Vintage Trains: Plans for 2018

3 locos of the same class, with 7-10 years between overhauls and 3-4 years per overhaul, should give 2 in service and 1 in the works most of the time. Plus they have Rood Ashton Hall in their own fleet and a selection of friends' locos they can hire as and when required - seems to me like the perfect mix. I'm not sure I'd choose Castles as my "standard class" if I was starting with a blank sheet of paper, because of their limited route availability (likewise the Hall, even more so), but since Castles are what Tyseley have, they are doing the right thing and making a virtue of necessity. In the fullness of time, they should be able to add their Jubilee to the working fleet, to share "second string" duties with RAH. Balancing the needs of their own fleet with their commercial engineering operation will be an interesting challenge.

 

We have our Share Offer video on our website and on YouTube - www.VintageTrains.co.uk/shares

Well worth a look - and the voice is none other than Les Ross!

 

Is "travel behind our express steam locomotives designed to travel at up to 100mph" a clue to future developments?

Seeing as I'm here just thought I'd mention I know a fair few people who travel with VT that would each have happily bought shares if the minimum was £100 but £500 was too much for them. I'm sure there are plenty of good reasons why the minimum was set as it was but if no one says anything then no one's to know.

Anyway, here's hoping it's a success such that by the time I can actually afford to travel behind steam on the mainline, there's still some running!

 

Maybe if there was (maybe there is and I'm stupid so can't find it) an option to pay £40 and then 23 instalments of £20 to get to the £500 it might tempt a few that can afford a monthly amount but find the lump sum harder to find. Appreciate that creates more admin and also means you'd need to wait 2 years to get your shares. Suggestion not criticism!

 

Part of the VT web site lists the Defiant Club. That suggests £101 initial payment then thirty payments of £30 by standing order.
An alternative choice, for some, maybe?

 

I assure you we have no plans to push our steam locos to 100mph. We know both 5043 and 7029 achieved the ton in the old days, hence the quote in the video.

The simple reason for setting the minimum at £500 is the amount of administration required per shareholder - at £500 we will have up to 6,000 shareholders. At £100, we would be looking at managing up to 30,000 shareholders.....and for a small business, that's a lot of admin.

 

Fair dos, I suspected admin would be one of the main reasons; the extra money raised would have to be offset against extra admin costs. As I said, just passing it on, no criticism intended.

 

When you fill out the Shareholder application form, there is a drop-down box with the different payment options - Online, Cheque, Electronic Transfer and Installments. If you choose 'Installments' we will contact you with the suggested installment options. We cannot stretch the payments out longer than 12 months and ideally we would like to receive full payment before the offer ends on 31st May. If you wish to discuss this further, send me an email to shares@vintagetrains.co.uk and we will come to an arrangement.

We are happy for all to purchase shares and join us; we just need to keep and eye on the administrative overheads.

 

Is the fund raising on target to meet the needs of getting the TOC up and running for this year's Shakespeares?

 

See post 17!

 

Yes - I saw that but it was last week and I wondered if the flow was continuing (hopefully) or had dried up.

 

Are the shares transferable? - I've got some loco shares which are not transferable and thus die with me. If I could pass them on, I'd certainly be tempted to buy some more.

 

From the prospectus it says you can
"Can I pass my shares onto my family? Yes. Members may nominate a beneficiary who can inherit their shares upon their death, but must notify us who that beneficiary is. What if someone dies without beneficiary notification? If it comes to our attention that a Member has died without nominating a beneficiary to us, and has not left any instructions in their Will, we will attempt to contact their next of kin to arrange the shares’ transfer to their estate, but if we are unable to communicate with a Member’s estate within the 18 months after the Member’s death or 12 months after we are notified of that death, whichever is sooner, we reserve the right to cancel the share".

 

Email received from Ben today with a few interesting points. Apologies if some of these have already been mentioned!

1) Shakespeare Express to be hauled by visiting guest locos
2) First tours with 7029 to be operated during the Shakespeare Express season, with the rest of the Autumn / Winter programme happening after.
3) 5043's last trip before overhaul will be a Christmas White Rose on 22nd December, repeating the stop at Ilkeston.

Incidentally, the 'Roster' section of this month's Steam Railway magazine says that VT hope to have that overhaul completed within 6 months, so 5043 should be back in action from the middle of next year.

 

Six months ! Surely that would be a record turn around time for any steam overhaul !

 

Just for the record, evidence of Tyseley's ability to do something like this in the Wikipedia write-up of 4965 Rood Ashton Hall - and how they did it.......

(Quote) "In November 2008, Rood Ashton Hall was taken out of service for overhaul after hauling the Rood Ashton Hall Farewell train from Solihull to Didcot Parkway. The engine's 10-year overhaul took just a few months due to an ongoing programme of maintenance work that had been previously carried out during periods of low main line activity. It returned to the mainline in October 2009."

 

I guess this all relies on the state of the boiler.