Rolling Stock For Sale

If you read the Facebook post that's what they are saying it is for.

 

No idea, if I am honest, as a fan of the 28xx's the group caught my eye on Facebook and I clicked to follow them. No idea of the personalities involved, their experiences or anything, they do seem to have taken the time to set up a Ltd Company which seems to take it beyond the normal Facebook group status and the post comments does make some mention of charity rules but ultimately all has a bit of a vague air.

P.S this might warrant a new thread in the steam section instead of clogging up here - if only a moderator was around ?

 

Well, they are 5% towards the £40k needed to purchase the loco.....
Some one has informed them that the sleeper can not be moved by lorry with all the asbestos inside.
Do not know how true that is.
Also an appeal for £2k for transport cost.
I wish them well.

 

Looking forward to the crowdfunder appeal for some sleeping bags.

Seriously though, as these crowdfunder appeals are becoming more common, it's interesting to see which ones succeed and which ones don't. There's almost an assumption by people running some of these appeals that there are people "out there" who share the same interests. Some provide very little info about why the appeal is important. And others think the appeal will pay for their hobby.

Buying a loco and a support coach, with associated transport, storage and restoration costs, needs significant personal finance to get the project off the ground. This gives confidence to others who might want to contribute later.

 

I assume this is why much has been made of the coach being bought from personal finance reserves, albeit that has fallen over somewhat as it was fairly common knowledge it was only a quid and has been pointed out in public?

 

An auction entry I came across, I have no idea if it is worth anyone following it up as without a picture .....

https://www.bidspotter.co.uk/en-gb/...paign=auction-alert&utm_content=lot-view-link

 

I hope the SCR Sleeper coach can move to a new owner as nobody is doing anything with it at the Swindon and Cricklade and it is steadily deteriorating like lots of other coaches across Britain.

The bodywork is not that bad. When it was first acquired it was intended that it be used as sleeping accommodation for volunteers but it never got used as nearly all the volunteers live locally and don't stay overnight and no members have taken an interest in it since.

 

It would be a lovely thing to do but it wouldn't half cost. Realistically you'd need dual heating in every sleeping car as the train would need to be attached to a shore supply overnight, you'd need to staff the thing so you'd probably also need on train staff accommodation, you'd also need to man the signal boxes and provide the crews, and you'd need somewhere to stable the train which was both safe from vandals and a pleasant place to wake up. Call it four sleeping cars plus a fifth to act as a staff dormitory car, an RF, sufficient diner stock, and some sort of bar/reception vehicle. With aggressive marketing and lots of special events such as murder mystery nights it could be a money spinner, but then again it could die on its backside whereupon you would have spent a fortune restoring rotten asbestos-ridden sleeping cars which you then can't sell.

I really think that on the right line (SVR, NYMR, WSR) with the right resources and the right marketing it could work, but it would be one heck of a risk. Too much of a risk unless a rich sponsor could be found.

 

I'm not so sure. I've travelled on overnight trains, and it has to be said they aren't the best night's sleep you can get. That is tempered by the journey: part of the romance is going to sleep in one place and waking up somewhere completely different. So there is a joy to going to bed in the Pyrenees, and waking up next morning in Paris; rather less going to bed in (say) Bridgnorth and waking up next morning in ... Bridgnorth. Effectively you charge someone (probably a couple) a considerable amount of money for a delightful romantic meal followed by an uncomfortable night.

More mileage I suspect in "all in" packages with a local hotel, where you arrange transport to and from the railway, a nice meal on a train and then a comfortable night in a local hotel.

Tom

 

As for the "Romantic" element of the sleepers.
Am I correct in thinking all beds are SINGLES?

 

Exactly ...

Tom

 

That said, most beds on the VSOE are singles too.

 

The rise of 'glamping' over the past few years has demonstrated that quite a lot of people are prepared to pay through the nose for an uncomfortable night's sleep so long as the experience is 'unique'. If you can charge a premium for a hammock in a grounded box van in a field then you can probably sell a heritage sleeping car experience if it comes with a nice dinner and a nice breakfast. The question is whether having restored the carriages and fitted ETH and discharge tanks and paid the staff and manned the crossings you could charge enough for the operation to wash its face, and that's the real sticking point. Unless as with the GCR's diner train you could find a wealthy sponsor up front I don't think it would be doable, not because it wouldn't attract customers but because the cost of setting the thing up in the first place would be prohibitive. Which is something of a shame because unless a use can be found for them we're going to see a lot of sleeping cars being cut up in the near future. We've already lost all five 'preserved' Thompson sleepers.

 

Fair point ... though I guess I must be getting old - I had to look "glamping" up...

 

There appeared to be a few vans that were being set up as holiday accommodation at one of the K&ESR stations in addition to a MK1 that is already used as a holiday let

 

I am shocked!!
glamping
ˈɡlampɪŋ/
noun
Britishinformal
noun: glamping

1. a form of camping involving accommodation and facilities more luxurious than those associated with traditional camping.
   "glamping is likely to satisfy any city slicker seeking a little refuge in nature—without foregoing any of life's luxuries"

 

Funnily enough the idea sounds almost exactly like a Camping coach....

 

Note that these accommodations are being provided and marketed by the owner of the site adjacent to Northiam station, which happens to share the same gateway.