LSWR T3 563

if you say so.

 

After 6 weeks of active fundraising, not just on crowdfunder, the current grand total stands at £42,397.22

The crowdfunder is the clearest online presence of the T3 appeal but it doesn't tell the whole story, so I would please encourage everyone to visit the Crowdfunder page, check out the updates and donate online! Don't forget to gift aid.

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/lswr-t3-no-563-return-to-steam-appeal

 

As part of the fund raising for the T3 a Gala mug has specially designed for the forth coming Winter Warm Up (28th December).
These will be available from the railways shop at Swanage (Opening hours Tuesday - Thursday and Saturday/Sunday 0930 - 1530).
For those who would are unable to go to the shop in person, phone orders can be made on 01929 425800 ext 8446 during shop hours only.

100% of all profits will be going to the T3 fund. Mugs cost £7 and for postage and packing £2.70.

To all those who purchase a mug a BIG THANK YOU

 

This locomotive is way outside my area of knowledge, but the sneering hatchet job in SR this month seems odd from a publication that claims to work for the movement as a whole....

 

They are pure tabloid in their attitudes and want to be part of any story themselves.

PH

 

Glad we are not the only ones who felt this. After some T3 'Fake News' last month this was the final straw. My subscription with SR now canceled and replaced with the more grown up publication, Heritage Railway.

 

I've not read the article in question, so can't comment.

However I fail to see how deaccessioning the locomotive to a line which is historically suitable for it, now putting together good plans for it, and potentially giving it a life as the star of the railway (which it NEVER had in the National Railway Museum - even with the The Railway Children, overshadowed by GNR no.1 and the Pannier tank) and thus bringing it to a wider audience can be met with anything but positivity.

I understand the arguments against deaccessioning the locomotive - but it has been done. The NRM retains first refusal on the locomotive. It is now being assessed for an overhaul and has raised a staggering £42,000 in a short space of time - more than a lot of fundraisers get in a decade in this industry.

Surely now is the time to get behind the Cinderella story of railway preservation this year?

 

Steam Railway would rather it went back to being just another engine on display and not the star of the show. It almost seemed they actively dont want people to support this.

 

I don't think there is any 'almost' about it.... disgusting piece and editorial!

 

It is; what’s done is done and the best interests of 563 are now what matter. I must have a read of the piece next time I pass through Smugs.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

You won't be able to - in my store at least it is in a sealed bag with a "free" copy of Rail.

 

Yes, I tried to check it out today in Smiths and it was sealed - damn! I don't get how anyone has a problem with the potential restoration to working order of this loco, it will be a star at Swanage and attract massively more attention that it would if it was stuffed and mounted at the NRM in York. Trip to Swanage needed when its done I feel!

 

Because it is linked to an action of the NRM that SR doesn't like and thus that makes Swanage fair game to the new vindictive tabloid nature of SR!

 

Does "new" refer to "vindictive" or "tabloid"?

 

Possibly both, but seriously though whilst it has been a tabloid for ages the nastiness that seeps through the magazine seems to be a comparatively new thing,.

 

Just read the editorial and the article. Deep breath time...

I get that deaccessioning anything from the NRM is controversial. We have seen this at work, the T3 is the most high profile deaccessioning thus far.

All three engines that have left the NRM have gone to historically sensitive and passionate locations.

GWR 2-8-0 to Swindon
LSWR 4-4-0 to Swanage
NSR 0-6-2Tt to Foxfield Railway

The first is obvious. The second makes a lot of sense. The third gets to be paired with original NSR coaches (not from the same era, but in fairness a very close link and gives the railway a further string to the bow).

All of these railways have one big thing in common. They are the major attraction in their local areas. They are also very good places to learn the history of their local areas. They all bring in money to their local economies in terms of tourism and, unsurprisingly, hire people from their local areas (thus providing employment).

To me, the whole slant of the current line of thinking is that the locomotives have effectively been "privatised" as they have been sent to private railway companies or museums outside of the nationally owned MOSI group.

This seems to be an extension of what can I only describe as the Corbynite drive to have nationalisation of the railways at any cost (and fundamentally without considering costs).

I don't believe that many - if any - items should be deaccessioned from the NRM. The collection is owned and paid for by the taxpayer. However I do believe that the best interests of the collection should be discussed and thought over and that all options including deaccessioning should be on the table.

In the above cases all of these locomotives appear to be going to good homes that are historically relevant. In the case of the T3, its life has been totally turned around and potentially it could be doing something absolutely incredible - steaming again on a line it originally ran on.

Given the support of private locomotive builders like the A1/P2 Trust, the Saint and similar, the sudden anger and what I can only describe as an attack on the Swanage Railway and the NRM, seems completely at odds with Steam Railway's remit and provides a hypocrisy within the pages of the same magazine.

I cannot for the life of me understand the reaction here. Yes by all means lets have the conversation about deaccessioning things from museums. But I thought we were railway enthusiasts and railway preservationists? How is the case of the LSWR T3 not the best for the engine - the railway - the museum - the people involved - the tourists who will visit - and the way we can teach railway history to new generations in that area?

Isn't that exactly what we've all been clamouring for, for decades? Everything we think about when there's yet another livery debate? Or we lament the passing of a scrapped coach or wagon?

Sorry for the essay ladies and gents. I feel sad to write it. I believe in the past Steam Railway has done some good (and can do some good). Here it feels like the Flying Scotsman debacle all over again. A bee in the bonnet and the wider issues, the bigger picture, is being missed in an onslaught of faux millennial outrage.

 

No need to apologise, Simon. What you have written is very reasoned and sensible. I must admit to being baffled by the coverage of this in the latest SR.

To look at it from a different angle, suppose the engine in question was another attractive Adams-designed veteran - the Radial Tank no. 488. and suppose the Bluebell had announced something on these lines:-

"We appreciate that this L&SWR loco is an historic artefact. We want to get it running again. There is a possibility that its condition is so bad that we may decide to give it a static future, but one of our supporters has paid for it to be dismantled and examined . On the basis of a preliminary examination by our own staff. we believe it can be restored to working order although it is probable that at least part of the boiler will need replacing and the cast iron wheels also are past the point of no return. Nevertheless. our aim is to use as much original material as possible and any new parts will be made as closely as practically possible to the original specifications."

Would there have been the same furore? I think not. The reaction of any reasonable enthusiast would have been one of delight. There is a lot of affection for No. 488 and I know that the Bluebell's former Chairman (among others) has a soft spot for it - as do I too for that matter. However, apart from the wheels, my hypothetical announcement is pretty well exactly what the Swanage Railway is saying about No. 563. Yes, the decommissioning was controversial but that's now in the past. It's now Swanage's engine (and the only loco based on the line which isn't owned by a third party) and if restored, will be very popular both with the general public and among the enthusiast fraternity.

 

I have long thought that there has been something going on in the background between the NRM and SR (or at least one member of their senior staff), I suspect that the Swanage Railway are merely victims of getting caught up in this!

 

You do seem to love a good conspiracy theory ..... ️‍♂️