A1 TRUST TRAIN ‘IS NOT CORE’

Another thing struck from the A1 Trust’s to do list is setting up its own train. Steve Davies says that’s not a result of his review though, but “crystallising thoughts have been evolving long before I appeared on the scene”.

The idea behind establishing a rake (probably of Mk 3s), says Steve, was driven by “concern about the security of supply of train sets. In particular, there was a nervousness about the future of Mk 1s, and whether or not they would be around… long term.”

“It’s changed now. The organisation now has West Coast as a supplier, as an operating partner. There are probably four operators available for us, there’s every sense that beyond 2023 if the [Mk 1] toilet issues and central locking and all that kind of business are resolved, that actually there’s no threat to the need for stock.”

The potential trust scheme, he reinforces, was “not because we thought it would be fantastic to have our own train, but it was to ensure, or to guarantee, that there was stock available”.

However, he says, “everybody recognised, and I certainly recognised, that maintaining a train represented a major departure for the core purpose of this trust. And owning and operating a train is a big step and, in my view, is not core.”

“There are plenty of other people out there who are experts on this, other than us. And all of a sudden the scale of the organisation changes.”

That view could alter again though if, in a decade’s time, “someone turns round and says ‘there’s a crisis.’”

However, the A1 Trust chairman contends, if that does occur “I could imagine the industry coming together to look at the coaching issue, not a single operator.”

Future collaboration between steam operators will, he says,

“be even more crucial”.