Paignton and Dartmouth Heritage Festival 9-10th May 2009

If TA can do a better job of painting the locos, why don't you offer to come and paint them yourself.

 

Hear hear =D> =D> =D> =D>

 

6435 was repainted before the 25th anniversary gala which i think was in 1996??

 

May 1998 - repainted at Paignton by myself and a couple of others from the Devon Diesel Society. It was meant to be lined out after the gala but this never took place. At its next overhaul the tanks and cab were taken off and with no damage done, they went back on after and the loco returned to service wearing the same paintwork. It then later lost its smokebox numberplate in favour of GWR numbers on the buffer beams, and gained the name Ajax. It was also fitted with an extension to the bunker around the lamp bracket (as fitted to 45xx and the like). This totally spoilt the looks of the loco ](*,)

Fortunately since its sale to the B&WR the loco now looks a lot better again with the removal of some of these ghastly fittings. I wonder if it will get lined out at some point ????

Looking forward to getting back on the loco again at the South Devon Railway 40th gala in early April \/

 

Here's one! I'll happily come and do a better job einstein! But it won't be green and orange paint that I use. As Ian Riley says...If it ain't black, it ain't right! Get my drift? Now jog on!

 

Surely all railways face this? I think it's this attitude that's holding the railway back!

I would doubt they'll be too many serious photographers on the bridges, DMU coaches with engines in fake liveries doesn't appeal.

I really hope the weekend is a success, it is a marvellous line but if you really want to pull in enthusiasts then a bit more work is required I feel.

 

As I've said before maybe people i.e. enthusists need to support the event more seriously to start off with and then in time and with a few years o very profitable Heritage Weekends they will start to take more and more risks in terms of hiring engines etc.
Until then as far as I can see they will continue to ignore what the enthusiast population says.

 

I'm afraid mate that it's a chicken and egg situation. Why would enthusiasts believe that the P&DSR might consider revising their attitudes without any proof. After all they could continue saying "oh yes well we'll just have a few more galas first before we change our policy on liveries, and then never actually do so. Their only intention at the moment is to make as much money as possible. If they really are open to a change of policy then lets see it. The proof of the pudding is in the eating as they say. If they are serious about taking on the enthusiasts market then they know what they have to do. After all if enthusiasts flock to the line before the change of attitude, then that removes all the incentives for repainting the stock and changing these attitudes in the first place.

 

How about forgetting all the livery c**p and concentrating on what the travelling - ie fare paying - enthusiasts want?... A nice frequent timetable with heavy trains and enthusiastic crews? \/ Well it's a thought!

 

Right, the railway is not going to start re-painting engines is it, just for a weekend?? Maybe when an engine require's re-painting then it will be in a proper livery, (STD4 for example) but to be honest if tha is the sole reason that you don't come to the railway, beacuse the lining is a different colour, then that is a bit ridiculous. Yes they might not be totally authentic, but after all teh railway is still a very succesfull buisiness, so has to be financially viable to re-paint an engine etc. As other people have said, heavy trains and timetables is what majority of poeple want which is something the railway offers most of the year anyway.

Many things are possible, but those thing's need time and support from the very poeple who want to see them in the first place.

 

We don't want them painted for a weekend. In the same way as they don't to just attract enthusiasts for a weekend. What's ridiculous is the the fact the the lining is so ridiculous. That's the point. Why would we want to support the most inauthentic, anti enthusiast line in the country other than the Lakeside and Haverthwaite when I can go to places like the GC, SDR, SVR, ELR, Bluebell, Mid Hants, KWVR......It makes no sense. And before you start on the whole they're not local for some people. They are not my local lines. But i'd far rather travel hundreds of miles to watch real steam trains, then participate in in playing trains at what can only be described as a railway for comic relief!

The problem is that the railway is being run as a business! Only to make money. Full Stop. And while passengers travelling on the trains cannot see the engine, surely they are going to travel anyway regardless or whether the engine is BR Black/Brunswick green or Early learning centre primary coloured.

But mate I'm not telling you what to do. You carry on. Hope you have a great weekend at the P&DSR.

 

This thread seems to a bit like marmite you either love it or hate it and this seems to be the case with the P&DSR. I think the answer might be to give it a try. No doubt those who do will report on here about the event.
Two things will not change.
1. The DVR plc is responsible to its shareholders.
2. The scenery is fantastic, the engines and stock are clean.
I do recall some very good events there in the past.

 

One phrase: grow up!

Does it really matter so much about the lining on a loco? At least it's running, providing pleasure to thousands, rather than sitting in a siding awaiting restoration. If you don't like it, don't go, but to say "it makes no sense" to go to a railway just because the lining on a loco isn't the same colour it was 50 years ago...

 

I thought you may like to know that 5224 was painted GWR green and fully lined out for the Empire Exhibition in London in 1924/5.
That one was given a garter crest There is usually a prototype for everything and this is the case for the 2 PDR 2-8-0's. So obviously at least one loco carried it in service, so perhaps then it is authentic to 1924/25!!
Only a thought!!

 

depends how far you want to go, no engine is truly authentic, at least they work. And we try to keep them in tip top condition considring the hard work the encounter every day with such a steeply graded and curved line. And many thousands of people come to ride behind them every year so it can't be that bad. although yes there is room for improvment for the enthusiast market, but if you lot don't show interest they won't bother again.

As many people have said before, the management is not keen to stray away from what it has achieved. Yes the loco's and carriages are named, but that is what the children remeember when they go back home after a holiday, not a 4 or 5 digit number.......and the children and they're families is what keeps the railway going, far more than picky enthusiasts who aren't keen to part with the £££ no matter what the railway does.

But i'm not aiming this at all of you, many of you do support the railway and are keen to see it grow and on behalf of the railway, i thank you and hope we can continue to grow this "seedling" of a gala as previously posted, into a fully fledged "oak tree" in further years.

 

Real steam Trains............have you ever rode behind the Manor or one of the Tank's with 12 coaches, seem's pretty real to me. Just cause it's not the perfect shade of green or one to many orange lines that makes it *not a real Steam Train" does it?

 

Hi

Having watched this thread for quite a while now some of the comments about paint jobs are stupid! Fair play to you boys from the PDSR, i dont have a problem with the liveries at all i think they look rather nice. At the end of the day i would much rather see them running in whatever colour you painted them than seeing them sat at the end of a siding rusting away! Long may you continue to paint your locos how YOU choose.

Alex

 

Thank's alex, much appreciated. The painters do an excellent job and to be shot down like they are here doesn't fill them or the management with enthusiasm to paint them how other poeple want them too!!

 

I think at times some dont realise how much time goes into painting an engine like me and you and the skilled others and witnesses that have seen it done on this forum. Especially when they are painted to the standard that the Paignton engines are.

Alex

 

Not only are they painted to an exceptional standard so as to last several years (or more in 6435's case) thay are also cleaned to an exceptional standard too which surely must make for great photos whatever colour they are in