Severn Valley Railway to launch £4,000,000 share issue.

Perhaps of interest is the latest missive from Shelagh Paterson of the Charitable Trust at the other place now makes no mention of the S*********s word.

 

Just as long as it wasn't then decided that the deal was too good and should therefore be terminated forthwith! That wouldn't do much for the PR, I'm sure! Declaration of interest in that I have one of the passes for myself and a friend, though I will most certainly end up spending more in shops, buffets etc by the time it runs out than I would have done with the resident's pass I had last year. (Which I might not have renewed anyway, given its much-reduced discount compared with 2012.)

As far as improvements to facilities go, I tend to agree with the "four Bs" as far as Bridgnorth is concerned. The toilets and buffet in particular, from the family (as opposed to enthusiast) point of view. Otherwise, the only thing I really would like changed is virtual rather than physical: the introduction of an email-based enquiries service. Almost every other significant heritage railway in the country has one, and there are some times when phoning during office hours just isn't practical. But otherwise the friends I've brought to the railway have generally been very impressed with it as it stands.

 

This has gone very quiet.

I guess the SVR's management is doing some very serious sucking through teeth.

Moreover, what do those people that have already parted with their gilt think of the utter inaction?

 

It's the AGM this Saturday. I shall be there for the promised debate.

 

And?

 

Considerable work is being undertaken on the Bridgnorth project. Look on the svrlive website and click on "Bridgnorth Development" for a detailed August update of progress.
There is a meeting scheduled for 3rd November at the Engine House where the proposals will be presented and discussed.

All sounds much more sensible now, after the earlier issues.

46118

 

Quite so, 46118. Informed sources indicate that what will be announced in November will be aesthetically gorgeous, properly in the GW tradition, quite modest in the first phase, and very carefully built on solid financial planning and projections. It is a safe bet to assume it will be welcomed by all stakeholders, including but by no means restricted to the Holdings Board, and will help release additional funds from shareholders and members for all the other major capital projects looming over the horizon but curiously not all highlighted in the 2012 prospectus.

And it needs to; capital and revenue support are both essential for the foreseeable future - Bewdley is a series of structural infrastructure liabilities on a site the Company doesn’t have free unencumbered title to (according to Companies House it is mortgaged to the council, unlike everything else, which is mortgaged to HSBC) while Kidderminster still needs a platform canopy to nudge the railway towards being an all-weather attraction and complete the vision behind the (over-subscribed) 1983 share issue. With no cash reserves, everything mortgaged, and decent profits proving too difficult for the management to deliver, the accounts need restoration as much as Bewdley buffet does. There are still paid consultants crawling over the C & W, and that will presumably end, as per industry consultant norms, with a demand to spend more money before carriages succumb as the loco fleet did. The track will continue to try to fall in the river and/or wear out. In this business, financial bad news is inevitably followed by even worse news. Easy it ain’t.

And because it isn't easy, the other outstanding piece of business is to ask how the toxic and inappropriate Steamworks scheme ever gained traction, and exactly how much money was sunk in it. The Heritage Committee has proved its business and professional credentials and is beyond reproach. But where is the Audit Committee? On holiday? In hiding? Busily looking the other way? If £100,000 of hard-earned cash has been wasted, as insider estimates have it (and no-one is denying it), there has to be some accountability, surely; good corporate governance demands it even if no-one else does...

 

Well well well. GFG emerges to raise eyebrows yet again. Welcome back.

Although I think a lot of what you have posted is correct; the question of the Audit Committee's scrutiny of the financial arrangements for the lease of the new company HQ remains unconfirmed. I would like to be assured that no questionable practices have taken place. Whilst this board has £1.5M burning a hole in its pocket members need assurance that all is well from the Audit Committee.

On another topic announced as part of the share issue; we see the paid appointment of Richard Thurlow as Heritage Skills Training Academy Officer to take the three - yes all three - apprentices under his wing. Shouldn't the illustrious Audit Committee have asked what happened to the other two that were promised as the first year's intake? Moreover - do the sums still add up favorably for SVR with only three?
The great unwashed are unaware of what the Audit Committee has been doing, but we must conclude they have neither been looking at the HQ move from BY to KR nor the Heritage Skills Training Academy.

 

Richard Thurlow is only working one day a week "on average", so I doubt his wages are going to be a major issue. Maybe there is some Grant money for the project that provides for his costs anyway.

GFG: Gosh, welcome back. I was going to go to the Autumn Steam Gala on saturday, but it sounds as if I should first check the SVR is in fact still open and operating over the weekend....

46118

 

Thank you 46118 – you will have a great Gala; the unwashed will do their stuff and put on the greatest scheduled railway show in Europe and perhaps the world. It is what they do, and they are good at it. I think my theme is more around “lions led by donkeys” and the need for good corporate governance.

Louis, I think the Academy is financial small beer – even if it goes wrong it will not break the bank and nor will the shiny new “Ralls Hall” HQ. But such things are often seen as extravagant – there is a sort of justification for it in the latest SVR News in the GM’s Notes, although he has not bored us with any actual numbers so we must take what he says in good faith. Perhaps an unequivocal statement of support from the Audit Committee would have bought some useful clarity to 1 Comberton Hill. Steamworks was special because it was suicidal and the good thing is it has been killed. The bad thing is that the finances (in part due to that very project and the diversion of management time and cash it caused) remain parlous, the medium and long term liabilities are immense. Focus is needed and must be demonstrable to supporters because good faith is in short supply. Some hard evidence that neither Board will ever again take the railway to the edge of the cliff would be useful given the massive demands for cash they will have to make soon - the liabilities dwarf the £1.5 million - which after launch expenses and the Steamworks fiasco is not very much more than they owe HSBC so I am sure it isn't burning holes in anyone's pocket. Not if they can do sums (mostly subtraction) anyway.

An absence of decent profits means you are destined to be playing with and dependant upon other people’s money if you want to stay in the game at all. The existence of the charity is evidence of an awareness that the railway can no longer wash its own face financially. A lack of financial independence calls for different behaviours by the firm. Those “Other people” are entitled to know their money is being cherished and is in good hands. The H Board did the right thing in dumping Steamworks in favour of the Heritage Committe voice of reason and a volunteer-led solution. It must now demonstrate that it has learned something...and be seen to clean the stable out.

 

Having just returned from a week in sunny Bridgnorth (and only my second visit to the SVR), I have just waded through the last few pages of this thread.

I haven't had time to make any detailed look into what is or isn't in the pipeline for Bridgnorth or elsewhere on the railway (so please don't all shout at me). However, as someone with more of a 'normals' (i.e. Joe Public) mentality than the average railway buff, FWIW here's what struck me:

Buffet: Given the SVR's status as one of the UK's premier heritage lines for so many years, the fact that the buffet is stuffed in an old Portakabin struck me as somewhat incongruous. It's just not a pleasant environment in which to eat. And the coffee out of that machine is virtually undrinkable. I was very tempted to give it back and demand a teaspoon of Nescafe and sugar in a mug of water from the kettle. Why so many concerns rely on the vile concoctions from vending machines beats me (apart from the fact that they are no doubt nicely subsidised by the machine company...)

Toilets: Keep the current gents for the less faint-hearted males - but additional, new, facilities are definitely needed for the average Joe and Joanne and their 2.5 kids.

Railwayman's Arms: I love it exactly as it is - indeed it's the main reason we chose to spend a week's holiday in the town, within walking distance. Physically extending it would permanently lose some of it's unique and historic charm. However... one of the real joys of the Railwayman's Arms is sitting outside as the engines are put to bed. Extending the platform canopy to offer a bigger dry, outdoor place to drink in inclement weather (perhaps with patio heaters?) would have the dual benefit of keeping passengers drier during the day (patio heaters could be wheeled out of the way and only brought out in the evening) and also mean a gentleman doesn't get soaked when it is raining and the beer is going through him a bit quick. A GWR-style canopy on the footbridge would also be good for those evenings with a pint in your hand and the smell of hot oil in your nostrils.

Stock stabling: Further to the above, stabling stock in the far platform when possible would make sitting on the platform with a pint rather less claustrophobic than when it's in the main platform. I know it would mean a couple of shunts a day, but that's what the 08 is for.

Timetables: The blue timetable is rubbish if you're starting at Bridgnorth and want to make a round trip on the railway, but combine it with another activity, like a walk round Arley Arboretum or linger in the Engine House for a bit.

Locos: Perhaps some sort of basic undercover shelter for the locos stabled at Bewdley during the week?

School parties: I understand why school parties are so important to the railway. However on one day we visited three carriages of the Gresley set were reserved for a riot of kids, who took forever to join the train at Highley. It meant that the rest of the train got rather uncomfortably crowded. When such parties are booked - as they surely are in advance - could the operating department not add a carriage or two to the fixed sets?

That's about it with regard the things that struck me as a 'normal punter.

By the way, the Geekfinder-General's style of writing reminds me remarkably of someone with an unhealthy fascination for SVR-based 2700hp and a former line in winding folk up on the 'four letter' forum. I'd wondered where he might pop up again...

 

Well said DisusedBranch. After visiting earlier in the year I nearly earned an outright ban on visiting other preserved railways from the mrs following our experience at the Bridgnorth station.

 

DisuedBranch - I agree with most of what you say especially the Buffet. Everyone is awaiting the revised Bridgnorth development plans. The only small issue I have is adding a coouple of coaches if there are a lot of parties. Many of the summer trains already load to 8 coaches which is the length of Hampton Loade loop. You can have one longer train running but some locos are limited to 8 anyway. It is a ballancing act and I understand your concerns

 

In fairness to GFG, he is right to highlight the liabilities and indebtedness, but is the SVR ever likely to resolve that situation merely by running steam services? No, in themselves they are probably at best "break even", other things need to come into play.

Anyway, no Gala for me now. Life is uncertain, and a family member has just been unexprectedly discharged from hospital in Cambridge after neuro surgery (brain tumour) on monday, and so we depart in haste for the East to help out a frantic and quite scared daughter.

Can you sort out the NHS as well, GFG,.......no, dont go there please....!

regards

46118

 

46118: My thoughts are with you and your daughter - as a regular patron of the NHS recently I know that having family around you is every bit as important as the standard of medical care. (I tried to PM this but discovered I don't know how - sorry for my leaden footed ineptitude).

Threelinkdave: If SVR can get passenger numbers back to 250,000 the extra cash makes all the pinch points you rightly identify disappear. The £500,000 a year they would bring in fares and other spend drives a virtuous circle of investment AND meets the civil and mechanical liabilities. Forming a charity and throwing yourself on the mercy of strangers is only OK if you have truly explored every penny of independent trading income that is out there. SVR has not yet made an evidence-based case that it cannot wash its own face year on year - only that it doesn't seem to want to, or knows how, and that is not the same as cannot. Charity law, though much abused, exists to help those who really cannot help themselves. My point is that we do not KNOW that SVR cannot wash its face - only that this year and since 2007 it isn't even coming close.

Disused Branch; Sorry to disappoint, but for me diesels, 2700hp or otherwise are useful, but also boring tools, as are some of their devotees, and I have never contributed to wnxx. xnxx is far more interesting, although probably best not from the office. Very much like your suggestions for civilised drinkies on the platform though!

 

I have had the same experience. My spouse doesn't really 'do' railways, but she was already metaphorically writing a cheque for the (what she thought was disused) cottage by the loco shed when, to her considerable disappointment, she noticed that loco crew were going in and out of it.

That's a fair point, I hadn't really thought about the length of loops, etc. This lot were so bloody noisy that, frankly, I'd have stuck them in a bunch of wagons. We sat as far away as we could possibly get, the last compartment of the train which (three carriage lengths away), and the entire journey still sounded like The Great St Trinians Train Robbery and a disaster movie being both played at the same time and turned up to 11.

Mmm... With that familiar turn of phrase, I really can't make my mind up whether to believe you or to think that the lady doth protest too much, Neil. Currently the latter is winning by a short, Class 50ish nose.

 

I refer the Honourable Member to my earlier answer. xnxx is a foreign country to me-they do things differently there. You may be confusing me with Michael Timms, who is shorter than I am and at the time of writing, more dead too. I did very briefly hold custodianship of a Class 50, but I didn't like it and wasn't very good at it either.

Keep hoovering on!

 

As the end of the Enterprise Investment Rebate Scheme approaches I'm a little surprised to notice no final push by SVR(H) board or its unelected representatives during this Autumn Steam Gala. As the amount raised by the share offer is now unlikely to significantly increase is anyone aware of the expected final figure? More importantly, after the reported waste of £100,000, just how modest will this first phase of development have to be?

A snippet of information that might also raise some eyebrows - I'm also informed the locomotive works expansion behind the boiler-shop has been severely cut back to what will now be a Portacabin.
I'm not suggesting these building are of poor quality because if maintained properly they can last as long as the Buffet.