The Swanage Railway Trust

The Season So Far

As you will see elsewhere in this Newsletter we have had a good start to the season with excellent results for the Branch Line and Easter Weekends. Over the extremely busy periods at both weekends the attitude of staff in dealing with the inevitable problems when carrying so many passengers was brilliant and there were many comments on the professional presentation of the Railway – a reputation that we need to uphold and strengthen. Could I thank all those who have contributed to this in many ways and remind staff of the need to communicate with others to make sure that messages are passed on as widely and accurately as possible. The coming month brings with it two Bank Holidays and the Rail Ale Festival which, I hope will be a successful addition to the calendar. Could I thank staff in advance for the effort that will, undoubtedly go into making these events run smoothly.

Upcoming Special Events

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).

Suggestions Box

The old PAN Box in the Station House Lobby (beneath the displayed Newsletters) has found a new life as a suggestions box. Please use it to make any suggestions for improvements if you are unable to find me, or your idea keeps slipping your mind at other times. Please try to suggest a way of implementing your idea as finding the resources to carry out every idea is often the greatest reasons for something not happening. I hope that this will open up a new source for ideas that will help us to improve the Railway.
 

Management of the Railway

Part 1: The Trust and Company

I have been asked by several people to write a little bit about how the Railway is managed and who is responsible for various aspects of its operation. As many of you will know there have been a number of changes at all levels over the past 5 years or so and with the forthcoming re-issue of the Strategic Plan it seems a good time to review our current position.

The Swanage Railway Trust

This charitable trust is the senior body of the Swanage Railway and holds a controlling interest in the Swanage Railway Company. The Trust is limited in its own activities by its Memorandum and Articles which lay down the legal objects that it may pursue. These objects are:

1. to preserve and restore for the public benefit items of historical, architectural, engineering or scientific value in connection with railways; and
2. to advance the education of the public in the history and development of railway transportation.

The Trust is not able to engage in trading activities that are permanent in nature and therefore undertakes most commercial activities through subsidiaries – normally the Swanage Railway Company Limited. In addition to supporting the charitable objects, members of the Trust also form the majority of the Railway’s volunteer workforce. From its inception in the late 1960s and early 1970s one of the key objectives of the Swanage Railway Project has been to restore the railway from Swanage to the national network at Wareham and this remains one of the objectives of the Trust in providing a public benefit from its activities – though this clearly has to be done in sympathy with its role in preserving and restoring aspects of railways as a historical record.

The Trust is managed, on behalf of its members, by a Board of Directors (who are also Trustees and normally given the title Council of Management) that has as its priorities Fundraising, Restoration of Heritage Vehicles, Support to Volunteers and Education. A majority of the Directors/Trustees are elected by the membership but the CoM has the power to co-opt additional members – particularly to serve as Treasurer and Secretary. The Trust directly runs the Museum and Archives at Corfe Castle and, though the PMMMG, the Mining Museum at Norden. The Trust is supported in its objectives by members who raise money through membership fees and participation in Trust activities. To keep members (and others) informed the Trust produces a number of communications, including a regular magazine – The Swanage Railway Magazine.

The Swanage Railway Company

As mentioned above the Swanage Railway Company Limited undertakes most commercial activities on behalf of the Trust and its tasks focus on the operation of the Railway. It acts as the agent for the Trust in matters such as the reconnection to Wareham where it is able to undertake activities that are not as strictly defined as those of the charity. The prime aim of the Company is to operate the Railway profitably although it is supported by grants from the Trust for improvements and developments that support and complement the Trust’s objects.

The Swanage Railway Company is managed by a Board of Directors who set strategy and provide direction to the Railway’s managers – a majority of whom are also members of the Trust’s Council of Management. The Board discusses and agrees the Company’s policies and plans which are developed within the framework of the Railway’s Strategic Plan. Below Board level the structure divides into three with day-to-day management and implementation in the hands of a team led by the General Manager, financial management and monitoring under the Finance Director and safety monitoring undertaken by the Company Safety and Environment Officer. It can be seen that most activities are overseen by the General Manager who works with a team of managers to deliver service on a daily basis.

The relationship between the two companies

Of necessity the two bodies are independent but there is a close working relationship between them. As is often the case a close relationship can lead to confusion and, over the years, this has probably been the case at Swanage. The recent past has seen the managements of both bodies review their relationship and reorganise their respective organisations to allow for clear, distinctive responsibilities. The overall aim of this process has been for the Company to operate and maintain the Railway and the Trust to carry out its charitable objectives and improve the Railway. To this end the management structures have seen development (particularly in the Company) and the next article in this series will explore these in more detail by looking at the role of the General Manager, Finance Director and Company Safety Officer.

Swanage Railway Trust – Council of Management

• Bill Trite (Chairman)
• Steve Doughty (Deputy Chairman)
• Mark Woolley (Secretary)
• Andrew Moore (Treasurer)
• David Budd
• Doug Chick
• Graham Cope
• Clive Morris
• Malcolm Munro
• Pete Pickering
• Pete Renaut
• Liz Sellen
• Peter Sills
• Mike Stollery
• Andy Vincent
• Richard White
• Mike Whitwam

Swanage Railway Company – Board of Directors

• Bill Trite (Chairman) *
• Steve Doughty (Deputy Chairman) *
• Keith Gooding (Company Secretary)
• Andrew Moore (Finance Director) *
• Peter Sills *
• Philip Thrower

Those Directors marked * are also Directors and Trustees of the Trust

Swanage Railway Company – Management Team

General Management

General Manager – Nick Brown

• Assistant to the General Manager – Dave Green

Commercial

• On Train Catering – Pat Welham
• Retail – Ralph Smith
• Station Catering – Penny Jones

Train Operating

• Operations Manager – Steve Dyer
  • Traffic Manager – Martin Trott
• Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Manager – James Cox
  • Deputy L, C & W Manager – Frank Mead
• Infrastructure Manager – Frank Roberts
  • Civil Eng. and Permanent Way – Dennis Gregory and Tony Andrews
  • Signal & Telegraph and Telecom – Dave Cobb and Terry Otter
  • Stations – Roger Orchard and Mick Stone

Finance

Finance Director – Andrew Moore

• Finance and Administration Manager – Lorna Lock

Health and Safety

• Company Safety and Environment Officer – Malcolm Munro
  • Safety Systems Manager – Dan Main

Working Parties

Please come and help prepare for 2006.

Infrastructure Support Group (ISG)

Details to be agreed. Contact Frank Roberts (07703 566941).

Carriage and Wagon

Meet weekends from 9am in the Swanage Goods Shed. Contact Jeremy Weller.

Civil Engineering

Meets Monday to Wednesday. Check times and location with Dennis Gregory (01929 422792).

Permanent Way Work

Meets Monday to Thursday. Please check time and location with Tony Andrews (07798 743016).

Signal and Telegraph Wednesday Gang

Meet most Wednesdays at 9am, usually starting at Corfe Castle. Contact: Dave Cobb (07790 205454).
 

Vacancies

Contact name person (via Station House) for more information:

Traffic – Booking Clerks are required to help man Swanage and other Booking Offices on a daily basis. Contact Martin Trott.
 

Training Courses

Training 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:

• SR PTS - Mike Standhaft
• NR PTS - Nick Brown
• Signalling Rules - Mike Whitwam
• First Aid - Nick Brown

Notes from the Board Meeting on 22nd April

This month’s meeting was relatively short with the day’s main focus being on the visit of the Auditor to a separate meeting in the afternoon.

The Board resolved to allot 357,613 voting shares to the Swanage Railway Trust in recognition of the value of the Permanent Way assets transferred to the ownership of the Swanage Railway Company.

Finance

This report was shorter than normal with much being deferred to the Auditor’s Meeting. Figures for the 1st quarter were reported. The general message was that income is slightly up from budget but that there was also a slight increase in cost. If the budget continues to be followed then additional expenditure that will occur (e.g. repairing the slip at Pondarosa) should be covered by the small increase in revenue.

The Swanage Railway Trust had made a grant towards the reconnection work at Motala.

Cash flow is, as ever, a concern and it was noted that now profitability is more easily managed this needs to be the next strategic focus relating to finance. Managers were thanked for their help with this improvement so far.

General Manager’s Report

Branch Line Weekend

I reported that this weekend was, overall, a success with fair weather and a good number of passengers. Despite two loco failures and a signalling problem the service was maintained on the Saturday with the loss of only one service train. Sunday was operationally smooth.

The following comparisons are with the same event last year. Although the event was a fortnight later last year the weather on the Sunday of last year’s event was awful.

• Passenger numbers 8% up to 1,469
• Train Op income 39% up to £10,554
• Station Buffets income 13% up to £2,327
• Shop revenue 3% up

It is calculated that this event contributed £3,954 in additional profit. This calculation is based on the difference between this event and a ‘typical’ weekend at this point in the season – as such they are not auditable and for general guidance.

Wilts and Dorset

Though we had been hoping to repeat the same joint ticketing arrangements as last year with through tickets between Bournemouth and Corfe and Norden and Studland we have been informed that Wilts and Dorset are reviewing their participation.

Castle Inn

I have agreed that we will offer advertising on posters to the Castle Inn as they wish to promote travel to the pub by train, with a special offer to customers arriving with a train ticket. Although exact details have not been agreed there should be no cost to us in this.

Easter Weekend

The Easter Weekend went very well. The daily fare average was £8,827 against an average for the past 5 years of £7,407, an increase of 19%. Average daily passenger numbers were 1,465 against an average for the past 4 years of 1,369 an increase of 7%. These figures are slightly better that may be expected as last Easter was both early and not good weather – a factor that will effect the averages. This trend was reflected in other areas of the Railway.

The S160 was in use over the weekend and was the centre of many visitors attention as well as causing some comment (all positive, so far) form local residents.
 

Future Meetings

• Manager’s Meeting, 3:30pm 17th May, Bar Car
• Board Meeting, 9:30am 20th May, Rectory Classroom
• CoM Meeting, 2pm 20th May, Rectory Classroom

Nick Brown
General Manager
Swanage Station
Tel: 01929 475213 or 07901 852198
Email: nick.brown@71b.co.uk

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Photographs

All photographs on this page by and copyright Andrew P.M. Wright,
Swanage Railway official photographer