I should think as long as people continue to attend on Founders day (and of course Thursford make some ££££) the founders days will continue, as for comments I very much doubt if they give a **** about any of the comments on here as no doubt they have heard them all before.

I will always remember the old days at Thursford with an engine occasionally in steam.

Lets hope one day live steam will return to at least one engine.

Jim S

I doubt the tittle tattle on TT would make much difference to them opening or not. After all I guess not many of you would voice your views at Thursford lol. Out of curiosity has anyone ever approached them and asked if the would consider selling some of the outdoors collection?

I would personally rather see engines repaired, restored and in use than preserved and displayed unless it it a common engine in exceptionally original condition. Anything of rarity I would rather see in steam. Yes they all wear out but in the end of the day it's all just a pile of shaped metal although i would be loathed to throw original worn out parts away when replacing them, especially if a lot of work went into them.

Ryan

Out of curiosity has anyone ever approached them and asked if the would consider selling some of the outdoors collection?


Yes, About Fifteen years ago i wrote and asked them if they would consider selling an engine to me and they came back with a definate No. I was told that none of the engines would be sold as they are all part of the Cushing colection.

my Sentinel was part of that collection , but they sold it, and another as well i beleive, they got 100% proffit selling it to be put back to work , then that owner scrapped it sometime in the 60s

Chris.

Me too. About a decade ago my family were looking at buying a roller to restore and we got the same reply.

There is no doubt in my mind that one day some money will be needed there, and someone will look across the shed and see ££££££. A sale/tender auction/whatever to look forward to!

Was No1 not part of the collection too?

There have been a number of engines that have passed through the collection, I'd be interested to hear if anybody knows anymore Some of the ownership arrangements were different, this was the case with No 1 I think which stood behind the Gondola's when I visited in the 1990's. Fowler BB1's 15334/15335 were also sold out of the collection at some point.

Well everything is for sale at the right price. Clearly they don't need the cash at the moment which is fair enough but one day they may so lets wait and see. I doubt there will be any irreversible legalities that say the collection has to be kept as a collection as nobody in their right mind as a businessman or engine lover would do that!

Ryan

I realise that this is a discussion forum and probs won't make any difference but I've had half an idea. The National Railway Museum have a number of loco's in their 'collection' that appear on the mainline and are operated by preserved railways by arrangment. It may be possible, in the future, for some similar sort of arrangment to come into play here....just an idea....

i would say that one of the showmans would go first, as why sell 10 rollers for 20k each when you could get £££,£££ for one engine.

I think the likelihood of the Thursford selling engines in the yard is reduced now that they are charging extra for behind the scenes tours. There has got to be something in the yard to show the punters!

They could continue with the behind the scenes tour by showing the big shed & the workshop across the road with the convertible in as they currently do.

At the minute people are seeing sheeted engines in the yard so it makes no real difference if they're there or not, you still can't see them properly

There is a huge difference in cost between buying and restoring an engine. i have no doubt that Mr Cushing and probably the current management would love to see the collection in steam but restoring dozens of engines is probably beyond the museum financially as it is with many independent owners. the only people who are able to restore engines at any speed are those owners who are fortunate to be able to write the restorations off against a business or have a wonderfully healthy bank account. It is not our place to comment on what they choose to do with their toys. if i had been around in the 50's and 60's and had the money i too would have collected as many engines as possible; and those engines would probably be in a similar condition to many of those at thursford. money talks and more people visit Thursford to see and hear the organs and the dancing than the engines, it is a sad truth of economics.

Such is life..... and yes i would love to see the engines in steam, or have the opportunity to buy one to restore, but thats the game isnt it!

Arent opinions great!!

Danny

We all have the same problem, i'm guessing most on tt have projects we know we will never get round to but hang on to them for the sake of it. I've just tried to break that trend by flogging some old workshop machinery and stationary engines to help fund repairs on other projects, and i'm glad I did as the place is less cluttered and i had some pennies to spend on other things. You don't miss them when they're gone. What really is the point in having things lying around that you can't afford to repair? I'd rather flog them and use the money to repair the other clutter so at least I can enjoy it. Still it's nice to know there are still some unrestored engines out there as it is a nice link to the dawn of this strange hobby, one day we may still see the pleasure of an engine in steam making its first ever appearance at a rally.

Ryan

Mr Cushing always makes it quite clear that is has no interest or wish to see any of the road engines in steam and also says he doubts if they will ever steam again.

Fair do"s there his engines so he can do as he wishes just like us folk lucky enough to own an engine.

Jim S

I personly think that steam is almost a sideline at Thursford, they run some amazing christmas shows that are normally well over subscribed, and must generate much more income from that short season than they do from opening durring the summer for a handfull of enthusiasts and the odd passing member of the public. Hence I suspect the lack of interest in restoring the engines, there would be little point, they would take up room that is used for the xmas shows.... That is only my opinion and I really don't want to enrage anyone with it.

If you have kids take em to the "walk through" christmas show it's really good my son loved it nearly as much as I did! The other show seems to appeal to the "Older Generation" to be polite.

Ian, the thinktank thoroughly impressed me, the interesting stuff is still there. I;ve seen loads of Burrell tractors and aveling rollers to live without them.

You can stand under an Austin 10 and see how badly restored it was, also see the poor excuse for stay replacement on the Portable. Dorothea?.

Anyways you can walk all the way round Mr Snodins Foden, I even crawled underneath to the suprise of the 'explainer' who knew less about it than me.

The best bit at the Thinktank is, that if your mean or a yorkshireman (or both), you can look at it through the window for free.

Well I think Mr Cushing should sell some of the engines. It's selfish of him to keep them and stop them being converted ......

Dazzla

Perhaps I will one day, but I suspect I'll still hold fond memories of the old Science museum. I was led to believe the number of stationary engines running on display was much reduced, and hearing the comments of one or two other people after it first opened didn't really inspire me.

Another 'benefit' of the old museum was admission by donation, I could pop in just to go to the cafe without having to pay the 'Thinktank' £11.75 admission for the whole lot. Perhaps I have Yorkshire tendancies, but I suspect they had more money out of me on sticky buns every couple of weeks than if there was an admission charge which I'd probably have paid once to look round and then not return.

One place well worth a visit is the Jewellery Quarter Museum, - at least it was 10 years ago when I went. I see it has free admission these days, but even when there was an admission charge it was excellent value for money.

A final post? A few years ago before George Cushing died i had a long chat with him and he showed me around his yard behind the scenes, He was a real gentleman. During the conversation he actually told me he was sad that the engines were never steamed anymore. He also said had he realised that this would be the case he would only have done a cosmetic job on those that he had restored and saved a lot of hard work and money .
With all that said I guess that we have to accept his sons decision not to restore the remaining "unrestored" engines and dream that one day, just maybe !!!! Sigh !