Preservation or Pastiche

I think you may have missed my smiley but never mind Paul.

 

They were what were mentioned. Not my view either.

PH

 

I assumed it was wind.

PH

 

I think we're in complete agreement there.

... or a conspiracy theory

I frequently judge the quality of the ladies at a preserved line. Always did have a bit of a thing about girls in boiler suits getting their hands dirty... Shame they always seem to be in such a tiny minority.

 

To repeat (albeit updated) here what I posted on another thread: I reckon it's a value judgement, and (IMO) not a simple one.

CWR is lower maintainence - i.e. money, and more importantly, volunteer hours. Those are a relatively fixed resource (I don't expect there are a lot of people who are interested in doing rail maintenance, but nothing else). So not using CWR means one has to forego other things one could do with that money and those volunteer hours.

Which is 'worth' more: the clickety-clack, or whatever else one could be doing with the resources needed to maintain non-CWR? It appears a lot of places have decided that they'll live with CWR...

Noel

 

And, going round in circles, that is part of what prompted my question on that thread and, indirectly, this whole thread.

 

As an example.
One of the regular small gangs we have working on the NYMR PW spend most of the year doing the same job each Sunday.
It is a job that needs to be done but is never ending, because when you get to the end you start again at the beginning.
Last week they managed to clear through Levisham, if they are lucky they may get through to Beck Hole by Christmas.

Have you guessed what it is they do yet?
Plate Oiling.
Every Fishplate is undone, removed, scraped clear of all muck, examined, rail ends scraped clear and examined as well, Plates refitted and oiled up then fully nutted tight.
Within CWR all that process is removed, other than for checking the Adjustment Switches.
Normal track walking and patrolling is a separate job.
The Sunday gang may feel a benefit this winter though as approx 32 length of rail is planned to go to CWR, thats 66 sets of fishplates gone, about 6 days work.

 

And part of my question is about whether these traditional and, yes, labour intensive, disciplines also form part of what preservation is about. Surely it's not just the clickety clack, but these other parts of the jigsaw that need to form part of the mix?

 

To me it is not Preservation but a maintenance requirement, even though it preserves the railway.
The purpose of plate oiling is firstly to make the joints work as they are meant to, providing an expansion / contraction point in a length of steel.
Secondly the examination is there to find any faults concealed by the plates.

If we could reduce the amount significantly each year then all the better for putting those resources into somewhere else that needs it.

 

I would beg to differ - not on the practicalities (I get entirely your perspective) but on the question of what is being preserved. If the PWay is only about being able to let trains run, at what point do you say that you might as well run some spare diesel units (I believe there to be some pacers coming free soon) and move to a purely commercial model?

 

Some at Swindon might have thought so...

Steve B

 

Perhaps you'd like to volunteer and help Ploughman and his pw colleagues oil all those fishplates to save laying so much cwr.

 

BUT the clickety-clack is one part of the jigsaw,( some might say an important one), so is the smell of coal and oil, that mysterious noise of a semaphore signal, the feel of an Edmonson ticket, the taste of a proper cup of tea ("did you want earl grey or lapsang sooshong?" "No, I wanted tea")

You remove a piece of the puzzle and the picture is not complete. How many pieces can you do without before the picture is lost?

 

I'm not suggesting that we let engines get dirty (not on this thread anyway). It makes absolute sense to give engines an ex-works finish and try to maintain that finish. That gives a good impression to customers, and helps to avoid deterioration. I think that some restorers go beyond ex-works and produce an exhibition finish, with all exposed metal burnished bright. I'm not saying that this is wrong, but it IS an example of Pastiche.

This photo is from http://www.farfromhome.me.uk/20120608 NRM Railfest 2012.html

It illustrates a beautifully restored loco with a (slightly faded) exhibition finish. Yes, it looks magnificent, but it also looks wrong. Even an ex-works Jubilee never looked like this. I'm not saying it's wrong to do this .... the owners have every right, but it's a good example of Pastiche.

 

Would anyone in their right mind give money to preserves pacer let alone ride in one? I didn't know what they were until I had to travel from Exeter to Barnstaple to pick up a vehicle about 10 years ago and had the misfortune to be bounced around in one of these things.

 

They probably said that about Mk1 suburbans and the quad arts back in the day...

 

However if the track becomes too dangerous to run on then none of the rest of the 'puzzle' as you put it can work.

Track maintenance is fundamentally a boring repetitive task (yet requires a high level of fitness) that relatively few folk are willing to volunteer for - and I bet 99% of people moaning about the lack of 'clicty clack' would disappear very quickly is presented with a bucket of grease and a long spanner.

Railway preservation does not exist in isolation - it exists in a society which has changed quite radically since the 1950s (and not just in terms of the exact type of hot beverage the general public wish to consume) with people as a whole having less spare time to donate, retiring later, less inclined to do dirty menial jobs, less people alive who 'remember how it used to be' etc. As such it is necessary for the Heritage sector to adjust to the new realities and be selective about the battles they wish to fight. Yes its about preservation - but as has been noted if you really wanted to be accurate then most Heritage lines would be offering a very sparse train service, lack museums, running sheds C&W works, gift shops, large cares / restaurant facilities, very simple signalling arrangements, etc. Thus a sensible long term compromise is jointed (and preferably Bullhead rail in station areas) with a move to flat bottom CWR on intermediate sections - traditional skills are preserved (but within the capabilities of the volunteer workforce) while the safety of the line* as a whole is maintained.

* which includes it being in a sufficiently good state such that it dies not cause excessive wear and tear on springs or wheel profiles

 

Would a "Bloomer" suffice?

 

Which is going to be the first Heritage Railway to relay pointwork using Concrete bearers?