years).

Steven

 

Any project requires a critical mass of people developing. People able to do the engineering, people able to do the fund raising and administration, people do cough up the pennies. A successful project needs all three.

I’d argue that a 2P is perhaps of more use/interest than say the Churchward County BUT the Churchward County people seem to have the engineers, the backers and the admin to get the project rolling.

I am not sure that there is a magic formula of a certain type of loco that means that some are more likely to be built than others.

 

And now abideth useful, buildable, fundable, these three; but the greatest of these is fundable.

Tom