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6201, her new lease of life.

Discussion in 'Steam Traction' started by Sidmouth, Feb 7, 2017.

  1. lil Bear

    lil Bear Part of the furniture

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    I had a similar response back in 2007. Fast forward and I've now one of the more active members of the CVR. Though still hold a soft spot for 6201.
     
  2. 26D_M

    26D_M Part of the furniture

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    I formed an impression that new membership was controlled in order to limit the prospect of new blood becoming influential and ultimately bringing about a change of the guard.
     
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  3. paullad1984

    paullad1984 Member

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    Really?? I always got the impression it was alot of old men hiding in a dusty room afraid of the youngsters but you could be right.
     
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  4. MellishR

    MellishR Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    Aren't those two ways of saying much the same?
     
  5. BrightonBaltic

    BrightonBaltic Member

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    One can only hope that the old guard will soon be swept aside by a clean sweep with a new broom pushed by fresh blood etc etc cliché cliché cliché ad nauseam!
     
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  6. Arthur L

    Arthur L New Member

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    This forum has got very interesting again in the last few weeks, after a lull, seems to me that most of the postings have some knowledge and are mostly correct. What has been proven time and time again, is that the 6201 society do not use the magazines for publicity, they will not talk to them, if contacted, they refuse to answer questions when asked and treat this forum similarly. Any answers that find there way into the press are simply ignored and never substantiated, giving rise to rumour and distrust.
    Any questions asked of officers by members are met with "ask it at an AGM", if the member can be bothered, given that response, the question is probably no longer relevant due to the time delay or can't or won't be answered on the day. Promises of answers in the future have seldom been achieved. why, because members are not supposed to ask questions!
    The fall out from the move from the ELR to Crewe is not unique, it was the first of 3 for 6201, No 2 was Crewe to Tyseley and No 3 from Tyseley to Butterley, all achieved with max alienation of the any volunteers and the burning of bridges with the personnel/sites involved.
    Those at the helm of the 6201 society are living in the past and don't want other people involved. It's their engine!
     
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2017
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  7. Sawdust

    Sawdust Member

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    Make friends on the way up as you'll need them on the way down!

    Sawdust.
     
  8. Arthur L

    Arthur L New Member

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    Well said, that is precisely why so many former members and volunteers have walked away, taking valuable experience with them, which could have been passed on.
     
  9. Sidmouth

    Sidmouth Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Moderator

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    Be careful what you say @Arthur L as one of those may not be true
     
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  10. Gav106

    Gav106 Well-Known Member

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    IMG-20170908-WA0006.jpg
    IMG-20170908-WA0002.jpg
    If this is the best the current management can do for a 1/4ly magazine in terms of writing articles that would appeal to the membership to donate. The rest of the magazine is full of pictures of the west shed. Nothing interesting. Pure lack of imagination.

    While I have no idea or experience in the engineering side of projects, I would like to think I do know something about fundraising and the society of 6201, from reading comments on here and forming opinions from press releases, their website and seeing their fundraising stalls etc etc it is obvious that they either have no one with the ability or have lost interest in creating something special. From the looks of this newsletter there will be one weekend where the 6201 society are taking their stall to do fundraising. Surely there is more than that for a society who claim to be doing their best to get her back in working condition?
     
  11. 26D_M

    26D_M Part of the furniture

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    An interesting situation would arise if hypothetically someone of means offered to underwrite the repair costs on condition of changes in Society management. If the changes were not onerous or created a risk to the loco woukd the offer be accepted?
     
  12. GWR4707

    GWR4707 Nat Pres stalwart

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    More importantly how did you obtain a copy of that, its been suggested on here that joining the society is more onerous than joining the masons?
     
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  13. Sidmouth

    Sidmouth Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Moderator

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    Hypothetical and one only the society can answer . Management change also won't resolve the current scenario the society faces and one I suspect will engulf others soon (one is already in a similar situation)
     
  14. Gav106

    Gav106 Well-Known Member

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    To be fair you are probably right on this subject. There are a lot of loco societys that are low on the fundraising side and will no doubt have very expensive overhauls coming up. Finding the cash is becoming harder and harder with a lot of the railway spotters who pay into societys reaching retirement and possibly having less money available to donate. Now the question is should some of the larger societies try to do things in a different way? Maybe I'm completely off the mark here but I do often think about crazy ideas and wonder if I'm too far wide of the mark or would people be interested in a different form of society? Let's take the LMS Patriot project and the A1/P2. Both projects have done extremely well in fundraising the latter aiming to raise £700,000 per year, former on is on target to raise £500,000 this year. Now hypothetically speaking, if you can keep that up over a number of years and keep your membership willing to donate and/or increase from new sources surely you are always going to have a very nice sum of money.
    So let's say 5551 is finished and now out working to earn some money. All its own steaming fees get put into a pot for its own future.
    "If" the right project came along that would be supported and fundraising could be kept up at the half million mark could a "pool" of locos be started? Say a loco needed £1million spent on it that would be 2 years fundraising and it's back out, then find another project for the next 2 years and keep going to about 6 projects, on a rolling 2 year process. In terms of money saving as there is less societies you could have one newsletter rather than 6 separate ones, less accountant fees as it's all one etc etc. Meaning the money gets spent in the right way and on the locos. And if the way Didcot sorted swapping mainline equipment to save money could be done again you are finding cost savings. If they were mainline locos you could swap support coaches between them.
    Or is this too pie in the sky and unfortunately people would come in and fall out and destroy the whole thing?
     
  15. GWR4707

    GWR4707 Nat Pres stalwart

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    There was a whole piece in SR the other month regarding sustainable funding models for the mainline going forward, I think they spoke to the A1SLT and The Duke lot among others, did ask the 6201 group but they declined to comment.

    Am I correct to assume (as you shared the newsletter) that you are a member of the 6201 group, how did you mange that, were you invited?
     
  16. Gav106

    Gav106 Well-Known Member

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    No I'm not a member of the 6201 society. I was sent a picture of this a few months ago and was going through my phone and spotted it. Not sure if it's the latest one but must be quite recent. I have never tried to become a member so I can't comment on how difficult it would be to become one. However in defence of the 6201 society it does look like they have accepted some new members from reading this, so maybe people who feel so strongly towards it could try to reapply and maybe stand for a position if they have skills that could help 6201. From reading the company's house website it looks like there is currently 5 directors with a maximum of 8. So 3 more people could go on the board and bring about change.
     
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  17. ghost

    ghost Part of the furniture

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    However, the fact that they have named each new member is a little strange - almost like a new member is an unusual occurrence.

    The one problem with your scenario regarding new locos is that you may not be able to raise £500,000 for an overhaul of an existing loco - I think a lot of donations are spurred on by the 'new build' part of the project, whereas general overhauls are less sexy to donate to.


    Keith
     
  18. Jimc

    Jimc Part of the furniture

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    My sailing club does the same with every new member. Think it might even be that our rules require us to.
     
  19. Spamcan81

    Spamcan81 Nat Pres stalwart

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    We list new members in each newsletter. A way of welcoming them.
     
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  20. huochemi

    huochemi Part of the furniture

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    I visited the West Shed on Sunday. The weather was not great which did not help and the Midland Railway set up is depressing, with the active coaches in terrible exterior condition and lots of grotty rolling stock everywhere. The 6201 stands (for there were two small stands) were not helped by an elderly gent making the place hideous by playing an electric guitar a few feet away, which would have impeded conversations. I hung around briefly, having brought my chequebook, but no-one seemed terribly interested, certainly nothing to suggest there is any vigour or enthusiasm for attracting new members or raising funds, and very different from say the Patriot stand when it attends Loughborough. I get the impression they are very short of people: members, potential officers, volunteers, you name it and have no accurate idea of what needs doing to the loco or how much it will cost. It may be that the current officers would like to step down but cannot find replacements. I was a member of the PELS many years ago. I remember when they advertised the first mainline trip in 1977(?), I could not afford the £10 fare so decided there was not much point in continuing as a member. Re vetting of membership, the articles imply that one has to be elected but that may have gone by the wayside as the membership form available on line provides no such intimation. Indeed, as the officers would have no more information than name and address, it is difficult to see the benefit of an election (although they always use to say that the only two clubs worth belonging to in Hong Kong were the Hong Kong Club and the Jockey Club as they were the only ones you could not join simply by paying money :cool:).

    I think calibre of management is incredibly important. Without knowing what the underlying intractable problems are which are hinted at (which I assume are other than lack of members and funds), raising funds for 6201 should be rather easier than for most new builds and more obscure locos which don't have red paint, the royal connection, 1930s connection etc etc. They are unlikely to get someone giving £0.5m if all he or she gets in return is one vote, but more realistically, I think anyone making a donation of say £500+ is going to want to assure themselves about the corporate governance and the way ahead. Perhaps they should have a session at the AGM for potential supporters in rather more comfortable surroundings than the West Shed? I suspect there is a large amount of goodwill out there but most people don't know anything about the society or where to go for a serious discussion about what needs to be done.
     
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