7027 Thornbury Castle

If only money grew on trees!
If you know so much peraphs you should advise Didcot and a lot of the heritage movement as you term it. I think you will find it is not as easy as you think.
The Railmotor and trailer are probably far from ideal for hiring out and even less attractive when you add in the cost of 2 lorrys capable of moving that length of vehicle to and from its destination, all at a large cost to the hirer on top of hire fees. Not much seating capacity either so only really a gala or special event attraction. It is also not a locomotive that can be just left with someone who has no experience of operating, so Didcot would have to continually find their own people to supervise its operation taking staff away from projects at Didcot.

 

A useful corrective. But issues that are far from unique to the railmotor, and where the major costs apply with equal force to the recreations being undertaken at Didcot.

I'm with @Johnb in the concern over what happens after the first flush of youth in restoration has passed.

 

It was a very popular for galas when it was running. I am well aware of the difficulties faced in raising funds, I was just pointing out that there should be a business plan for the next overhaul. A regular contribution scheme from supporters pioneered by the A1 Trust would help.
I get the impression that Didcot has concentrated too much on new builds, finish one and go onto the next, a waste of time if they are just going to spend years out of service at the end of ten years

 

It is no surprise that many (most?) of the steam locos now in service are operated in a way which earns solid funding for the next overhaul through steaming fees, even though top up funding is frequently also required. Use of a loco at Didcot cannot possibly accumulate sufficient funding in the same way that regular commercial use on a premier heritage line does.
I have yet to see a new build scheme which appears to have any business plan for 10+ years after completion with the exception of the A1.

 

82045 does.

 

This is very wide of the mark. Next engines off the rank will be 1466 and then 1363 - neither of which are new builds.

 

It was out on display on Sunday. You need to visit more often.

 

That begs the question why appeal for mega bucks to recreate it in the first place?

 

Becuase it's unique?
Because it's a part of steam heritage otherwise unrepresented?

 

Not what I meant, I was saying that they are concentrating on turning out new builds with no thought to funding the next overhaul. The rail motor is a good example.

 

I'm merely playing devils advocate. We seem to have been told repeatedly in this thread that the world is running out of money to restore locomotives, be they castles or new builds.

Groups can't be formed these days, its too hard and no one has any credibility. Volunteers are thin on the ground, too old or too young to know anything.

Once something old or new is restored it will only need fixing again in 10 years....

This preservation lark is all starting to seem a bit futile.... and thats before we talk about coal.

 

Other than Pendennis, 3650, 1466, 1363, the 72 etc... The GWS is primarily a museum, not a tourist railway. It makes sense to cycle through the fleet and give them a boiler ticket then a rest as static exhibits. It also means that every few years there'll be a different active fleet, encouraging repeat visits. And for much the same reason it makes sense to keep the headliners of the fleet at home selling tickets for the GWS, not someone else. Its not as if running locomotives elsewhere is going to be actually fully profitable ie likely to in genuinely pay for the end of ticket overhaul.

 

Cycling through the fleet makes good sense in general, but the broad gauge loco and the railmotor are each so different from everything else that they deserve to be active for most of the time.

 

Cycling through the fleet is fine to keep public interest in the museum but rather than restore yet another Barry wreck or fund a new build with no thought to financing its future, restoring some of the long term static exhibits would mean they had an option to hire out engines to produce income. Southern Locomotives Ltd have this business plan with no museum to bring in any income, locomotive from the Bucks Railway Centre spend most of their time out on hire.

 

Plans for broad gauge are in the pipeline. Expect to hear more about this in 2023/4 once Didcot's completed the ramp project

 

So does 5551.

 

Would that be the ramp project that has been talked about for a couple of decades now?

 

What about the gentleman at Crewe? Perhaps he could.barter the Castle for a number 7 boiler made by Apprentices in their development. Seems be a lot more sense to develop new skills than bash an 8 boiler into a 7 Don't think he has much Great Western, but a Castle is the supreme locomotive until Gresley made the A4, and Stanier the Duchess?

 

He already has one Castle, can't imagine he wants another.