Project for short heritage railway beside busway Dunstable

For heaven's sake what's all the fuss about? It's a free country, let Alfred get on with it, and let the lobbying for a Luton-Dunstable branch continue. Btw, did I miss that among the recent ATOC list for potential re-opening, or wasn't it there? The markets, for financing first and then for passengers, will decide, as well as the commitment of supporters.

 

The setting Despite the survival of a few relics of the past, the on – line material and recent efforts to increase tourism, for many years Luton Dunstable and Houghton Regis have been regarded as a tourist’s wasteland. The area is depressed, de – industrialised, a lot of council estates and social problems. Dunstable, de – industrialised since the late 1980s, has long been seen as an area with high crime levels and large areas of the town suffer from deprivation and lack of opportunity. Despite the public perception of the conurbation as an industrialised area that since the late 1980s has been blighted by de – industrialisation, Luton Dunstable and Houghton Regis are not solely creations of the Industrial revolution they have ancient histories. Luton dates back to Saxon times Dunstable had a small settlement in Roman times with evidence or Neolithic settlements in the surrounding hills and Houghton Regis is mentioned in the Doomsday book. The ancient roots of Dunstable and its setting on the edge of the Chiltern Hills do show, because areas to the west or the south are well – heeled and there is a Conservative club in the town centre. There are some very ancient buildings in Houghton Regis, and in Dunstable several historic buildings still exist although the remains of others are hidden within modern buildings.

East of England Development Agency tourism surveys in 2002 – 2003 identified Bedfordshire (from Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Bedfordshire) as being at the bottom in terms of public awareness and perceptions. The tourism surveys argued that this is because it is easy to pass through Bedfordshire on one's way out from London, because of negative perceptions of the county and lack of tourist attractions, restaurants and hotels. Luton Dunstable was identified as having particular problems with its image.

Only 5% of jobs in Bedfordshire depended on tourism in 2003, most visitors were 'day trippers' (which create the maximum impact in terms of congestion and loadings on buses, coaches and trains etc), there were no '5 star' hotels anywhere in Bedfordshire and a much higher proportion of visitors to the county were coming on business travel or to visit friends or relatives, than was the case anywhere else in East of England.

The local councils have made concerted efforts to change matters during the first decade of 21 century despite the poor image of the Luton Dunstable conurbation. Dunstable Town Council now runs a heritage centre at Priory House, substantial sums of money have been spent in the area on creating tourist attractions i.e. Grove Theatre (Dunstable), Carnival Arts Centre (Luton) and Chilterns Gateway Centre (midway between the two), which add to the established attractions such as the Whipsnade Zoo, Priory Gardens and the renovated Priory Church. The Dunstable Town Council website gives a history of the town and geographical details of the surrounding area, similar material is available on the Houghton Regis Town Council website and there are more detailed histories of Dunstable and Luton available on – line.

Existing historical or natural features of the area have been harnessed to build up tourist attractions (the Dunstable heritage Centre is housed in one of the old buildings there, the Priory Church at Dunstable has been renovated, the Chilterns Gateway Centre is in Chiltern hills nearby).

The proposal for a heritage railway (harnessing the long disused railway line as a foundation to build up a tourist attraction) proposes to continue the above trend.

The track along the Luton to Dunstable branch line is to be lifted during 2010 The bulk of the old formation would become a bus way and the remainder around Dunstable Triangle would be grassed over. The railway line, totally disused since final closure on 30 April 1989 (parts of it have been out of use since July 1967), would become just a memory, whether when during the bleak corporatist era of the 1970s when it served the faceless heavy industry of the area, during the Beeching era of the 1960s when the locals fought to save the diesel multiple unit services from the axe, or during the 1950s when the line was a complete country branch line, which had served the area through the second world war.

The heritage railway would aim to add greatly to the fledgling efforts to start up a tourist trade in Luton and especially Dunstable, to educate the public about the old railway line, to provide volunteering opportunities, and to assist in economic regeneration by participating in training and employment schemes. The proposed heritage railway would provide a large all weather tourist attraction which would be built on swathes of waste land or land scheduled for redevelopment. The proposed heritage railway would aim to attract tourists to the area, custom for local businesses and inspire people to look for the other attractions in the town. It would aim to be part of the process by which slowly the type of attractions which towns of similar vintage take for granted would appear.

The proposed heritage railway would be the only standard gauge heritage railway in Bedfordshire and near to Hertfordshire (which is only a few miles away from Dunstable and literally borders Luton) and so the unique nature of the attraction in the area would provide a major boost to tourism in Luton Dunstable.

The proposed heritage railway places great emphasis on assisting economic regeneration of the surrounding area and the conurbation in general, unlike the other tourist attractions provided in recent years.

None of the more deprived areas of Dunstable have any of the tourist attractions found elsewhere in the town. The proposed heritage railway would be located in one of the deprived areas of Dunstable to the North of the town (Northfield ward). By attracting tourist visitors to the area, and boosting patronage of local cafes, fast food takeaways, shops and the local pub and restaurant, the proposed heritage railway will help to regenerate the deprived area in which it is situated and others.

Luton, Dunstable and Houghton Regis have levels of unemployment above the average for the area. To help the deprived area it is situated in and others, the proposed heritage railway hopes to provide training and work placements for those on day releases from Further Education colleges and those on Department for Work Family and Pensions and Employment Service job creation and training schemes. It is hoped that the location of the railway in one of the more deprived areas of Dunstable will help to encourage interest in participation in these schemes on the proposed heritage railway, because those in receipt of these schemes will be all the more aware of it.

 

Okay. Now you have to go out and get the evidence to back up your claim that a heritage railway would be a good idea. How many visitors is the railway likely to attract? How much is the railway going to bring to the local economy? How much is the whole thing going to cost? Who might be interested in funding it? How do you know?


You have been asked by DTC to go out and produce a business plan. In other words, they do not want to hear from you until you have done this. Do you know how to produce a business plan? If you don't, you need to get someone on your team who can help.

 

I have some idea, although

I WOULD BE VERY KEEN TO HEAR SUGGESTIONS FROM YOU MEMBERS ABOUT HOW TO PRODUCE BUSINESS PLANS.

 

This is how I would approach it.

Get a project team together, get incorporated, develop the idea, go and get the local authority's and other's support to apply for a project planning grant of some kind, apply for it, select a firm of business planning consultants, set them on to it, get the results, present the findings back to the council.

In other words, you need to get organised. There are no shortcuts.

 

Very sensible ideas. The only thing I would add is that the consultants you choose should be able to show some knowledge of tourism, economic regeneration etc. Ideally, they would have helped with similar projects (not necessarily in your local area, but with other start-up organisations). Their report would then be a lot more valuable to both your project team and the council as you plan ahead.

Richard

 

Totally agree.

 

Some time ago somebody listed a few ways of getting our scheme off the ground. Here are my replies to some of the points he raised, the material on consultants etc is very interesting and useful, but I suspect is a little 'over the heads' of some who have posted previously, so this should give the rest of you something to do to contribute, by suggesting some more ideas I or the original contributer hadn't thought of.

Putting articles in local papers

There has been one press article in Dunstable Gazette (01 June 2009)
http://www.dunstabletoday.co.uk/dunstab ... 5321898.jp
and there was one other in Dunstable Gazette on 05 September 2001.

Discussions with two other publications (one local newspaper and one local magazine) are underway or are about to start. I also suggest approaching the BBC (local radio coverage or an article on their web site) or local radio.

We also need some coverage in the railway press. I have been trying to e-mail them but the e-mails don’t work through very well into their servers from my web – based e-mail accounts.

Calling public meetings for support

As has been pointed out three members attended our first meeting, so we need more momentum than this to call public meetings.

Arranging fund raising publicity stands at open days, model railway exhibitions, and local bus and traction engine rallies etc.

We would need stock, money to buy stock and to pay overheads, and a lot more interest from the membership.

Holding fund raising events such as selling at car boot sales, society meetings, dances etc.

There is a big expanse of open ground off North Station Way Dunstable beside the council offices that would be ideal to arrange a car boot sale on. We do have a dozen or so local or fairly local members who could run it. The land used to be used by ex – LNWR sidings of some description. I don’t know what halls there are nearby for discos or dances etc.

Set up a exhibition centre / shop in a building by taking on a short term lease (at a negotiated rate of a few hundred pounds per month / year…)

It could be possible to make enquiries about renting the building at the South West corner of the site of the old oil depot which was used as offices for the adjacent road level loading area when the depot was open, and has been used as offices for the user of the land on the site of the adjacent road level loading area since 1989. After the closure of the machinery hire centre the building is vacant. I would take the idea further by opening a museum of local railway and industrial history BUT we would need exhibits. This museum could become a permanent feature IF we could arrange finance to buy the building at the South West corner of the site of the old oil depot.

A member buys the first working loco which is temporarily stored on another railway until track is ready and a secure compound is available

I’d rather concentrate on getting funding, the pallet store land secured (around £500k), the retained items stored, as has been suggested a museum. But there are some ideas as to rolling stock on the website and I have had some discussions with Richard Thornton about his 101- L835 - 101.835 – does anyone know what happened to that?

Track is re-laid / refurbished, undergrowth cut back,

We are in an unusual position, in that the track along the Luton to Dunstable branch line was not lifted after closure in 1989 but was left in situ for over 20 years. Luton Borough Council will be responsible for removal of the track once they have bought the land.

In order to do so they will have to remove 20 years of undergrowth that has grown up along the disused railway line.

Due to the costs - of removal of the track and disposal of old wood sleepers and concrete sleepers, of removal of and disposal of the fence posts, of removal and disposal of the level crossing at Court Road, of demolition of bridges and of disposal of old bridge components; the cost implication of the retention of the track between High Street North and South Apex in situ, and for the retention and movement to storage of other track and civil engineering items is of little intrinsic value save for considerations such as haulage costs etc.

The plan that has been agreed with Luton Borough Council is for them to instruct their contractor to retain in situ the track between High Street North and South Apex, then to remove and move to storage at the pallet store land the items that it is agreed be retained. When the track is removed these would include the track needed to lay sidings at the depot area, replace points removed, re-sleeper the line and carry out any outstanding track renewals; and when the remianing infrastructure of the branch is demolished, to remove and move to storage the civil engineering items needed to provide fence posts to build fences, provide a footbridge at South Apex, a level crossing at Brewers Hill Road and a bridge over High Street North etc.

Security improved

After the closure of the oil depot at Dunstable in 1989 (at the same time as the last freight services on the Luton to Dunstable branch line), during the redevelopment of the land in the 1990s, the land across the course of the old rail sidings at the NE corner of the site was built up to road height at the same level of the old oil depot loading area nearby and became a pallet store and a palisade fence was erected around the land. There is some CCTV on the site. In the heritage railway plans this would all be retained and the landowner would be paid to do this out of the funding for the project.

However we are uncertain as to whether the old gates at the NE corner of the site at the entrance on to the old rail spur were left in situ when the site was redeveloped, or if so, whether they would still work. Luton Borough Council has offered (22/10/08) to retain the AWD Siding gates and gateposts for use at this location.

Slowly the society grows, slowly the finances build, and slowly the manpower team builds

The e-mail group now has 47 members. We certainly need to get the company registered and more people to join us.

The initial stage in the development of the attraction is forecast to be heavily grant aid funded and dependent on the work of the council contractor and the relevant authorities BUT the person who commented on how the proposed heritage railway would ‘grow’ through the second and third stages of its development (how it would be funded, managed and organised) was quite correct.

In the absence of running trains, a museum at the building at the South West corner of the site of the old oil depot, a car boot sale on a big expanse of open ground off North Station Way Dunstable beside the council offices and active sales stand presence at open days, model railway exhibitions, and local bus and traction engine rallies would be essential to the public eye. These will all need manpower (running a museum, car boot sales and sale stands) and money (to pay rent, car boot lot rentals, sales stand costs and stock etc).

Society formed in 1985 ran first revenue earning train in 1996, 11 years of hard work….

The proposed heritage railway will differ from the other tourist attractions in Dunstable or nearby.

The proposed heritage railway is not based in pretty countryside or the more prosperous South of Dunstable, but rather in the more deprived North of the town which until now has had no tourist attractions and enjoyed none of the trade those already in the town have brought the remainder.

The proposed heritage railway is located in a depressed ward of Dunstable called Northfield Ward in the shadow of the old industries closed in 1970s and 1980s. This alone will raise its profile in the eyes of people in such areas.

Rather than being a ‘new build’ attraction such as Grove Theatre or Chiltern Downs Gateway Centre) or an expensive enhancement of an existing feature, the plan for the construction of proposed heritage railway relies on the retention of infrastructure removed from the derelict Luton to Dunstable railway when it is demolished, so that a section of the original railway can be rebuilt in stages later.

The railway itself would mainly be staffed by volunteers as paid staff prohibitively expensive and would aim to offer training to those on job placements.

Although the task of retaining infrastructure from the disused Luton to Dunstable branch line as it is demolished will be for the Luton Borough Council bus way contractor in the first instance, the work of rebuilding a section of the original railway in to a tourist attraction which is as accurate a representation of the original railway as practicable, will depend on an extensive programme of public involvement (via public participation in volunteering opportunities, public participation by trainees from local FE colleges and by public participation by participants on DWFP and Employment Service schemes and public participation by participants in work schemes run by the probation and community service organisations.

Such an extensive programme of public involvement would provide volunteering and training opportunities that would be unique among the other tourist attractions in the area in terms of scale, scope and the opportunities to learn and practise a wide variety of trades.

This programme would provide training and volunteering opportunities that would be of great benefit to the people from more deprived areas of Luton Dunstable and greatly aid economic regeneration and recovery from the recession.

The proposed heritage railway would not remain the same size and nature as when it was first constituted, but offers considerable opportunities for expansion.

The factors of location (in a deprived area), the composition (from infrastructure from the disused Luton to Dunstable branch line as it is demolished), the method of construction (depend on an extensive programme of public involvement) and considerable opportunities for expansion mean that the proposed heritage railway is perhaps uniquely well qualified to involve the public and to aid in the regeneration of depressed areas of Luton, Dunstable and Houghton Regis.

Training opportunities provided by the heritage railway would be externally funded. Those on these training placements would mainly work during the week on maintenance and rolling stock restoration or on construction work on the heritage railway, to gain NVQs et al on DWFP or Employment Service programmes such as Training For Work, New Deal or similar programmes. Depending on funding levels there could be the need for a few paid staff for example a project manager on a fixed contract to get the heritage railway started, a manager for the heritage railway, full time fitters or platelayers / or supervisors etc.

What would be the end result?

The proposed heritage railway would be retained to realise the heritage value of the old railway line. The heritage railway would aim to retain a short length of track leading from High Street North along the former railway Triangle, build up a railway centre on Oil Sidings Waste Land, and commence operations using a diesel multiple unit set.

The proposed heritage railway would aim to recreate a reasonably accurate impression of what the trains, which ran along the Luton to Dunstable branch line looked like, albeit on a small scale. By operating antique rolling stock on an occasional basis to recreate an accurate impression of the former branch line over a short distance of line the railway track and the means to sustain it will provide a good example of what the railway line once looked like. It is not possible to rebuild the entire railway, every station or to use exactly the same trains, but reasonably authentic rolling stock will give visitors an idea of what the trains which once ran along the branch line looked like and enough buildings and vehicles do exist to recreate a reasonably accurate imitation.

The area around the proposed centre of operations of the proposed heritage railway along High Street North – Tavistock Street is in Northern Dunstable, one of the poorer areas of the town. There are many closed premises and much vacant or recently cleared ex – industrial land nearby. This area would greatly benefit from an influx of passing trade from visitors to the heritage railway (eat and drink in local businesses). I have deliberately designed the business plan for the proposed heritage railway to maximise the number of passengers who go on to use the local businesses nearby (along High Street North – Houghton Road - Tavistock Street – Brewers Hill Road), and to use the space released to maximise the public education facilities and the potential for public learning at the proposed heritage railway and thence to maximise the number of passengers who become curious enough to visit other attrcations in Dunstable such as the town council’s heritage centre at Priory House or Chilterns Gateway Centre.

The concept is that the railway will provide a railway museum and educational facilities to educate the public about the railway line, and an available shop, selling souvenir of relevance to the railway, but few catering facilities would be provided at the site near to High Street North. Instead passengers would visit local businesses especially in Houghton Road / High Street North / Capron Road, which would thence benefit from increased custom.

 

I have deliberately set out to concentrate on funding, infrastructure and planning issues, but http://www.freewebs.com/south_bedfordsh ... estock.htm
could give some ideas (has anybody any comments on vehicles that might be available at present for example?)

Old Mk1s seem to come up fairly frequently, such as http://www.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se ... p?Ref=1706 advertised at http://www.carriage-exchange.org.uk/stock.htmthere are quite a lot of mainline diesels up for grabs or idle around the UK, I don't know about DMU vehicles or DM shunters, it is Mk1 suburban vehicles that seem to be more thin on the ground.

NOTE:- The vehicles are not meant to be taken literally, but rather as examples of what kind of vehicles could be theoretically used if the scheme ever gets off the ground.

 

Well, there is as I said the waste ground which could be used. Also there is the idea he has had which you have just clarified to me, that is a good idea and an extension of the idea he had to take a stall to open days etc.

There are about a dozen catering places literally within a child's distance of the gates of the proposed heritage railway. However these sell hot food, foreign food etc, so an 'English' cafe selling cakes and cream teas etc, based in the building at SW corner of the old oil depot site could perhaps be viable for the railway and of use to the community, and could be open all the year around. I'll have to have a look around and see next time I am up there.

 

I'm sorry Alfred, once again, what you have written is mostly assertion without a much in the way of evidence to back up your claims. For example,

"The proposed heritage railway is located in a depressed ward of Dunstable called Northfield Ward in the shadow of the old industries closed in 1970s and 1980s. This alone will raise its profile in the eyes of people in such areas."

How do you know this? What if, however depressed and deprived the community might be, the last thing people want is your idea of a heritage railway? Who have you asked to know that what you have in mind would be at all popular? You cannot say "Well I like heritage railways, so it stands to reason that it would be popular." It doesn't work like that.

You infer that an 'English cream tea cafe' would be popular simply because there isn't one already. Again, how do you know?

Alfred, may I suggest you start being a lot more circumspect; stop stating mere assertions as fact and start thinking about the questions you or someone else is going to have to answer before you have the first clue as to whether this project might be viable.

 

One major advantage of finding some professional consultants to prepare a business plan is that they could carry out market research among local people to find out what they want. The consultants' experience of similar projects would allow them to give a more "objective" view on the project's plans. Clearly, the founder members of this project are very enthusiastic about the idea of a heritage railway operating in this location. But do their views necessarily match those of the potential visitors?

Richard

 

The project that I am involved with are linked to a local regeneration group who have identified empty/derelict properties for reopening as (for example) a community cafe. The cafe is actually a community resource, has internet and also serves teas etc. The one opened so far is a big success. If Dunstable is in an area that attracts redevelopment grants, this might be an option and would be likely to endear the railway project to the community.

 

But such consultants cost a lot of money. Alfred has said above that he works in the fast food industry. Consultants will charge more for a couple of hours work than he takes home in a week!

 

But, as has been stated, grants are available to fund such work. However, anyone applying for them needs to get organised - they are not generally available to private individuals. The problem is that Alfred seems more concerned with what will be sold in the cafe than in a serious strategic view of how to develop the project.

 

True. Perhaps one should state aims etc of the project as such, and then, put the remainder of what I said as suggestions of my own or others.

The Dunstable Town Council Town Clerk told me, 'you need help with this Alfred, you can't do it all on your own'. The idea of Dunstable Town Council Town Clerk was for me to prepare a business plan and then for them to see what help was needed and what they could provide.

I have taken on board your suggestions that some market research is needed and I will suggest to Dunstable Town Council that as one of the follow ups after the submission of the business plan we need to do some market research via professionals. I have to say that I doubt such organisations would attach the weight to an individual that they would attach to an approach from a council etc. (If only to be sure that the bill is paid!)

How would they do this - door - to - door surveys etc? I wonder what research the other attractions that have been opened in the area did before they went ahead and how they did any research that was done.

True. It was such an idea as yours that I had in mind as an example. I have to say that there seem to be no such resources at that end of High Street North, although I haven't looked very hard yet.

 

Now we have 48 members!

Yes we do need some more input from others - try constructive suggestions.

No in fact none of them thought that at the meeting.

And thousands of words from others too!

I would suggest that you all do internet searches and place as much on here about how to do a business plan as you have done on consultants and market research.

 

Quite apart from the fact that your tone is unlikely to inspire others to assist you, you cannot produce a robust business plan in support of a proposed visitor attraction based on what you or others can find on the internet. What is stopping you forming a group, getting it incorporated, and, perhaps supported by the local authority, applying for funding to develop your idea?

As has been pointed out to you, you cannot do this on your own.