Tornado

Yes I agree. The heritage railway equivalent of Kids Company would do so much damage to everyone. We need to know that the money we give and the hours we dedicate are used in the right ways.

 

Sadly I fear that you are right.

 

Yes. I think most readers would be amazed about how little human resource goes into special interest magazine publishing. I know someone who was a sub-editor for one such (albeit not a railway magazine). She once wrote an entire article about a Far East holiday destination. It read convincingly as if she had extensive local knowledge; but actually she’d never been there and gleaned the entire thing from travel guides and press releases from the tourist industry.

Things are not that bad in the railway press. Many readers would really welcome a more technically informed, in-depth and critical style of article (and SR for one has improved in that respect); our interests are not just about shedcodes, sightings and liveries! And the few staff at each mag are are not, necessarily, out of their depth with the technical and business backgrounds of heritage steam. However ... the time they allowed to write each issue means that a high proportion of content may get put together from photos, amateur submissions and railway press releases.

It is probably also true that magazine editors may sometimes need to be careful not to annoy the bits of the industry that they rely on to source good meaty stories.

 

Totally agree. I know a lot of railway press journalists and as they are essentially hobby magazines they don’t want to be purveyors of bad news or be seen to contribute to an organisation’s woes, hence the real stories get untold.

 

Visited the A1 Trust’s website looking for an update, this was the last post relevant to Tornado’s progress … still no mention of the steam test etc.

 

8 days to go... the A1 was still marooned in the shed at Loughborough over the weekend.

 

This is the last update I received

Wed, 24 Jul at 08:59

TORNADO UPDATE

Dear Supporter

I wanted to write to update you on progress with Tornado at the Great Central Railway.

After some delays we now have a working brake system. The delays have centred around the 'overcharge' element of the air brake system, which after a thorough investigation has now been resolved, and with the electro-pneumatic (EP) valves that activate when the TPWS or ETCS systems apply the brakes. The current design, updated to accommodate ETCS, is not braking as swiftly as is legally required, with a modification to the design needed. In simple terms this is likely to be a larger EP valve to enable a reduction in the time taken to apply the brakes. A confirmation of the change to design is close at hand and then the installation will be planned in.

The good news is Tornado is now able to work on preserved lines, and once the above change is made the brake system will be certified for use on the main line. It is of course frustrating to find that the design needs changing, but this is perhaps to be expected with a Pathfinder project accommodating such a comprehensive change to incorporate ETCS.

We are now on the final straight in preparation for the testing of the steam system, dynamic testing and running in. The locomotive will be ready for that phase to commence this week but we also need to complete the weighing. This is scheduled for next week, using the equipment from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, and as soon as that is completed a warming fire will be lit. There will then be a period of static testing, including some ETCS tests, before the locomotive undertakes running in on the GCR.

We have kept a close liaison with the Nene Valley Railway and arrangements are in hand to arrive at Wansford at the end of the second week in August ready for the planned visit. Tornado will then need a washout and any final activities before undertaking main line test runs. To that end, due to the delays caused by the brake issue, we are amending the main line diary affecting activities in Scotland, The Caledonian and the Pullman tour to Chatsworth. This is very frustrating but unavoidable following the delays caused by the brake system issue.

I will of course keep you updated with a further communication following the successful weighing of the locomotive in the very near future.

Yours faithfully,



Steve Davies MBE
Chairman
A1 Steam Locomotive Trust

Dave B

 

I mean given that our hobby is already very fragile, with financial pressures hitting alongside resources problems, is it really going to do the hobby any favours if these “real” stories get told? Or is it going or further push the hobby down the one way route of no return

 

Maybe it's better to be open and honest? Staying silent does nobody any favours long-term, particularly those staying silent. The former puts more pressure to do things correctly and timely.

 

Whilst I can understand why you say that I am not sure I agree.
People often just "don't get it" even when they are told facts. Think for example the number of railways with appeals where some folks on here still shout for more trains to be run. It amazed me in my work life when post 9/11 staff could not grasp the economic consequences of operating 747's across the atlantic with less than 50 passengers.
I think you need to keep telling people like it is, and also when things change. Think WSR appeal where nothing was communicated after things suddenly made a great up tick in future viability, still unclear what happened.
I think you need to keep pushing the true facts in the hope that eventually it gets through to everyone.

 

Does anyone actually read magazines any more anyway, I'm well into middle age and I am the only one out of my peer group who reads magazines (I always did as a kid, its always been a thing for me), no one else does, I sacked SR off after the frankly peculiar way they reacted to the whole 7027 debacle, had been thinking about doing that for ages as everything in their 'news' had already been discussed at length (and possibly in better involved detail) on here weeks before it turned up in SR, I'm now considering giving up on practical classics as that has gone a bit peculiar recently as well.

Bloody hell, think yourself lucky I can think of several pretty high profile projects/locomotives where their news via website is years out of date, its why we don't maintain a business website, we don't really have the time/skills to keep it up to date and it looks a bit crap if one doesn't post regularly.

 

As pointed out up-thread: just eight days until the first driver experience courses are held at the NVR. In reality, that's less than eight days to steam, test and transport it from Loughborough to Wansford.

My optimism is fading

 

A1SLT has a very well paid marketing director who also just happens to be the wife of ‘former’ trustee Graeme Bunker-James as well as paid office staff so they have no excuses for their opaque and inadequate communications.

 

The 'new' website hasn't been updated very often, apart from when new tours are released, and then cancelled. It still states on one page that Tornado is/was due to visit the NVR in May
The news pages show the latest TCC from Autumn 2023, and TTT from August 2023. I'm aware that those articles are sent out to covenantors first, which is of course important as they are the ones giving the Trust money, but from what I understand from others on here, they aren't getting them, and it's also not good for general public or those that can't/don't send money to the trust who may also want to read the latest news.

 

Basic stuff that their paid staff should be on top of. Shows continual inability to do the foundational activities well. How the mighty have fallen!

 

As is mine given the fact it was stated up thread that the loco was still marooned in Loughborough shed at the weekend. I am seriously thinking now of cancelling my covenant.

Dave B

 

Being a supporter, member, or regular customer of any railway project gives that individual next-to-no influence on how that project is run, who manages it, what their priorities are or what they decide to tell people.

If you don't like how a project is being run (for whatever reason), then you can take your money and time elsewhere. Using railway forums to *force change" in management or tell them how to run the project just isn't going to have any effect.

The individual may be disappointed, but they start to appear a little entitled if they believe that their few pounds of donations or ticket purchases gives them any sort of influence.

Sent from my SM-S911B using Tapatalk

 

The NVR website is still selling tickets for the Tornado events.
However, the NVR Facebook page which is updated more frequently has nothing at all about the Tornado visit. No promotion of the Tornado events or links to booking tickets. Sounds like they have lost faith like many others have.