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Heritage sector donation appeals (was SVR Urgent Appeal)


mdvle
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Started out as the SVR launching an urgent appeal, changing it to a listing of the various heritage railways requesting help in these challenging times.

 

Bluebell Railway - https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/displayCharityCampaignPage.action?charityCampaignUrl=support-bluebell

 

Bo'ness & Kinneil - https://www.bkrailway.co.uk/4923-2/

 

Dean Forest Railway - https://www.dfrsociety.org.uk/dfrs-emergency-fund

 

Ffestiniog & WHR - https://www.festrail.co.uk/news_and_events_item/covid-19-appeal/

 

Helston Railway - https://www.helstonrailway.co.uk/news/2020/an-appeal-by-our-chairman-james-packman/

 

North Norfolk Railway -https://www.nnrailway.co.uk/

(offering online / mail / shares as methods of helping)

 

NYMR - https://www.nymr.co.uk/appeal/nymr-crisis-fund

 

Severn Valley Railway - https://www.svr.co.uk/NewsItem.aspx?a=921

 

South Devon Railway - https://www.southdevonrailway.co.uk/2020/03/17/all-sdr-train-services-temporarily-suspended/

(not yet an urgent appeal but still asking for money at end of cancellation notice)

 

Swanage Railway - https://www.swanagerailwaytrust.org/giving

 

 

 

 

 

 

[original message]

Severn Valley Railway is the first, they are asking for urgent donations as they need £250k to keep going for the next 3 months per their appeal page

https://www.svr.co.uk/NewsItem.aspx?a=921

 

While they are a worthy cause, and appear to desperately need the money, anyone with money available to donate who has a different favourite preserved line may want to check with them first.

 

For example, with the South Devon Railway currently doesn't have an appeal going they do have a request at the end of their notice of cancellations saying donations would be gratefully received in the financially difficult time

https://www.southdevonrailway.co.uk/2020/03/17/all-sdr-train-services-temporarily-suspended/

Edited by mdvle
added Helston Railway May 15th, Bo'ness May 16th
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I would have attended some model railway shows in March. The money I saved on fares will be going to the SVR. How about that as a general approach which should not preclude donations to other equally or more worthy causes (of course, not necessarily preserved railways)?

Jonathan

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I had pencilled in (and in some cases booked hotel accommodation) to visit various railway events throughout the year.

As they approach the time I would be going, so I’m donating the cost of my ticket towards them.

Its the least I can do for them.

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I’ve been giving this some thought.  What the situation requires is an umbrella organisation, the Heritage Rail Association or the NRM(?), to contact the Chair/CEO of each heritage operation or museum and put together a common appeal.  Collectively, and on behalf of the sector, the umbrella organisation can have a conversation with SoS DCMS and other relevant stakeholders to seek grant funding to alleviate the impact of this crisis. 
 

working with each individual organisation, they can they lobby their own local MPs and stakeholders with a coherent message.  Generally, if you’ve got enough backbenchers raising the same concern with Ministers, they’ll take action.  I don’t believe that Ministers will want to see charitable concerns such as heritage railways fail as a consequence of this situation. 
 

I don’t know if such conversations have taken place but it might be more effective than a hotch potch of individual effort.  
 

David

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Evening all 

 

if like me there are too many lines that you want to support  and not enough money to donate then I have set up an appeal through my 30742 Charters photographic group . full details are here https://mailchi.mp/32df1ba61a43/covid-19-appeal. Donations accepted through PayPal and Eventbrite 

 

So far £2400 has been raised and £1500 donated to railways . Awaiting bank details from four for payments . Our initial fourteen lines which were railways we have staged events at and we knew were appealing for funds has been expanded with Amerton, Pontypool & Blaenavon, Vintage Trains , Welshpool, Avon Valley and Nene Valley added . Each gets an initial £100 donation with further donations as our fund grows . 

 

Our appeal is also supported by Tony's Trains of Rugby and Steam Locomotives in Profile both of whom are donating a share of profits from engines and DVD's sold respectively  

 

My thanks to everyone who has supported railways so far. Donations large and small are gratefully accepted and we'll make sure the funds raised are distribted

 

image.png.cf50f1af79cb7cc1ea8d5d7017fb398e.png

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The North Norfolk Railway is also appealing for help.

 

The M&GN Society has purchased from the NNR steam loco Ring Haw and the steam crane to provide the Company with funds.

 

In addition to the appeal shares in the NNR are also available.

 

 

 

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Whilst I'm one of the lucky ones and both of us are still working there's the threat of furlough or worse hanging over both of us so at present I'm not allowing myself any unnecessary expenditure. But once things are looking a little more stable I will be making a couple of donations to places. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

the 30742 Charters appeal is now up to over £4200 with over twenty five railways now supported . The idea came about from a discussion between Tony's trains of rugby and I to see what we could do to help the railways we have enjoyed over the years 

 

Tony is making a donation from each loco sold and we have been joined by Steam Locomotives in Profile too

 

Donation page is here

 

My thanks to everyone who has supported railways so far. Donations large and small are gratefully accepted and we'll make sure the funds raised are distributed

railways 2.PNG

Edited by sidmouth
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  • 2 weeks later...

Well done to everybody who is able to help with supporting our heritage railways.  When they do reopen I will certainly be attempting to visit a number of these railways to support them from a passenger numbers point of view.

I am sure the railways will be thinking now about how to possibly run trains when they reopen/social distance. It might be longer trains will be needed but with each carriage only being allowed to be a 1/2 or 1/3 full say. Not an easy situation at all but if a railway normally runs 4 coach trains it may need to run longer say 8 coach trains (assuming length of loops allow etc) and as a result may need to run less actual train services if they don't have enough passenger coaches. Having said that it might take time as visitors could return somewhat slowly. Double heading might be needed to pull the longer, heavier trains in places too. 

All of us on here wish the various railways well, they really could do with some proper Government support.

Edited by deltic17
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News article about the South Devon Railway, that they have raised £136,000 but estimate they need £500,000 to survive.

 

Article also briefly talks about what they need to see to survive - being able to reopen by July, and it appears they are also saying they needs to see the 2m rule get relaxed.  I suspect this means all the heritage lines could be in bigger trouble than they currently are if the 2m rule isn't relaxed.

 

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/historic-devon-steam-railway-raises-4104630

 

 

 

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Living in Sheringham I help on the North Norfolk Railway and have concerns for the future.

 

I hate to appear negative on the subject of reopening preserved lines, but given the current lack of a vacation cannot see how the preserved/tourest railways can reopen.

 

Eurostar and airlines appear to be saying all passengers must wear facemasks, but the WHO have concerns with this policy. Most preserved lines run BR mark 1 stock, therefore how do you achieve 2m safe distance?

 

So on a family day out, do you want to take the risk of a train ride or perhaps take the children to an open space and not the closed confinement of a carriage.

 

Paul

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Going out on a limb to throw some (much needed, imo) optimism in to our thoughts: it's been really heartening to see the ingenuity on display from some railways in their efforts to counter this crisis.

 

The SVR were already going really strong with their promotion of the campaign, and have managed to get their online shop up and running during this already very difficult period in order to maximise the revenue streams still available to them. They've also just launched 'Adopt an Engine,' which in my opinion is a genuinely inspired move. Having worked for an organisation which offered animal adoption packages and having seen how incredibly popular they are, I can see this going down a storm (particularly with the SVR's family demographic). They may not have the cute and furry credentials, but everyone has a 'favourite' engine and the psychological lure of semi-'ownership' of something is a strong lure in addition to the desire to do good.

 

Swanage have likewise been making a magnificent effort with their marketing drive, and in particular have used their social media channels to maximum impact. The Virtual Diesel Gala a couple of weeks ago was hugely popular by all accounts, and the year-by-year throwback photo series they've been doing more recently has been really inventive as well and furthers the incentive by showing how the railway has progressed and developed over the years.

 

I think it's no coincidence that the railways making these kinds of efforts have seen donations in figures other railways haven't been able to match -- SVR on over £650k (which is astounding and a testament to their supports as well as the railway) and Swanage on £145k. Of course it's sad to see other railways which are struggling (Bluebell, of which I am also a member, on £36k online donations, for example), but I think it shows that in this as in all other things, you have to be inventive and really put every ounce of resource and effort in if you're going to survive.

 

Outside of the numbers, though, I also think we could afford to be slightly more optimistic about reopening, even with the caveat that lost revenue will continue to sting for a long time after the lines do have passengers again. The 2m instruction seems to be losing credibility with every passing day (WHO recommends 1m, and the difference between these figures is the difference between a lot of economic and leisure activities being impossible or possible) so I'll be interested to see if/when there's movement on this as the country gets moving again. Furthermore, the wider 'mainstream' tourist economy will be in roughly the same operational position as railways in terms of reopening; although railway preservation may not have a huge amount of influence alone, the entire tourist and leisure sector will be able to make enough noise to see operation made feasible sooner than we might have feared, I think.

 

None of this is to say it'll be easy, and I do think that some railways will probably go under before this is over, but there is reason to be hopeful.

 

Adam

Edited by Calidore
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It must not be forgotten in our enthusiasm to support these railways that they were intended to be a business, albeit with volunteer support.  It is amazing how well they are supported by enthusiasts; hardly a month goes by that an article in one of the mags does not end with an appeal for some part of an engine, etc..  Now we have to support the whole railway, a much bigger proposition!   The cost even with (hopefully) public participation will be almost prohibitive and certainly can't be borne by the enthusiast alone.  So inevitably it looks as though some governmental bail out will be necessary in some cases, others may have to closed altogether which would be unthinkable!  So much effort has already been expended to achieve what we have today, the prospect of losing even one would be too much.  But thats the way we might look at it;  it looks altogether different to the bean counters who see scrap value and new real estate to build on.  

    Brian.

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Some media reporting on the likely domestic tourism focus for UK when restrictions start being lifted offers a glimmer of hope for heritage railways and their significant contribution to local and regional tourism...eg

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/06/uk-tourism-sector-to-flag-attractions-with-physical-distancing-measures

 

Let's hope there'll be some good news soon.

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

 

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On 06/05/2020 at 15:09, Calidore said:

Outside of the numbers, though, I also think we could afford to be slightly more optimistic about reopening, even with the caveat that lost revenue will continue to sting for a long time after the lines do have passengers again. The 2m instruction seems to be losing credibility with every passing day (WHO recommends 1m, and the difference between these figures is the difference between a lot of economic and leisure activities being impossible or possible)

 

No indication the 2m instruction is losing credibility, if anything seems to be gaining credibility.  But even a 1m distance eliminates a lot of things - like well over half the seats in a train carriage.

 

The WHO recommendation is out of date, based on 100 year old study apparently and doesn't reflect current knowledge.

 

The following Twitter thread offers summaries of analysis, close contact (in home, friend/family gatherings, public transit) are where it spreads. https://twitter.com/mugecevik/status/1257392347010215947

 

Also note story that 10 taxi/limo drivers appear to have died as the result of working on airport pickups

https://globalnews.ca/news/6910800/coronavirus-airport-taxi-limo-drivers-union/ (and have sadly in some cases spread it to their families).

 

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It’s heartening to see some railways being so inventive. As a long standing member at the Talyllyn I have been very impressed at the way they have approached the appeal. They are now over £80k The on line presence is great.

 

I took issue over this with the Bluebell Chairman in the last couple of weeks and they are now kick starting their campaign. Sadly it lacks some of the inventiveness from the smaller railway (The TR) and I also thought they were being unrealistic about when they were going to reopen.

 

Sadly I think the reality will be that the preserved railways won’t be able to open until late this year, maybe even going into Jan or Feb.

 

The news items in Steam Railway this month made interesting reading...... at what point do you cancel the Santa special trains? After all presents for kids have to be bought around now.... maybe as late as June in order to get them at the right price....

 

As enthusiasts, we just have to be ready to support the railways in whatever way we can (not just money), when they are able to open again.

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Just now, Steamport Southport said:

I wouldn't be too pessimistic. I saw a thing before on the BBC earlier and they are planning on reopening museums and art galleries in the next few weeks.

 

Obviously when it's safe to do so.

 

Easier for most of them to enforce social distancing though, unlike a tourist railway/cinema/etc. where seats are close together.

 

 

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