The Swanage Railway Trust
- Swanage Pump - General Manager's Newsletter - April 2006
 | Infrastructure and Station MaintenanceThe departments that make up the Infrastructure Group fall into three smaller groups of departments that have strong similarities and shared resources. These departments (with their managers in brackets) are:
Frank Roberts, as Infrastructure Manager, is responsible for planning of work that involves more than one of these groups and helping me to develop medium and long term plans for maintenance and improvement. The process of developing our Infrastructure work is moving ahead and over the summer months I hope that the systems that are now in place will settle down and start to bring in benefits in real terms. Among these are:
It is apparent that the resources that are available for maintaining our stations vary considerably from location to location with some stations having very active teams and others smaller ones. There are a number of tasks that need doing which require a more significant input and Frank and I are working together to see how we can build on the good practice that is in place at some stations. Key to this is encouraging more volunteers to help with tasks – not all of which are specialist. If you are able to help, in any way, with the maintenance of our stations and buildings please contact either Frank or myself for more information. New e-Mail AddressesAs part of our efforts to update and improve our corporate image several staff now have new e-mail addresses ending xxxx@swanage-railway.co.uk. Please use these in future. Several other staff will be given such addresses in the coming weeks and a full list will be available as soon as everyone is equipped. Those people with new e-mail addresses are as follows:
Discounted TicketsCould I ask staff to be aware of all relevant discounts as summarised on the sheets held in the Booking Office and Reservations Office. There have been several instances of confusion over our own categories of membership card. Please take the time to remind yourself of the various discounts. A Request for the CraneI understand that there is a spare axle box for the crane lurking on the railway somewhere and I would like to ask the active volunteers to look out for it. It was last seen in a brake van and was also reported as having been seen at Eldons sidings but it has not yet been found. To help identification it has the manufacturers name 'HYDE' on it, it is probably dated around 1947 and the other markings are 12 x 6½. Please report any sightings to Fraser White at fraser_w@lds.co.uk or call 07818 000926. Sorry there is no monetary reward, only the satisfaction of continuing to see the crane in operation! many thanks, Fraser. Upcoming Special EventsFrom 14th to 17th April we will be running our annual Easter Specials. As normal we will be offering Free Hot Cross buns to passengers on Good Friday and Saturday, free hand made Easter Eggs for all children travelling on Easter Sunday and Monday and students from Bournemouth College will be providing additional activities for children. A full two train service, with evening trains, will operate on all four days. A new venture this year is the Swanage Rail Ale Festival which will take place at Norden on 19th, 20th and 21st May. Admission to the Beer Tent will be FREE. Whilst many of us are experienced drinkers of ale the East Dorset branch of CAMRA will be giving us the benefit of their experience at serving it – though we do need to share the burden of manning the Beer Tent. There will be a frequent service of both steam and diesel hauled trains on both Saturday and Sunday during the day with diesel operated trains on the Friday and Saturday evenings. Please contact Graham Cope (graham.cope@71b.co.uk) if you are able to help with the manning of the Beer Tent and would like to benefit from the free food and beer that you will be rewarded with (in moderation). Working PartiesPlease come and help prepare for 2006. Infrastructure Support Group (ISG)Details to be agreed. Contact Frank Roberts (07703 566941). Carriage and WagonMeet weekends from 9am in the Swanage Goods Shed. Contact Jeremy Weller. Civil EngineeringMeets Monday to Wednesday. Check times and location with Dennis Gregory (01929 422792). Permanent Way WorkMeets Monday to Thursday. Please check time and location with Tony Andrews (07798 743016). Signal and Telegraph Wednesday GangMeet most Wednesdays at 9am, usually starting at Corfe Castle. Contact: Dave Cobb (07790 205454). VacanciesContact name person (via Station House) for more information: Infrastructure – Signal & Telegraph Linesman to undertake the maintenance and repair of Signal and Telegraph equipment. Contact Nick Brown. Training CoursesTraining courses for staff working towards parts of the SRVQ are held as listed below. All courses are held at the Swanage MPD. The bracketed numbers refer to the SRVQ Unit that they cover – please see the Safety Management System (General Instruction 17) for more information.
For details of additional courses please contact the person responsible as follows:
Notes from the Board Meeting on 25th MarchFinanceThe annual audit has gone well although there are some small outstanding adjustments to the SRT membership amounts. The planned Gift Aid proposals are still under investigation but likely implementation is some way off due to the uncertainties of the new system. We are now well into overdraft – as would be expected at this time of the season. There has been an improvement in cash flow to the end of February since last year. Income has been reasonably well to budget with some areas over and others under their budgeted figures. The only disappointment has been the overall figures for the Thomas event. There was discussion over the continuing cost of the toilets at Swanage Station. General Manager's ReportDay out with Thomas Event We are required by Hit Entertainment to submit our 2007 dates for Day Out with Thomas events by 31st March 2006. The February half term dates for 2007 are 17th February until 25th February, however the October half term could either be 20 October until 28th October or 27th October until 4th November. We will not know which of these weeks it will be until May or June. We now also when booking an event have to name the Thomas locomotive we will be using. We have provisionally booked the Midland Railway Thomas for the February event but they cannot confirm at the moment either of the October weeks. They will be contacting us as soon as they have made a decision. Hire of S160 Class Locomotive As agreed at the last meeting I had visited the CVR with James and Steve. Our conclusion was that the locomotive would be more than up to the task that we would ask of it. In consultation with Steve Doughty we agreed to hire this locomotive but release SLL from their obligation to return 80104 to us until the end of June. PRP A lot of time has been taken up with PRP matters this month. Together with Keith Gooding I have met all the potential bidders for the SWT Franchise, attended 3 meetings with NR to discuss the connection at Motala and other issues, represented SR at 2 meetings of the PRP Executive Committee and attended a meeting with Steve Doughty and Keith Gooding in London. Network Rail We have now agreed work plans and progress seems to be being made regarding our own connection at Motala. Gavin Johns has recently been appointed Route Enhancement Manager (Wessex) and the relationship seems to be continuing to develop and improve. It is possible that David Pape (Wessex Route Director) will visit us later in the year. Sleeping Car A good deal of work has taken place in the Sleeping Car and it now has a working shower and improved facilities. The new booking procedure is in place and, so far, seems to be working well. Corfe Castle Parish Council I attended the Tourism Committee. There was some discussion over the public toilet situation and proposals for a Farmer’s Market. Purbeck Tourism I attended the meeting of this body and have put forward a suggestion at expanding joint marketing opportunities. HRA Manager's Forum I attended this meeting in Crewe and gave a short presentation on the current management structures within SRCL. A number of useful contacts were renewed. The new regulations affecting HMRI have now been signed but there is a letter from the Minister concerned that gives comfort that current approvals procedures will apply to Minor Railways until an agreed process can take their place. HMRI have now drawn up advice on ages but it has been delayed whilst their legal team check it. Graffiti I have met with both Dorset and British Transport Police and there are a number of actions that we could take both in the short and medium term. Hire of 37 324 from GWR As proposed last month I have met with the owners of this locomotive and come to an arrangement for its temporary hire in May. Final arrangements still need to be agreed. Santa Specials The proposal from the Marketing Committee for 2006 Santa Special fares was agreed as follows:
Book before 31st October and get your tickets at less than 2005 prices:
DMU ticket with Santa booking £2.00 per adult from £1.40 – Children still free. Group ticket is the old Family ticket which has been renamed to reflect that it can be used to price groups as well as families as has been practice in the past. 2006-11 Strategic Plan Discussion took place on our locomotive needs with the overhauls of both 80104 and 30053 running behind schedule. It would seem a prudent move to have an additional cover locomotive for the early season if commercial terms can be reached. Negotiations are ongoing to find a locomotive that is of suitable power for our services. Harmans Cross Car Park We have agreed to donate £350 to Worth Matravers Parish Council for the use of the Car park at Harmans Cross by staff. Coal Conveyor A Project has been started to investigate the installation of a second coal conveyor on the coal dock to provide a spare should the existing one fail. This did take place last year and brought the vital nature of this piece of equipment to the front of minds. A fully costed proposal will be presented next month. CCTV increase Increased CCTV coverage was discussed and it was agreed that a suitable and fully costed proposal would be considered. Future Meetings
Nick Brown |
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