Chairman's Report - December 2008
CHAIRMAN’S
TRAINS OF THOUGHT ….
I’ll start this piece by thanking two members who having served the Railway for a long time in a number of roles are who stepping back a bit.
Peter Harris has stepped down as a Trustee and Director having been on the board for the last 18 years. Peter is member number 5 of the Railway and has played a key and active role in its development from the original idea of preserving the branch, through to its development as today’s successful heritage railway. Whilst he’s standing back from the Board Peter is continuing as an active volunteer whenever he can find the time.
Don Williams is stepping back from the role of Passenger Services Manager, although like Peter he is going to continue as an active volunteer in the ticket office. Don too has been involved in the Railway for a long time in a variety of roles, latterly as Passenger Services Manager responsible especially for the successful operation of the Cream Teas, with the able assistance of the on-train Cream Tea team. It was Don’s idea to ‘relocate’ the Shop to the main part of the Station building so as to increase sales, and a very good idea that has proved.
Thank you both for all the time and effort you’ve put in to the roles you’ve undertaken and we look forward to continuing to see you at Chinnor.
On that point, it’s often not appreciated just how much time the volunteer Managers and Directors put in to their roles. Taking on such a job involves all manner of activities that don’t appear in the public view and entails a high level of commitment to the running of the Railway.
So I’d like to publicly thank all our colleagues who do take on these additional roles.
We have had some very successful events too with lots of people visiting the Railway. The Diesel Gala on 3rd of August was one of the busiest with 705 passenger journeys that day (that does include multiple rides - but just think of all those passengers for the on-train staff to look after!)
And we’ve just run this year’s Santa Specials, and very successful they’ve been too with a good number of trains filled to capacity.
Thanks to the careful control of Bob Ellisdon our Treasurer costs have been held within the revised forecast, but some big expenditure items are around the corner!
A lot of work has been done to keep the carriages up to scratch. Some of it seemingly involved a lot of deep thinking, head-scratching and tea drinking to sort out some problems with the linkages from vacuum cylinders to brakes, but many cups of tea later all was resolved. Thanks to Richard Weston, John Smith, Cyril Crouch, Graham Petts and the rest of the team.
We have asked for arrangements to be made for a team from the Railway to walk the proposed lease area, so that we can make a detailed assessment of the condition of the permanent way, structures etc before the formal legal documents are drawn up.
So, it’s progressing well, but there’s some way to go before the contract and legal documents are drawn up and finally agreed.
The Watercress Beds Embankment has been examined by a professional civil engineer and work needs to be done to fix the embankment for the long term. Current thinking is to strip a layer of ballast and soil off the top of the embankment to reduce the total weight of it and to widen the trackbed. This will help reduce the ‘creep’ that has been taking place. This isn’t a job that we think can be done by volunteers in the time that would be available without risking having the Railway seriously shortened for a period of time. So we are investigating the costs of getting the work done by contractors.
The Horsenden Curve has also been professionally examined and found to be in need of some urgent remedial work. The decision was made to stop all traffic passing over it until the track is re-laid. This again is a task beyond the capacity of our volunteers in an acceptable timescale, so we have contracted the work out. Work is currently in progress and we anticipate the 187 metres of new trackwork being in place and ready to use soon.
Finally on this topic, during the November Working Week a lot of work was undertaken on sleeper replacement at a number of points along the line. Thanks to Graham Petts for all his efforts in organising the Working Week, and to all those who volunteered to put in over 100 man-days of work in a seven-day period. We all enjoyed it so much that Graham is now preparing for another Working Week in the early part of 2009!
I’ll end by thanking every single person who has supported the Railway by their volunteer work, by their generous financial support by way of membership fees, donations or as fare paying passengers, and wish everyone a rather belated very Happy Christmas and New Year.
Roger Fagg
Peter Harris has stepped down as a Trustee and Director having been on the board for the last 18 years. Peter is member number 5 of the Railway and has played a key and active role in its development from the original idea of preserving the branch, through to its development as today’s successful heritage railway. Whilst he’s standing back from the Board Peter is continuing as an active volunteer whenever he can find the time.
Don Williams is stepping back from the role of Passenger Services Manager, although like Peter he is going to continue as an active volunteer in the ticket office. Don too has been involved in the Railway for a long time in a variety of roles, latterly as Passenger Services Manager responsible especially for the successful operation of the Cream Teas, with the able assistance of the on-train Cream Tea team. It was Don’s idea to ‘relocate’ the Shop to the main part of the Station building so as to increase sales, and a very good idea that has proved.
Thank you both for all the time and effort you’ve put in to the roles you’ve undertaken and we look forward to continuing to see you at Chinnor.
On that point, it’s often not appreciated just how much time the volunteer Managers and Directors put in to their roles. Taking on such a job involves all manner of activities that don’t appear in the public view and entails a high level of commitment to the running of the Railway.
So I’d like to publicly thank all our colleagues who do take on these additional roles.
2008
We’ve had a successful year. With the loss of the Day Out With Thomas events, we licked the ends of our pencils and went through the budgets again at the beginning of the year to prune our income and expenditure forecasts. After a bit of a scary start - the Easter weather was dreadful - the year has picked up and by the end of September ticket income was 15% ahead of our revised forecast. Cream Tea sales are 73% ahead of the revised forecast and Shop sales 41% ahead of forecast.We have had some very successful events too with lots of people visiting the Railway. The Diesel Gala on 3rd of August was one of the busiest with 705 passenger journeys that day (that does include multiple rides - but just think of all those passengers for the on-train staff to look after!)
And we’ve just run this year’s Santa Specials, and very successful they’ve been too with a good number of trains filled to capacity.
Thanks to the careful control of Bob Ellisdon our Treasurer costs have been held within the revised forecast, but some big expenditure items are around the corner!
Locomotives/carriage and wagon
The locomotive, and carriage fleet has performed well. 9682 had a bit of a hiccup during June and was out of service for a while whilst some boiler repairs were undertaken, but she steams on successfully and will be with the Railway until the end of October 2009.
The diesel fleet includes two Class 37’s (37116 and 37219), the Class 31, our trusty 08, IRIS and the still under restoration Class 17. All the active locomotives have all performed well.A lot of work has been done to keep the carriages up to scratch. Some of it seemingly involved a lot of deep thinking, head-scratching and tea drinking to sort out some problems with the linkages from vacuum cylinders to brakes, but many cups of tea later all was resolved. Thanks to Richard Weston, John Smith, Cyril Crouch, Graham Petts and the rest of the team.
Chinnor Ground Frame
Well that’s the name on the front of the signal cabin Steve Growcott and his team have worked wonders bringing the signal cabin into active service - hence the name, as it is the replacement for the former ground frame hut. The team have delivered a splendid restoration and implementation programme, and there’s still more to come. When you’re next at Chinnor do take a close look at the work that’s been done - including laying carpet (do we have to put on carpet slippers when we go inside now?!)
Former cement works
We’ve had further discussions with Taylor Wimpey, who own the site, over the future re-development of the site and the implications for the Railway. The discussions have been satisfactory, but, not surprisingly given the current economic climate, the future is not clear. At the time of writing Taylor Wimpey have not re-submitted a planning application to South Oxfordshire District Council, so it’s a case of watch this space (literally I suppose!).
Princes Risborough Extension
Further discussions have been held with Network Rail, following the submission by us of the revised Form B application (the detailed design of the replacement sidings for Network Rail). At our last meeting with them we were told that the Form B design had been approved and signed. That completes that piece of work, undertaken for us by Scott Wilson Railways Ltd. Work on this was started some time ago by Richard Floyd, who submitted the Form ‘A’ application - the outline design proposal. Following the approval of the Form B design it has been possible to draw in the final land boundaries on the plan of the land that Network Rail will offer us for lease.We have asked for arrangements to be made for a team from the Railway to walk the proposed lease area, so that we can make a detailed assessment of the condition of the permanent way, structures etc before the formal legal documents are drawn up.
So, it’s progressing well, but there’s some way to go before the contract and legal documents are drawn up and finally agreed.
However, some other problems
I mentioned earlier that we were managing to hold our expenditure within the revised forecasts. There are a number of important items that have to be addressed and will incur unplanned costs.The Watercress Beds Embankment has been examined by a professional civil engineer and work needs to be done to fix the embankment for the long term. Current thinking is to strip a layer of ballast and soil off the top of the embankment to reduce the total weight of it and to widen the trackbed. This will help reduce the ‘creep’ that has been taking place. This isn’t a job that we think can be done by volunteers in the time that would be available without risking having the Railway seriously shortened for a period of time. So we are investigating the costs of getting the work done by contractors.
The Horsenden Curve has also been professionally examined and found to be in need of some urgent remedial work. The decision was made to stop all traffic passing over it until the track is re-laid. This again is a task beyond the capacity of our volunteers in an acceptable timescale, so we have contracted the work out. Work is currently in progress and we anticipate the 187 metres of new trackwork being in place and ready to use soon.
Finally on this topic, during the November Working Week a lot of work was undertaken on sleeper replacement at a number of points along the line. Thanks to Graham Petts for all his efforts in organising the Working Week, and to all those who volunteered to put in over 100 man-days of work in a seven-day period. We all enjoyed it so much that Graham is now preparing for another Working Week in the early part of 2009!
So to conclude
Overall a good year. There are a number of unexpected, and costly, things that have to be completed, but I guess running any railway is going to involve such things. We are operating successfully, our passengers enjoy riding with us and lots of them come back time and again.
I’ll end by thanking every single person who has supported the Railway by their volunteer work, by their generous financial support by way of membership fees, donations or as fare paying passengers, and wish everyone a rather belated very Happy Christmas and New Year.
Roger Fagg