Tornado

And I have to say. My decision in doing so have saved me from being out of pocket several times.

As far as I respect people for travelling for such things like this I fail to give them any sympathy for not paying just a little more in order to be liable for a refund, especially for reasons like this, train strikes, other availability issues and other reasons

 

Same here - bookings for work that suddenly gets cancelled for one. Being self-employed, that matters.

 

Warren Buffett said: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.”

No-one currently in the Trust’s leadership (I use that term advisedly) was involved in the long hard slog of building the A1SLT and its reputation from a standing start. They all came in when the hard work had been done, forgot where it had come from and took its supporters for granted.

There has been a massive culture change at the top of the organisation which is the root cause of all of its current problems.

 

Meanwhile, what is happening with the P2 No. 2007 project? No mention of any progress on it in the A1SLT website progress report in June. At the moment it looks like it is a case of all hands to the pump (i.e. 'Tornado'), and work on 2007 suspended? In view of the dis-satisfaction currently being expressed has there been a drop in donor financial support which can slow things down even more? Indeed, if/when completed, there are still the foibles of a valve gear with limited 'in service' history to cope with...........

 

The big difference was that A1SLT had to raise the money to build Tornado from its covenantors & other donors and the same with the (overly) massive overhaul set to cost c£1.5m. They have never been transparent over how much The Overhaul Club has raised and their previously well thought through media and other communications are quite frankly amateurish.

They have consistently over promised and under delivered for years now and each last minute semi-apology shows that their board is out of its depth and that the bond of trust between them and their supporters is broken. Only wholesale change at the top will reverse this decline.

 

The reasons why you can't just say "it'll be ready when it's ready" wrt Tornado have already been explained recently in this thread.

 

Likewise, so I automatically avoid any hotel that doesn't offer cancellable bookings.

 

They tried to get replacements before but the short notice of the cancellation went against them - at least one loco group said yes but weren't able to get the loco moved in time.

Like you say, you have to feel sympathy for the NVR. It's not like the Grange, a virtually brand new loco that is going to have teething troubles. Everyone understands if an overhaul overruns a bit, but a six month overhaul lasting five times that estimate is ridiculous. The lack of communication about the delays and Comical Ali style of "everything is fine" when they finally put something out has massively tarnished their reputation.

 

I don’t think blaming customers for having non-refundable hotel bills to pay is especially helpful; these are after all people who had sufficient faith to book in the first place, and as pointed out up-thread at least one person/group has had to pay for a ferry crossing so is presumably coming from overseas; you’d hope they have travel insurance, but even that is likely to include an excess and leave them out of pocket.

At this point I think that, for people in that situation, the least the A1SLT could do is organise a cab visit to the loco while it’s at Loughborough plus an opportunity to drive one of the GCR fleet, while hoping they will also come back later to drive the A1 at the NVR. (And if they can’t, somewhere else another time while also giving NVR enough time to re-sell the slot.)

Unlike some on here I do have some sympathy for the A1SLT; for all we know they may have been over-promised progress by various suppliers. But at the end of the day, you can’t take your supporters for granted.

 

Too many Lady Bracknells for that to be the case I’m afraid. So much passing of the book it’s like a chimp’s tea party!

 

I'm a trustee elsewhere, and in an organisation that has it's own challenges; I've also been involved in multi-million pound projects that have gone awry. My experience, for what it is worth, is that it is ALWAYS important to communicate more and effectively with supporters, especially when things are difficult.

This is not about the overhaul itself, but what sits behind it - and the decisions made as it's proved more and more difficult to complete. I'm not a covenantor or active supporter of the project, but a bystander whose jaw is dropping at the continued erosion of trust as self-imposed deadlines have been missed. I know that this happens at times, because things happen. I also know, from experience, that those issues do not "just" happen - but that they are almost always a symptom of misjudgments somewhere in the process.

That buck does stop with the trustees, because they are the ones who are accountable for everything that happens in the Trust. I've not the pleasure of knowing the personalities, or understanding quite who is doing what - so I can't and won't comment on whether any particular individual is or is not at fault. But they are the ones who need to find a way to change the pattern of the trust, so that lost confidence can be restored and the Trust restored to it's previous high standards. That may require changes in personnel; it may not.

 

I am not sure anyone was blaming the customers but it is a debate I have had on forums before. If you are not prepared to still go somewhere or throw away that money why would you ever book an advanced rail ticket or a non refundable hotel as two examples?
It is a bit like those complaining that the recent Wizz Air "season ticket offer" comes with strings.
Like life if you want full flexibility it costs more.
And as someone who spent his life dealing with suppliers large and small believe very little of what you are told unless you have actually seen the progress on their shop floor. Even your regular key vendors, to whom you may be a very large customer lie to you when it suits them to do so. I cannot imagine the A1 guys being a large customer to any supplier.

 

Pole was due to return to traffic last weekend but regulator problems, AFAIK, have delayed things.

 

Not defending A1SLT but my group have had experience of the unreliability of boiler inspectors.

 

@Gladiator 5076 As you say, managing your suppliers and subcontractors is a vital cog in the project management process. From initial selection through to making contracts as water tight as possible and then regular monitoring of progress and careful measurement of compliance to specification before accepting delivery and subsequent payment.

Meticulous planning, early identification of any possible delays

I think it’s fair to say that this has been just one area that has been far from satisfactory during this overhaul.

Eg As has been asked several times upthread, where are the long overdue new boilers?

 

Where are the boilers, A very good question, are the funds not protected, and So can only be used for the boilers, ? so There should have been steady progress,
Unless, of course, the funds meant to be used for the boilers has instead been used to first, have the existing boiler repaired, then the additional tubing, three sets of boiler tubes isn't going to be cheap, where did the money for those come from, ? who paid for each set of tubes, two sets of which were scrap, unless new ends can be welded on,

 

Indeed, surely one of them should be ready by now, even if P2 is a year or two off then a spare might be handy if something happens with the current one.
Of course if the work is being paid for in instalments -one of them being due on delivery -then Meiningen may well have been asked to ' work at their convenience'...

 

According to the original press announcement:

“The first new boiler – to be fitted to No. 60163 Tornado during its next overhaul – will be delivered in September 2020 with the second – to be fitted to No. 2007 Prince of Wales – scheduled to be delivered in July 2021.”

Neither has yet to be delivered, with the first now almost 4 years late and the second over 3 year late. The latest unacknowledged slippage has the first being delivered this autumn - don’t hold your breath!

I still fail to understand why the expensive and ultimately flawed decision was taken to overhaul the existing boiler rather than fit the new one as planned.