Tornado

In simplistic terms to me Tornado needs a TOC if they want to run mainline, so the powerbase is with the TOC, which as @Sidmouth said is in reality WCRC or LSL or maybe some VT but they have their own programme to support.
However when you get to Heritage Lines the powerbase flips. The draw of the loco will mean lines want it, and very few I suspect will even give a thought to the NVR issues. Certainly does not seem to have hurt the Grange much after all the false starts there.

 

Once again... Where has it been stated that West Coast will not be operating Tornado??
They were quite happy to operate the loco before overhaul, I have not seen anywhere that this has changed.
I have asked this question several times now and no one can give an answer, but it keeps being repeated that there is some sort of issue between the 2. This was the case 10 years ago, but was resolved. West Coast desperately need an air braked, 75 mph loco, Tornado will need work - seems the dream match to me.
I am more than happy to be corrected on this if someone can provide the evidence!
I believe the tie up with Vintage was more to do with rolling stock availability than anything else.

 

Wasn't there a suggestion by the trust, in the past, about them acquiring their own rake of coaches ?

 

given the current spend on Tornado, the P2 in the background… where would the money come from for that?

sounds like an idea from the hubris stage of proceedings.

 

Yes back when the skies we're the limit i think they had an idea to fit out a rake of MK3's or was it Mk 2's with additional water reservoirs ( as well as retention toilets ? CDL?) and paint them out in a Mock LNER livery ( think Mr Allatt even had some models done up in 'Coronation' 'Silver Jubilee', Excursion Cream and Green, and mock 'scrumbled' teak....) With a Buffer Beam camera, drivers eye camera and footplate camera on 'videolink to screens in the coaches. Whatever the (im)practicalities of the solution someone at least had the foresight to see the potential problem down the tracks...

 

If the two individuals, who apparently do not get on, have fallen out again I doubt anything would be stated officially.

 

Wasn't the original idea to buy an HST as you say, paint it in teak etc, the idea at the time was the HST would operate as an HST, and at some stage Tornado would take over , and haul part of the route, and the HST would revert to Deisel power, to return, to its destination, with the advantage of it being able to operate at line speed where the route allowed up to 125mhp.

 

Perhaps so - Mr Hosking liked the idea, (though he hasnt had the buffers put on to enable a chuffer on one end)
I think i mooted the idea that a power car could be gutted, buffered and re windowed as a faux ' beavertail'...

 

There was a long time ago @osprey, but I think they realised that purchasing, owning and maintaining a fleet of Mk. 3s and modifying them to have opening windows would have been too much of a financial burden.

 

Pretty much this.

As for any potential tie ups with LSL considering how comparatively rarely 60007 is seen (she's been back on the mainline for 2.5 years now, how many income generating tours has she hauled?), how little use 60532 seems to have had already (has she hauled a revenue eaning train yet 2 months after her first private mainline run - admittedly she's in house LSL), the potential (suggested earlier) that 46233 is joining the LSL fleet, 71000 to come, 6024 still sat in a shed at Crewe apparently overhauled but never used where are LSL suddenly going to spirit running enough trains to provide the steaming fees to keep that lot in income to cover the next overhaul, yes there is possibly heritage line running but is that going to be enough. I do fear we are going to end up with a trough of locomotives where the owning groups will find themselves short of cash to cover an overhaul and possibly owing monies to LSL which can only be addressed by being subsumed into the RSGT, but that's perhaps for a different thread.

 

So let me get this straight. You think that the A1 management, who you folks repeatedly accuse of massive incompetence, should take on the entirely new and very complex areas of coach fleet management and the running of tours, without even any organisational history of doing such things, and make a huge investment in facilities already provided by other operators, and without any obvious sign that the railtour sector is under served. Now I don't claim in any shape or form to be an executive or entrepreneur, but that really doesn't sound like a winning business plan to me.

 

Especially considering its been reported that LSL were spaffing c.£250k per coach to get them to that state, 14 coaches to allow a couple of spares that a cool £3.5m - gonna need to run a lot of tours and sell a lot of pin badges to make that stack up.

 

Certainly bloody not. I've sunk a five-figure sum into it and I'd like to be on it before I croak.

What do you care anyway?

 

Nor me. They were right to bin the idea.

I'm just waiting for Hosking to buy Smith out...

 

Well said. We know what the A1SLT is capable of; I'd like to see them focus on getting back to those standards. Other stuff can come along later, if there's the capacity and cash. But the cobbler needs to stick to the last.

 

Is/Was ? hmmmm

 

Such as the V4? I’ve forgotten when that was supposed to be launched, but it’s now a few years ago I think, after the much heralded revealing of the chosen name?

 

That must be as likely as Ryanair buying out British Airways.
Sometimes it is not all about the money, otherwise I am sure WCRC would have some CDL fitted Mk1's out by now.
I know neither individual, but having had suppliers who were dominated by one strong minded individual I suspect scrapping the lot would be more preferable.
I happened to notice the other day one of my suppliers has folded, I suspect because the owner refused to change with the times.

 

Can you share where the strategic reserve of Mk1's are held then?