Plc Away-day Meeting

 A couple of weeks ago on Saturday 9th August 2015, the Plc Board held its annual all day board meeting. This is an opportunity for the Board to get together and spend as long as is necessary discussing some of the more pressing issues facing the railway. This is something which is simply not available at a normal Friday evening Board Meeting, when so much other business has to be dealt with.

The principal matter for discussion at this meeting, was to seek to agree upon a plan of all that remains necessary to open the railway to Broadway in the Spring of 2018; now less than three years away.

A huge amount has already been done, but here is still a tremendous amount to do. It was agreed that we should now work to a five year plan of opening within three years, to be followed by two years of consolidation.

The greatest difficulty we have in planning for the opening, is in being able to predict with any degree of certainty how many extra passengers we are likely to have to provide for. We also need to consider their travel patterns. Will they want to travel from one end of the line to the other, or will they want to break their journeys? That has a significant impact on a proposed timetable. It also impacts on the facilities we have to offer at each intermediate station.

After much discussion, we came to the decision that however it is finally structured, for normal services the timetable will potentially be two seven coach steam trains each day, with a DMU running over part of the line. So, similar to how the timetable is now, but expanded and reorganised.

Obviously, we would prefer it if people broke their journey; spent more time on the railway and sampled all we have to offer in the way of entertainment. For that reason, we are considering the possibility of terminating one of the steam services at Toddington to create the potential for passengers to change to another train to complete their journey to Broadway. It is still in the planning stage, and no final decisions have yet been made.

We considered volunteer resources required for running an expanded railway with a more intensive timetable; at least in mid week. We have had a significant number of new volunteers recently in various departments, but those who have gone to operational departments will take time to be trained and feed through to actually filling rosters. We have to ensure that as far as possible, we have enough staff to actually operate the trains we timetable. Our mid week trains are already getting busier, and we need to plan to continue to resource them.

Facilities at Broadway have to be considered. There is provision in the proposed new building for either a shop or a cafe; but not room for both.It was felt that a waiting room and shop with tea / coffee facilities might offer more, and be easier to manage. With the new EPOS system installed, a single till could cover all facilities. Decisions need to be made, to match the construction and fitting out.

Obviously all this expansion has to be paid for, and it is no secret that we have felt for some time that we need to plan another share issue, to seek to raise sufficient to cover the cost. If we cannot raise enough money, we shall not be able to open. It is as simple as that. Much of the preparatory work for this share issue has already been done by our Financial Director Chris Bristow, and he will be working hard at completing it in time for Easter next year when it will be launched. The success of this share issue is crucial; the anticipated profit on our day-to-day operations over the next three years, will not on its own be enough to pay for the proposed extension.

You will note that I have not mentioned actual tracklaying. Provision has of course been made for that, but just clearing and repairing the formation; dealing with fencing, drainage, signalling, cabling and building a basic track layout from Laverton into the station will cost in excess of £750,000.That is not including the construction of a car park at Broadway, which is of course essential to an opening there.

Please also bear in mind that whilst so much remains to be spent on the extension to Broadway, there are necessarily only limited funds available for work elsewhere on the railway. We have to continue to manage, fund and operate a very successful heritage railway whilst all this expansion continues.

I hope that this summary gives you a little flavour of all that is going on, and how much effort is going into working to bring this expansion in our railway to a successful conclusion.

Richard Johnson
Director & Company Secretary.

Congratulations!

Just in case you have not seen this elsewhere, last week loco 35006, 'P&O', which has been slowly coming closer to the completion of its restoration, moved for the first time under its own power. The loco is owned by the 35006 Locomotive Company Ltd, which was specially created for the purpose of enlarging ownership of the loco and so raise funds for the restoration work - it is also supported by the 35006 Locomotive Society. Congratulations go to both in achieving this major milestone. Whilst its initial run was made using only the outside two of its three cylinders as some white-metalling remains before the inside motion can be completed, it was a very impressive sight to see this magificent loco moving so easily.


Not quite so well recorded, but still deserving of congratulations, was the award received by the Dinmore Manor Group of  'Engine of the Year Award 2014' from the Everything GWR website.


We look forward to seeing both engines operating together very soon.


Alan Bielby

New BG Arrival

If you have ridden the railway recently you may have noticed a newly arrived modified BG in Winchcombe yard. This is an ex-RES high security BG obtained for eventual use by the Permanent Way Dept - after a suitable spruce up and repaint. It is fitted with roller shutters and will be a very useful addition with its easy access doors and spacious interior. It was obtained at a very good price.


The big surprise came when it was opened for inspection on its arrival. It revealed an extensive collection of crockery, cutlery, glassware and cooking utensils. Clearly a restaurant car stock had been cleared and stored in this vehicle without the owner realising that it was about to make the journey to the GWR, We are currently contacting the owner to see if they would like it back. We rather hope not as it would be a very useful addition to our OTC needs for the third rake of coaches when we open to Broadway!


Alan Bielby

Catering on the railway

Although we have faith in our food hygiene systems and methods I think the something most OTC volunteers dread is the unannounced visit by the Environmental Health Inspector. This happens every couple of years and involves a very thorough inspection of the premises (what about this dust on the freezer vents) including the furniture and fittings, a check on our record keeping systems and of course a few questions to the staff on what we do and why we do it.  We had just such an inspection recently in the Coffeepot cafe.  The 3 volunteers on duty ably answered all of the questions, produced the records we are required to keep and demonstrated a good knowledge of the many food safety rules.  The result was just a minor bit of repair work required to the furniture in the kitchen, which has now been done, and a continuation of our 5 star status for the cafe.  Well done team.

We are now expecting a visit to the buffet car.

Richard Summers

Railway Catering Services 

Teddy Bear Tuesdays

A surprise hit this summer

Discovery coach

 Good to see the new Discovery Coach at Winchcombe is open and getting top marks from visitors

Number of visitors at the diesel gala

I am pleased to report that numbers this year were almost identical to 2014. We had 1423 visitors this time as against 1421 a year ago. And that was with such dreadful weather. An excellent result.

On a wider note, numbers are holding up well this summer against last year with an increase of over 20% over the past two weeks.
Colin Fewell