Good afternoon!
This is the latest minion communication, designed to keep you all posted on the current goings-on regarding No. 3417.
After the work carried out some weeks ago, all has been quiet regarding attention to the unit. We will be carrying out an inspection on the unit within the next two weeks to confirm that nothing has deteriorated since the last viewing.
Behind the scenes, however, things have been extremely busy. As you will all be aware, there are many significant obstacles standing in the way of returning the unit to revenue-earning condition. The SETG have been hard at work trying to find ways around those obstacles.
In the past few weeks we have had productive meetings with various individuals within the railway industry who are keen to see the unit back in front-line use. Those discussions are ongoing, but we would like everyone to know that there aren’t just a few enthusiastic amateurs committed to this project. We are fortunate to have access to some senior industry figures and are making full use of them in order to bring the potential uses of the 4VEP to as wider an audience as possible. Our hope is to have something concrete to report to you all within the next month.
As an aside, and to round off this small “holding pattern” blog entry, have a look at the videos below. They feature a privately owned Class 33/0 ‘Crompton’ locomotive and a 4TC slamdoor set owned by London Underground Limited. The train worked from London to Swanage & return in support of this year’s Swanage Railway Beer & Diesel Festival – elegant proof that where there is sufficient imagination and will to succeed these venerable Mark One workhorses still have a place on the modern railway!