Future Projects
By 1998, with the state of the finances, it was speculated that Tornado could be completed on time, all maintenance costs could be funded, and there could be a genuine possibility of a second locomotive being built. Subsequent delays and rising costs meant this became more unlikely.
As of 2000 the trust's chairman had expected other new build projects to have sprung up along the lines of the A1 Trust, however, despite 23 ideas of one form or another, only retro rebuilds such as GWR Saint had occurred. Lack of financial and project control were believed to be the difference between the trust and these other projects.
After construction of Tornado, £800,000 will still be required to service loans and bond issues.
However, on BBC Radio 4's You and Yours, current chairman Mark Allatt suggested that a further locomotive could be possible, saying "We've got debts of £832,000, about half of which is a bond issue, and about half again of that is loans from individuals. Our business plan shows that if, as long as we continue with operating the tours we've planned to, and then our covenantors - who have been so generous over so long - stick with us, we can pay that back, and, the quicker we pay that back, the quicker we can start building a new engine".
The A1 Trust is now looking into the possibility of producing a Gresley P2 to be numbered 2007 (the next in sequence). The P2s share around 70% of components used on Tornado. It will be made after the A1 Trust has enough money for Tornado future overhaul and debts repaid. If the P2 cannot be done the Trust will look at another locomotive.
Read more about this topic: A1 Steam Locomotive Trust
Famous quotes containing the words future and/or projects:
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“One of the things that is most striking about the young generation is that they never talk about their own futures, there are no futures for this generation, not any of them and so naturally they never think of them. It is very striking, they do not live in the present they just live, as well as they can, and they do not plan. It is extraordinary that whole populations have no projects for a future, none at all.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)