6024 King Edward 1

The 6024 society was the 2nd railway organisation I ever joined. (When I got my second student grant cheque if I recall correctly!)

I fully supported the indemnity. It represented the 6024 society banding together and not throwing one of their own under the bus (train?) to fend for themselves. To me, that behaviour was one of the few high points of the whole saga. The written words were not the single responsibility of the individual - that's why you have reviews before publishing wider. The 6024 society recognised that, and took collective responsibility. At the end of the day, 6024 is a steam locomotive. Putting that asset at risk of needing a new home is - in my opinion - the correct course if the alternative is watching a volunteer go bankrupt due to a situation they contributed to, but were in no way fully in control of.

It's also worth remembering that the court case was lost on a very small point, with the presiding officer noting the correct legal outcome was not necessarily the desirable society outcome. (A photo in the same issue of the journal was taken by a person who was not a member of the 6024 society. A copy of the journal was sent to this person free of charge to show their work in print. This was deemed to have constituted the journal being published to non-society members.)

The aggrieved party had every right to go to court. I fully support them having this right. It's an essential part of our legal system.

But even now, my overriding feeling is that it should never have got to court in the first place. I am sure there were ways to resolve the situation that would have resulted in less spend on lawyers, less bad feeling all round, and a resolution that was closer to win-win.

The whole event was a sorry state of affairs. Obviously if my recollection of facts is incorrect, please inform me and I will update this post.

Ultimately, 6024 is no different to any other mainline loco, and as a support society I suspect it would have succumbed to the same economics as most others in the same situation. Might have ended up with LSL anyway!

Nowadays far worse things are written on internet forums (including this one at times). I'm not sure we have moved forwards as a society.

 

Yes - see this post:

https://national-preservation.com/threads/6023.32903/page-56#post-2066559

Tom

 

Pg. 4 of the Royal Scot Locomotive & General Trust accounts, published in December, suggests that 6024 will be back in "early 2026".

https://find-and-update.company-inf...M1N2FkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0

 

I think they mean 2027.

 

No definitely 2026. They’re reckoning weeks now.

 

This is the loco that got me into steam trains having seen it being restored as a 4 year old at Quainton Road back in the late 1980s. This will be genuinely an exciting moment for me, can't wait to see it in steam again.
Running in at the SVR perchance??

 

It's what happens after the running in which I will be watching closely. 6024, along with 5029, is an obvious candidate for the English Riviera Express - its former stamping ground, but what about routes from which it was previously banned due to width and height restrictions? I remember reading claims that with its new cylinders, 6024 would be as gauge-friendly as a Merchant Navy. OK then - prove it and roster 6024 for one of the Canterbury trips*. I'd love to see one of Swindon's finest here in the south east, even though I know this is rank heresy to our friend Brian aka @TheGricingOwl !

* I know that the Canterbury trips are sold as "The Golden Arrow" and that Kings would (obviously) never have worked this train, but then neither have B1s or Royal Scots, both of which have featured in previous years - and no one seemed to mind.

 

I suspect a lot will be watching closely, LSL seem to be getting quite a glut of Class 7 & 8's and is there enough work for them all, whilst the LSL owned ones are obviously in house funded I hope that there is sufficient work for those like 71000 & 60007 for them to bank enough cash to fund further overhauls etc and not end up just being subsumed into the LSL empire when their present tickets expire.

 

No. 7 is down for seven out of the ten Kingswear trips this summer.