Swanage Railway General Discussion

Sandy Hill Lane apparently a farming type with an overheight load of straw or something similar on a trailer.

 

That was a while ago.

 

That was weeks ago

 

Picture borrowed from Facebook

 

Chief Executive - Swanage Railway - Swanage, Dorset - £Competitive (berwickpartners.co.uk)

as advertised on Swanage Railway Company: SR Staff - for all who work on or for the railway

Good to see the renewed confidence that the Swanage Railway is now displaying by investing in a Chief Executive to lead Swanage Railway into its next chapter of growth and success.

 

Brilliant news.

Does anyone know anything more about running the railway as a charity and this.. allowing gift aid???
They had some bold ideas for a recovery but it’s all gone fairly quiet ! Not helped by now Swanning Around mag since August

 

The railway is undertaking a govenance review, on conclusion it will be quite a different animal to its top heavy structure it has now. The governance review basically turns the company into a charity and it will be able to collect gift aid on ticket sales.
Essentially its quite a bit more complicated to do it than was originally envisaged but it is underway.

 

Sounds positive.

Pity the WSR cant do the same!

 

The Sit Rep published fortnightly on the SRT website in the members section gives the most up to date news.

It will certainly be interesting to see what the new structure will look like in terms of trustees / directors. Currently IIRC there are 12 trustees (SRT) and 6 directors (SRC) = 18 but of course there are some individuals who are both. One of the key objectives both of the new structure and those elected to those roles must be to allow the new CEO to do the job they are being paid to do.

 

Updated now as far ahead as Sunday 20th. Mind you, with 31806, 563 or 34070 to choose from, you're on to a winner whichever loco is rostered!

 

Err , John, not quite a winner for everyone! As it was never a BR SR loco with the wonderful mainly black BR livery and a five digit BR number I have zero interest in wanting to visit the SR for that locomotive.

But, as an incredible achievement to return a steam loco to service and make vast numbers of normal people happy I have 100% interest and admiration.

Now if it was 32463, or even better 32473 - that I have photographed in mainly BR black with the corrrect number - then it would be a different story!

But 31806, 34070 will do very nicely for now, even better when they are hopefully joined again next year by 30053 and 34028, well, that will be winner takes it all for me!

Bryan

 

Swanage Steam Railway café plan to serve alcohol | Dorset Echo

Just hit the newspapers. Raiwlay wants to sell acholic drinks from the Corfe carriage during special events and hold music on weekends

 

With this new CEO, is it looking like what seems to be fairly top heavy in terms of numbers of SRT and SRC will be reduced and more control will be put into a single person

 

I'd wait for the governance review to finish, and look at the end result. When doing so, I'd bear in mind two things. First, the old line that a camel is a horse designed by committee. Second, that a key role of trustees is to hold leaders to account, not to try to do their job for them.

 

Agreed. The "contradiction" that has to be addressed is that a CEO (to successfully fulfill the job description as advertised) will both expect and require a high degree of autonomy and decision making authority and yet the SRT SRC is a member led organisation. Indeed at last years AGM one of the COM (cant remember who) when discussing the governance review made very clear the need to retain the principle of it being a member led railway and that principle would not be eroded. In the past addressing this contradiction has not been the easiest of challenges to meet.

 

Nothing new really. Adam Trott was the licensee (alcohol license) for SRC which covered the Wessex Belle and other catering and retail operations. This application is because the Corfe catering Carriage is a separate business run by a third party.

 

It’s not, and it requires humility on all fronts. The common theme of discussions on this has been the tension between those who believe managers should manage, and those who believe members should control. It’s rare that a railway has found a sensible balance that’s allowed members to determine policy, but left managers the autonomy to get on and run things within that overall policy.


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Only problem I have with that, and looking at the Berwick site still be used by loads of employers is the term "Competitive Salary". When I was job hunting that to me always meant we really do not want to pay market rate. Interestingly there is a G.M. vacancy for the RH&DR on their site as well at circa £70K (60 staff and 150 volunteers).
No idea what "Competitive" would be in this arena, but at my company we went through a phase of not mentioning a remuneration amount as we were only a median payer but did not want to put folks off applying. We were interviewing people earning £5 or 10K more than we were prepared to pay, when it was worth probably double what it is now. The guy in charge of the recruitment programme expected people to take that salary drop for the "kudos" of working for us. Needless to say nobody did.
I hope the railway finds some with the experience passion for the job at the price they can afford to pay.

 

So yesterday afternoon about 16:25 the sun came out and the sky over Swanage turned black. With the last service due to leave in about 15 minutes I said to my wife I hoped it stayed like it until the train departed. Of course it did not, heavy rain even before I got halfway across the car park, which is quite exposed. Anyway it eased off a little, and at one point I even put the umbrella down. An impressive departure taken from under an umbrella, but even before the Obo car must have cleared the shed the rain got heavier. Although to be fair just calling it rain does not do it justice. Using the extension of the bridge parapet by the coal stage to protect my bottom half and the golf umbrella I crouched there for about 10 minutes expecting to see Noah floating by. Eventually I managed to get to Victoria Avenue and eventually avoid those drivers who think it is fun to drive at and through the puddles to dowse any pedestrian. My jacket was very wet when I got home.

Would have looked much better with the sun out and a black sky though.

 

No need for any sun, that is a superb photo IMHO. I think wet weather can add a lot to an image - makes it more dramatic; it rarely puts me off.

Well done for sticking it out and taking that great shot.

Bryan