Pete Waterman may sell Britannia

hydraulics

Except that the 29's were very reliable, remember that they were rebuilt with Paxman engines and were used on far more demanding duties than the 21's were.

The 41s were victims of being a small fleet and

fairly

60's

No, the 22's went for the same reason why the classes 15, 23, and

29's went, due to being small *non standard* classes - in the case of the 22's they would have gone even if the WR has not been told to standardise on DE rather than DH transmission.

No, the reason why preservation failed was due both to the condition of the loco's by the time people started to think about saving them (they were heavily stripped), and the fact that before the late 70's those who were trying to save WR DH loco's were concentrating on buying running or recently withdrawn 35, 42 & 52's.

At the time, preservation was in it's infancy and simply

Removed by BR [1], as were a lot of components, remember that the

41's went *before* the mass withdrawal of the 22's & 43's and as many components were common they were use to keep their 'little sisters' running. [1] probably offered / given to the RN

The message from "Mick Bryan" contains these words:

No, but my Dad told me that 6004 (the last Claughton) once pulled our train from Runcorn to Liverpool. Apparently I was *very* young at the time.

Hey, That's a bit off. Knowing Pete from when he has come down our railway, he has put a lot of time and effort into the business. Remember LNWR ? Now a thriving steam restoration business in Crewe ? Remember the Super D that he has paid for, when it is the NRM's loco ? It is managing the escalating cost of restoring this that Britannia has not been started. He also has many other steam locos of his own that are also waiting to be restored, although personally, I would rather see 70000 done as apposed to yet another GWR loco !

Andy

One thing is certain about Pete Waterman - whatever rail-related item or business he invests in, he is unlikely to stay with it for long.

"Andy Sollis- Churnet Valley model Railway Dept." wrote

There's also a whole host of other items in his custodianship Andy, such as the Brown Boverie Gas Turbine and the BTH class 15 which seem to be slowly rotting away. We should be grateful that he has saved them but if he is not able to devote the resources to restore them he should perhaps consider adopting the same policy as the NRM and putting them in the hands of other (perhaps on a long term leasing basis) to allow restoration work to progress.

John.

Obviously you are unaware of the sorry history of the former BR Charter Trains Unit, Flying Scotsman Railways and the other ventures that sparked an interest that rapidly evaporated.

I know everyone loves a celebrity, but spare a thought for the people who lost their jobs in the wake of his rapid loss of interest in several different projects.

"John Turner" wrote There's also a whole host of other items in his custodianship Andy, such as the Brown Boverie Gas Turbine and the BTH class 15 which seem to be slowly rotting away. We should be grateful that he has saved them but if he is not able to devote the resources to restore them he should perhaps consider adopting the same policy as the NRM and putting them in the hands of other (perhaps on a long term leasing basis) to allow restoration work to progress.

John.

He is/has... Check out Chris Tolley's photo of D1842 at Cheddleton. Came to us in April 2004. 47192 (Tops Number) was the first 47 in preservation and is owned by PW, but ST4G are custodians.

I don't know about the others. Shame we haven't got the space at the CVR ?

Thought there was a group working on the 15 ?

Andy

Ah, guess it must be something personal then Tony.

As an outsider I always welcome the attention that Mr Waterman pays towards Railways in general and preservation in particular.

It is dead easy to knock maybe not so easy to praise.

B

No, nothing personal. I have never had any personal involvement of any kind with Mr Waterman's ventures, and I greatly admire his consistent success in the music industry over the last two decades.

Tony, Maybe it was "Over enthusiasm" not loss of interest that took it's tole ?

How many projects have you begun enthusiastically and then realised it would cost more that you first thought to have to leave by the wayside ?

Have others not also purchased locos from scrap yards etc, only to find that the new boiler is well out of their price range for many years, only to find when they have the cash the price has gone up ?

Flying Scotsman I heard was something a little different, more couldn't please the public ? Was it not under PW that it was painted BR green with the Double Chimney, only for complaints to come in ? And now look - under NRM still in this configuration, the punters want it back in BR green !

At the end of the day, what you want to do and what you financially can do can be two very different targets!

(Not forgetting that for a while he has had a very ill son who died last year)

Andy

Obviously you are unaware of the sorry history of the former BR Charter Trains Unit, Flying Scotsman Railways and the other ventures that sparked an interest that rapidly evaporated.

I know everyone loves a celebrity, but spare a thought for the people who lost their jobs in the wake of his rapid loss of interest in several different projects.

The Locarno ballroom where Pete began his musical career is now the central library from which I borrow railway reference books, many of which also feature Pete! The library also stocks his records :o)

(kim)

The Claughton wasn't a specially important locomotive despite what a certain poster here might suggest. The Precursor was used for everything from passenger expresses to local freights and is also much better looking. Failing that a Stanier 2-6-2t or 2-6-0 would be welcome.

(kim)

Like I said,

As an outsider I always welcome the attention that Mr Waterman pays towards Railways in general and preservation in particular.

It is dead easy to knock maybe not so easy to praise.

His musical adventures are to be admired also.

B

The A1 looks exactly like Blue Peter to my (admittedly GWR-focussed) eyes, so the prospect of seeing a member of the class recreated doesn't excite me all that much.

Likewise I'm sure many people will be hard-pressed to distinguish the replica Grange from a Hall, or the Clan from a Britannia.

I'm looking forward to the Saint though, especially in its Atlantic configuration.

If replica locos are going to be build from scratch, I think it would be much more interesting to create ones with no surviving relatives. A Claughton would be great and so would a Whitelegg Baltic tank.

Andy

"Andy Kirkham" wrote

I wonder ho many people would travel a hundred miles to see a Whitelegg 'Baltic' operating on the main line, or more to the point, how many would pay to travel behind one?

John.

It was merely a flight of fancy :-) I'm not sugggesting it would be a practical proposition.

I'm sure the replicas that get built are the ones that people actually want to see.

Andy

relatives. A

Whitelegg

Well, the same could be said about a replica Broad-gauge loco and train...

"Andy Kirkham" wrote

The Claughton might be tho, but don't tell Enzo! ;-)

He who pays the piper? The A1 project is taking far longer than originally envisaged mainly due, I suspect, to the difficulty of raising the vast sums of cash involved.

John.

Indeed, I suspect that they are know facing the problem of *having* to use highly skilled people, any half competent machine shop can machine the mechanical components but that skills required to build a boiler are highly specialised.

"Yoda" wrote in news:stupf.21780$ snipped-for-privacy@fe3.news.blueyonder.co.uk:

...

Oh come on, you have to draw the line somewhere. :-)