Teifi Valley Railway

My problem with Draper was not the message but the fact that, in his case, actions did not always coincide with his message to others.

Also he seemed to have an odd prejudice that getting money from the National Lottery was somehow inferior to getting finance from other sources.

PH

 

Could Draper have realised that whilst National Lottery comes in (larger) chunks it has 2 drawbacks in that (a) it takes a lot of (scarce voluntary) resources for each application and (b) each request needs a complete application whilst finance from other sources can be continuous once tapped into.

If such is the case Draper was ahead of the game as many heritage lines are beginning to accept that Lottery Funding is best for major projects where the funds required justify the time and effort spent on it. I wonder how many requests have (a) been rejected by the National Lottery for technical reasons (i.e. faulty submissions) (b) been halted by the applicants on the grounds that the reward (i.e. funds) didn't justify the effort of applying.

Note to Moderators : This may be the opening salvo in a flurry of posts that might justify a separate thread.

 

In my experience, the successful teams raising funds by way of grants, of which Lottery is just perhaps the best known and most "permanent" of sources, focus entirely on that task - and if you are relying on people "fitting it in" to complete applications, then you will get nowhere fast. There is knowledge and expertise available, and often from those who would not perhaps be attracted by by getting oily etc.

Particularly for bigger bids, the Lottery will advise on the contents of an application before it is submitted. Yes, this means you end up possibly amending the project to better fit the current Lottery criteria (and they evolve over time), so any bid that falls on technical reasons may simply be those bidding being unwilling to take advice!

Any grant funding can be viewed as not worth the commitments entered into - Lottery may well be one of the best, as any regional development funding is likely to be looking at job creation and the on-going wage bill can after a few years be more than the Grant - and a continuing cost. Lottery bids don't automatically seek new jobs as part of the "pay-back", although of course they can still be inherent. The Lottery will also allow running costs of a project for the first few years while it is established to be part of what they fund. The lottery itself is becoming more and more unlikely to fund "running costs", except specific items like certain special events.

Almost all Grants expect to be part of a funding package and your chances of success are always boosted by showing a wide range of funding and wider support, probably trying to apply for a lower than maximum percentage support (although some funders do like to be a majority funder) and it is still possible to end up fully funding a project from various sources (and I tend to think of donations, share sales etc. as "funding" as it is for a specific purpose and not automatically the result of on-going operations).

In many ways, the views Michael expressed, as retold by Steam Railway (and I suspect they reported a particular selection, although the fact he did a couple of interviews suggests he wasn't unhappy with the overall picture painted!) were the obvious logical warning. The movement was expanding rapidly, many projects were starting with very little and it seemed logical it would be a huge struggle to achieve their aims. You could argue that perhaps only Swanage of the "railways from trackbeds" lines has yet achieved their full aim, but the likes of G&WSR have also made huge advances and can congratulate themselves on massive achievements, as well as still being "work in progress". Few who have actually started on site anywhere have failed.

It is often argued that our movement was never based on logic - certainly, many, many lines annually prove BR were right - even with volunteer input, you can't make money running steam trains! The movement has constantly defied logic, but that doesn't mean it can be run in an illogical and unbusiness-like manner. Logic still says there are massive challenges ahead - the effect on volunteer numbers of the every increasing retirement age, the aging of the work-force that remembers steam in daily use by BR, the aging of machinery and infrastructure, the risk of violent weather events etc. Personally, I think the inability to fund infrastructure renewals, which are likely to come in big batches as particularly bridges and structure built at similar times become life expired at similar times, is the biggest challenge but remain optimistic that "good luck" (= unseen bl**dy hard work over a long period by unsung heros usually!) will mean heritage railways continue to defy logic for many years to come!

Steven

 

Re: South Wales, having seen it and their ambitions, I think the Pontypool and Blaenavon has potential to grow to a reasonable size, still a fair way to go mind.

 

But to move this thread back to where it should be, i hope teifi does survive this and is stronger - good luck to everyone in South Wales.

 

I'm the new TVR Webmaster, having been elected at the Special General Meeting a couple of weeks ago, where there were a number of changes to the Society Committee. There's certainly a lot to do, but there are people involved who are determined to do it. I'm still finding my way around, as I'm new to the railway, although I only live a couple of miles away, so I'll be able to get there regularly to get the latest news, and photograph progress.

So far I've updated the appearance and content of the web site, although I have plans for major changes later. There's more work to do on it, and more content to add, that will be done gradually. I also set up a new Facebook page today, as I couldn't trace the owners of the existing ones.

We need lots of support, and the more we have the more certain we can be of our success. So if anyone would like to volunteer, please get in touch. I'll be adding more about what help we need to the web site and Facebook as soon as I can.

http://www.teifivalleyrailway.org
https://www.facebook.com/TeifiValleyRly (please Like and share if you use Facebook)

 

Regarding National Lottery grants , the other issue is that any railway has to show that it has right of tenure, that's why the SKLR gave up trying to secure a grant from the Lottery in the end, even though its a very deserving case and in a poor area with no heritage.
That's why you usually see quite well off railways get even more money not once but maybe repeatedly.

 

Yet another reason, along with accumulation of scrap, why questions of ownership on heritage railways need to be sorted.

PH

 

But - going back to Michael Draper for a moment and his concern re Lottery Funds - was his argument not similar to that now being made regarding Foreign Aid in that some recipients reach the point where funding becomes not "support" funding but "dependency" funding in which case there is the view that the project becomes a waste of funds as it is becomes unable to self fund to completion ?

 

I think it was more to do with a "don't hold with that" attitude!

PH

 

Teifi Valley Railway update: the Railway has been reduced to a social club and the Responsible Person enjoys playing with Alan George, driving her up and down the remaining 100 yards of track. The Company does nothing. Very sad.

 

Teifi Valley Railway Ltd
Who owns it?
How do I go about buying shares?
Can I buy shares?

 

check on the Companies House website.

 

Company has £100,000 share capital of which only approx. £60,000 has been issued. Over 50,000 held by the TVR Society, rest by individuals.
NB Company is a not-for-profit company, which means any profit is reinvested in the Railway and no dividends are paid to shareholders. So if you buy shares you are making a donation. Because of the very minor shareholding outside the Society, not much attention is paid to shareholders.

 

The impression I have from the FB page is that the best is being made of the present situation, at least with a cafe, play area and extended miniature there are some items of interest. Clearly the sucess or otherwise of the track relaying is going to be key to the future, is there anyone in the know about when this might restart?

Regards

Matt

 

The headline last summer should have been "Gullible pensioners taken in by conman", when the Society Executive Committee gave permission for the first 800 yards of track to be torn up, following a worthless promise that it would be replaced and operational by Easter 2015. These people are still there as Society members. No sign of an apology for their mistake. As the ORR Inspector pointed out last June, amateurs are not enough and the Railway is not viable unless several experienced professional people, including experienced railway people, are directing the business. No sign of any so far.
The Company only gained its LRO by submitting a detailed business plan and promising to establish close relations with the Talyllyn, who trained and certificated safety critical personnel and (in the person of John Bate) advised on tracklaying, Rule Book, and operations generally. Since then it has passed through several cycles of success and recession, but never before sunk so low as now.

 

As to a new start who do you contact to become member and how much is the annual membership