National Railway Museum
Flying Scotsman restoration update
08 Mar 2013
An independent engineering report focused on the work required to complete the restoration to mainline operation of the iconic locomotive Flying Scotsman, commissioned by the National Railway Museum, is published today.
The report highlights that substantial further work is required to return Flying Scotsman, the sole survivor of the A3 locomotive class, to mainline operation and that significant additional budget is required. The report recommends that the middle steam cylinder needs realigning, requiring the removal of the boiler and all three steam cylinders. All three steam cylinders are also currently oversize and need to be fitted with new liners and rebored to a nominal 19 inch diameter. It also recommends that the museum’s internal workshop team are not best placed to complete the restoration.
The National Railway Museum and the Board of Trustees of the Science Museum Group have reviewed the report and its recommendations and have decided to tender for an external contractor to complete the final stages of the restoration project.
There is a small section of the main side frames that cannot be examined until the steam cylinders are removed by the appointed contractor. A final assessment of the viability of the restoration will be made once the condition of this final piece of the locomotive is known.
The timescales involved with the tender, the restoration work and testing mean that Flying Scotsman will not operate on the mainline before 2015.
Paul Kirkman, Director of the National Railway Museum, commented:
“It was vital that we really got to the bottom of this complex project and received independent verification of the problems associated with the locomotive and how best to complete the project. First Class Partnerships are highly respected in their field and provide the highest level of engineering consultancy. We have now clarified that it is not sensible to complete the work in house and are in a position to go out to tender for an external contractor. We will now progress cautiously towards completing the restoration, subject to reviewing the condition of the main side frames. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the public for their ongoing support and patience throughout this challenging project.”
Ends
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Christian Wolmar - Britain's leading transport commentator
A bluff that the train companies can only lose
There is a big game of bluff going on. The fact that all four bidders in the collapsed Great Western franchise have filed a court case to try to reclaim the money lost in the bidding process does not mean they want to go to court. Quite the opposite. They are merely putting pressure on the Department to cough up.
However, as often is the case with railway companies, they fail to understand the politics. Don’t these companies ever employ experienced Westminster advisers? The government’s case looks watertight. As the BBC’s transport correspondent Richard Westcott points out, bid specification says: ‘Each bidder shall be responsible for all costs, expenses and liabilities incurred by it in connection with the Great Western franchise letting process, whether or not its bid and/or associated negotiations are ultimately successful or the process is subsequently varied in any way or terminated.’ That’s pretty unequivocal.
So are the politics. A word to the companies. Let me tell you guys, that train operators are not actually top of the hit parade of popularity. You would be mistaken to think that because satisfaction ratings are relatively high means that the public will support your action. This action will merely intensify the view that you are just a money-grabbing short-term bunch of rapacious capitalists – or privateers to use Bob Crow’s favourite expression.
And so the Department will hold firm knowing that there is no legal or political reason to give in, and because paying back the bid costs means that it will be open season on any future deals.
So why on earth are the train companies going there? Are they all so desperate to recoup a tawdry few million that they are risking their future relationship with teh Department? All that will happen is that a lot of people including many influential ones will simply wonder whether this daft process of franchising out the whole railway is worth it and ask, yet again, ‘what is franchising for’ So guys, don’t go there. You portray yourselves as businesses ready to take a risk in order to make a profit,but in fact this action just shows that you want easy risk free money. Three out of four of the bids would have been wasted anyway – why on earth should the state reimburse all four!
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