Llangollen Railway

Quite agree Bob the GW is/are the pits!

 

Does that mean you will need Derek Fosters old 10RB to dig them out? As at Steamport?

 

Good news posted by Terry Pickthall on the Unofficial Llangollen Railway Facebook Group this evening.

 

Happy new year and all that Folks.

We are very pleased to announce that formal agreement has now been reached with the LR Trust Board to continue with the re-purchase of our 50 Ton Cowans Sheldon Rail Crane from Sandbach Commercial Dismantlers Ltd, who purchased this historic former Laira TMD breakdown crane at the auction of the PLC assets in May 2021.

The crane is of considerable value to our MPD team as it will allow us to lift steam locomotive boilers and other heavier vehicles without the need to hire in specialist equipment. Looking ahead, boiler lifts for 7754, 5532 and 80072 will all be required soon. There is also an environmental and financial benefit from having a heavy crane on site rather than requiring a large vehicle to make a road-movement. It also grants us flexibility with being able to re-rail vehicles quickly, should the need arise - although we obviously try to avoid that need at all costs.

SCD have very kindly agreed to repayment over a 10 year term, including the opportunity to offset this against weighing in of day-to-day LR scrap. We are however keen to complete the repurchase sooner and not put further on SCD's generosity. Promises of £5k have already been made informally and sales of scrap to SCD have raised another £3k. This is great, but our target is to raise another £15k and secure the crane's future as soon as we can.

If you wish to help you can donate to the Cowans Crane Appeal by sending a cheque payable to “Llangollen Railway Trust Ltd.” marked for the attention Paul Bailey, c/o Llangollen Railway, the Station, Abbey Road, Llangollen LL20 8SN or contact Paul at “paulbaileywincham@yahoo.co.uk” for other payment options. We can accept online donations via Bank Transfer. Gift Aid is also available.

 

What an excellent write up in the latest news from the LR team, and lays bare just some of the challenges that have gone and lie ahead still.

Very good to read LR had a good 2021 overall, and best of luck to them with 2022.
Operations Report – February 2022 | Llangollen Railway (llangollen-railway.co.uk)

 

"The decrease in volunteer numbers seems to be a common scenario throughout the Heritage Sector, with many organisations reporting a 40% reduction in their volunteer base. Hopefully more will drift back as the pandemic wanes and life continues to get back to normal. The board will be looking into our volunteer offering and are seriously looking into how we can attract new volunteers to come and join us."

An interesting observation. I wonder if this is also the experience of other heritage railways?

 

It does also help how you treat volunteers.......fairness and respectful goes along way

 

I can say with confidence that The Middleton Railway has not really suffered from a downturn in volunteers as a result of Covid. To my knowledge we have lost two out of a regular workforce of over 50 but have gained new volunteers to compensate. Unlike some lines, we started back our volunteers as soon as we could doing socially distanced essential work so the lay off period was short.
The NYMR, on the other hand, adopted an opposite approach and, from my observations, has suffered from a downturn in numbers.

 

Impossible to generalise I would think. Compare two lines both in the same Covid tier in 2020. One announced they ''didn't know '' if they would get enough people (were they actually asked?) and failed to operate. The other asked its people, opened up as soon as possible, making only a modest financial loss in 2020. It faced 2021 with some confidence which results justified.

Llangollen had other things than Covid to concern it of course.

 

Bloody Hell! I find myself agreeing with Paul!

 

I can't talk to railway volunteering, but I notice that churches that have worked to keep open and doing things have coped better than those that have hunkered down till the storm's blown over.

 

You my friend, stand at the top of a very slippery slope….

 

?

 

Here's suburban CL 43012 which has just had a re-paint. Its place has been taken in the shed by TSO 4472 , also for painting and minor repairs.


Bob.

 

Certainly is. All being well, she'll arrive with us tomorrow (Wednesday 23rd). First day in steam scheduled for 16th April.

 

good to see excellent passenger loadings over the weekend

 

5619 completed a test run to Carrog yesterday. There are a couple of minor niggles to attend to but she should be out this Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th April. 08195 will also be working the Berwyn shunter shuttle and offering the driver-for-a-fiver experience in Llangollen station.

 

Interesting running in board. One original post, one replica?

I have been told that painting the whole letter of the name white is wrong, it should be the top surface only, and not the sides. So it's correct here.
The letters look very sharp, what are they made of? Plywood possibly?
The platform bench further along looks wrong. You can buy GWR castings easily.