Hello everyone I have just seen some of the photos of the two expat A4s which are currently here for this years celebrations etc .
Please can we keep them as it seems quite obvious from the condition that they are in that the yanks and canadians do not seem to be looking after them that well looking at the state of them in some of the photos .
From what I have read in the past they dont have all that much interest in the locos and we would do so much better restoring them both to working condition so they can do the work that they where built for and not sit rotting in the back of a museum so as I said at the start of this post CAN WE KEEP THEM after all they say that possesion is nine tenths of the law.
Dreaming now go forward a few years say NYMR anounce LNER festival to include all 6 A4s (NRM relent on thier policy re restoratin of mallard) A1 tornado A2 blue peter A3 flying scotsman WOW what a festival that would be are well thats wishfull thinking for you but still what a nice thought.
I know dream on
all the best folks
Happy new year
Geff
'From the state of some photos' - so you haven't spoken to anyone in the railway industry regarding funding that was available for the locomotives or what could be done to keep them safe.
You need to remember that the heritage railway community in the US and Canada, and thus it's funding, is VERY small - considerably smaller than our own. Both locomotives were looked after, but with larger exhibits taking pride of place, funding was simply not there to keep the A4's in tip top condition. 60010 is set to be placed in a new climate controlled and properly lit building upon her return to Canada. Beleive me, the chaps at Exporail really DO care about 60010
All these issues have been discussed quite a bit on these forums.
Unfortunately there has been a lot of mis-information, hear-say, etc not helped by the tabloid practices of the 'heritage' steam magazines. Dwight Eisenhower was kept indoors in HVAC space and received at least one repaint - that is better than most of the world's railway museums. Sure the colour wasn't quite right. Dominion of Canada didn't look great but this was cosmetic. It still had its original Doncaster paint job. Kept under cover, but in an unheated space (can you name a British preservation group that properly heats its sheds? There are none)
Finally the British preservation movement should gets its own house in order before telling others they are not doing it properly. Most if not all preservation groups in the UK have rusting hulks on their sidings, and even the static 'restored' locos are in a wide range of conditions.
All conservation / preservation / restoration costs money / effort / time (lots, lots and lots of it !) whatever you want to look after !!
Making decisions as to what gets done, and when, is a monumentally complicated task, even in the case of a single object organisation.
It would seem that some projects (usually locomotives) are not too badly off, but others find obtaining funds and volunteers very difficult (and the rewards from gift aid reclaims have been reduced - perhaps it was working too well).
Anyhow - if you want to see such projects completed, then can I plead for you to contribute.........there will be a way !
As mentioned the UK preservation scene already has a lot to deal with before taking on other people's locos - so many failed/stalled projects, historical items rusting away, older locomotives being neglected in favour of 'sexier' bigger, modern steam locomotives, the majority of railways representing a tiny part of railway history (1950's-60's) etc etc etc
Another important fact to remember is that if the A4s didn't go abroad, they'd have been scrapped! The UK has no right at all to keep them and all the demands made on various forums and Facebook from 'enthusiasts' to keep them here are pretty sad, and very often the words written by these 'enthusiasts' are pretty disgusting and offensive and I feel very sorry for National Railway Museum staff who have to deal with them, and make me wonder why anyone would bother to do anything in terms of variety in terms of UK rail preservation as they just get criticised
Author of 'The North Eastern Railway in the First World War' - now available in paperback!
Blackout60800 wrote:'From the state of some photos' - so you haven't spoken to anyone in the railway industry regarding funding that was available for the locomotives or what could be done to keep them safe.
You need to remember that the heritage railway community in the US and Canada, and thus it's funding, is VERY small - considerably smaller than our own. Both locomotives were looked after, but with larger exhibits taking pride of place, funding was simply not there to keep the A4's in tip top condition. 60010 is set to be placed in a new climate controlled and properly lit building upon her return to Canada. Beleive me, the chaps at Exporail really DO care about 60010
You also need to remember that both these loco where gifts from one nation state to another and should have been treated as such we have in this country thousands of gifts from other nations one that springs to mind is a very large chinese loco at the NRM which last time I was there looked as good as new not covered in rust etc.
Also the A4s are looked after by the US and canadian national museums not their heritage community .
On the question of funding just whos paying for the refurbishment
Well it looks like I have had my wrist well and truely slaped good and proper it is such a shame that the some of the good folks on this forum canot see that about 90% of what is in my post is writen with my TOUNG VERY FIRMLY PUSHED INTO MY CHEEK.
and a lot of wishfull thoughts but I still think that as a gift from another nation that they could hav done a much better job of looking after them
MY OPINION OK
Geff
