Strathspey Railway

I'd be very "Can we get the guitars that are like, double guitars" but thats no small amount that I'm sure will be spent pragmatically.

I couldn't make it (was in America) but the Rail 200 visit seems to have been well attended and run. Hopefully the various departments have a little bit of confidence back.

 

Good news. Please get the line to Grantown built using this. Would transofrm the place and complete the railway by having two major destinations at each ond of the line.

 

Sadly, £1m is unlikely to get the railway much further. Will need a larger cash injection, and a move on from the Transport Scotland side of things regarding the road crossing layout, to see any progress.

 

Whats going on with TS? Is there some political backing driving this forwards?

 

If it wasn’t specifically stated in the gift that the money will be used for extending then sadly it’ll go into the administrative blob, or be used for some ‘initiative’.

 

Given the current financial pressures many heritage railways are under I suggest that anything that improves its long term viability - projects that might cut costs and reduce debt payments might be a wise move if not an exciting one.

 

Having £1M in the bank opens up lots of opportunities for match funding grants from elsewhere, so that it potentially becomes worth quite a lot more than £1M, if it's managed correctly. The temptation might be to spend it directly on other projects, or paying off loans, or whatever, but that might not be the best thing to do. From the sounds of it they are taking financial advice, which can only be a good thing.

 

Given that donations of this nature are so rare, it may be prudent to invest the money. The SR could draw down only on earnings, and not capital, and use the proceeds to fund various projects over time, and if managed well this could allow the fund to grow to help fund the extension.

Or dont draw down at all and let it grow into a significnant endowment. Returns of 6-10% per annum are not hard to find.

With windfalls like this its wise to think in terms fo what would we have done if this had not come in? Its too easy to spend money, and thinking for the future is difficult. Taking a long term view on how the railway could look and what its finances would look like with two destinations at each end, is probably the smart move.