LMS Patriot Project Updates

No idea on the tender situation but I came to your first conclusion some time ago, however that is of course with the benefit of hindsight and is easy to come up with such a conclusion. The trick is to put it behind you as quick and as cheaply as possible and get people on board and in control who can ensure that it never happens again, I wish them well in their quest.


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Yes there was indeed issues with the Tender frames from work done on them that was incorrect. As with everything, where do you draw the line? To say it's been mismanaged isn't looking at the full facts.

We had zero problems with the work done at Llangollen railway engineering under its previous management. I remember the chassis going to Tyseley for work on the axle boxes and wheelsets and them saying that the work done by Llangollen was good. So obviously we continued our trust in them as it was all fine. Unfortunately things changed, management changed and the regular two guys who always worked on our loco at llan we put on other things, there was a variety of people doing work, instructed to do so in a certain way that wasn't correct. And may I point out that while we may be the only group that has been public about this (rightly or wrongly, but when you are spending public money you have to make a statement of some kind) we are not the only group to have been affected.
We are not blessed with the biggest engineering team, and you can only do as much as possible with what you have and when you have a good relationship you tend to trust people. Unfortunately that can be taken advantage of and then things go south.

But we are where we are, we have moved forward, Nigel Day has been working on the loco at Crewe while it was there and sorted out most of the issues I believe, now it has moved to the west shed for final completion, where they are really really keen to work on her, get it all done to the best spec, and be a new addition to the preservation scene.

We are not the first group in preservation to go through things like this, and we won't be the last.

I for one want to put this behind us, I don't really want to talk about Llangollen/patriot any more and I hope others in our group also feel the same. All I want to see is a working Patriot class Locomotive out on the mainline and doing its role as the national memorial Locomotive.

 

Can’t argue with the last paragraph

 

As a supporter of this project its perhaps unsurprising that I can only agree with you to a certain extent. There might not have been sufficient oversight and/or quality control at some stages of the project but recent developments have shown that these have been, or are being, overcome. I remain very optimistic about the future and look forward to seeing this locomotive up and running relatively soon.

 

Yes, I agree with this. As a supporter of the project I've been dismayed by what has happened in the past. I always thought they would finish the loco but doubted it would reach mainline standards. I thought about putting my contributions elsewhere but continued to support the Patriot because of the huge enthusiasm and commitment that always came across. The project looks much more promising now with the new boiler manufacturer and the proven quality of the Butterley team.

 

If its any consolation, whilst each new build project has similarities the modus operandi involved are all slightly different and once funding picks up enough to get stuff done the learning curve is very steep, and just as the Tornado Project has taught much so this Project will be of huge benefit to others...

 

Has this years problems and relentless blaming contractors in the engineering updates had an effect on cash flow Gav106?

 

It's been a while since I have done any updates on this page. Sorry for that. But since the last one here are a few links to posts.

Nov 1st. From HBSS. https://www.facebook.com/1988973648092985/posts/2524618181195193/
That should also have a few updates on other locos that may be of interest.

19th October. From Leaky Finders work on the tender.
https://www.facebook.com/177455729755309/posts/511586169675595/

As ever our sales stall has been out at numerous locations over the two months trying to raise as much money as possible.

Our ambition has always been to have a complete locomotive for the 100th anniversary of the return on the body of the Unknown warrior. The biggest thing standing In our way is finance. If there is anyone who can help towards the completion of 5551 please click on the link. It's so easy to do and only takes one minute to complete via PayPal. Visit https://lms-patriot.org.uk/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=12 and choose how much you can donate, every pound for the patriot really does matter. Alternatively you can donate via our justgiving at https://www.justgiving.com/lms-patriotproject/donate

Thank you.

 

Good to see more positive progress! Thanks as ever for keeping us posted Gavin.

Richard.

 

Will you be at the Agm on Saturday?

 

I can't make the AGM on Saturday unfortunately, although I'd really like to have been there - A house clearance after a recent bereavement has taken up the next weekend or two at least for me.

Richard.

 

No worries. No doubt we will catch up at some point next year

 

Sure will Gav

Sure will Gavin!
I also must get my hands on a copy of Pete Sikes' second book on Patriots too, hoping there are some left.

Richard.

 

It has gone very quiet of late.

 

There is an engineering update about to go online in the next day or so. The person who posts it has been away all weekend at a show/event and it only went to members last week. I have shared a few updates on our Facebook page, just not been on here that much. Mainly boiler stuff on there.

 

Engineering update done!
https://lms-patriot.org.uk/engineering/2019-12-02/engineering-update-november-2019

Also another update
https://lms-patriot.org.uk/news/2019-12-02/announcement-lms-patriot-company

 

It might have been quiet but there's been much progress and a lot going on!

 

Anyone else got their newsletter with a very surprising piece of news in the enclosed letter to members?

Dave

 

Yup !

 

Which I guess is this - https://www.lms-patriot.org.uk/news/2019-12-02/announcement-lms-patriot-company

Thanks to those who have brought it this far and passed the baton on.


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