STAR LETTER
Ty seleyshould
be applaudedfor
Bloomer project
IWOULDlike to co ngratula teTyseley LocomotiveWorksfor
providing us withadatefor delivering thereplic aBloomer–not
just the locomotive, but acompleteVictorian LNWR trainto display
alongside HS2 when it arrivesinB irmingham (issue 255).
Itis these earlyVictorian trains thatare so scarce in heritage
railwaystoday,but manygroups andrestoredrailwayshave made
greatefforts to put thisright.TheKnottyTrust at the Foxfield Railway
is one thatspringsto mind,now striving to bring us itsfourth North
StaffordshireRailwayearly vehicle. It’s just waiting forsomeoneto
paintthe appropria te engine in NSR livery.
Idread to thinkhowLSWRT3 4-4-0 No.563 will appearif it leaves
the Flour Mill to join the other fiveremainingLSWR locomotives,
all in theBeaching er aBRl iver yinstead of the decorativeVictorian
sparklethey were createdwith.
TheBluebel lRailway andBuckinghamshireRailway Centre do us
proud whenthey pair up theirrolling stockforanearly Metropolitan
train, notforgetting the Bluebell’s SECR train in allitssplendour.
Inthe north, manyManchester,Sheffield&Lincolnshir e(MSLR)
carriageshave beenbroughtback to lifein their latter GreatCentral
Railway guisebut no efforthas been madeto re-create the MSLR
train. Surely, this is whatheritage is all about.
DerrickMartin, Hornchurch, EssexRailwaysshould
open cafesearlier
FOR many,preserved railwa ys catering
is an importantsource of income.
Arriving an hour beforethe first train
of the dayataMidlands steamrailway
gala, Iboughtaticketbut found the cafe
closed.Idid buy acoffee beforethe train
left but other passengers whowant ed
bacon bapsto take on the trainwere
turned away.
Some visitors had madeatwo or
three-hour journeyto reachthe railway
in question.Comparethis to the
Pontypool&BlaenavonRailway,where
Ienjoyedafullcookedbreakfa st and a
potoft ea beforeboardingthe first train
of thatline’s gala.
Onceintensivegala timetables
commence, it is difficulttoe at meals
without missing some of the action.
So an earlier opening of cafescould
have both financial benefitsand
happier visitors.Food forthought? (pun
intended)
PeterGreaves,
Walsall,WestMidlands
JakeOrros,chairman oftheVintageTrainsYouth Board,
cracksabottleofchampagneover thebufferbeamof
newLNWRBloomerNo. 670attheTyseleyLocomotive
Worksopendayon June22.Theyouthboardwas
establishedearlierintheyear andtakesresponsibility
fordevelopingaprogramme ofactivity to engage
young people in Britain’srailwayheritageand
representsall areas of VintageTrainsactivity,reporting
to theboardof trustees.ROBINCOOMBESCanweaffordcomplete
StratfordtoCheltenham
rail routereopening?
REOPENINGthe Stratford-upon-Avon
to Cheltenhamrailway is acomplex
problem.In answerto Michael
Brockington (Platform, issue 254) I
supposeitdepends which budgetthe
cost comes out of.
If it comes out of the heritagerailway
budget,the answer is thatthere
arehigher priorities elsewhere.Top
priorityfor me,isgettingrolling stock
undercover.Ift hatcan be done by
preservinga‘bigshed’engineering
works, so much the better.
Therehas beenabattleat
Wolver ton, we areabout to losethe
Metro-CammellworksinB irmingham
and probably Horwich.
At the moment, ther eisalsoalot of
capital tied up in partly-builtreplica
stea mengines and locomotives which
have worked but nowneed expensive
repairs. Some official assistance
would be usefulhere. Grantsareeasy
to administer butasoftloan or a
shareholdingmight be abetteridea.
Fundingwouldcomplementthe
efforts ofvoluntarygroups,perhaps
on apound-for-pound basis.
If we aretalking about the transport
capital budget,agood casehas been
madeforHoneybourne-Stratford.
Abig problem is thecost of the lastlittle bit fromStra tfor dRacec ourseto
Stra tfordNetwork Rail station.Thereis
alreadyaparkand ride busroute, so I
suggestaterminusat the racecourse.
Theenthusiasmisf or an easyway
of gettingtourists fromLondonto
Stra tford. Clearly ,aheritage service
couldalso oper ate atHoneybourne-
Stra tfordshuttle.It mightbepossibleto run apark
and ride railway from Cheltenham
Raceco urse through Hunting Butts
Tunnel into the town centre.Thereis
no room forarun-round loop so auto-
trains orDMUs would have to suffice.
Itcould be the lasthaunt of the Class
153 railcars.
Alot depends on the‘cityfathers’
and howthey see transportandenvironmentint he town.There
is an expensiveblockage near
Cheltenham’s Network Rail station
whereaverylow road bridgehas been
built across the oldroute.
Thereare ve rysoundcommercial
reasons whyaheritagerailway should
not betoolong. It is aquestion of how
much hardcash can beextrac tedfrom
the generalpubliconadayout.
Unfortunately, between
Honeybourne andBroadway we
arestuck withaconventional British
Railwaysline,evenifitistechnically
alightrailwa y. Ipresume that there
is still Network Rail trac klaiddown
into Honeybourne, separate from the
mainline.
Iwould liketo know alot more
about the bridges.Therewould appear
to be four bridges thatcarryordina ry
road traffic.Ifc ount yhighways wants
to run 40-tonne lorries,who pays for
what?This wasall looked into some
years ago when the lorryweights
wereraised butIdon’t think there is
currentl yaweightrestriction on these
structures .Itisd ifficultto see whatcan
be done between Honeybourne and
Broadway withanyone’s budget.
Paul Gibbons,
Alfreton,DerbyshireGrabopportunities
with both hands
IWASgreatly enthusedby the buoyant
tone of the editorial in issue 256–thank
youMrJones.Imaginemy dism ay then
on encountering the sad offering in
Plat form by MrHill.
He mentionstwice(as if onceweren ’t
toooften)“ageing locomotiveand
carriage f leets”.Thereisn’t apreservation
societyon theplanetthatescapes this
onus.(Itis the basic definition ofrailway
preservation.)
He then looksfor acomparisonto
supporthis argumentagainst more
paid staff and cites theWest Somerset
Railway.Ihad thedistinctimpression
thattheir troubleswere main ly due to
divided loyalties andaresultant clashof
personalities (sinceresolved).Odd–no
matter.
MrHill goes onto discussbudgeting
andsuggests thereshould beafive-year
periodfor“consolidation”.
Five years?Fivedayswouldbetoo
long.Ifw elook at just afew of the
groups thathave turned problemsto
their advantage (the GreatCentral,the
Swanage,the Bluebell andthe East
Lancashirerailwa ys)wecan se ehow
chance favours the prepared mind.
Opportunityisatransient thing that
must begrasped with both hands and
exploited lestitf ade likemist in the
morning sun.
Honeybourne is such an opportunity.
Whatthe GloucestershireWarwickshire
Railway needs isacampaigndirec tor
who will be lookingforsponsorship
andencou ragementfromthose in
GloucestershireandWarwickshirewith
moneyand clouttoc ontribute.Thereare
morethan several–goget‘em!
MartynMcGinty, Frome, Somerset“Thereareverysound
commercial reasons
whyaheritagerailway
should notbetoolong.
It is aquestionofhow
muchhardcashcan
be extractedfromthe
generalpublicon
adayout.”80 Heritagerailway.co.uk indusonwww.facebook.com/heritagerailway
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