"Project Miller"/125 Group

Even if we give the NRM the benefit of the doubt and assume that everything in their statement about the 125 group is 100% correct, to actually put a statement like that in the public domain is frankly shocking, amateurish and unforgivable. If I was an organisation considering working with them - in any capacity - I would now be seriously considering what I might be exposing myself to.

41001 itself, I'm not really that interested in, personally - it's a nice curiosity, but that's all it is, to me. But the contrast with the NRM's statement and the dignified and professional response from the 125 group tells me all I need to know.

 

Urggh. Whatever the rights and wrongs of what has happened, the contrast in statements is huge. 125 Group appear calm and professional whereas NRM's response seems to be "nasty people are saying things about us - whack take this". Obviously agreements should be kept and we don't know the finer details - you'd hope though that a bunch of volunteers would be cut some slack.

Certainly if I had a spare £100 right now it would be heading 125group's way not NRM's who have not in my view made any friends here.

 

55002 comes to mid as round 1, this being round 2....

 

There is news that the HST group have been given 43043 and 089 by porterbrook, so well done them

 

Excellent - Well done Porterbrook and EMR!

 

From my experience, the NRM York is great and fits its purpose. The right amount of displays and refreshment facilities. Still, get so much enjoyment from every visit and is great for families.

 

Given that the HST's are both relatively modern, comfortable and above all fast they seem ideal for the 'non enthusiast' charter market. Indeed there may even be new markets to tap into

 

There used to be a programme of "125 Specials" run by Hertfordshire Railtours, using spare capacity in the MML fleet. I have fond memories of visiting such places as Lowestoft, Cranmore, Pwllheli, Ravenglass, Redmire and Boulby on them.

But these air conditioned trains are also a tad specialised. The air conditioning needs maintaining well, and the HST is not well designed for some of the more arduous routes - I well remember a very slow trip up Copy Pit one October afternoon, because the driver couldn't put the power down. The carriages are also more restricted in where they can go than the Mk1s, so that might also be a constraint on what they can be used for.

 

I remember seeing a story somewhere that Locomotive Services Limited (one of the Jeremy Hosking subsidiaries of the Royal Scot and General Trust) had purchased at least one HST set along with 2 Class 90's so they could be used for Saphos Trains charters.

 

https://www.railmagazine.com/news/network/hsts-bought-for-charter-use

 

Thanks Paul I believe that was the article I saw.

 

I travelled on it from Reading to Didcot....got a slide to prove it somewhere...was on the way to Bewdley to travel on the SVR which didn't go to Kidderminster at the time

 

Try the climb up to Ardlsey Tunnel with a power car out. That was really slow.

 

Had a similar experience going up Rattery on a wet day where, despite taking a run up in the middle road at Totnes, I thought we might all need to get out and push by the time we got near the top…

Simon

 

IIRC there is - and from many years - a standing instruction that any HST travelling west from Totnes MUST have both power cars operating else assistance needs to be required.

 

Exeter I believe Fred, about 20 years ago one crank camped out at Exeter St Davids because a 37/7 he needed was on Exeter Riverside to provide assistance. 701 or 716 from the top of my head.

 

I really think the NRM isn't fit for purpose anymore.I was rather underwhelmed with my last visit about 3 years ago I'm not in any rush to return.

 

I'm a bit worried about the denial of access and poor guardianship of the 125 Group as the NRM alleges.

What group in their right mind would deny the owner access? The statements allege repeated breaches and if this is so then the 125 Group have a case to answer. There must have been correspondence and warnings behind the scenes that were not responded to satisfactorily for the NRM to recall it.

Cracking job by the 125 Group but the wheels have come off somewhere. I can't see why it would be recalled on a whim.

 

Well I can speak from experience that that’s incorrect. Our rear power car failed before Reading, and we consequently found ourselves miles behind schedule but still moving all the way to Plymouth (and from memory the train went on to Penzance). This was within the last three years.

Maybe the instruction is for trains stopping at Totnes, where in our case, the stop was cancelled and folk travelling to Totnes advised to get off at Newton Abbott, and they took a run-up through the middle track.

Simon