The Chairman's Notes for the next Lineside are as follows:-
Well, what a season and apart from a couple of round trips with D1013 we’ve hardly turned a wheel! Unfortunately, not being able to run the Westerns has had a slight downturn effect on our membership numbers but we think this will only be a temporary situation as D1062 will almost definitely be back next year, generating much needed publicity. Most of you will be aware that the lack of running was caused by the severe flood damage on the Severn Valley Railway, with 45 flood damage sites. In effect, our Westerns were marooned at Bridgnorth, with no where to go to, even if we wanted to! Of course, there were some benefits as our working members could at least get on with the many tasks to carry on the overhaul of D1062, without the constant interruptions to keep D1013 in traffic. Having said that, D1013 had a new set of batteries fitted and some electrical work was carried out on one of the dynostarters, where one of the wiring contacts had come adrift. Needless to say, most of the attention has been on D1062 and latest jobs will include the fitting of another refurbished dynostarter and the setting up of the brake system, following a brake overhaul.
The time is nearing for D1062’s much needed repaint and I am pleased to report that we have reached an agreement with the Severn Valley Railway to undertake this work in May 2007. The locomotive will be transferred to Kidderminster at the end of April or early May, where it will then have about 300 man hours of rubbing down, cleaning, undercoating and gloss painting along with new transfers and lettering. The end result should look superb and will virtually signify the end of its ten year overhaul, ready to celebrate its 45th anniversary (even if it is a month or 2 late!) and the 30th anniversary of arriving on the SVR with D1013 - puts the length of BR ownership into perspective! Due to the line closure, one of the jobs for D1013 remains outstanding in that we were hoping to get the loco down to Kidderminster for a roof repaint. Hopefully, this can be carried out next year too, as the paint is almost non existent in places.
Just to bring you up to date on the admin side, we now have a new “Acting Treasurer”. The role previously carried out by Stefan Mead will now be carried out by Haydn Mudford, who also looks after our Charity admin. Haydn will hand over to any suitably qualified accountant or book-keeper, so if you know anyone who would like to act as Treasurer please encourage them to volunteer! Also, John Glover is now back on the Committee as Assistant Sales Officer to help support Paul Gardener, who remains as our Sales Officer. With Christmas approaching, we can hope for one or two new product lines. After 25 years or so, Doug Tompkins has decided to stand down as Publicity Officer at the next AGM on 10th November 2007. I would like to place on record our thanks to Doug for being such a loyal supporter and very much hope that he will remain as a member and that we certainly hope to see him on our running days. A vacancy will therefore, arise for a new Publicity Officer. The WLA web site has had an uplift with a new Forum section. This is a lot more flexible than the old Forum and will enable us to provide news in a much more efficient and structured way, with subjects for each main area of activity within the WLA. Hopefully, it will also eliminate the spam messages.
The Association has quietly worked away for a successful year considering that D1062’s loco lift earlier in the year to replace a broken fuel tank strap and the continuing overhaul, with completion in sight. We have managed our way through some significant amounts of expenditure, thanks to donations, contracted work and a final payment from the Heritage Lottery Fund, still leaving us with a positive balance at the bank! We now need a final push to complete the overhaul for D1062, after which the work is likely to start all over again with D1013 – any ideas for fund raising please and see you at the AGM!
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
