Lottery Dreams for investing in Heritage Railways

Whereas of course most railways are run by people who are clueless as to what their visitors want.


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It's a word that simultaneously patronises those to whom it is applied while demeaning everyone else (who are presumably "abnormals").

Tom

 

I wish it could be entirely untrue. However when you read comments from one person to the effect that she had been disappointed with tourist railways as it appeared more attention tended to be given to cleaning the outside of the locomotive than the inside of the carriages then it is unwise to be complacent.

PH

 

Who is complacent? Look at the efforts of railway after railway to put stock under cover. No railway is perfect, everyone needs to improve. Anyone who doesn't get that will close eventually because they won't attract visitors or volunteers, but having visited dozens and dozens of heritage railways in the last 5 years I would say that at least 90% of them are getting this substantially right.

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Hardly patronising to one and certainly no more so than,e.g. "punters" or "yer av'rage". As for being demeaning", I first saw the expression used by someone who described him or herself as an active volunteer. A realist perhaps.

PH

 

Yes, but you and I are enthusiasts. These lines have to be judged in a wider context than other railways. They compete with country houses, theme parks wildlife parks and a myriad other things.

PH

 

Are you suggesting that as an enthusiast I can't appreciate the importance of clean and tidy sites? Not only can I but so can my completely non-enthusiast wife and family who I often drag around.

They (and I) also visit country houses, wildlife parks, museums, art galleries, theatres, concert halls, sports stadiums and many other places. I spend much of my time in church belltowers.

This is not just my story - it is the same of many others who post on this site. Surely the ideas posted on this thread point in exactly that direction. We can see things through many different perspectives. There is no single enthusiast with one single view.

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Regardless of who first coined the phrase, I'm sure it is not wise to characterise potential supporters and visitors as "abnormal". You never know when they might win the lottery ...

Tom

 

Glad to hear it.There are a considerable number though who make excuses for proliferation of junk.

PH

 

The problem though, is one persons bit of junk is another's restoration project, but i agree people have to be realistic, if your not going to be able to restore it, in your lifetime, why hang onto it, let it go to another group who will restore it, some is down to bloody mindedness, and once they have kicked the bucket, in move the auctioneers, or in some cases the scrap man.
Now getting back to the question , if i had a million pounds to spend on heritage lines, i don't know what i would do, if i gifted it to any preserved railway, i would want to ensure its spent wisely, not wasted on projects that are not viable , so what would i do, it would have to be somewhere i could be actively involved so i could ensure my funding isn't lining anyones pocket, or being used for something other than what i intended.

 

Don't disagree with a single word. If you can bear the word Ivatt, the erstwhile Ivatt Trust certainly showed the way to move forward with hugely positive results.

Amongst the positive results has been the emergence of Cranmore as a centre for heavy general overhauls.

Paul

 

I think I might spend the money collecting up derelict rolling stock and making my very own linear scrapyard. This would help tidy up many preserved lines and also satisfy my own delight in dereliction. Personally I find linear scrapyards quite appealing. As I recall there used to be a jolly good one on the IOWSR, it was a beauty!

 

Thankfully

A. Tidied up and

B. Quite a lot of the items have actually been attended to.

PH

 

Receeate Woodham's perhaps? It was arguably the most important single factor in history of post-1968 heritage loco survival.

I'll get my coat.......

 

Actually 1 million isnt that much, i dought you could do anything game changing with 1m, but 14 million, now your talking, i would buy up the field next to the Rolvendon depot, sort out the drainage build a new 2 road workshop , with overhead crane, with space inbetween so you have space to strip an engine down, a proper boiler shop sound proofed,a fabrication bay and a paint shop all on site, a storage road , and a siding into the running line and an agreement to be able to test locos post overhaul on KESR metals, i would offer to overhaul the 4253 funds 56 in return for a share in it,and offer the 35011 fund a home both could have use of the works week ends, but during the week it would be a commercial business overhauling engines and coaches, of corse any work done for the KESR would be done at cost , subject to space,

 

Martin,
Eureka! How about spending the money on a "proper" water supply for Tenterden so that passengers don't have to stare at the sewage works at Rolvenden whilst water is replenished? By the way, does the outfall from the works constitute the supply?

Paul H

 

No the sewage is pumped directly into the tank, you should see the state the filters get in, Tenterden water Supply , i dont know the ins an outs, but that its not been done year ago i would think its a supply problem, most likily the supply is limited by the capacity of the delivery. and any way, whats wrong with the sewage works, just close the windows, if the flys get too much ,

 

As the line gets longer and the journey time greater, this would be a way of cutting a few minutes off the schedule if it proves possible to provide an adequate supply at Tenterden.

Paul H

 

The KE&SR very properly took their water seriously and put in a reverse osmosis plant to polish it after softening (- reverse osmosis is the sort of thing you would use for the feed water to a power station with a once through boiler and advanced steam conditions) It certainly and substantially saved wash outs and though it did - rather undeservingly - give them problems with priming, which you really do not want up Tenterden bank, that has been coped with.
This plant would be quite an outlay to replicate at Tenterden station but it might be a good reason to fill a six wheel milk tanker and ferry some treated water about - it will certainly be needed for the planned shed at Robertsbridge.
Really good water treatment is well worth it: apart from saving boiler repairs, coal and downtime, it bestows reliability and effectively some more
power. Simply the boiler is the heart and the most expensive bit of a steam locomotive. You put by weight something like four times as much
water as fuel into a boiler.

 

A lot of lines could use a turntable/triangle - too many have to run their engines/stock back and forth without ever swapping sides.

Noel