Re: "Pendennis Castle"

["chris@enet21.com.au" <chris@enet21.com.au>]

1.It would be still be in WA running if Rio  had not have painted itself into a legal
corner. Go to the Australian legal index and read the Federal Court judgement.
2. How many rail perservation groups get site visits by the board members of Rio Tinto
Plc? Did the board members visit other museums?
3. Putting Australia aside, was any group (anywhere in the world)  offered the loco on
the same conditions?
Where did you get the Bluebell Railway from? I can think of other rail groups who have
GWR locos in  their ownership. Anyway, what is your reasoning why the  Bluebell Rwy
not being allowed to have GWR locos? shouldn't they decide for themselves?
4. The response I got from the PRHS was that they were reluctant to see the loco go.


Chris







Bob wrote:

> 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