Save Sgt Murphy

[Tigermoth]

Following the track ripping at the TVR it has been disclosed that locomotive Sgt Murphy is in parts, rusting away in the open air, this locomotive needs to be saved and action taken now, please help, see thread 'Save Sgt Murphy' on the Natpres forum.

[sir douglas]

just read about this on facebook, apparently a lot of its parts have been skipped, though i doubt it

[Tigermoth]

I hope not.

[avonside1563]

There seems to be a lot of strange goings on at the TVR and I suspect that no one is going to get a straight answer from there.

 

One has to ask if this is the start of the decline of the smaller heritage railway in the UK due to an ageing and dwindling membership at many lines?

[John_Hughes]

Without going into any details that could get me into trouble, things haven't been right at the TVR for more years than I care to think about; even back in the early 90s there were serious issues, though at least they didn't usually affect the running of the trains.

 

Typical (and in the public domain) was the fiasco of the Teifi bridge, where a very substantial European grant was thrown away (together with the opportunity to extend the line to the original terminus at Castell Newydd Emlyn / Newcastle Emlyn) by a very foolish failure to stick to the terms of the grant - there's a link to that here.

 

Whether the current problems are a forerunner of things to come on other lines I frankly doubt; indeed, I doubt whether any others have been as poorly run for so long.

 

Sad about the Sergeant, though; I drove her many years ago, and she was then in fine fettle, and before that she had been plinthed (and in a very bad state) outside one of the Blaenau quarries. Bluntly I don't think she needs to be anywhere near the TVR!