The Great Western Society has held a board meeting over the weekend and has released a statement on the future of 7027 Thornbury Castle.
7027 Thornbury Castle, which is currently undergoing restoration at the Great Central Railway, was purchased earlier this year to help complete the Night Owl locomotive, 4709. However, this caused a lot of comments on social media, with a petition being launched as well as previous owners releasing statements stating their desire to buy back the locomotive.
Clive Hetherington, Chief Executive of the Great Western Society has said that the board will hold the parts of 7027 Thornbury Castle that are in good condition for the next 6 months.
In this time, the society will consider offers from properly funded groups for all or parts of 7027 Thornbury Castle, which could enable a rebuild of Thornbury Castle if viable.
The GWS has also said that they have no plans to build a Star.
Work on 4709 Group, which 7027 was purchased to help build, is progressing well and an update is due with RailAdvent soon.
In the full statement, Clive Hetherington said “The Great Western Society (GWS) continues to be committed to buying the remaining components of 7027.
The board of GWS agrees to hold those parts in good condition for 6 months. During this time GWS will consider offers from properly funded groups for all or parts of 7027, to enable a rebuild of Thornbury Castle if viable.
The GWS have no plans to build a Star.”
There’s already a Preserved ex-Great Western 4000 ‘Star Class’ 4-6-0 Tender Locomotive within Preservation, for whom the only one left of it’s kind in existence… So sure there really is NO need to build another Star, for whom Number 7027 Thornbury Castle must come first, let alone be brought back to life.
7029 Clun Castle is already a well-restored working example of the last series of castles.
The use of the boiler to complete the construction of 4709 would enable this loco. to earn much needed revenue for the restoration group.
The establishment of a separate group to use the chassis of 7927 and the available spare smaller boiler/firebox to create a working Star would enable future generations to experience both the 4 and 2 cylinder Churchward express passenger locomotives in action.
I would personally advocate such a group to adopt a long term approach to such a project, enabling an original inside steampipe Edwardian example to be created, complementing the existing Saint.
Could we have an update from Johnathan Jones-Pratt to see if he’s still going to buy back the locomotive with an update from him and any moves he’s made since his last statement and the statement from the GWS as we now have the opportunity to grab this locomotive and get her back into safe hands. Johnathan should not want to miss this opportunity. Good Luck 🤞🏼
Before we get hit under the collar should we not wait to see wait JJP comes back with as I know he was keen to buy it back. Now it’s his opportunity to do so if the other parties are willing to listen.
I don’t pretend to know anything about who’s who in either GWS or 4709 – but I really don’t like to see like minded enthusiasts kicking lumps out of each other. Surely we can all act like grown-ups?
surely it would better to allow the completion of 4709 using the boiler than
wait 20 years or more to rebuild the castle if finance ever came available. an
operational loco would be more and hopefully could earn its keep
So they lied and claimed it was nothing to do with them. Now it is to do with them? I will never be supporting the GWS ever again. As for 7027 they should sell all the parts to it’s rightful owner end of.
12th August GWS put out a statement that 7027 was nothing to do with them and 4709 were the owners. A month later now GWS are? You couldn’t make this up, as much as this may sound like good news, I’m not sure I can trust any announcement that comes out of GWS