Lottery Dreams for investing in Heritage Railways

So could Mallaig!

 

Given all the uncertainties about the future - BREXIT and other issues, as much covered storage as I could fund

 

I would do something similar, but I would go all over Britain first to visit & photograph all the heritage lines here, then I would move on to places in Europe where steam still exists.

 

Restore Queen Maeḋḃ to running order and take her on an extended visit to Victoria and South Australia.

 

It's sad, but I always think if I won the Euromillions Lottery (can we participate in that now?) - which I don't do anyway - how could I best give the money away to the benefit of the various restorations, new-builds and societies.

Well, dreaming is free.

 

You know it's funny I was thinking on this recently, just for fun, and came to a form a kind of possible list of potential ideas of how I'd contribute to the Heritage Railway scene. Admittedly though in most cases it would be under the assumption I had won a pretty sizable amount and thus give me the means to do such expenditure, especially seeing as for the most part my ideas wouldn't be existing ones.

I list them from the most sensible to quite ambitious ideas, and of course under the assumption that even if I were to remotely possibly have such finances, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't do ALL these ideas but more likely just do one or two of them.

1. Fund the full restoration to steam of the Adams Radial Tank and/or Stepney on condition it/they act as a roving ambassador(s) for the railway visiting many places and in various liveries of it's/their long history.

2. Purchase the surviving LSWR T1 Boiler and have a complete T1 built to be based at possibly the Swanage Railway.

3. Negotiate the acquisition and repatriation of Terrier A1 Waddon from Canada, and restore it to steam in it's SECR guise, having it travel all over in that gorgeous livery~.

(Things get wild from here...)

4. Purchase U Class 31806 from Mr Bunch and have it retro rebuilt back into it's K Class tank form as No. A806 River Torridge, still base it at Swanage.

5. Construct TWO new Adams O2s, one to be based on the IOWSR in the typical form they'd be in over there, and the other in their mainland form. So nobody's left out there.

6. And finally purchase the Tunbridge Wells West railway station and surrounding land, gifting it to the Spa Valley Railway as well as funding the station's complete rebuild back to it's former glory, with maybe the new build T1 and/or Terrier Waddon with some appropriate vintage carriages to go with them. Probably while I'm at it purchase the original Groombridge station building as well as fund the Eridge run-round loop project too...

I'll stop this madness now, the WIBN meter no doubt going off the charts!!

(Oh and one other idea to add, have replica of Hunslet Beddgelert built and based on the L&B, while giving the railway as a whole a big financial backing in their extension plans.)

 

At the risk of thread derailment, one thing I'd want is my own LNER J70 in full Wisbech and Upwell Tramway fitment.

 

We do need a "when I win the lottery" thread, wouldn't you say? (I'll decide what to do with mine on a round the world cruise .... these things shouldn't be hurried!)

 

Well as has been said before, this forum is writhe with folks always going about WIBN subjects, so perhaps having such a thread would be nice for folks to go channel and vent off their dream ideas!

A certain group of individuals may well welcome such an idea, if only to stop people from daring to speak of WIBN subjects on the supposedly more serious and sensible other threads on this forum mind you...

 

Whats that?? the sound of sirens It's the WIBN Police coming to get you

 

That could almost have been my own Euromillions wishlist, with the addition of:
1)- A new build LBSCR D1or D3 tank.
2)- Funding the restoration of an SECR birdcage set.
3)- (big, mad stuff)- rather than an Ardingly extension, rebuilding the LEGR south, meeting a hopefully rebuilt Lewes- Uckfield line at Barcombe Junction

 

We did have one here: https://national-preservation.com/t...ion-pounds-to-spend-on-heritage-lines.994464/ but it was limited to a million pounds. I suspect once you get past page 2 that limitation would have been all but dispensed with anyway...

 

Oh -I'll add "...and fund the restoration of all the foreign locos at the NVR".

I'll shut up now.

 

Mods, Can we have a separate thread for Lottery dreams please? It's an area worthy of discussion, but as I've also contributed to the derailment of the P2 thread recently, I don't want to derail anything else!

Richard.

 

The obvious question your round the world cruise raises is will it be on your new build Manxman or Bristol Queen?

 

I seem to recall reading another thread on this forum where it was suggested that, in its early days, BR offered to sell one of its ex-IoW O2s to the SVR. The folks at the SVR didn't take up that option...

 

If I won the Euro millions, or the lottery, i would donate a large sum to my favourite railway, but would add strings, such as it has to be used to employ and train apprentices in both the Boiler shop and the carriage works, if an old favourite, needed a new firebox, i would possibly buy the materials, so a new firebox can be constructed, so the only cost is the hours and expertise to rivet it all together,
I would also donate to SLL, enough funding to do 35025, and the cost of examinations, fitting mainline equipment and dual braking ,

 

oooohhh...
Build the line back to Ramsey, and a couple of Mannin copies
I think the boat has been missed, but a couple of PCC-style metre-gauge trams from the continent to allow year-round running on the MER
I think they would probably eat up all but the biggest wins...

the boring and sensible option would be to invest it all to create a foundation for greater resilience for preserved railways

 

If I won the euromillions I would embark on a programme to turn the NYMR into a beacon of all things NER/LNER/BR(E). I'd build replica A8, B16. B17, L1 and V3s (the B17 is needed for an apple green engine for the main line teak carriages. And arrange for either the new build G5 to be based there or a second engine built I'd look to build up and restore a mixed NER, Gresley/Thompson non-corridor carriages, and I would look to build up and restore a proper freight train of LNER wagons.