Re: "Pendennis Castle"

[Bob <alco@acay.com.au>]

Chris,
         what proof do you have to back up the claims you are making here?

"chris@enet21.com.au" wrote:

>
> It doesn't help when Didcot rail centre have high level access to the board of
> Rio Tinto Plc (UK).
> Face it, the decision to send it to the UK was made by the UK board. If it
> wasn't for the above reasons the loco would be still in WA.

Yes, sitting in W.A. doing nothing where no one would see it. What is the good of
that?

> It seems other major rail groups in the UK would have gladly offered a home if
> it wasn't for the shady deal done by Rio and Didcot. That's if they had a fair
> chance of making a offer.

First you didn't want the loco to leave Australia, now you suggest it could have
gone to a different UK group but which one? The GWS is the only specialist GWR
group, why offer it to say the Bluebell Railway that is a mainly Southern Railway
group?

> Added to the fact that little or no consultation was done with the Pilbara
> Railway Historical Society which seemed to be grossly unfair, basically "stuff
> you although you have looked after it since 1977" (no matter their current
> membership size)

What proof do you have of this claim? Are you a member of the PRHS or had any
contact with the officials of the PRHS? In all of this I have yet to see anything
said by anyone from the PRHS about the matter.

You will probably read in 6 months time that Rio Tinto plc UK have paid for the
transport costs and overhaul of this loco.

The GWS society has raised the money for the transport. The following is a quote
from their web site:
The Great Western Society's ambitious project to bring Great Western Railway steam
engine No.4079 Pendennis Castle home from Australia to Didcot Railway Centre
received a major boost last week with the announcement of a grant of £37,300 from
the
Heritage Lottery Fund towards the cost of transportation. This brings the amount
raised
in three months to £70,000.

>
> No matter your feelings with regards to this loco, the treatment of the PRHS by
> Rio Tinto  Plc is disgusting.

How can you claim it is disgusting when you have no idea what the PRHS actually
wanted? Can you supply any proof of your claims on this subject please.
Cheers
Bob