SVR General Discussion

Quite! Members were interested in which way the locos were pointing...

 

Back from a lovely weekend at the railway, huge thanks to everyone involved with getting things back up and running again it really is very well organised and we felt safe at all times. The timetables are very well thought out with all the trains at opposite ends of the line, we did the Explorer on the Sunday, whole compartment to ourselves, one and a half round trips and time in the engine house (or steam train toy as my son calls it!) thought it worked out good value at £75 for three of us. Short video and some photo as we arrived on Saturday and watched trains that afternoon...


https://www.flickr.com/photos/alts1985/albums/72157716065731922

 

Permanent Way Technical Specialist https://www.svr.co.uk/Employment.aspx

Closes 21 Oct 2020

Patrick

 

"With 67 days until the festive season begins on the Severn Valley Railway, we've just hit over 50% of compartments sold to be aboard the magical Santa Train."

Patrick

 

A few shots of 6960 & 2857 in action yesterday. Enjoy

 

Great video @KristianGWR, thank you for posting

 

I know we shouldn't mock, but I do find "restoration and education of the Severn Valley Railway’s Falling Sands Viaduct" amusing. How do you educate a viaduct? (I would have written something like "restoration of and education about".)

 

Insert Monty Python joke

 

Nice piece on the SVR here, also nice that 2857 gets a mention https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-54357588

 

Good morning,

Your October 2020 Branch Lines is now ready for you to read, and this month’s edition is a bumper one, packed with news from across the Severn Valley Railway. Hope you enjoy it!

Here’s the link: https://www.svrlive.com/bloct20

Best wishes,
Lesley and Patrick
Branch Lines co-editors

 

I was there with my wife on the Sunday Explorer and would concur with alts1985's comments. It was a good day out and was well put together and well run. I liked too the fact that we had a different loco on the last leg of the journey with 6960 being replaced by 7714 which was a fair load for a 57XX with 8 on. Not quite such good value for 2 of us, but more than happy to pay the £67.50 for the comfort and safety of our own compartment and it would be good if some of the other railways could offer similar value, as I do think the £100+ prices that some are charging for compartments are a little steep

 

As ever Patrick, a rather informative read, thank you.

 

And a longer piece on the SVR website itself:

https://www.svr.co.uk/NewsItem.aspx?a=940

I must admit I'm slightly surprised the film people required quite such a hard a line on security for something like that. I'd have expected that for a massive James Bond film, but not really for a Netflix movie! Oh well. What intrigues me in this context is that apparently the buildings at Arley were painted green. Given Arley station has a public road bridge one side and a public foot crossing the other side, it's rather impressive that they still managed to keep that quiet!

 

It was intended for general cinema release but distribution was sold on to Netflix as part of the Covid-19 fallout.

Images of the secret changes were on non-SVR Facebook sites within a day with hints as to what the film was and who was in it! But the SVR kept to its part of the bargain.

I did read there's a dispute with the filmmakers and the Arthur Conan Doyle estate.

I was interested to read that a previous Holmes movie on the SVR, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution in 1976, had 30 days of filming and this had three!

Patrick

 

It’s not a new thing, I remember back in about 1995 with the filming of the first Mission:Impossible film there was a big thing about trying to keep that secret, but then sending a pair of 33’s and a 4TC set up to Scotland was always bound to attract attention! The film company couldn’t understand why though.

 

The details of the dispute are one of those things that's inadvertently hilarious. Conan Doyle's work is no longer in copyright in the UK, but in the US some of his late stories are still in copyright. The estate is claiming that in Enola Holmes, Sherlock displays emotion, and the concept of Sherlock being emotional is still copyrighted. It's all very silly if you find that sort of thing amusing.

 

The Bluebell managed to send the Wainwright C class and a eight or nine Victorian and Edwardian carriages up the Brighton mainline, through Clapham Junction and down into Kings Cross for a film contract, and word only got out on the morning when there were some somewhat puzzled early birds wondering quite what had turned up to pull them to Edinburgh ...

Tom

 

Presumably they were expecting a Stirling single...

 

The Severn Valley Railway receives lifeline grant

The Severn Valley Railway is one of 445 heritage organisations across the country set to receive a lifesaving financial boost from the government, thanks to the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund, to help them through the coronavirus pandemic.

As the announcement was made on Friday 9 October, the railway was preparing to welcome the Minister for Sport, Tourism and Heritage Nigel Huddlestone MP. The Minister will meet the footplate crew of one of the SVR’s steam locomotives and visit a unique mobile exhibition inside a specially adapted brake van. He’ll also talk to some of the 1,800 volunteers who, alongside its paid staff, are crucial to the success and continuation of the SVR.

445 organisations will share £103 million, including the Severn Valley Railway to help restart vital reconstruction work and maintenance on cherished heritage sites, keeping venues open and supporting those working in the sector.

The railway will receive £906,000 to help it through the next six months. The money will pay for staff salaries, and enhanced security measures to protect the heritage assets owned by the SVR. These will include CCTV and fire detection systems, as well as fire and intruder alarms. As part of the SVR’s survival plan, the grant will help improve its digital and social media communications to better interact with communities and engage a wider audience. The railway will also recruit a health and safety specialist to ensure it can operate to the best standards both behind-the-scenes and in customer-facing environments, with the additional safety demands that are necessary because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This vital funding is from the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage and the Heritage Stimulus Fund - funded by Government and administered at arm’s length by Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Both funds are part of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund which is designed to secure the future of Britain’s museums, galleries, theatres, independent cinemas, heritage sites and music venues with emergency grants and loans.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said:
“As a nation it is essential that we preserve our heritage and celebrate and learn from our past. This massive support package will protect our shared heritage for future generations, save jobs and help us prepare for a cultural bounce back post-Covid.”

The Chairman of Severn Valley Railway (Holdings) Plc Nick Paul CBE said:
“This funding will play an essential part in the SVR’s survival through the pandemic. We expect to have lost around £2.5 million in revenue this year, as a direct result of the lockdown and subsequent restrictions. Although we’ve been running services again for more than two months now, we won’t be able to make up for such a severe drop in income. The Severn Valley Railway plays a huge part in the Midlands economy and is close to the hearts of the 250,000 visitors who come to us every year. Thanks to this generous government funding, we’ll be able to keep the railway running so it can continue to be a source of community pride in the future.”

Ros Kerslake, Chief Executive of the National Lottery Heritage Fund said:
“It is absolutely right that investing in heritage should be a priority during this crisis and this support by Government is crucial. Heritage creates jobs and economic prosperity, is a major driver for tourism and makes our towns, cities, and rural areas better places to live. All of this is so important for our wellbeing and will be particularly vital when we start to emerge from this incredibly difficult time.

“Our heritage is still facing a perilous future – we are not out of the woods yet. But this hugely welcome funding from Government, and the money we continue to invest from the National Lottery, has undoubtedly stopped heritage and the organisations that care for it being permanently lost.”

 

Any pictures from yesterday’s Wanderer? I had a ticket but can’t leave my county borough due to local lockdown.