Tornado

Is that combination of challenges purely down to bad luck or is it partly down to poor planning? Are they simply spread too thin between the building the new HQ, overhauling Tornado (including designing and installing ERTMS) and building the P2? One wonders why more than one member of the team has jumped ship recently.

 

Jumped or were pushed ?

 

The latest news from the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust:

“We are very close to completing Tornado’s overhaul. Last month, a volunteer work party helped the process along, preparing the support coach for use once again and assisting with lagging and pipe work for the locomotive”.

 

Is Tornado at Darlington?

 

Loughborough Loco Maintenance Services I think

 

Correct

 

There is a fine line between the 2 - what looks like plenty of white space between jobs on a spreadsheet, can quickly become very condensed when delays start to occur and suddenly you are into crisis management, not project management.
Whether delays are bad luck, forecasted or not sufficiently mitigated, will be the subject of the project debrief and future learning points.
However, all projects should have a risk register which looks at the likelihood of things happening and their potential impact. Supply chain issues, unplanned & additional maintenance, the unknowns of fitting a new signalling system should all be on there from the start. Covid, key members of staff leaving perhaps not.
Undertaking several massive projects all at once, probably not advisable, but manageable if you have separate project teams and income streams - a lot more tricky if several of the above events occur & your resources become depleted and need to be shared.
All project managers would love to start a job with a crystal ball, but none of us are truly psychic. If we were we would do the lottery and not be Project Managers, far less stressful!

 

…… “I take the view of that it will be ready, when it ready” ….

There’s nothing wrong with that stance, it certainly works for LSL & WCR.

Unfortunately in the case of the A1 Trust they are constantly publicising completion dates, along with testing & running in venues, heritage appearances and tour dates for which they immediately start selling tickets.

The consequential climb downs, apologies and refunding can only serve to damage the loco’s hard won reputation and its marketability in the future, when they need all the work they can get?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

LSL & WCR don't rely on public support in the same way as most of the rest of the preservation movement though. Not saying breaking promises is better than not saying anything, but I don't think just staying silent 'til it's all done would work for them either.

 

Reputations take years to build but can be destroyed in seconds - remember Gerald Ratner?

The A1 Trust appears to have lost the confidence of many of its long term supporters in recent times as it has failed to deliver on its promises multiple times.

As Oscar Wilde said, “to lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”

 

I don’t think people understand what a headache a no show can be. Tornado was promised to the Nene Valley at the end of this month and they sold out their driving experience tickets in record time. Now they have to contact everyone with the new dates, refund anyone who can’t make it. That’s a lot of extra admin for a largely volunteer organisation and they may well have to deal with complaints from those travelling long distance who have already booked accommodation. I suppose it’s now fingers crossed that they will make the new date.

 

To be honest, nobody should organise or book anything until the loco has turned a wheel. Same with the Grange or any other loco.

 

And then sit around doing nothing because these things take several months' notice to arrange? I get why people are frustrated, but single loco owner groups that are not based on a home railway inevitably have to start booking things up before they've finished an overhaul sometimes, otherwise the work won't be there for them when they do. It's not an issue if your loco is in a pool of others as you can just say it'll be ready when it's ready, and you can slot in as soon as you're finished, but if you're on your own, it's not so easy.

 

I don’t buy that argument. Locos take running in; sometimes it takes a few hundred miles to shake out any issues - that’s just another cost of overhauling a loco. For locos that have a home base, that home base is likely to allow a period of some weeks before they recognise the loco being in their pool of traffic-ready locos. For locos without a home base, the first thing they should organise is some trial running at a friendly railway. You can’t expect to run in an untried loco at a gala.

Tom

 

I don’t buy that argument….the GWR were reputed to have run a loco up to c.120mph fresh out of the box….of course, the discussion at hand relates to an inferior product.


Straps in and sets drag…

 

Which is why having credible plans is so important. Everyone accepts that sometimes things go wrong at the last minute - which is why I see disappointment but not strong criticism of the "no shows" by 6880. Tornado is showing too many signs of "I love deadlines - especially the sound of them shooting past", with dates repeatedly announced and then deferred. There may well be good reasons for this, but when I see this in my work, it's usually a case of someone confusing "plan" with "hope". It's especially conspicuous here because of the generally good track record of the A1 Steam Trust in setting and managing expectations - at the very least, something's frayed within the organisation

 

Reputed. There’s a school of thought that says a decimal point was left out between the 2 and the 0. That’s a more realistic scenario.

 

More impressive, and well documented, was 2509 Silver Link's achievements "streight out of the box" in 1935. 112.5 MPH on its test/demonstration run on 27th Sept followed by launching the streamlined Silver Jubilee service three days later. As the first member of the class it operated this Monday - Friday service faultlessly on its own for the first four weeks of operation until a second A4 was released to traffic. A quality loco type from the word go. Not that I'd suggest trying such a feat in the preservation era.

In contrast the current LNER took some two years to get their new Azumas fit for fleet service - so perhaps Tornado is not doing too badly in the circumstances.

Peter

 

Lets not forget Tornado did work straight out of the box when first built, and so this is what is expected of her...