Tornado

as I understand it, only the funds for the new boilers are in restricted funds but since P2 project launched always said hypothecated with the ability to loan but must be repaid. Same with legacies.

 

I know. Very concerning that they seem to keep repeating the same errors.

 

Ah I see, thanks.

 

Not possible. TIA treatment takes place by adding chemicals automatically to the water in the tender as it is filled. Any cylinder oil reaching the ESI cannot affect it in any way.

 

@Sir Ralph Wedgwood has commented on the timing of these accounts, and what that may mean to cash in hand. I will just observe that £7m of assets are all very well, but the nature of a railway heritage organisation's assets tends to mean that they are pretty darn illiquid. It'd be interesting to know what proportion of that £7m could actually be sold off in a crisis without the Trust itself going under. I suspect the answer is pretty little.

 

Ahem.

Photo pinched from: LNER Encyclopedia: The Worsdell Class T1 4-8-0 Tank Locomotives

 

Can we move the 4-8-0 stuff elsewhere. It’s not relevant TIA

 

I asked for a progress update on the A1 Trust FB group but no response so I made my own enquiries. Apparently the loco has still not been weighed, never mind steam tested. Not looking good.

 

Shall we run a sweep stake on who gets the blame this time?

Once is a mistake, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern...and I don't believe in coincidence!

 

Seems wrong to 'like' this, but thanks for enquiring. A lot can happen in ten days, he said in hope...

 

Luckily I know a few folk around the ‘industry’.

I hope the loco does make it, but that’s more for the sake of the NVR’s budget than for the Trust’s tattered reputation.

 

Not looking good is it, With every delay, every cancelation, so trust ebbs away, until people are not going to risk further no shows, and look elsewhere, At the moment there is not an mainline partner, to operate the engine, DBS has given up on all bar one of its steam charters , they only operate for Belmond, and if what's been said by others is true, no other mainline TOC, with a steam safety case, want the engine, so, how can it operate on the mainline, without another company operating it, the A1 Trust isn't its own operator as far as I know, and does not have access to any stock, except by agreement with another operator, So another question to be answered,

 

Martin, I think you should find out if that is true, before jumping to any other conclusions.

 

A bit of me thinks a real attraction for the NVR - were 60163 unavailable - would be a certain incorrectly-liveried Pacific... are badge holders of the same name still entitled to free entry there?

 

You’ve come to the same conclusions as I have. No operator, no rolling stock and a rapidly declining reputation with donors, passengers and industry partners. Surprised and disappointed that the railway press is not holding the Trust’s leadership to account for its continued failures on behalf of all of its stakeholders.

 

They may. But trust will be at a premium, and the focus will be on their delivery out of the overhaul.

 

The Trust is now systematically failing across all of its main areas of activity - Tornado's overhaul, P2 build and rail tour operations.

Many of the commentators on NatPres calling out these failures - and the common thread through them - are longstanding volunteers and/or donors to the Trust who have put in many hundreds if not thousands of hours to these projects and tens of thousands of pounds of they own hard earned money.

We are not willing to fiddle whilst Rome burns and are looking for the Trust's leadership to take responsibility for these failures and stand aside for others to put in place a comprehensive rescue plan before it is too late.

 

On that basis the membership need to take them to task sharpish then, having no involvement no idea when AGM's are etc, but no doubt the constitution will have provision for seeking EGM's etc, which is what the membership need to do if they are that way inclined.