Registration of South Bedfordshire Railway Society LTD

Dunstable_Railway_Centre · South_Bedfordshire_Railway

Registration of the Limited Company arm of the heritage railway organisation

The Limited Company arm of the Dunstable heritage railway organisation is now registered under name of

'South Bedfordshire Railway Society LTD'.

Company Articles are at: -
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=101535814486&topic=13870 (Part 1)
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=101535814486&topic=13869 (Part 2)

Company Memorandum is at: -
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=101535814486&topic=13871

The work involved

The task of registering a Limited Company has been long and tortuous - it started on the Yahoo! group in May 2009 and has occupied me on and off for 22 months since then.

Under my supervision, work stalled and it took outside intervention before this essential step started to move forward again from July 2010 onwards.

It was a substantial task, because of the very detailed requirements in registering a LTD company as a non - profit - making society.

If interested: -

If you are interested then please go to: -

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Dunstable_Railway_Centre

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=101535814486

Details: -

The scheme is for a short length of the old Dunstable to Luton railway line to be kept as a heritage railway alongside the Luton to Dunstable busway.

Luton Borough Council responsible for promoting the bus way along the old railway indicated that the potential heritage value of the Luton to Dunstable railway line had been realised and if practicable a short length of line could be retained.

The proposed heritage railway places great emphasis on assisting economic regeneration of the surrounding area and the conurbation in general.

The business plan for the proposal intends that it would create a lot of opportunities for volunteers to work on the proposed heritage railway which would take on trainees from the local colleges and job centre which should help people get jobs. People visiting the proposed heritage railway would be encouraged to use local shops and fast food takeaways.

The CORE proposal: -

Siding space and road access
There would be a 'compound' (supplying road access, public facilities and siding space) on land to North of Dunstable town centre (which was formerly the old oil depot), which is now occupied by a pallet store. The land is to be redeveloped. Space provided by the pallet store land would be more limited but WHEN THE LAND IS REDEVELOPED more land would become available at the machinary centre.

Core Running Line
There would be a short length of line along the old line between High Street North and South Apex of Triangle.

The wide corridor of linear woodland and grassland surrounding the old line is designated as open space in the bus way proposal so the running line would operate within a very different environment to the area at the start.

The OPTIONAL proposal: -

South Apex to Court Road
This running line could extend from South Apex along the cutting running beneath Dog Kennel Path and beside Dunstable Park to Court Road.

This is very controversial indeed as there are concerns raised about the possible loss of open space at Dunstable Park. The design of the bus way at the cutting at Dog Kennel Path would have to be altered and due to changes in bus way design there would need to be a 'compensation event'.

At Dog Kennel Path: -
Concrete retaining wall along the South face of the Dog Kennel Cutting, the bus way would be moved 11 - 13 - 15 foot to the North, Northern retaining wall would be full height of cutting and the disused railway moved 6 - 4 - 2 foot to South, so that a single-track railway could run to the South of the bus way lanes.

At East end of Dog Kennel Cutting: -
East of the North West corner of the West Playing Court the single-track railway line would cross the boundary of the disused railway corridor with the Park.

Along Park: -
The single-track railway line would be slewed to South to run along a narrow strip of land on the Park beside the disused railway corridor, most of which is currently covered by encroaching undergrowth.

ALL trees in Park to remain in situ.

Passengers on trains operating along the extended running line would have beautiful views across Dunstable Park to the town.

At Court Road: -
The single-track railway would terminate at Court Road. Surveys of the disused railway formation after the foliage was cleared raised the issue as to whether the design would raise the railway to the level of the bus way and Court Road (through route) on to a widened embankment or leave the railway at the level of the surrounding land.

Operating methods
The train services would be operated by a Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) with steam following later on.

The large front windows of DMUs give passengers unrivalled views to forward and rear of the train, which would allow them to appreciate the contrast between the drab landscape at the start of the running line and the linear corridor to South Apex, and the beautiful view across the grass land and beneath the trees at Dunstable Park.