1306 sold?

Or perhaps they weren't best friends with the A1 Trust.

Dave

 

If your going to do that, then you have to be sure your right IMO, and it appears they were something short of that.

 

All were present over the weekend


Alex Galpin

 

Quite right David, *** should never have told made up tales to ORR about ****.

 

Interesting news that 61306 will not be under the care of the A1 Trust in order that wcr can operate it. This would not, apparently, have been possible with the arrangement previously announced.
Full story latest RM news.

 

Interesting report in The RM. 61306 will be based at Southall which is the good news. Not so good news is SD will be using her. So you will need deep pockets to travel behind her. And will diesel assistance be required when they overload her?

 

Does this mean she won't be NNR-based after all?

 

Mainline duties permitting, NNR is said to be its home.

 

Reading the article it seems the first railtour will be from Norwich, picking up at Ipswich and it will act as a positioning move bringing her to an as yet undecided Southern Region destination.

 

that makes very interesting reading, so on what basis can the A1 trust not work with WCRS ? i thought the issue was with an contractor on 60163, and nothing to do with the B1? or is it the A1 trust itself that is disliked by carnforth ? could the trust run the B1 using DBS if it was offered work?

 

The owner does not want the loco to be dual braked. He is reported to have considered this option but said no to Air brakes so she can't be used with DBS as they require this.
The owner wanted her on the ML as soon as possible. The sudden switch from the A1 trust to WCRC operating the B1 on the ML suggests that there are still some problems between the A1 trust and WCRC as a meeting between the two operators did not materialise according to Mark Allatt in the article.

 

Crikey... Didn't I say this would happen!

 

Sadly personality disputes run deep in this hobby.

 

It seems the magic pairing of 61306 and 60163 won't happen for the time being. I know nothing of what has gone on other than what I have read in this thread this evening, but as a covenanter to the trust I am disappointed.

 

Well I know who I'd rather have looking after my loco ......

 

It really would have been lovely seeing Mayflower and Tornado together in apple green. Maybe that can still happen one day, but not so easily as it might have done under the wing of the A1 Trust.

 

Well maybe. Maybe not.

If Mayflower ran under Tornados custodian ship it would mean that Tornado would have to supply a support crew and the documentation to say that the engine was fit for traffic. WCRC have had issues with Tornado and thus decided not to use that group. Should 61306 fall under Tornados operation, I was thinking it would rule it out too, as the same people responsible would now be involved in Mayflowers operation.

No doubt, the Tornado supporters/fanatics/standard bearers that dont allow anyone to question, or disagree with Tornado group will take the side that Tornado has been able to operate just fine when it can be crewed by DBS - which is still a big issue and problem, and probably try to shoot me down in the process. Others will say that WCRC makes a habit of being rather demanding, but many others are able to work with them.

WCRC can cause views to be polar, especially with Tornado, Network Rail at York, and for those that froth over livery choice, but the company has developed a postion as market leader, and able to operate and supply engines and stock. Its profitable and does overall have a a very good track record. I thought it would come to this, that a change would be forced for the owner, but now I think the future for 61306 certainly looks better and in some ways for WCRC too.

 

Someone is being rather infantile in all this.
There is one organisation which has always been very open in all its dealings, and another which is very secretive. So that rather inclines many of us who aren't actually in possession of real facts to presume that the latter party is the one being unreasonable. This may not actually be the case, but is what happens when you make little effort to make friends. Of course they probably don't care! They are getting the work.
The other consideration is that an effective monopoly is never a good thing.

 

And one organisation asks the general public to fund it and one is privately funded. Possibly something to do with the levels of disclosure?