7027 Thornbury Castle

I completely agree that the movement needs new blood but don't be quick to judge us millennials! In an age when young people increasingly struggle to earn a living wage and often have little or no job security, it's hardly surprising that many of them just don't have the time, energy or headspace to make a long-term commitment to volunteering, let alone in a leadership role.

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I don't disagree with the perception, but I'd also check numbers - all of those who have expressed indignation could have donated, and an appeal still be miles from success. If you doubt me, just read the Passion narratives and compare the crowds on Palm Sunday with those on Good Friday.

 

I dont think it requires a great insight into the human condition to understand why many people dont want Thornbury Castle dismantled while at the same time they are not in a position to take action over it

 

So you'd only donate if asked. As for being an "armchair" member for your information I have been for the last 20 plus years an active member of the LNERCA based on the NYMR. So your contributions to active preservation is?

 

Can but agree 35B. After all there are those out there that could, on account of being to far away or have some sort of physical issues that stop them being more "hands on active". After all with out the cash nothing is going to happen at all.

 

Lots of things have changed over the years that have also made the cost and commitment of owning an engine escalate dramatically. Many factors influence this, such as remaining part life, more stringent standards, plus access to the experience of old fitters who knew how to squeeze a bit more life out of parts.
In the first restoration project I was involved with, a small group of people, guided by an old hand, overhauled and retubed a boiler. The money out cost was a new set of tubes, ferrules, packings and some stay material. The other input was masses of time and muscle, resulting in a sore body and the cold shoulder from the girlfriend.
Today many boiler overhauls are contracted out at a commercial cost, well beyond the capabilities of fund raising by a sales stand at exhibitions ( Yes I did my time at many places selling magazines, T shirts and mugs).
I doubt I would want to get involved today to save a loco which would cost more than I might earn in a lifetime. At the time for the cost of a few pounds you really thought you could save a loco. I still remember the first 50p I put in the collection bucket for Britannia at Bridgnorth!

 

Please point me to the donation page for 7027.

 

Maybe but the 1960s onwards rescues were no walk in the park. Folk's annual earnings were measured in hundreds not thousands. I could point to those who took on second mortgages to save this or that item. Others went through divorces, passed up work promotion, sold their model collections, spent months even years raising a few quid all for their favourite rescue. Raising money IS possible still given folk who will roll up their sleeves and get on with it.

 

All true, no doubt. But there are a hell of a lot of younger people today who can't afford to get married in the first place, would love to even be able to get a mortgage or have the job security to turn down a promotion, and can only dream of having a model collection, unless perhaps they've inherited one.

I'm not by any means what you could describe as young, incidentally.

 

Here, here - well said. I find it very distasteful the increasing amount of vitriol that is thrown at the younger folk, as if this generation is somehow lazier or less willing to contribute as per previous generations. I would love to have the time and £ to volunteer - but simply I haven't. I barely have a free weekend as it is! It is a big commitment and unfortunately I encounter too many of family life's challenges & costs to be able to do that. I take my hat off to those that do.*
What I do do regularly is support a number of organisations financially and spend what little disposable income I have on family visits and the odd railtour.
What is even more bizarre in this instance is that 7027 did have a young enthusiastic owner not so long ago who thought he was doing the right thing selling it on.

*I have a big birthday this year which unfortunately means I probably no longer fit the description of 'younger generation', but I will take it while I can!

 

I am out of country - so would also like to know where the donation page for 7027 may be !

 

AFAIK there is currently no scheme to restore 7027 as a Castle to which you can donate.

 

I think I'd consider myself a young 'doer' and I'd love to see 7027 restored and running, but frankly I can think of a whole load of projects I'd have a better chance of success in driving forward than that. It's a very different world from the 60s/70s/80s, not just that younger people have more demands on their time, money and all the rest of it, but the whole landscape is different. Far more regulatory, and what's left from BR days is 50/60/70 years older than it was when the impossible was being done before.

 

Is there vitriol flung at the younger generation? I'm not sure there is, I do think that there is a resigned acceptance that the pressures of modern life make it very difficult for them, what perhaps is less there is an acceptance that life has moved on and that to the 2020s generation steam engines are less of an all-consuming passion that it was to their 1950s/60s counterparts.

 

I’ve had it in the past, there were negative comments behind my back that I heard about myself going off and enjoying other hobbies of mine that made me stick 2 fingers up and walk away, it did leave a rather bad taste in my mouth that look a few years to get rid of.

 

Thanks , real information .....hope that there is a change in the future on that front....cheers .

 

Yes unfortunately. Age is being used increasingly by certain aspects of the press as another area to whip up division - be it to do with cost of living (we should all be able to put up with being cold because it was cold 50 years ago), being 'woke' (an awful term that no one who ever uses it can properly define) and more recently unfilled job vacancies vacated by migrant workers. Its a smaller part of the broader culture war that has been ongoing far longer - unfortunately this type of thing sells papers, but to me it is dangerous. It has been subtle, but once you notice it once, you will see it more and more.

I could go on, but not really suitable for this thread.

 

As the person who kicked of the "donations angle". What I was meaning getting at, was that those who were so indignant. Should get together and raise funds. After all that's how the majority of preservation scheme started. Several like minded people getting together and starting fundraising. Also I'd like to remind many of one my early posts here. Both Thornbury Castle and Earl of Mount Edgecome, were originally bought by Tyseley as a source of spares for Clun Castle. As they were some of the earliest locos to be bought from Woodhams and had pretty well all their parts.....