Nene Valley Railway

“Tornado's overhaul, combined with the fitting of ETCS, is rapidly approaching completion …"

Don't they mean slowly, at long last?

 

How many mainline locos have you overhauled or project managed?
Did they include the fitment of a completely new, bespoke electronic system?
I think we can cut them some slack. 2 years is still a pretty quick overhaul time.

 

It is. But when compared with the claims at the start, it is significantly slower.


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Most people who criticise progress on an overhaul have never been involved in one. The old "it will be ready when it's ready" adage still holds true.

 

Unfortunately the A1 Trust don,t work like that, the loco has been promised on railtours and to heritage lines over a considerable time all of which have had to be postponed, some more than once. I think they need to ge their house in order

 

Nothing new there then, as that happens with all sorts of different locos. All booked and promised long before they’re out of the workshop. The A1 trust is no different in that case. How many galas has the Grange been appearing at for its first public workings?

 

Overhauling a steam loco these days is fraught with problems and setbacks. Wasn't Clan Line advertised for tours back in 2022 and back in service in short order after its problems were found yet here we are in 2024 with still no operational loco. Fortunately, most people understand these things.

 

I do understand it, there was a change of with Clan Line when other faults were found and the decision was made to go for a full overhaul rather than just replace the syphons. It just seems to me that the Tornado overhaul has been mismanaged along the way somewhere.

 

The Tornado project team will probably be delighted with that constructive criticism of their abilities

 

There are so many factors outwith the loco owner’s control that can affect progress, I’m loathe to criticise any overrun.

 

A well run organisation would look back over the reasons that have led to the overhaul being delayed and drawn out, identify with hindsight what factors were within their control and need to be managed better next time, what factors were outside of their control, and whether in future they could do anything to mitigate to any degree against those factors they don't fully have control of. Realistically only the A1SLT can do that, a load of outsiders who have not been completely privvy to the details of the whole overhaul cannot completely accurately assess the situation. Hopefully the A1SLT will, with hindsight, be able to reflect on the last two years and make any adjustments and changes necessary to reduce the chances of such delays occurring again in the future

 

I’m by no means alone among Trust members to think we are not being told everything. I don’t know if the email newsletter Tornado Telegraph is still produced but I’ve not had one or any other communication, apart from asking for funds, for months.

 

John, Issue 154 arrived in my inbox on Friday, there was another earlier in the year. Suggest you check your spam or re-register if you are really interested, but then you were advised to do this on Tornado thread back in December when you were complaining about lack of communication! You also stated that you no longer donated to Tornado 'as there were more worthy causes', perhaps you fell off their mailing list then?

Whilst I accept communication hasn't been to the previous standard, there has been significant changes to personnel as we are all aware and it isn't as bad as you are making out if you are not receiving emails. Whether they are guilty of over optimism is another story, but they are not the first loco group to be charged with that.

There is great discussion regards this on the Tornado thread, so will not replicate anymore on here.

 

https://nvr.org.uk/product.php/502/...ZOy6huMMY7IxCWL1j5oO4hrA-zSEf3dM0hVjCnVZYpNh4

I did ask the missus if she wanted this for a mother's day present, but the silence was deafening!

 

I did email them, I got the current copy emailed back but nothing since

 

A factor in overhauls getting delayed is that this is a cottage industry. Small numbers of people with key skills. A life event for one person can hold up half a dozen overhauls quicker than you can click your fingers. Finding people materials and parts takes an unpredictable amount of time. Suppliers being typically small (the biggest UK loco workshops employ fewer than 20 people I think ) means very little ability to give firm leadtimes.

 

It’s a point that many don’t realise. A simple example is piston rings. I’m not saying that this is the case but Tornado requires six. If one of these is broken during installation a replacement is required. The A1 trust are unlikely to keep spares on the shelf so a replacement is required. I’ve just been quoted 16 weeks delivery from a supplier and there aren’t many of those. It’s a small item but acts as an example of how things can easily go wrong. You can make your own but even that isn’t a two minute job.

 

Indeed. If you’re unlucky and the cast iron pot in the size you want has run out, and the foundry is stacked out (which is likely as there aren’t so many of those) then the wait might be even longer.

 

If you can get past the awful amount of adverts that litter any local news site these days, there's a good write up of the reopening of the Orton Mere signal box reopening following the arson attack last year.

https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk...-to-help-repair-orton-mere-signal-box-4555185

Two 13 year old local lads raised over 15k by doing a sponsored walk from Peterborough to Wansford.

 

The pump trolley experiences have sold well so far, so we've had to add a number of extra dates throughout the first half of the year!

ITV Anglia News visited yesterday and it should feature on their 6pm bulletin tonight.