6233 Duchess of Sutherland

Look right at home with a rake of maroon MK2,s

 

This may be one for a new thread (and if any mods thinks it warrants a new thread, knock yerselves out), but I'm inclined to agree with you. Looking at 10A as an example most of the work they do can be covered by black 5's (3 of which they have/manage and 3 of which are available from a closely associated hire business), or even the 8F which can cover the bread and butter tootling up and down the S&C and meanders over to Scarborough, possibly have say BIL and/or Tangmere to cover the NB (plus they will likely have 6201 for that when she is done) and that boxes off their needs in a simple fleet.

Not sure what the split on trains is enthusiast/day tripper but suspect the latter has become the majority and thus having 'interesting' motive power less of a draw to get backsides on seats.

 

Does the pathing system allow for the fact that 8p is going to go faster and accelerate faster than a 5mt ? or does the current vogue/necessity of cdl coffins plus tailgunner mean that the train will keep time regardless of the kind of 'Smoke generator' present on the front and the only incentive for having a bigger engine on the front is if its famous.... or looks particularly impressive ? so more Bathtubs please.

 

Even if enthusiasts are only 10% that's probably the difference between profit and loss. Unless you're actually turning people away you can't neglect any part of the customer base.

 

But that logic only works if the revenue doesn’t have an extra cost associated. If the customer base “needing” an 8P means that you need to maintain an additional locomotive (say 25% of your fleet cost) for only 10% extra revenue, you may want to actively repel those customers.

 

There is the ; Big engine - costs more but doesnt cost as much to maintain because its not thrashed -policy , versus Small engine costs less wears out faster policy question, but its not as relevant as it used to be. Wonder if are any one compiles statistics on modern steam engines regarding reliability/availability... back to the subject i dont recall a Duchess ever sitting down on the job....

 

Duchess of Hamilton split the rails in Allerton depot.