LSWR T3 563

It has been (and was still when I looked on Saturday evening) in a location that metal thieves can't easily get to, with a covering sheet to keep the worst of the weather off. The situation when it arrives somewhere on the SR remains unknown. I'm sure it will come to no harm in the short term, but there has been a deafening silence from both the NRM and the SR about several important questions. In the absence of information, speculation is inevitable, and I'm surprised that rumours haven't started.

 

The concentration of salt in the air will surely be higher the closer to the sea, will it not? Anyway this is beside the point.

 

I thought you weren't a spokesperson for the SR?

Your continuous assertions that all will be well, may turn out to be correct, but they may not. By your own assertion you dont know, but you hope - like the rest of us - that it will be ok. An asset which a week ago belonged to all of us has been transferred to the SR, and we are entitled to be concerned that 6 weeks in the open air doesnt become 6 years (or more).

 

Actually I think the SR is under moral obligation. If they had received a loan of the locomotive then we would trust that the NRM would manage that to ensure the locos are not treated badly. However, the SR has received a free gift from the nation to the value of perhaps £400,000 based on the value of locomotives that have changed hands in recent years. Granted they have also accepted a liability to maintain and preserve in return for that gift (and over the coming years, this liability may be higher than gift value) BUT, it is far from unreasonable to expect that in very short order there is clarity about how that liability will be discharged. I am disappointed that this element has been left as a "more news to follow". If the detail doesnt follow the "good news" within the next two weeks I think that the NRM especially will start to look like it didnt discharge its responsibility to dispose of national assets appropriately.

 

In case you are not up to speed with Gala News, Swanage has been busy breaking various records the last few days with its Strictly Bullied Gala. I can assure you that it has kept everybody rather busy and the good people of Nat Pres may need a little more patience.


The only thing deafening coming from Swanage these last few days has been the chatter of Bullied Pacifics. I should think that when the Loco actually arrives on the premises or Steam Railway (other periodicals available) lands on your doormat you may find out a little more. I think it unreasonable to expect that an official representative come on here without delay to update or that the press officer should stop reporting on our record breaking gala with 7 Bullied Pacifics gathered (stretching a point with Sidmouth’s frames) and create a press release for you.

The idea that there is some scandalous plan to leave it to rot, or that the swanage air is so corrosive that it will suddenly disintegrate is simply fanciful.

 

I wonder if it is a bit chicken and egg.
Quite rightly I have concerns about covered accommodation for the T3 and the chance to show it off correctly.
However, as it is now the property of the Trust, a lottery grant application for proposed covered sidings, restoration etc might be forthcoming as it is a route that the Trust has never had the chance to exploit in the past.

 

With respect Mogul you entirely miss the point. The outrage here (and I suspect you can multiply each poster by 50 in terms of general population of enthusiasts) was entirely foreseeable, and avoidable. Delighted the SR is having a good gala, wonderful you are breaking records. I hope the profit can be used to build a shed. It is no use you taking umbrage that we are not all jumping for joy at the 563 news, when it would have been quite possible to share the plan for conserving the locomotive in conjunction with the announcement. Not doing so makes it seem that there is no plan, which would reflect badly first on the NRM then the SR. I get it that the announcement was only forthcoming on Friday, and today is only Tuesday, some grace time is fine, and I think just about all of us have said that one way or other, but let us hope that no grass grows under feet (or wheels).

 

Most birds build the nest before laying the egg.

 

The exception being the cuckoo...

 

Its not so much the absence of people jumping for joy and more people stamping their feat and demanding that it is their right to have immediate answers to their questions. If as you say "some grace time is fine" then why not push back your keyboard and allow it?

The Announcement timing was forced on us and not of our choosing. The wording was also pre-agreed with the NRM. I'm told that you could have counted the people in the organization that were aware of this before friday on your fingers and toes. Our Gala required over 110 volunteers per day as a minimum to operate. From an organization with only about 550 thats a stretch.

I think a little allowance is not unreasonable.

 

The question is whether there is much of a plan at all. It should have been included in the press release. Its inevitable that in the lack of any such announcement folk will assume there isn't one, just a vague optimism that something will turn up. And whilst sudden disintegration isn't likely, a greatly increased rate of corrosion is, especially if more volunteer labour to handle the new maintenance tasks doesn't suddenly appear out of thin air.

 

I honestly don't see the point in this thread anymore.
How many times have people said "give it a few days"
If people are that certain of themselves in their belief that there is no plan, then there is no way that I or anyone else will be able to convince you otherwise.
563 disposal will have been a long drawn out affair and its not something that would have been undertaken with a degree of planning.
When the plan does emerge I hope that you will all put your hands in your pockets and contribute if you are that concerned that 563 is about to puff into a cloud of rust!
The SR are rightly proud of its aquisition and to say that they have some moral obligation to look after it is VERY true. But they have no moral obligations to answer questions from one sided angry minority enthusiasts on a online forum.
In fact now it's owned by the SRT shouldn't their members get to hear it first and perhaps have a say on what they want for it?
Just wait! Is it not better to hear official statements that the rumour mill! It's day 4 people! CHILL

 

This concerned observer does not believe it is intended to be left to rot, or that Swanage is that corrosive. Nor does he expect (or even hope for) a Swanage press officer to appear forthwith on NP.

He does, however, with others find it of concern that key information about this transfer has not been made available up front as part of the announcement - gala or no gala. Such comments from a Purbeck direction as there have been have not allayed those concerns.

 

That clarification is appreciated and, to be fair, confirms my personal concern about the approach taken by the NRM - I assume driven at the last by the end of the financial year.

 

Actually, I think the outrage is better directed at the NRM. And because the NRM is a national museum, owned by us all, I happen to believe that the obligations on both parties to the transfer to share the broad outlines of the plans for 563 not just with SRT members but the wider world. For reference, if the SRT had acquired 35031 Red Funnel from a private owner, I would have agreed entirely with your view.

 

I also have to agree with 007 here. I'm also now going to leave you all to speculate wildly . At least until there is something new and concrete to talk about.

 

Au contraire. Its very easy to convince people otherwise. All that is needed is to publish the appropriate internal documents on your website. Should take no more than a few hours, acknowledging the likely need to redact a few names and things first. If, however, the feeling on the part of Swanage railway and/or NRM management is that they have to be completely rewritten because people won't like what they see, well, that is indeed how rumours start.

Which is exactly why folk find it disturbing not to see anything about what those plans are.

I worked in local government for many years and I have seen how the PR droids like to 'manage' a message they think the public will find unpalatable. This isn't unlike, but, to be fair, the PR droids I have experience of were so used to needing to 'manage' the messages they put out that even the most innocuous stuff sometimes looked as if it was being spun faster than a gyroscope.

 

I disagree. Your post is how rumors start. Definitely picking my ball up and going home now.

 

But why the need for such secrecy? presumably this was also forced upon the SR by the NRM. As a democratic organisation, this seems like a big commitment for the SR to make without consulting the general membership. I'm sure there would have been overwhelming support for accepting the loco as a gift, but at least there would have been an open discussion of any concerns before the commitment was made.

I don't want you to feel that we're all having a go at the SR. In most respects I'm delighted that 563 is going to an appropriate home where it will be well cared for. I'm just baffled that the NRM could consider discarding such a jewel from our National Collection, and annoyed that it has done it in secrecy to avoid any debate.