Great Western Coffee Shop

OK - I'm in sitting here, sipping a coffee and recharging my phone and thinking ...

Dismayed at preserved units going for scrap.   Preserved, mind you, a bit of a false description - saved, initially, from the scrap yard I note that 2 carriages from a Thumper have been dispatched form the Swindon and Cricklade Railway to the cutter's torch and that - barring a new home over coming weeks - the last of the class 503 Merseyside electric units will be mostly going too - with just one carriage kept somewhere as a static exhibit.

Is my dismay justified?

Are we loosing history that it's important to keep?

Or did we in a fit of enthusiasm take on too much old stuff to be able to use it, and has been left rotting in sidings?

How are things going to look in 20 years with pacers and HSTs - have we kept too many?

I dream - but am doing nothing to fulfil my dream - of a 750v preserved heritage / tourist line. Modern standards might dictate power from an MLV with extra modern batteries fitted.  A decent length run and something near enough to London to attract the general visitors for days out.   I *suppose* it would need to be separated from National Rail / Network Rail / Great British Railways / call it whatever

I see I am up to 93% charge - and my coffee cup is down to 0% full. Time to post and head off for another batch of photos that - like some of the units - will be grabbed in enthusiasm and then just quietly go no-where!

Glass half full for me.  It's incredible how much old stock has been acquired for preservation/heritage use and I'm amazed at the quantity and variety that actually has been restored....and continues to be.
It's almost inevitable that some falls by the wayside but rather acquire too much than too little.