Oswestry Update

In the sales blurb about local attractions the railway does not even get a mention and it's right on the doorstep....literally!

 

fascinating to see the fantastic increase in price from Jan 2011 when I presume the Fishfarmer sold the property.. £237,50o up to £325,500 - who said property prices were subdued....

 

The current? owners put it on the market for 304,950 in May 2013 but took it off sale again and it has been a holiday let for some time. Interesting that Zoopla currently estimate the property's value at only 294k. Obviously the ideal solution would as at Parracombe where the whole property was purchased and then the house re-sold leaving the trackbed for the railway.
The up platform appears intact but does anyone know if the down platform was demolished or simply buried?
Ray.

 

Or... Purchase the house, rent it out as a holiday let. Then convert two carriages that sit in the platform on the house side to also be holiday accommodation, and use the other track as a through to get to the new station. And the income from that should pay off any loans etc that are taken to purchase and also give a nice income that goes towards keeping the main line going. Or Do a share offer.

 

Absolutely, and that is why I said about not asking for them to solve the issue or for money but simply to keep them in the loop. A private house for sale may not register with people in the council.

 

Well, not really ideal, because unlike at Parracombe this is the original station building. There must be at least a small hope that one day in the dim and distant future it could serve that purpose again? Looking at the internal photos, it seems to retain at least some period features. Externally seems to have lost some chimneys and gained a conservatory, but nothing that couldn't be fixed.

 

I am sure that all CHR members want to see the station building back doing what it was built for and this must be the long term goal. However short term we are fully stretched to deliver what has been promised and funds obtained for. I think that the timing of the sale is unfortunate as CHR needs to build up to a critical mass to sustain further growth. CHR is at the stage that the major heritage railways were at 20-30+ years ago. (If you fancy going back in time and really contributing come along and join in, feel the real pioneer spirit!!)

The membership is a few hundred, the active working members are a couple of dozen ish, the few board members are all volunteers. We do this out of choice! To fund major purchases and manage them needs money and volunteers. How do we get those? We need to appeal to the public, enthusiast and local community by offering an experience which they will want to return to and tell their friends about and/or get involved with. Footfall/interest is potential income/volunteers and spend towards the railway can be used to fund projects. That 'experience' is in competition with many other ways of spending your pounds so we have to offer something attractive. Very bluntly speaking a short ride in a brake van / DMU will only attract a certain number of people for a certain period of time.

What is being worked towards is a 'more interesting' visit, a longer steam hauled trip in heritage coaches, restored stations, add-ons such as the signal box, links to other attractions etc. That should generate more visits/spend/income and further enhancements can be made. With income it will be possible to access further funds, gradually building up reserves to restore what is on site and/or make strategic purchases (stock, buildings etc.)

As for the station building whilst CHR can not make enough funds available short term the board is very open to participation or suggestions to secure the building whilst not impinging on the current priorities.

The managerial input, cost and timing for a major share issue are probably beyond current resources, share issues are notoriously slow, again the timing is against us here.

The option of a private purchase and sale of the garden is attractive but this needs someone to make the purchase in the first place, despite appealing to known millionaires with railway interests we have not had any other leads on who could be interested.

Grants are again time and resource consuming and not likely to offer a short term solution. HLF applications can be gauged in half years not weeks.

The buying to let, B&B route with camping coaches is a great idea, as above it would need to be outside of the current CHR operations and needs funding then managing.

Timeshare is possible but needs a lot of organisation and management, which again would have to be outside of the current CHR operation. Could we get enough interest to cover the purchase and running costs?

All suggestions are welcome and even more welcome are funds/volunteers to achieve the CHR aims!

(I should add that these are my own views)

 

Remember the asking price doesn't mean it will sell for this price and, most likely the vendors are hoping the railway will want to pay more than the market value for it so, most likely priced on the high side and hoping a muggins will fall for it. It will interesting to see if it sales for this price or, price dropped or, taken off the market.

 

Indeed, as mentioned the local opinion is that the asking price is 'optimistic...' However the shortfall in funds available is still counted in multiples of £100'000!

 

There will be a number of posts this week covering many subjects. The dig, track side drains, site tidy up, heavy plant overhauls, track laying, etc.
I have about 30 pictures to go through and as I can find time I will post.

The dig is scheduled until August but already in mid July we will be pushing on with track laying. Though as pointed out should the England football team continue there could be an important match on the 15th July which might cause a few to drop out of attending.

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Optimism and contingency planning rolled into one? Most refreshing!

 

Pictures are up of the excavation now getting towards the final levels and the spoil pile that has been removed so far. Another of our machines has received some TLC waiting to spring in to action going south.

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More work around the site and more pictures of the works in, around and under the bridge. Please note that trains will not be operating at Oswestry for a couple of weeks whilst the bridge works are going on. Normal service continues at Llynclys where you will be made very welcome.


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Whilst going through the blog statistics I noticed a sudden jump from the regular 800/1000 per month to over 2000/month. Thinking that this might signal an upturn in donations or volunteers I dug a bit deeper only to find that the extra 1000 views were from sites of 'self abusers'.

This world is full of surprises, perhaps when I said 'all donations welcome' I should have been more specific! The blog is gradually leveling out again at it's usual traffic level.

 

Further ballast was laid over the last few days before the road rail crane moves in to position to lift the 'tired' footbridge which crosses the railway alongside the Middleton Road Bridge. Photos will go up tomorrow morning on the blog. There are already some further views of the recent work at Gasworks Bridge.

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And further pictures of the earthworks. I have quite a few to upload so will do these in stages this week. Progress with the dig is now very evident.

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Due to a short break in the excavations, trains will be running this weekend. There will be a small real ale event at the station and the rest of Oswestry is having a food festival. Go on... pop along and cheer yourself up after the events of this week!

The Thursday gang were in several places but mostly dealing with vegetation. This weekend will see work at the cattle creep.

As ever details on the blog.

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Maybe they were looking for the Epping and Ongar?

 

I don't think we are quite at that level yet....

 

There were many hands over the weekend building the deck of the cattle creep bridge. Photos will appear during the day after I have sorted out what to do with my car.. Some nice person smashed the window and stole the whole centre consol, Sat, Nav, DVD, climate control panel etc. causing a fair few thousand of damage. I can't imagine a better start to a Monday morning....