4494 sold to Australia?

Taken from a post in the NSWGR steam locomotive fleet

Hi everyone
For those that have noticed lately there has been talk about the possibility of a certain English locomotive coming to our shores. As much as we wanted to remain quiet on the situation our tongues got the better of us and we started to make a few jokes. But now that the tendering process has closed we are pleased to announce that a syndicate of Australians has been successful in our application for the engine. We won’t say which one but I think you will be able to figure it out if you have been following the jokes lately. It’s still a long process to go before we can announce the official plans for what we plan to do with her but there will be updates from time to time. We also wish that our privacy can be respected and those who do know all involved please reframe from passing on out details. Hopefully some good news soon #DoC2020

 

Hmmm...if it's true, I imagine there will be a few angry people in the UK!

 

4494?
Withdrawn on 29/12/62 and scrapped soon after. If anyone's bought that, they've bought a collection of very old razor blades.

 

It's not a typo for 4464 is it?

Oh well, we shall find out soon enough - no point in speculating.

 

You really are putting the wind up me now!

 

Indeed...there were some whispers about 4496 being available a while ago (which died fairly quickly). All very curious!

 

Well... not wanting to set off a speculation spiral but that A4 that carried the name Osprey has been scrapped but another that's carried it hasn't...
.

 

I hope this is a scam similar to the (con-) artist who sold London Bridge to some Americans - more than once !!

 

As a Canadian whose watched these rumors of DoC supposedly being considered for removal from Canadian ownership I've been rather upset by all of it, if this supposed sale is true then it's absolutely pathetic what has transpired, disposal being considered at all is just saddening.

If it goes to Australia it will rot, and maybe then there will be reconsideration to "The Canadians aren't giving it the respect it deserves!!!!!"

 

Considering the Rotting RODS and others Downunder, be nice if they could let those and a standard gauge Garratt, go...

 

I thought that it wasn't a scam, per se, but the purchaser didn't see what he was buying until it rocked up as a kit of parts where he had asked for delivery. He, yes, an American, thought that he was buying Tower Bridge...

And don't forget the cracking wind up fairly recently, where CGI made some folk think that the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge was being dismantled and shipped to America by the Auf Wiedersehen, Pet gang!

 

Shall we all sit back and see what happens? Speculation is pretty pointless and not worth expending the energy on...

I had a look for where the OP may have got his info from but it seems to be a closed Facebook group.

 

If you’re thinking about the sale of London Bridge to Lake Havasu, then it wasn’t a con artist who sold it - it was the Bridge Estates Committee of The City of London - and the man buying it knew exactly what he was buying and moreover got a good deal.

See here for the story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/the_bridge_that_crossed_an_ocean

Tom

 

If it is DOC, Was anything written into the original gifting of the loco to Canada that may have given the successor of the BRB first refusal should the engine be passed on at some stage? for instance, would any British institution, such as the science museum group have been offered the engine or been approached to ascertain if it would be returned? before any other potential buyer came foreward ?

 

No it wasn’t.

It would seem strange that if there was a tendering process for DoC, or whatever loco this may be, that no one else seems to know about it. Surely the seller would want this to be public knowledge, to attract the highest number of bids and therefore achieve the best price.

 

We have been through this issue previously the 3 year strategic plan ( August 2018 ) includes " We will rationalize our rolling-stock collection into line with our capacity to support it properly. While there are varied views on our collection, it is beyond argument that we will have to take action to protect and preserve those parts of it which are in sadly deteriorated condition. With limited financial resources to do so, we will nevertheless come up with a plan to determine what to save and what to jettison, and how to prioritize fixing what we decide to save. o Perform rolling stock collection audit of condition piece-by-piece. o Prioritize pieces for restoration and deaccession. o Review non-Canadian pieces and make recommendations. o Decide pieces to be deaccessioned and then remove them from the site", there will be annual reviews at the end of 2019, 20, 21.
NSW efforts are concentrated on the unfortunate 3801, and there are several other significant current problems there.

 

A tender process which no potential UK groups seem to have been aware of. Because you’d have thought that there would have been a campaign to return said loco to the UK (assuming it isn’t coming from the UK), meanwhile no one else seems to have been aware of the attempt to secure the loco in Australia.

I appreciate that it is Pantomime season, so people are selling cows for beans, and so on, but I find it hard to believe that if Expo were selling it, that they would do so via a secret bidding process that no one seems to have been aware of.

 

It does sound like someone on a wind up mission. Especially the way say they can’t reveal which loco it is, and then put #DoC2020 at the end.

I’ll believe it when DoC is on the ship to Australia.