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6023

Discussion in 'Steam Traction' started by Eightpot, Oct 4, 2011.

  1. 6024KEI

    6024KEI Member

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    Is it that simple though.

    What would a bigger team on just one loco necessarily achieve. Yes if you double the number of useful bodies in theory you get double the work done - but in practice do you? Can you actually get twice the number usefully working on the loco at the same time? Can they all be there on the same weekends? If not can you co-ordinate work between separate working sessions where maybe key team members aren't there every time?

    In some senses if you have a tight group of say 6 core people who are committed (give or take illness and family weddings) to be there every fortnight on a Saturday, and they are the only ones working on that loco, you might get less done but you've immediately avoided having to have someone communicating between that group and the ones that come in on Wednesday, or can only come on the 1st weekend of the month. Don't even start on the personality issues that mean that if Joe can only work on the loco that Dave is working on then he'd rather not be there at all, or Clive is only interested in freight locos, whilst Steve is only interested in pannier tanks.

    The measure of success at Didcot ought to be whether they are turning out locos as they need them for the operations on site they want to run. It is not, and is never intended to be a full shed of working locos, nor a strategic reserve of locos to guest on other lines - periods of static display form part of the conservation process. On that level then there have been some problems in not having a small loco coming through for the branch line - hence farming one of the little saddle tanks out for commercial overhaul. The bigger stuff seems to be coming through at a reasonable spacing. Presumably once the Saint is finished, that team can maybe focus on finishing 1363 for the branch line or maybe 1466 if the plan is to overhaul that soon.
     
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  2. GWR4707

    GWR4707 Nat Pres stalwart

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    Indeed, there is a plan (I believe from reading the Echo) which includes getting 1466 done for the important anniversary coming up, no doubt there was an issue with an engine for the branch, however that is being resolved and I think also work being done on alignment of the branch to make it more accessible and less hard on loco's.

    I think the issue with volunteers matches that often raised regarding funding new build projects on here, namely there is not an unlimited and elastic supply of either and just because x will volunteer on say The County, it does not necessarily follow that x would also volunteer on say restoring 1466. As I say its the same as the argument that say they should not build the 47xx as it will take money from the County, again its apples and pears, I would give money to the 47xx project and probably not to the County so just because the 47xx wasn't happening doesn't immediately mean that all funding and volunteers attracted to that would immediately be available elsewhere.
     
  3. michaelh

    michaelh Part of the furniture

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    J
     

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  4. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Valid points of course. I accept that in many cases doubling the workforce doesn't equal double the work, there's always an upper limit of useful volunteers and with every volunteer you add, the extra work done decreases exponentially, but in my very humble opinion I'm not sure that point has been reached.

    I fully accept that not steaming everything at Didcot is sensible, I wasn't suggesting that, nor loaning out half the collection, I get keeping it all together (on the whole). Merely that those overhauls/newbuilds which are currently progressing might progress a bit quicker if there was a little more focus.
     
  5. threelinkdave

    threelinkdave Well-Known Member

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    6023 has arrived at Kidderminster. pictures on facebook
     
  6. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    ..... though something to stop the broad gauge line rusting wouldn't be entirely unwelcome!

    I know it's a question of resources of course, but it seems odd to go to all that trouble to produce "Fire Fly" and the unique attraction of the train and demo line, then afford it so low a priority.
     
  7. michaelh

    michaelh Part of the furniture

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    Exactly - it's a USP

    I went to Didcot last year for the first time in about 20 years and found it a truly depressing experience. So many locos and carriages which just lie there with nothing happening and I fear that some of the carriages stored outside are just rotting away.

    They've made a lot of fuss recently about the boiler of the Saint - but that new build has been ongoing for 40+ years now.
     
  8. toplight

    toplight Well-Known Member

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    I think with Didcot like lots of places you need to visit when they have an event on as more will be happening. If you go on a normal weekend it will probably be a bit quiet.
    I agree with the new build projects in that they probably have too many ongoing at the same time.
     
  9. D1039

    D1039 Guest

  10. nick813

    nick813 Well-Known Member Loco Owner

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    Firefly I think, was a project run by The Firefly Trust. I cannot seem to find them on the net. The GWS, I am a life member, have both Firefly & Iron Duke. I would support any project to see one or the other return to steam.
     
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  11. toplight

    toplight Well-Known Member

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    I do wonder whether with locos like Firefly the people originally behind them have just got old and no longer active. I know a guy vaguely in Swindon who was involved with it when it was being built and made a lot of the wooden patterns for castings, but he must be about 90 now so clearly not involved any more. He still writes books though about Swindon works. That is the thing with some of these locos. They get restored by a bunch of guys in their 50s or 60s, then 20 years later they are now all in their 70s or 80s, so the loco sadly ends up just static in a shed as the impetus is lost.
     
  12. nick813

    nick813 Well-Known Member Loco Owner

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    Getting younger peeps involved is an uphill struggle. At this point in time I have no answer.
     
  13. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Much as I'm in favour of getting young people involved, the people you really want are the newly (preferably early) retired, who have the time to devote, and the energy to put into something new. People like me are less use because we disappear off to uni and stuff! :)
     
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  14. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    Didn't stop me. And a lot of others. That's the trouble with the youth of today, no willpower! ;)
     
  15. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Nor I, but given IKB's current 'superstar' profile I'd be inclined to give building on that a try as 'the hook'. Perhaps some BGS members (who may be regarded the accepted font of all knowledge) might be inclined to join the GWS in a presentation - P2 2007 style - to raise the profile of the Didcot installation?

    Whatever, identifying the likely target volunteer demographic seems a reasonable second step .... the first being us lot shifting this discussion it's own space and giving 6023's supporters their thread back!
     
  16. 1472

    1472 Well-Known Member

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    If in the 60's & 70's folk of your age had taken that view many of the ex Woodham's locos would now be razor blades. I can think of folk who took out second mortgages, endured divorces, declined career moves and even died (yes literally) rescuing what is still around now. A great shame younger folk no longer have the passion. An even bigger shame that some of what was rescued now stands out of use for lack of support.
     
  17. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Less folk in the '60s and '70s went to uni though, and even fewer to one far away. I've moved 100 miles away from home, I'm just about doing enough on the GWSR to keep my work permit as a TTI and C+W volunteer. If I was still doing once a week as I did I'd be looking into guards training and maybe taking on some more things in C+W. As it is I probably won't develop my role any more than I have for the foreseeable future. And since moving up here I've started volunteering at Barrow hill, but I can only realistically offer once a fortnight there, enough to help out, but not enough to fill any big roles. That's the sort of thing I meant in my previous post. So I don't need telling I don't have passion for my volunteering, I'm doing all (more than?) I can! :)
     
  18. 1472

    1472 Well-Known Member

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    Previous comments were not meant to be directed at you personally as you are involved - but much more generally aimed at your age group. In a way the difference is understandable because "then" locos & stock would literally be lost if folk did nothing to save them. Now the situation is less stark with few items facing immediate scrapping but there is an underlying danger in a growing number of moribund, yet previously restored items.
     
  19. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Ah I see what you mean now - I thought you were suggesting those of us involved weren't trying hard enough! Yes you're right it is a shame there's not more people my age with an interest; in most cases far from folk being interested, I do well to keep quiet about it. I've only reluctantly told a few of my flatmates about it, and none of them know about my modelling workbench in my room!
     
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  20. nick813

    nick813 Well-Known Member Loco Owner

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    Mmmmm how sad. I suggest, you shout it out from the roof tops that you are involved! Far better to be En gaged in a practical pursuit than watching and paying for someone else to entertain you, or to be for ever glued to the slime oozing from a TV screen.
     

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