Re: Silly Pendennis Castle ideas

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

You might call my ideas "silly" but at least it is having a favourable response.
My opinions seem to be getting  a  response from the "right people" My main
gripe is the fact that its owner supports  a foreign museum but lets the local
ones struggle. Wasn't it John Howard who said major corporations should be more
socially responsible to Austrailians. I'm not stopping you from writting in
support of Rio, - have you ever written to your local member?

Regards

Chris

Bill McNiven wrote:

> chris@enet21.com.au wrote in message <38994433.5C1B1E4A@enet21.com.au>...
> >I know this will start a long debate again, By why doesn't the RTM grab
> Pendennis
> >Castle, its ideal for main line running and much cheaper to restore an
> maintain than the
> >57 or probably the 35. I bet sponsors would like it too.
> >After a week of letter writing to virtually every politican and major union
> in the
> >country I reckon  Rio will give it away to any non-profit or public
> standard gauge
> >museum in Australia.
> >Letters of reply are starting to flow in, and they are not favourable to
> Rio Tinto.
>
> But the RTM already has a large collection 4-6-0s awaiting repairs: 3001,
> 3203, 3214 (for which there was a half-hearted restoration appeal in the
> early 1980s), 3526 (for which there was a restoration appeal late 1998, with
> no action visible since), 3609, 3616 and 3642 (which retired very quietly
> some time in the last few years).
>
> Surely, if we armchair experts are looking for a main-line home for a GWR
> locomotive in Australia, we should speculate about:
> Hotham Valley -- beautiful SG line to Kalgoorlie and beyond and not a single
> SG steam loco
> SteamRanger in SA -- beautiful SG line from Adelaide to Mt. Barker Jct. and
> not a single SG steam loco
> West Coast Railway -- the name goes with Great Western Railway and an
> oil-fired blue 'Castle' would be a change
> Dorrigo -- it would make up for the fact that the greedy RTM has three 36's
> while Dorrigo didn't get any
> QR -- they do a pretty good job of restoring and operating 3'6" gauge steam.
> With a Uniform Gauge steam loco, they could let Sunsteam run to Kyogle and
> maybe put steam on the GSPE.
>
> All of this of course ignores the facts that Rio Tinto own the machine and
> are free to do as they wish with their property -- keep it, scrap it, give
> it away -- and that 4079, as a participant with Flying Scotsman (then IIRC)
> GNR 1452 in the 1924 Locomotive Exchanges, is a key part of British Railway
> history.
>
> Rgds <g,r,d>
>
> Bill :)