Chairman’s Chat - February 2024

By Neil Taylor

Dear Reader,

It is getting very exciting at Bridgnorth as products are arriving weekly. We have just taken delivery of the full set of small tubes for the locomotives Boiler. Thanks to your donations every single one of the 163 tubes had a sponsor. Very soon we are expecting the delivery of the Large or Flue Tubes. These mark a significant stage in the boiler build and they could not come soon enough. This week we have fitted and riveted the boiler dome and associated plate-work and will soon start to mate the boiler barrel with the Firebox. This will indeed start to look like a boiler.

In other significant news we are placing the contracts for the remaining motion items. The coupling rods and reversing rod will be forged and machined over the next 3-4 months. These constitute a huge investment in the locomotive and we have all fingers crossed for a successful output. The other items of note are the expansion link assemblies. These too will be placed shortly and I will update you on progress for all of these items.

On the sales front we had a stall at the SVR Winter Gala, and sales exceeded our expectations. The Saturday was a very busy day and we sold out of a number of lines. Sunday was much quieter, but that was partly due to the stock selling on Saturday. The implications of this success now mean that we need to re-stock – more of that later.

This is an excellent start to the year. We have a good complement of volunteers every Monday and some individuals are now coming on-site on Wednesday as well. The project progress will now be determined by how many hours can be committed to assembly of the hundreds of the components that we already have or that we need to fabricate. There are only so many hours in the day/week/month and we have been able to engage the SVR staff in some activity. However, due to the reduced numbers of SVR staff we have not had the amount of attention that we would prefer. The SVR have an operational fleet of locomotives to manage and they are about to start some significant overhaul activity. We may choose to employ other contractors, but there is no guarantee that the capacity is out there for us to engage with, based on the challenges that we have had sourcing components recently. The other consideration is the demand for a replacement locomotive in the SVR fleet. Whilst we will continue with the plan to launch in 2025, there may not be a demand for the locomotive to form part of the fleet. In the next 18 months the SVR fleet will have the addition of a second Manor (“Bradley Manor”) and the Large Prairie 4150. The SVR may be planning an operational fleet of as few as 5 locomotives.

Fundraising

We don’t want our funding streams to become a limiting factor, so below is an insight into the latest plans for fundraising. We have three new initiatives this year:

1. Clothing Rebranding

We have had the same clothing branding for the last 10 years or so. We have decided that we will launch some new brands for the Autumn Gala this year. At first this will be in the green livery, as we do have a lot of old black stock to run down. There will be two benefits from this. Firstly, we will be discounting the historic green stock both online and on the stand at the Spring Gala, and secondly you can all stock up on new clothing for next Christmas, Birthday, Dog Walking etc.

2. Limited Edition Prints

We will be producing one and maybe two limited edition prints of our locomotive (probably a run of 500 each) to offer for sale. We have commissioned a renowned artist to produce some original works that will stimulate interest. The originals will be auctioned, but we hope to make the prints available to the public. Members will have the first chance to obtain a numbered copy of the printed versions prior to general release. I hope to have an update in my next chat.

3. Sales Stand Re-Stock

As mentioned earlier, the Winter Gala was extremely successful. The downside of success is that our sales stock is now depleted. I have been at the last 4 sales events and there are certain things that always sell well, such as model railway items and small memento items. Clothing is always a steady earner, but the stock holding is an issue, if we choose to stock all items in 4 sizes and two colours. I had a personal clear out of items which I considered surplus, and to my surprise it fetched over £300 when sold. With this in mind I would like to launch an appeal for your overflow of model railway stock and railwayana. The 2024 appeal theme is going to ask you all to…….

“Empty Your Shed Appeal”!

Please have a critical look at your collections and decide what you are prepared to donate to the cause. We want your rolling stock, locomotives of all gauges, nameplates, totems, lamps, bridge plates, wagon plates, cast lineside signs, makers plates, enamelled signs, ticket collections, modelling materials etc. etc. Can I please ask that you do not select books, as unfortunately they are notoriously difficult to sell and very heavy to carry. Having said this, DVDs and jigsaws tend to sell better and are easier to handle.

We want to make this painless, and we are prepared to come and collect your donations. Get in touch with any of the team to arrange for your delivery or collection. Your donations will be either sold at the events that we attend, sold to specialists or sold via a reputable Railwayana Auction House. Some items may be added together to produce a more attractive auction lot. In the last 12 months we have had success with items at auction, and again we would want to capitalise on this.

In addition to these initiatives, we are going to increase the sales of our own 82xxx branded ‘00’ gauge locomotives. We will have a good stock for the Spring and Autumn Galas, and we will be pushing Lionheart Trains to release their ‘O’ Gauge version of the 3MT towards the end of the year. You may have seen the model at various shows and we are pushing for them to producing a version of 82045 just ahead of the real thing!!

 

And Finally

I was delighted to receive some lovely photographs from Jim Reader. We do not always have new photographs to share, so this is a bonus for us. I understand that Jim believes that they are not the best photos, but I disagree as they provide a real sense of place and time.

Both the photographs are taken on the Sidmouth branch on Saturday 22 August 1964, shortly before the end of steam in the area. The first is of 82035 & 82030 double-heading the 5-coach Sidmouth portion of the 8.03 a.m. from Waterloo to Sidmouth & Exmouth. They are climbing the 1 in 45 gradient from Tipton St John to Bowd Summit.

The second photo, below, is of 82042 departing light-engine from Sidmouth Junction for Tipton St John. The branch curves off to the right, and an up main line train (steam-hauled) is disappearing under the road bridge in the distance. Most mainline trains that day were headed by Bulleid light pacifics. In a link to our “new build” 82042 is clearly in lined green livery. We suspect that both 82035 & 30 had the same livery, but they were very dirty and the photo is inconclusive.