Tynedalesman - AGM Report & Society Officials

The 2004 Annual General Meeting report which was published in
Tynedalesman No. 141, December 2004 issue appears below:-

Annual General Meeting 2004 report

The twenty-first Annual General Meeting of the South Tynedale Railway Preservation Society (in its present form as a company limited by guarantee) took place on Saturday 13th November 2004, in the Masonic Hall at Alston. It was attended by 25 members, an encouraging increase from the record low of the previous year.

The meeting was opened promptly at 2.00 p.m. by the Chairman, John Sutton. Apologies for absence were received from 14 members. The minutes of the 2003 Annual General Meeting, copies of which had been circulated to members previously, were adopted as a correct record, on a proposal by Trevor Tattersall, seconded by Ian Howatt.

Written reports from the Chairman, Secretary, Membership Secretary and Heads of Departments had been circulated to members in advance. No questions were raised relating to the content of the reports, which were accepted by the meeting on a proposal by Michael Smith, seconded by Duncan Wheeler.

Copies of the written reports are reproduced below:-

Chairman�s Report
by John Sutton

When you elected me at the Annual General Meeting in November 2001, I set out five aims:-

For the Society to pay off its bank loan - not achieved.

For the Society�s accounts to remain in the black - achieved.

To have six carriages in service on passenger trains - not achieved.

To start work on the extension of the line towards Slaggyford - no physical work achieved but a great deal of preparation work has been done.
To see a ten per cent increase in members and volunteers - not achieved.

Looking at the above aims, it would seem that I have not been a very good Chairman. I will let you judge me for what we have or not achieved.

A great deal of track has been renewed. Steam locomotives, Helen Kathryn will be in steam this year, and in 2005 Thomas Edmondson will be back hauling the passenger service trains.

I would like to thank in particular the following members:-

Steven Dyke, our Secretary, for keeping the Council of Management and me in line on a variety of procedural and legal pitfalls;

Tom Bell, Assistant Secretary, for all of his hard work and support for me;

Mike Ryan, Treasurer, for his easy to follow financial reports, his guidance and support to both myself and to the Council of Management.

The Council of Management is all about teamwork and communication, at times lacking. Hopefully everyone will realize the importance of these and continue to work with the new Chairman, to ensure that teamwork and communication are paramount.

It only remains for me to say thank you to all of the members, not only of the Council of Management, but to all of the members who have given me their support, time and energy to maintain and operate the South Tynedale Railway.

I wish every success to the new Chairman and assure him of my full and continuing support.

John Sutton.

Secretary�s Report
by Steven Dyke

The bi-centenary of the first steam railway locomotive has been celebrated this year by a number of events nationally, of which the largest was undoubtedly �Railfest� at the National Railway Museum in York. It was a successful and well-attended event, demonstrating the continuing level of interest in railways, not only amongst enthusiasts and historians, but from the general public. That is good news for everyone involved in railway preservation, but there is increasing competition - for visitors, volunteers and funding - from a wide range of attractions and events, railway and non-railway.

A visitor survey has been undertaken on our line in course of this year. Its results may well show that most of our passengers enjoy their visit and consider it to be good value for money. There are limits, though, to how much time and money people are able to devote to days out. Even just in terms of railway attractions, there are several recent developments whose catchment areas overlap with ours. A downturn in passenger numbers, then, does not necessarily imply that we are doing anything wrong, but it may be simply an indication of increased competition.

It is perhaps disheartening that some of the essential work that is done by Society members, cannot be seen when completed. Some permanent way work and locomotive repairs are examples, apart from administration and mentions in reports, cannot do justice to the effort and skills involved, on the part of relatively few dedicated volunteers.

Since the previous Annual General Meeting, there will have been eight scheduled meetings of the Council of Management, with a special meeting under consideration, (at time time of writing), to discuss operating procedures. In the course of the year, it was agreed to appoint Mike Le Marie as a Council member. The combination of his new enthusiasm and others� powers of persuasion may have led him into accepting the nomination to be Chairman!

There is always the risk that a series of reports can create the impression of a �mutual admiration society�, but on this occasion a particular mention is deserved by the following Council members and officers:-

John Sutton and Alan Blackburn, who are at the end of their terms as Chairman and Deputy Chairman, for their efforts to keep the Society �on the right track�.

Ivan Ward, who is standing down from Council after long service, including his term as a former Chairman.

Mike Ryan, who is standing down from Council and from the post of Treasurer. His work in preparing financial reports and budgets has been greatly appreciated by Council members.

Robin Alderson, for so ably taking on the role of Newsletter Compiler on a temporary basis, in addition to his other responsibilities.

Duncan Wheeler, for his work in the post of Safety Liaison Officer.

Liesel von Metz, for offering to take over responsibility both for Tynedalesman and the re-titled post of Health and Safety Officer.

Tom Bell, for his continuing work as Assistant Secretary, dealing with the secretarial duties at Council meetings, which I am unable to attend regularly.

Steven Dyke.

Membership Secretary�s Report
by Kathy Aveyard

Membership Statistics

At the time of my reports to the 2001, 2002 and 2003 Annual General Meetings there were 260 members.

This has reduced by 15 to 245 in 2004; the lowest figure since 1979.

In 2003 there were 16 new members, with 13 members lost from the figures from non-renewals and 2 members deceased.

In 2004 there were 15 new members, with 27 non-renewals and 3 members deceased.

Of the 15 new members, 1 is from Alston and 4 are from the North East. 6 (40%) of these have expressed an interest in becoming actively involved with the Society�s activities.

Of the total membership:-

40% are from the North East;
23% are from the North West;
5% are from the West Midlands.

35% (86) are life members;
37% (90) are members paying the full annual rate.

We have 3 complimentary members in recognition of services to the Society.

The remaining members pay reduced rate (66%) subscription (i.e. junior associate, senior citizen or subsequent member at the same address as a full member).

Membership Subscriptions

The current rate of membership subscription no longer covers the cost of production and distribution of the newsletter. After careful consideration, the Council of Management agreed to recommend an increase in the rate of subscriptions to �15 (full rate) and �10 (reduced rate) with life membership remaining at 15 times the relevant annual rate for full, subsequent and senior members.

It is also proposed that eligibility for life membership should be restricted to those who have been annual members for a continuous period of 5 years, with the option of payment in 2 annual instalments.

Kathy Aveyard.

Forum Conveners� Reports
Infrastructure Department (Forum 1) Report
by Richard Graham

It has been a busy year, where everyone�s efforts are there for all to see. Some good gangs turned out after the end of the 2003 Santa Specials, to lift the points and track at the south end of Alston Station. Some of the old ash ballast was dug out with the digger, but it is quite a clumsy tool in a confined space, so a lot of hand-digging was also necessary to get the bed down to the correct level. Much of the trackwork which was removed almost fell to pieces as it was lifted; hardly surprising as it had had hardly anything done to it since it was laid over 20 years ago - not bad for second-hand materials!

We moved the buffer stops back to the wall, where they used to be in British Rail�s day, and when we re-laid the points on the platform road, they were moved about 6 feet south of their previous position, to ease the crossover. Whilst all of the track was out, water pipes were laid in from the water tower to the proposed positions of the forthcoming water cranes. The point drives were re-routed between the tracks, so as to keep the rodding away from the edge of the compound, where careless road drivers could damage it.

Also, ground signal no. 18 was redesigned to sit atop a post adjacent to the coal dock, and it was provided with ground detection, since, because of limited space, it was virtually impossible for the driver to see, that the switches were closed before proceeding over the points. It had been thought that temporary operating procedures would have to be adopted for the Easter 2004 weekend, however, with almost hours to spare, the last parts of the job were completed, inspected and certified, and normal operation could resume. There was still some final tidying up to be done and barrow crossings to be provided next to buffer stops, and this was done in one of those rare spare moments!

The second part of the Alston Station renewal project was undertaken during the May 2004 Work Week. This time it was more sheer physical effort than technical expertise, since it was just a case of lifting plain track, removing the rubbish, and re-laying on new sleepers and clean ballast. A mini-digger was hired in, and that proved much more controllable than the Massey Ferguson had been in the New Year. All we had to be careful of was not to hit the sewer that runs very close to the loop, otherwise we should all have been in the proverbial! To make life easier, we spent some time in the weeks beforehand, pairing up the rails in the loop to get rid of the very last of the staggered joints that had plagued us since 1983; then, when we came to do the re-laying, we only needed to undo the joints at the ends and near the signals, and bar the rails out of the way in long lengths. A convoy of dumper trucks (well, two), carried the waste ash ballast next door to the caravan site for re-use, and then returned to transport clean ballast as required, from the heap stored in the car park.

Apart from a bit of final consolidation and occasional maintenance, all we now have to do is to get Cumbria County Council to stop dumping floodwater and flotsam from half a mile away on the line and the track in Alston Station should last for a least another 25 years.

Also in the Spring of 2004, we met on site with representatives of Northumberland County Council, to look at detailed plans for the making up of the South Tyne Trail, where it runs along the railway, and alterations to the provisions at Slaggyford station. At present, it is hoped that external funding might be available to carry out this work in both the Cumbrian and Northumbrian sections, thereby completing some of the preliminary groundworks that will be needed, before we can start laying new railway track.

Further work has been done to keep Slaggyford station in reasonable order, but very soon there is going to have to be some fundamental work done on the station building to keep it structurally sound and weatherproof. Indeed we are probably going to have to look at its proper restoration sooner, rather than later.

A final design of the signaling requirements at Slaggyford has been drawn up, and the Signal & Telegraph�s Technical Section is designing the interlocking. Meanwhile, the lever frame is being cleaned, painted and pre-assembled in the workshop.

Work on the Yard Crane and Loading Dock at Alston Station have slowed owing to variety of unforeseen and unrelated events.

Fence repairs were necessitated, in the summer of 2004, when the unsuitability of the big round hay bale in a hilly district, such as ours, was amply demonstrated. One such, minding its own business in a field near Howgillrigg, was suddenly struck by a gravitational urge and rolled off down the hill, and, after splintering the wooden fence, it came to rest on the track. This section of fence will have to be one of the next to be replaced with hayproof, as well as lamb-proof sprung wire.

Although Forum 1 meetings have been scheduled through the year, none has been convened, presumably since everyone is still happy with the way Infrastructure work is proceeding.

Remember, that while there are organized railway works scheduled from time to time, there are also a lot of general tasks of a site maintenance nature to be done, which theoretically these come under Infrastructure�s remit: grass cutting, strimming, tree and shrubbery pruning, cleaning gutters, painting doors and windows, etc., etc,. There�s plenty of scope for someone to say, as in Isaiah Chapter 6, �Here am I. Send me.�

(Actually, that same passage also says �..... and his train filled the temple ..... and the whole house was filled with smoke .....� - railways obviously go back a long way!)

Richard Graham.

Operating Department (Forum 2) Report
by Robin Alderson

I would like to begin by saying, a big Thank You, to all of our operators and members, for giving their time and effort to enable the railway to run its scheduled services during the 2004 season. Also special thanks must go to the few members, who have the time and are able to put in those extra shifts when there are gaps on the roster sheet.

Congratulations to:-

Glen Kilday - for passing out as a Diesel Driver on diesel locomotive No. 4 on 16th May 2004;

John Thompson - for passing out as a Diesel Driver on diesel locomotive No. 4 on 19th June 2004;

Dave Hughes - for passing out as a Diesel Driver on diesel locomotive No. 4 during August 2004;

Glen Kilday - for passing out as a steam locomotive Fireman on 29th May 2004;

Duncan Wheeler - for passing out as a Steam locomotive Driver on 29th May 2004;

Jim Harper - for passing out as a Signalman on 17th July 2004;

Mike Le Marie - for passing out as a Guard on 7th September 2003;

Glen Kilday - for passing out as a Guard on 1st November 2003;

Mike Edwards - for passing out as a Guard on 6th June 2004;

John Gillott - for passing out as a Guard on 31st July 2004.

Thanks to all who have helped out with the catering this season, providing a valued facility for passengers, in the new catering section in the buffet coach No. 3.

Last October, 2003, we held our Halloween weekend, which considering it was the first time, went very well. I enjoyed myself and I hope that we all have another good event during this year, 2004. Also during October 2003, I dismantled coach No. 1, which is now ready for a rebuild.

Last year�s, 2003, Santa Special trains, were a great success. Again, thanks to everyone who helped with the preparation and assisted on the days. We need to put on an even better show this year, 2004, to build upon our past success. Please offer your help and ideas: contact Robin Alderson or Ivan Ward. Any decorations or Christmas items will be greatly appreciated.

During January, February and March 2004, coach No. 3 was converted into the buffet facility. The floor was covered with ply wood, the inside painted and the outside painted and varnished. The brake van was also rubbed down and repainted, both inside and out. One of the steel bodied coaches was refurbished inside and some repainting and varnishing was also done on the outsides of various other carriages.

The Family Fun Days weekend in 2004, went fairly well, with Drive a Diesel carrying 385 people over the three days. Teddy Bears� Picnic was a good success again.

The Steamathon Weekend in June 2004. Thanks to all who took part. Travelling to Kirkhaugh in the dark with Alan driving was an experience! I feel that we all enjoyed it in different ways, but overall it worked out very well. Do it again? No Thanks!

Thanks to Mike Le Marie for handling the rostering during my absence, in August and also to Carolyn Marshall for helping with the rostering during the season.

It just remains to wish you all a Very Happy Christmas and may we all have a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Robin Alderson.

Engineering Department (Forum 3) Report
by Alan Blackburn

The year of the Curate�s Egg:
It has been a year of highs and lows in the engine shed. No desperate lows, but not many great highs either!

Once again, we have had to run a season with only one steam locomotive. It makes us far too vulnerable to engine failures, especially during the month of steam, when there isn�t any time to service the loco. Naklo fortunately ran a mainly trouble free year, barring a spell of leaking tubes, although her end of year exam in September 2004, was a fraught affair as we had three and a half weeks to complete the strip down, cold exam, rebuild and steam test, but we did it.

On the carriage side, we have refurbished another of our steel bodied coaches, and transferred the catering from the guards van to the buffet coach, a conversion that is proving most popular. The stock itself has been largely trouble free this year, as indeed have the diesels, a sticking traction clutch on Naworth being the only notable problem.

In the engine shed, Helen Kathryn, our Henschel 0-4-0 tank loco, in for a ten year rebuild, has gone mostly very well, but was delayed when we had to replace five stays. We were going to get the boiler repairers to do this, but they had no spare time, so we had to fit them ourselves. Being threaded stays, this was a lot more time consuming than the simple welded stay like Naklo. This put back our completion schedule quite a bit, but we should still see it in action by the end of this year, 2004.

Thomas Edmondson, our 0-4-0 Henschel tank loco of 1918, and the winner of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, has been the cause of most of our delays. I cannot mention them all here, but the wheelsets, springs and axle box assemblies have been found to have considerable damage, which we had not expected, greatly adding to the work needed to get the frame finished. To add to our problems, the boiler needed more work than we anticipated, especially after we found it had been pierced by some type of medium artillery round! The repair, probably done in the field in the 1920s, was not deemed to be safe any more, and a new patch had to be rolled, cut and fitted.

Many of these problems have meant us finding new solutions, making many new parts, and tackling jobs that we have not done before. It has been a year of hard work, of overcoming each new problem before hitting the next one. It only remains for me to thank all of those involved, in all areas of engineering work, for their ability to keep pushing the jobs forward, especially on the days when nothing is going right. It has been a pleasure to work with them, and I look forward to celebrating the completion of our next locomotive, and the repair of my office chair! If you fancy joining them, you can, but remember, it�s not all coffee and doughnuts!

Alan Blackburn.

Commercial Department (Forum 4)
by Ivan Ward

In the past twelve months we have had our ups and downs, one of the �ups� being the emergence from the carriage works of coach no. 3, fully fitted out as a self-contained buffet coach. Robin Alderson is to be congratulated on his hard work at the beginning of January (the painter did a good job too!). This new facility has proved very popular with our passengers, with almost a 50% increase in sales. Unfortunately we have not been able to operate the coach as much as we would have liked (the same old story - shortage of volunteers).

As in previous years, the 2003 Santa Specials, were very popular, with many of our regular customers returning for the umpteenth time. Preparations for this year�s (2004) event are well under way, with only 400 presents to buy from the required 2,200.

The Family Fun Days, at the beginning of May 2004, were successful in that the event showed a surplus, but unfortunately, it still did not attract the customer numbers that the �Friends of Thomas� weekends achieved. It has been decided, therefore, to drop this event for 2005.

The Teddy Bears� Picnic event, this year (2004) was a success and we hope to hold this event again in 2005, but this will only be possible if more volunteers come forward to dress up as bears.

A detailed review has taken place of all of our special events, together with advertising/publicity, to see where money can be saved or where we can get better value for our hard-earned pounds. This is all being looked at in conjunction with a new visitor survey, which is being masterminded by Tom Bell.

Due to the workload in the carriage works at the beginning of the year, the new improvements planned for the shop could not be undertaken, and it was a tight schedule to complete the stocktaking and spring cleaning before the Easter opening. The range of souvenirs and other products continues to be expanded. The latest item is our tea towel which is selling reasonably well. It shows a picture of Naklo with the passenger train approaching the one mile post along the line.

The plan to introduce a new range of postcards has been put on hold until the end of the year, due to the lack of photographs, time, and, above all, the large capital outlay.

It only remains for me to thank all of the members and non-members who have helped in whatever way they could to run the shop, the buffet coach, and to make the special events a success.

Ivan Ward.

The following items were read out and discussed at the 2004 Annual General Meeting:-

Treasurer�s Report by Mike Ryan

The Treasurer, Mike Ryan, presented the statutory reports and accounts for the year ending 31st March 2004, in respect of the South Tynedale Railway Preservation Society and its subsidiary trading company, copies of which were circulated at the meeting. A financial summary had been issued to members in advance, and the full accounts are available to any member upon written request to the Treasurer.

The reports and accounts had been approved by the Council of Management, as required by company legislation, at their August 2004 meeting. Although a formal audit is no longer a requirement for small companies, there is independent examination of the financial records in the course of preparation of the reports and accounts by Dodd and Company. The Treasurer acknowledged that the �Review of Activities� section of the Society report had omitted to mention the achievements of the 2003 �trackwork week� and pointed out a minor error in the numbering of one of the notes relating to the accounts.

The Treasurer then gave a summary of the main features of the accounts and provided additional background to several notes to the accounts. The figure of �5,194 for �net incoming resources� represented the surplus from the year�s activities, with a further �1,289 under �restricted funds� relating to the grant received for the restoration of the steam locomotive Thomas Edmondson. The Treasurer acknowledged the work of Norman Johnson in dealing with Gift Aid claims.

The balance sheet showed that, after depreciation, the Society�s fixed assets at 31st March 2004 were valued at �344,455. Since the end of the financial year, the outstanding loans from members had been reduced to �3,000. The bank loan continues to reduce on the scheduled basis, with the figure of �60,833 for �amounts falling due in more than one year�, representing the balance that will be outstanding in March 2005. The deficit of �995 in the trading company account was regarded as a �paper� loss in view of the low proportion of fare income (2%) that is paid as a contribution to ticket office costs, also the investment in additional stock that had resulted in a subsequent increase in sales. Although there are separate bank accounts for the Thomas Edmondson project and the Slaggyford Extension Appeal, they are incorporated into the financial report of the Society.

The Slaggyford Extension Appeal had raised over �17,000, with a balance of approximately �15,000 in hand after expenditure on �100 Club� prizes, etc. There was a brief discussion of the ticket sales commission, in which it was mentioned that the overall effect of any change would be neutral, as the Sales Company�s profits are covenanted to the Society.

The meeting then agreed to accept the statutory reports and accounts on a proposal by Tom Bell, seconded by John Brassington.

The Treasurer then presented a short report on the first half of the current 2004-05 year, copies of which were circulated at the meeting. Although there is no formal requirement for this, it is customary to give members attending the Annual General Meeting an indication of the current year�s progress.

By early August 2004, passenger numbers were showing a slight increase over 2003, but subsequent poor weather led to a decline, resulting in a total of 13,667 at 30th September 2004, compared with 14,775 in the previous year. Together with the loss resulting from the burglary at Easter 2004, this produced fare income of �53,476 for the half-year, compared with a corresponding figure of �59,536 in 2003. There was a slight rise in other types of income and although, at the moment, we are using up out reserves, we are very unlikely to need to apply for an overdraft.

The two special events during the first half of 2004 produced mixed results, although October ended on an optimistic note with increased passenger numbers in the half-term week, including the Hallowe�en event. The Treasurer said that present indications are for the trading company to show an improved outturn at the end of the current 2004-05 year.

The Chairman�s favourable comments of the work of John Wilks, who had been employed to operate the shop and ticket office during the current year, met with the approval of the meeting. The financial summary for the current 2004-05 year was accepted on a proposal by Chris Cook, seconded by Jim Beckwith.

As reported previously, Mike Ryan will be standing down as Treasurer at the end of the current 2004-05 financial year. The Secretary drew attention to the Council of Management�s appreciation of his work in that post. The Chairman endorsed these remarks and referred also to Mike�s work as a Council member.

Council of Management Elections

The next item on the agenda was the election of members to serve on the Council of Management. As detailed in the notice of the meeting, the following members were standing for election or re-election:-

Chairman - Mike Le Marie;
Deputy Chairman - Richard Graham;
Ordinary members of the Council - Jim Beckwith, Alan Blackburn, Norman Cook, John Gillott and Duncan Wheeler.

As the number of candidates did not exceed the number of vacancies and there was no request for a ballot, it was agreed to declare them elected en bloc, on a proposal by Michael Smith and seconded by Karin Bell. The retiring Chairman, John Sutton, handed over the badge of office and expressed his good wishes to his successor, Mike Le Marie, who then took the chair for the remainder of the Annual General Meeting.

The new Chairman began his introductory remarks by saying that he felt honoured to have been elected. He then thanked his predecessor for his work over the past three years, which was endorsed by the applause of the meeting. He went on to say that he intended to set objectives for his term of office and acknowledged that the Society�s most important asset is �you� - the members.

One aim would be that work should be done once to a satisfactory standard, to avoid jobs having to be re-done. Marketing and publicity needs to be good, and we must offer value for money, as we are no longer the only preserved railway in the North Pennines area.

The number of operating days in the 2005 season is to be increased, and advance bookings for 19 coach parties have been received already, but this will of course require more staffing. There will also be more work needed to ensure that we keep up with safety requirements.

The new Chairman concluded by saying that his greatest hope was that work would start on constructing the Slaggyford extension, for which he intended to put proposals to the Council of Management initially.

Arrangements for examination of the Society�s Accounts

As the requirement for a formal audit no longer applies, the meeting was asked to consider the re-appointment of Dodd and Company as reporting accountants, at a remuneration to be agreed by the Council of Management. The Treasurer recommended their re-appointment, stating that he was very happy with their work and that there had been little increase in their charges over the past four years. The re-appointment of Dodd and Company was approved by the meeting, on a proposal by John Sutton, seconded by Sean Wilson.

Adoption of Subscription Rates for the Ensuing Year

The final item on the agenda concerned membership subscriptions. As stated in the Membership Secretary�s report, the Council of Management had recommended that, for 2005, subscription rates should be increased to �15 (full rate) and �10 (reduced rate), with the life membership fee continuing to be 15 times the relevant annual rate (with the exception of junior associates).

The meeting agreed to adopt the Council�s recommendation, on a proposal by Jim Beckwith, seconded by Ivan Ward. A separate proposal from the Council of Management was that life membership should be available only after continuous membership for five years and be payable by instalments over two years. There was a brief discussion of the reasons for the change and a related question concerning eligibility of subscription payments for Gift Aid.

The meeting approved the introduction of this rule, on a proposal by John Sutton, seconded by Mike Ryan, with only one member voting against.

Having concluded the formal business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 3.05 p.m., after which there was an interval for refreshments before the start of the informal meeting.

Report compiled by Steven Dyke.

Informal Meeting Report

The Annual General Meeting was followed by the now customary informal meeting for discussion of matters that do not fall within the formal business on the A.G.M. agenda. It was chaired by John Sutton, whose offer to do so had been accepted by the last meeting of the Council of Management. In his preliminary remarks, he expressed appreciation of the work of the other members who had stood down from the Council, welcomed those who had been newly elected, and thanked all of the Society members for their work.

No questions or subjects for discussion had been submitted in advance, but a variety of topics were covered in the course of the meeting, as follows:-

Locomotive No. 15 Old Hairy.

Although two other railways had expressed interest in obtaining this locomotive, there had been no further developments to date. The question of the storage charges invoiced to its owner will be pursued by the Council of Management in accordance with legal advice.

Re-introduction of Thomas the Tank Engine events.

From discussions with the company that licenses the events, this appeared unlikely, as the number of events was being reduced and the increased levels of activities involved would have major cost and staffing implications. Other possible events could be considered, although there had been little benefit from some that had been tried.

Restoration of Thomas Edmondson.

It is planned to arrange a �gala� event to mark this locomotive�s return to service during 2005. A condition of the Lottery grant is that we will provide facilities for the locomotive to be on static display when not in operation. A proposal has been put forward for a viewing area to display this and another locomotive in the Carriage Works, but there are staffing implications to ensure safety and security.

The lack of active volunteers.

Although it was thought that we had a higher percentage of active members than the average for heritage railways, the actual numbers limit what we are able to achieve and result in heavy demands on a small number of people, particularly in the summer operating season.

The Slaggyford extension.

The proposed special meeting had not been arranged during the past year, as there had been insufficient information to discuss, but progress is now being made.

The Slaggyford Extension Appeal committee has been disbanded, but other funding from a variety of sources was currently being pursued. The need was expressed for the Society to have a presence at Slaggyford station as soon as possible. It was suggested that the next �Outdoor Week� should concentrate on the extension, although there was also the need to bring all of the existing infrastructure up to a good standard.

Other issues discussed at the informal meeting:-

The suggestion of introducing a music/commentary facility on trains.

Our success in attracting family group visitors to the North Pennines area.

Proposed conversion of the current mess room to a passenger waiting room, with alternative provision being made for staff (e.g. the use of the portakabin - which would require some expenditure). It was agreed that this should be discussed by the Council of Management.

The need for the outdoor storage area near the engine shed to be reorganized and access arrangements improved.

The informal meeting concluded at 4.30 p.m.

Meeting reports compiled by Steven Dyke.

Click here to return to top of page.

SOUTH TYNEDALE RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY
Registered Office: The Railway Station, Alston, Cumbria, CA9 3JB
Tel. 01434 381696.��Talking timetable tel. 01434 382828
Registered Charity No. 514939.

E-mail enquiries - please click on links below:
South Tynedale Railway information - Send e-mail to South Tynedale Railway
STRPS membership information only - Send e-mail to Kathy Aveyard
Tynedalesman information only - Send e-mail to Tynedalesman compiler

Mission Statement for the South Tynedale Railway:-
�To provide satisfaction for our customers and volunteers
by operating a friendly, safe and efficient narrow-gauge railway.�

� South Tynedale Railway Preservation Society, September 2005.

More great reads