Great Central Railway General Matters

Why is the GCR consistently failing to access lottery and other emergency funding? Even the West Somerset, with all its internal strife, has landed a very substantial wedge.

 

It may yet get some, sums over £1 million have yet to be announced, and some railways have been knocking on that figure in the first round of announcements. I have no knowledge either way I should point out.

 

One would hope that they will get some of this "free money" which is being thrown about, and, if not, it begs the question of what is actually going on. The original lot of HLF grants were not deemed to be for infastructure related projects, but this current batch appear to be available for such things.
Considering they now have an ex Government Minister on the GCR Board, they should be aware of what is available......

 

took this photo late this afternoon showing nearly all of renaissance railcars current fleet



from left to right the, operational green and blue sets the blue grey trailer car and our latest arrival, class 122 no55009 transferred from the mid Norfolk railway on Thursday.
the unit is a runner but needs work doing to the cab roofs as there is corrosion where the fiberglass domes join to the metal body work. a nice addition to the fleet.

Colin

 

It is almost as if the GCR has being not supported, so far, because they are still maintaining and enhancing their infrastructure....also they did not launch an immediate "Help" campaign because their finances have been well managed. I'm sure that they will have been trying for more support though......fingers crossed!

 

Are you saying those railways that launched appeals did so because their finances were not being well managed? I think you could be the best managed business in the world and still find having your revenue stream turned off overnight would be a pretty existential threat.

As for why the GCR were unsuccessful: did they put a bid in but were turned down, or did then not put a bid in?

Tom

 

Hi Tom
I was only writing about the GCR and the fact that they said they had made a conscious decision not to mount a crisis appeal so they obviously believed, at the time, they could cover the loss of income. I believe that they did put a bid in for funding from one Govt source, but it was turned down as being for infrastructure not wages etc.

 

It was, if I remember right, an HLF grant that was applied for. While I was disappointed that it didn't come in, I remember not being shocked given the tone of the weekly mailings I'd had from the railway.

 

I guess the subtext of the question is in what way is the cost base of the GCR significantly different from other comparably sized railways?

Tom

 

One might also ask about the assets and income.

 

Does anyone know what the GCR actually applied to the NLHF for? Current NLHF grants are specifically to cover lost revenue and maintenance, not capital projects. My reading of the various quotes in the railway press is that the railway applied for money towards capital works which were ineligible, and the strident quotes from (understandably) disappointed board members may not help their standing with funders in the future.

 

It does look like the GCR might have got the wording wrong on the application?

 

Perceived wisdom is that the individuals writing the submissions may not be the best people for that particular task. It also seems unhelpful for a senior memberof the management team to respond the way they did, particularly in the press.

 

Having operated a couple of diesel running events on Friday evenings during October, a steam running evening with 45305 has now made an appearance on their events page for Friday 6th November.

 

Very quiet on the GCR(N) front - not running until next year.... Some Volunteers out and about on Pway, S&T, and 'The Cutting Edge'.
I don't think they or EMRT applied for funding.

 

The GCR have finally got some money from the Heritage Emergency Fund according to the e-newsletter I just discovered in my inbox - £250,000 worth.

 

Good news indeed! Thank you NLHF.

 

I'm pleasantly surprised, the rules said failed bids could not reapply

Patrick

 

It may have been two different funds? Either way it is good news.

 

Their not running is part of an agreement with ORR. If they don’t try to run any trains, then the ORR won’t take formal action to stop them running any trains . . . .