45231

firstly, thanks for the info above, much appreciated.
well I am sorry that people took notice of my distinctly stated GUESSING, but had you made the above post just a couple of days ago, there would have been no guessing or speculation and you would have saved yourself a lot of bother answering the phone, don't you think.

Personally I've no intention of doing anything to upset WCRC, I respect the fact that the team do a fantastic job keeping steam alive and well and running on the main line, along with all the other repair and maintenance centres around the country.

I feel it is unfair to apportion blame, for lots of people phoneing, on me, a humble bumbling enthusiast, whose endeavours to avoid missing even a single movement of a steam engine on my manor, to the extent of hanging about on stations at 3am, on the of chance of there being a steam fix for the taking, willing to be disappointed by the appearance of a diesel instead. after all this a a forum, where enthusiasts speculate, state their hopes and fears, and generally enjoy their hobby in what ever way they choose. I am not one to keep meticulous notes of movements, but appreciate the value of those that do and the endless discussions that they make possible, where would we be without forums such as this.

well thank you for allowing a sigh of relief to be released all over the country, I do hope you realise that you hold the key to the stress levels of a large percentage of the population, hopefully you may consider taking a leaf out of Ian Riley's book, obviously when he is asked a speculative question and states that it is not time for that information to be disclosed, we all respect that, he informs about the state of repair or overhaul including at times photo's and even allows video's of the ongoing work, how about that, you might even save a lot of time answering the phone.

by the way, sorry I missed meeting you on the staion the other day, I bear no animosity towards you, and look forward to meeting you, I'm sure we will have an interesting and intelligent conversation.

yours sincerely,

Darth Vader.

 

62005 was runingg at Shildon this afternoon so it looks like it will be going to FW tomorrow.

 

You have been warned?

What the f**k is that about? What you gonna do, then? Break his camera? Rip up his trainspotter books? Assault him on Carnforth Station at 3am?

The guy is clearly speculating on an open forum. If people chose to take this very clearly stated speculation as gospel then that is their prerogative.

Perhaps you'd like to vet his posts first? A nice bit of censorship always goes down well.

Or you could lighten up a bit.

 

Right gentlemen please do not take what i have to say wrongly If WCR wanted to paint the Scot pink they could if they had purchased the last surviving LMS garratt parts and started a rebuild programme they can it is not for us to comment weather it is right or wrong we don't have the right to see what is going on within the carnforth site as it is a private industrial site most engineering firms are the same you do not go to BAE systems and ask whats the latest weapon your testing do you ? well please respect west coast railways wishes and do as requested

Now plate layer that quote is out of context and as such can be taken wrongly Mr shuttleworth is quite correct in what he is saying it only takes one absent minded individual to post some incorrect information on the Internet and this creates a cascade of distress among the customer base and persons booking / traveling on the tours speculation is not acceptable and nor is posting anything spurious

DAMAGE CAN BE DONE WHEN WE DO NOT THINK WHAT THE CONCIQUENCES OF OUR ACTIONS WILL BE PEOPLES LIVELYHOODS ARE AT STAKE HERE!!!!

Now i am in no way connected to West Coast Railway Company other than being a very satisfied customer and admirer of there work

Jordan Ashley Leeds

 

The problem is Jordan is that an official of a private company is issuing threats to a well-meaning member of the public. What difference does it make to James Shuttleworth and WCRC if there is some idle speculation on an internet forum? Will it affect their operations? Are they likely to lose any business as a result? Probably not.

What platelayer has found offensive, as have I, is that James thinks he has the right to stop people discussing the company he works for in an open environment. James and WCRC do not have the right to act in such a manner when such speculation is totally harmless and inconsequential. It leaves a bad impression of the individual and firm he works for.

 

Industry leaders threatening their supporters in public is never a good thing in my opinion.


Have a look on the internet for discussions on British Airways.. millions of them.
Then look up PPrune and see what even their employees are saying about their own company.
I have never seen Willie Walsh personally make threats towards his passengers, or even planespotters or even individual employees in response.

Then there's NASA, Microsoft, Ford, Network Rail and a never ending list of companies right down to forums on the humble Hornby..
Ive never seen Simon Kohler threaten a rail enthusiast for speculating which model will come out next.


It's just not the thing professional industry management and executives tend to do on a normal day.

James can do and say as he wishes..

but with threats made in public he isnt endearing himself to me at any rate.

 

Jordan

You are correct that WCRC can do what they want with their assets. And, equally, 'enthusiasts' can speculate all they like about what is going on. You quote BAE SYSTEMS as a parallel - plenty of people speculative about their products and projects as do people about heritage railways and operators. I don't believe that there was anything derogatory implied about WCRC merely a deep interest in their steam operations.

How is the quote out of context? Looks pretty straight forward to me.

To be fair, I struggle also to equate web speculation by trainspotters and your cascades of distress in the customer base.

 

Dare i say that the answer to this is pretty straightforward? WCRC now have their own twitter feed, so to avoid speculation and the overloading of their phone line they could, with just a quick message, put an end to much of the wild speculation - a lot easier and quicker than updating the website and posting on the various forums.

I can see why James feels the way he does given the way that WCRC has historically operated, but in the 21st century there will always be internet speculation whether its here or the many other internet forums and lists - im not suggesting that Carnforth has to reveal everything going on, but when there are last minute changes i'd argue that its in WCRC's interest to have the inevitable speculation grounded in reality.

Chris

 

Good points, Chris. Actually, it looks like James S agrees with you, since he has made quite a few informative posts recently. As a result, the threads involved have all taken positive turns. This is very welcome.

Even when there are things that WCRC (or any similar loco owner, tour operator, etc.) do not wish to comment on, it can be very helpful, to them and to the rest of us, to make a short post saying "we don't wish to comment at the moment because..." Wild speculation florishes in the absence of reliable information.

 

Phew! I am glad there are reasonable people on here. was astounded to be threatened. thanks to all for releiving my personal stress level'