C & PRR Railway

I hope it’s not too late to wish you all a very happy New Year!

There will be a lot to do in 2010 although I suspect you will be asking ‘has it ever been any different?’ As well as all the important things to do with essential routine maintenance of rolling stock, permanent way, switches and crossings, infrastructure, signals and telegraph and so on, there is another important task that has to come into focus this year - fundraising.
I’ll have more to say about this later on.
I have a lot to say in this article so I’ve split it into two parts - one about people and the other about projects.

People

I would like to welcome two volunteers who have agreed to take on significant responsibilities.
You may recall that in previous ‘Flyers’ we have been looking for a volunteer to take over from Bob Ellisdon as Treasurer. Bob wishes to retire after ten years in the job (just as he’s got the hang of it!). Bob and I have spoken to a number of members who we thought might be candidates for the role and fi nally have convinced someone that he’s just the person. So, welcome John Carter! John has joined the Board as Treasurer (Designate) for the Railway Association and Finance Director (Designate) for the Railway Company.
The job Bob does is one of the most important and complex in the management team and the handover to John will be phased over the next 6 - 12 months.
The second person to welcome is Dave Parks. Dave has agreed to take on the role of Engineering Manager responsible for everything that’s not a steam locomotive. That covers a lot - diesel locos, plant and other bits of machinery. Dave is currently working with other members of the engineering team to develop routines and procedures so that we have planned programmes of preventative maintenance in place. So, welcome Dave! If there are any engineers reading this who would like to get involved with Dave and his team, give him a call without delay.
I would also like to mention two volunteers who have taken on the task of refurbishing point work. A number of the Railway’s points are reaching the stage where significant work is going to be required and Justin Satchell and Russell Lacey are jointly managing the task. They will be working with others such as Pete Thomas, Steve Growcott and Richard Fillmore, who bring knowledge and experience to the task of getting point work into top notch condition. So, thanks to Justin and Russell who were not inveigled into the work but quite simply offered to undertake it.
Finally in this section, it’s ‘goodbye’ to Graham and Liz Petts who are moving to Lincolnshire and seem to think it’s too far to come for a regular rostered day at Chinnor! Graham has been involved with the Railway from the early days and, along the way amongst other things has been a Director, Company Secretary, General Manager and Driver! Most recently, Graham has been involved in setting up an engineering planning system and in organising the Works Weeks, whilst Liz has been busy working with the passenger services team and running the popular ‘Plants for Sale’ operation which has raised a lot of money for the Railway. Our thanks and best wishes go to both of them and we hope they will come back to Chinnor once in a while.

Projects

There are several projects either underway or soon to be started. Some we can undertake ourselves and some are better done by external contractors.
The big projects currently in the pipeline are:
Overhaul of the RMB coach - This project is already established as part of the programme of continuous maintenance of the coaching stock. This is a major piece of work that involves work to the under frames and the structure of the body. The cost of this will be around £40,000. Carriage and Wagon Manager, John Smith explains more elsewhere.
Repair of the Watercress Beds Embankment - This is part of the track just before Bledlow Bridge Halt where the Railway passes the watercress beds below. The embankment was constructed along with the rest of the Railway in 1870 - 1871. There is evidence that the Great Western Railway did work to repair and renovate the embankment over the years, as more recently, did British Railways. The main problem with the embankment is that the sides are very steep because it was built on a narrow piece of ground. As one surveyor who looked at it for us said: “If I was building this embankment I’d want a much wider piece of land”.
Well, we haven’t got a wider piece of land and so we’ve sought a solution within the existing embankment. We are looking at several possible long-term solutions which could include building a concrete trough on top of the embankment to retain the ballast, removing several hundred tons of soil from the top of the embankment to lighten it and make the top wider, or driving piles into the ground to retain the sidewalls. The Board still have to decide which option to pursue. We have concluded that the work will need to be done in the early part of 2011 and that we are looking at a cost of around £50,000.
Improvements to Chinnor sidings - By the time you read this, we should have completed negotiating an agreement with Taylor Wimpey around issues from the redevelopment of the Chinnor Cement Works that affect the Railway. There will be benefits for the Railway which will lead to a number of opportunities and will enable us to develop the sidings further. Additionally, work is being carried out to improve the points at the access to the sidings and at Horsenden Junction. The cost of these projects, which will be undertaken mostly by volunteer labour, is around £10,000 for the materials.
So, where does all this lead? To move forward on all these new exciting projects ideally, we need to raise around £100,000 this year for these essential works and only a lack of people and funds will hold us back.
We already raise funds through the Draw, through donations and the sale of second-hand books in the Shop but now we need to raise funds by any possible means. In its early days, the Railway was very skillful at raising funds in all sorts of imaginative ways - we need to carry on this precedent!
This article is the launch the 2010 fund raising appeal. If you have any suggestions for raising funds, please let us know. Don’t just suggest things that others can do. Instead, tell us what you can and will do. It doesn’t have to be at the Railway or even close to the Railway. It can be where you live - from Doncaster, Merseyside, Scotland, Dorset, Wales, Avon, Cheshire or even the United States, South Africa or New Zealand (yes - CPRRA members span the globe!).
I’m looking forward to hearing your ideas and reaching that £100,000 target!