If you register, you can do a lot more. And become an active part of our growing community. You'll have access to hidden forums, and enjoy the ability of replying and starting conversations.

GWSR Broadway Developments

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by Breva, Aug 1, 2014.

  1. PaulK

    PaulK New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 31, 2017
    Messages:
    32
    Likes Received:
    43
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Gosport
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    As Breva can concur, the lamps at Broadway were originally fuelled by acetylene gas. From the early photographs it can be seen that the lamps did not have gauze gas mantles but a “flambo” burner mounted on a short pipe from the base of the lamp.
     
  2. AndyY

    AndyY Member

    Joined:
    Feb 23, 2013
    Messages:
    433
    Likes Received:
    480
    Difficult to tell on that picture, but it looks a bit like a new gas mantle which hasn't yet had a flame in it.
     
  3. Gloucester Boy

    Gloucester Boy New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2013
    Messages:
    125
    Likes Received:
    352
    Gender:
    Male
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Just had news that Wychavon Council are going to build the carpark at Broadway and hope to have it open by August 2018.

    Here is the (rather long) GWSR post about this - great news, will save us finding over £700,000 (so I hear):

    Wychavon District Council to Build Car Park at Broadway
    __________________________________________________________________________________

    Dear Fellow Volunteers,
    I am delighted to be able to tell you that Wychavon District Council (Wychavon) approved the construction of a car park at Broadway at their executive meeting on Wednesday 10 January 2018. The funds were allocated to the project and the chief executive was given authority to acquire the land from us and build the car park. Privately I have been advised that it should be open by August 2018.
    The details of the deal we have done with them are straightforward; we transfer the ownership of the land on the west side of the railway between Broadway Road and Childswickham Road to Wychavon and they build a car park for which they receive the income from parking fees. The board has agreed that part of the cost of parking will be refunded to our passengers who commence their journey at Broadway.
    Although I realize that giving up assets, land in this case, can be controversial, your board felt that as the railway have neither the funds to build a car park nor the expertise to manage the planning and highways approval processes. It was therefore decided that this was the pragmatic way to proceed with this part of the Broadway extension project - I do hope you all agree.
    You may well be interested to view the Wychavon meeting and, in particular, car park decision by clicking on https://wychavon.public-i.tv/core/portal/home. The session relevant to us starts at the 27th minute. What I think you will find remarkable and gratifying is the overwhelming support the various Wychavon council members give to the railway, their recognition of our contribution to tourism and their desire to work with us in the future. To my mind the support of the local authorities and communities is vital to our railway's long term success.
    I commend this development to you and, should you have questions, please email me at finance.director@gwsr.com.
    Best wishes for 2018!
    Chris
    Chris Bristow
    Finance Director
     
    Sheff, D1039, jnc and 8 others like this.
  4. Breva

    Breva Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 11, 2010
    Messages:
    2,158
    Likes Received:
    3,790
    Location:
    Gloucestershire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    This agreement with Wychavon is a great achievement for the railway, and it was good to hear of their enthiusiasm for tourism, and the roles played by the railway and the car park in it for the area.
    It was also interesting to hear that they knew a connection with Honeybourne was a possibility.
    Of course we have a lot of capital expenditure in abbeyance with the heavy cost of the Broadway extension, embankment repairs and a new station, but I hope that we are putting out feelers to see how we might get to Honeybourne. You have to talk for a long time before you spend any money.
     
    gios, The Dainton Banker, jnc and 2 others like this.
  5. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2013
    Messages:
    10,440
    Likes Received:
    17,941
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Cheltenham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Indeed, excellent news. In time for August this year is especially good news.

    I was amused that even district councils aren't immune from WIBNisms, talking about steam trains all the way from Cheltenham to Bridgenorth when we get to Honeybourne! And also a mention of talking to Cheltenham council, which seems more sensible.
     
    Kinghambranch likes this.
  6. Matt78

    Matt78 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2007
    Messages:
    1,637
    Likes Received:
    3,272
    Occupation:
    Solicitor
    Location:
    South Wales
    Looks like very good news. Credit to the Board of Directors for making the deal?

    Regards


    Matt
     
  7. Bill Drewett

    Bill Drewett Member

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2015
    Messages:
    277
    Likes Received:
    845
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Bristol
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Yes, all credit to them. I wonder how many hours of 'invisible' effort it took to achieve this.
     
    jnc, Kinghambranch and Matt78 like this.
  8. Breva

    Breva Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 11, 2010
    Messages:
    2,158
    Likes Received:
    3,790
    Location:
    Gloucestershire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Yes. Can you imagine raising £650.000 from a share issue for - a car park? On top of that, we are not used to running public car parks, with all the issues of surveillance, maintenance of the machinery, collecting and depositing the money, which in fact is what councils do all over the place. Each to his own then.
     
    jnc, Bill Drewett and Kinghambranch like this.
  9. Kinghambranch

    Kinghambranch Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 20, 2006
    Messages:
    1,868
    Likes Received:
    1,588
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    White Rose County
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Nail, head, hit! Spot on!

    Whilst it's always a little disappointing to sell off assets, especially when the asset is land, there really was no other option that would involve a win-win situation like this (especially in such a short timescale) and the strip of land concerned needs a lot of work to turn it into a useable, safe car park. As you say, raising money for this would be a nightmare and then looking after it would be equally awful (potentially) but local councils do this all the time. My own views on going forward to Honeybourne in my lifetime, if ever, are well-known but, the more the GWSR, local authorities and supporters talk about it... There's about another 5 years' work at least to scrub up Broadway Station to become the product we want it to be but things do seem to be going very much in the right direction. For all the people who bemoaned the GWSR for not sorting out a car park, well, you have your answer now.

    I well remember the strip of land when it was allotments (possibly for Railway staff, I'm not sure) and seeing a black Pannier tank loco with a short rake of box vans stopping at the goods shed to unload day-old chicks in boxes. I was rather more interested in the contents of the boxes than the rolling stock! All in a land far away and a long time ago.
     
  10. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2013
    Messages:
    10,440
    Likes Received:
    17,941
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Cheltenham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Indeed. The railway has sold a few assets over the years to contention but hopefully this shouldn't prove too controversial, given that it's going to be a few square hundred metres of tarmac (or whatever non-porous serface they choose) anyway, it shouldn't make a jot of difference who owns it. Hopefully the car park charge rebate at the station will work well too, that's an excellent idea and covers all bases then.
     
    jnc likes this.
  11. Breva

    Breva Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 11, 2010
    Messages:
    2,158
    Likes Received:
    3,790
    Location:
    Gloucestershire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    The strip of land was indeed allotments for station staff.
    They had a few chickens, and grew vegetables.
    They stopped growing the veg after too many people helped themselves to it, walking along the adjacent permissive footpath.... :(
     
    Kinghambranch likes this.
  12. FearOfManchester

    FearOfManchester Member

    Joined:
    Jan 24, 2016
    Messages:
    354
    Likes Received:
    404
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Peak District
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I would hope that tarmac isn't chosen, grass reinforcement would be a much more pleasing option, that's just personal taste mind you. It will unfortunately probably be a standard council car park affair, tons of tarmac, concrete and a million cctv cameras and a few sad looking shrubs whose only care and attention will be their initial planting, that's my experience of council car parks anyhow. Regardless, It does seem the best way forward, maintaining and running a car park is best left to those who already do it, and as others have said, fundraising for a car park is hardly something that would get the punters reaching for their wallets. However with this decision there are some lost benefits, car parks can be a major cash cow and if owned by the railway the proceeds would be spent in the local area and add to the local economy, whereas with the council of course, it all goes into that big coffer in the sky, never to be seen again. There is also the issue of non railway users benefitting from this car park, if it was railway owned, it would be marked/signed as a railway car park and I imagine locked out of use outside of railway operating hours, as the one at CRC is. Whereas it will be likely labelled as a council car park and every man and his dog will use it. Especially with the lack of municipal car parks in the area as it is.
    Saying all that, I personally think the right decision has been made to get a car park this year as the railway needs one now, rather than later.
     
  13. Breva

    Breva Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 11, 2010
    Messages:
    2,158
    Likes Received:
    3,790
    Location:
    Gloucestershire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    During the Wychavon debate the issue of drainage was raised, as an attendee was worried about adding to water in the Broadway Brook nearby, which floods easily.
    The answer given was that this aspect would be covered in the planning application. So they are aware of the issue.
     
  14. michaelh

    michaelh Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Apr 29, 2006
    Messages:
    3,080
    Likes Received:
    1,291
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Very comfortably early retired
    Location:
    1029
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer

    As a Wychavon Council Tax payer, I'm well pleased that this is going forward.

    I am also pleased that it will be available outside of railway operating hours. To have it locked out of use would be utterly stupid.
     
    Meiriongwril likes this.
  15. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2011
    Messages:
    25,493
    Likes Received:
    23,727
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grantham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I don’t like to pour cold water on what looks like excellent news. However, given the pressures on local and national government budgets, what protections are there to ensure that the land doesn’t get sold some time in the future for other purposes?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    deaftech likes this.
  16. Gloucester Boy

    Gloucester Boy New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2013
    Messages:
    125
    Likes Received:
    352
    Gender:
    Male
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    A friend of mine bought the freehold to the garage he rented off Gloucester City Council and they inserted a clause that if it was used for development, or certain types of change of use within 100 years, the the council got 50% of the revised value of the land. So it is possible to do this.
     
  17. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2013
    Messages:
    10,440
    Likes Received:
    17,941
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Cheltenham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    This short video with some explanation about the Broadway timetable might be of interest to some:



    There's one about how the railway fared last year too but seeing as people have demanded that Broadway and the rest of the GWSR should be discussed seperately :rolleyes: I shall seek the other thread to post a link to that...
     
    jnc and Kinghambranch like this.
  18. 49010

    49010 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 23, 2012
    Messages:
    1,219
    Likes Received:
    995
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Gentleman of Leisure
    Location:
    Stockport
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Slightly off-thread, I can't find one for this year's Cotswold Festival of Steam, any news on Guest Locos for that Gala?

    I finally round to booking some accommodation and I'll be down for all 3 days, can't wait to renew my acquaintance with this railway and to visit Broadway Station of course!
     
  19. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2013
    Messages:
    10,440
    Likes Received:
    17,941
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Cheltenham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    None yet, hence lack of thread I imagine!
     
    49010 likes this.
  20. 49010

    49010 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 23, 2012
    Messages:
    1,219
    Likes Received:
    995
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Gentleman of Leisure
    Location:
    Stockport
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Aye, I guess so, arranging visiting engines is a very complicated and time consuming process. I've no doubt a) there'll be news sometime soon and b) the Gala will be a good one. I came down for the Gala after the line had been re-joined-up (post Chicken Curve etc) and enjoyed it so much I booked a week in Winchcombe as soon as I got home.

    Guess I'll just have to wait - aaaaarrrrggghhhh! ;)
     

Share This Page