Re: Tassie Garret & Penndennis Castle

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

My point is the Pendennis Castle is unique for Australia, we also have other unique
things like the only Me262 in original condition, the V2 rocket with trailer, and as
it was mentioned the beam engine at the powerhouse.
We would look a real fool if we handed these back!
It has been recorded that  the person who aquired the beam engine for the Museum of
Applied Arts & Sciences many years ago was criticised for purchasing it as it was
claimed that it wasn't relevant for a Australian museum.
If the poms were that upset about the Pendennis Castle in oz you would hear about it
through offical channels.
Why can't it be kept for example at the Power House where ordinary people can see
it. Many average aussies will never get the chance to travel overseas. It would be
better to let  a 6 year old aussie kid see it at the Powerhouse than let be in the
possession of a bunch of  "train nuts" in far off merry England

Chris

James Brook wrote:

> chris@enet21.com.au wrote:
>
> > Yes, I quoted this example  to when writing to a  number of people and
> > groups  about the Penndennis Castle,
> > The response  was "we didn't know that" and "we will investigate it further"
> >
> > Maybe when claimed  by some people on this newsgroup that it was offered to
> > other groups in Australia Rio did not speak to the right people.(at govt
> > level).
> > Hopefully a sudden rush of enquiries from these people may cause Rio to
> > think that something is going on.
>
> What Australian groups would be in a position to look after the Pendennis Castle
> in running conditon?
>
> > Anybody  critical of the number of locomotives in parks  or rusting in
> > museums should write to the relevent government people. If  100 of you wrote
> > asking  for more funding for the NSWTM or a similar group  you might achieve
> > something.
>
> I am not critical of the number of locomotives rusting in parks because we would
> never have the resources to return them all to service. All I would ever like to
> see is one example of each type of locomotive stuffed and mounted in the museums
> and several examples of the most appropriate classes of locomotives restored to
> running condition. We don't even have enough resources to cosmetically restore
> all the locomotives that are left in Australia so why should we even be thinking
> of looking after a foreign loco, especially when it will be going to an
> operating museum in its original country? It is also more complicated than a
> one-off grant. If the government provides funds to get a steam locomotive back
> into service then the group would have to maintain it without much additional
> money from the government. Could you imagine the cost if the government had to
> subsidise most of the steam train operations in Australia? It is no point
> getting a locomotive back into service if the operation of it isn't viable. Let
> the Pendennis Castle go to where we all know it will be looked after properly
> and try to concentrate on maintaining our own railway heritage.
>
> --
> - James Brook -
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> e-mail:
> mailto:ajmbrook@ozemail.com.au
> Victorian Railfan Web Site:
> http://www.railpage.org.au/vr/
> ----------------------------------------------------------------