Report of the Council for 2010

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Report of the Council

Railway Adventure has long been a major recruiting agent for the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society and railway volunteering in general. Its author, L.T.C. Rolt, was one of the Society’s founders, General Manager of the Railway for the first two years of operation under Society auspices and closely involved until his death in 1974. On 11th. February, 2010 we were joined by Tom’s widow, Vice-President Sonia Rolt, and a number of others active in the earliest years of the Society to celebrate the centenary of his birth. 11th. October saw the sixtieth anniversary of the Society’s inaugural meeting and hence the diamond jubilee of the worldwide heritage railway movement. In January, 2011 Sonia was herself honoured by the award of an O.B.E.

For the Talyllyn Railway 2010 was a year of consolidation. Dave Scotson was appointed Chief Executive to succeed David Mitchell who had again taken up the reins at a difficult time. Traffic fell slightly but other activities made up for this and the painful cost-cutting of the previous two years allowed reserves to recover.

Traffic & Operating

Passenger journeys in 2010 fell by 4.9% to 85,146 (2009: 89,489) and revenue from ordinary traffic also fell slightly, by 3.0% to £352,595 (2009: £363,653). This is disappointing, but given the current economic situation in the world not entirely surprising. The added-value products continue to do well: the Victorian Train, Driver Experience trains and Talyllyn Treats, not to mention the Fish Supper trains on peak Fridays, continue to be very popular with our passengers and customers. These extras are essential to the Railway’s financial health. Race the Train continues as a unique event which gives the Railway excellent publicity and an operating challenge each year.

Operating the Railway was generally uneventful through the main season, which is a tribute to the professionalism of the volunteers and how we go about our business. Global warming is now a generally accepted theory but it does not rule out the vagaries of the weather, and the coldest pre-Christmas period in living memory was followed by the most disruptive snow since the Railway recommenced December services in 1977. On two out of the three days the Santa trains could only run as far as Hendy cutting due to snow drifts. The Carol and Spirit of Christmas trains had to be cancelled as were the ‘Mince Pie Specials’ on Boxing Day. Given the cold and snowy weather and difficult travelling conditions, it was encouraging that as many passengers turned up as did. Your Council was extremely impressed by the way employees and volunteers rallied round to enable passenger trains to run from the day after Boxing Day.

Marketing

We made steady progress in marketing the Talyllyn in 2010. The volunteer Marketing Assistant put much effort into producing attractive posters and flyers, reflecting the current house style, to promote the Railway and various special events. We addressed the weakness in 2009 leaflet distribution in North Wales by reverting to tried and tested distributors. An experiment was made by reducing the print run of the main timetable in favour of an additional summer leaflet. The aim was to highlight what the Railway offered and special events to appeal especially to the families who form a major part of our market at that time of year. In fact there was not much more to advertise than was already in the main timetable, so rather than reprint that we used the summer timetable to supplement supplies up to the end of the daily service. The winter timetable was produced early to commence 1st. October and run through until New Year. For 2011 we have gone back to printing a larger quantity of the main leaflet, plus a special version for the ‘bedroom browsers’ placed in hotels and guest houses, with no separate summer leaflet. A more planned and focused approach is being taken to placing advertising to maximize coverage at the most appropriate times in publications most likely to be seen by our main markets. An annual advertising plan is drawn up to allow planning and review of our advertising strategy. The Railway has also been on television including the Weatherman Walking programme on BBC2 Wales and a specialist travel programme shown worldwide on satellite TV, as well as two specialist interest DVDs.

There were a number of successful special events and promotions, including a vintage vehicle gathering to commemorate the Rolt centenary and old and newer favourites such as Duncan Days and Hallowe’en trains.

The Product Enhancement Group has now been incorporated in the main Marketing Committee and product-enhancement issues will be a permanent item on the Committee’s agenda. It is vital that we maintain and improve the quality of our offering to an ever more discerning and demanding public, if we are to maintain the attractiveness and competitiveness of the railway.

The Tywyn marketing group of interested local volunteers has continued its work on distribution in the town and surrounding area and given other much appreciated assistance with marketing.

We continue to need all the support members can give us in publicizing the Railway, whether just through encouraging friends, colleagues and neighbours to visit the line, or through more active involvement. We continue actively to promote it using Twitter and Facebook, through which much measurable publicity is gained.

Shop and Catering

2010 was a good year for both the Railway Shop and the Catering Department.

Sales in the Shop improved by 16.7% over 2009, helped by good sales of Alan Holmes’ book, Talyllyn Revived, early in the season. The decision to publish this book ourselves and purchase all the copies “up front” had an adverse effect on the figures as it has inflated the Shop stock, but this should correct itself over the next few years. The Shop has benefited from a few years of staff stability, but this ended with the resignation of Val Moffatt towards the end of the 2010 season. The Board decided that a shop supervisor should be appointed to take over the various responsibilities covered by the Chief Executive, but filling this position has proved problematical. However, we look forward to the Shop’s continuing contribution to the Railway’s income.

The Catering turnover has also increased, in this case by nearly 8%, although increasing costs have eaten into this figure resulting in a more modest increase in profit. Nevertheless this is an impressive achievement from a department which, not long ago, was being subsidized by the Railway as a service for passengers, rather than operating as a commercial asset. The summer-evening bistro-style openings were well supported and it is intended to repeat these in 2011 with some tweaks to the format to improve the dining experience and reduce costs. The bar facility has continued to develop and there is much potential for improving revenue from this source.

Both sets of results could not have been achieved without the dedication of all the employees involved and the enthusiasm of the volunteers who have offered their services. This report cannot be closed without acknowledging this and offering our thanks for all their work and the time they have put in.

Engineering

The tendency for boiler tubes to waste away prematurely has been the subject of investigation, resulting in manual dosing, monthly measurement and daily blowdown of boiler water being implemented. No. 2 Dolgoch has been rebuilt with a new boiler and chimney. The major overhaul of No. 6 Douglas has continued but at a slow rate due to other priorities. The piston valves on No. 7 Tom Rolt have been reconditioned to improve its efficiency as a short term repair, although reboring will be the long-term solution.

Diesel locomotive No. 9 Alf has been fitted with a reconditioned injector pump. The flail-mower suffered an engine water-pump failure and this has had to be replaced. No. 5 Midlander returned to service following its extensive rebuild.

The rebuilding of carriage No. 22 has continued with significant replacement of moulded timber but there is much work still to be done. The original Talyllyn carriages, the Corris Brake Van and the Glyn Valley Tramway carriages have been repainted and re-varnished. MoD bogie flat wagon No. 71 has been rebuilt with T.R. buffers and draw-gear and removable side boards, and has been repainted.

The track at the east end of Quarry Siding loop has been relayed and extensive gauge maintenance carried out elsewhere. A programme of installing handrails at underbridges has commenced. Pendre, Wharf and Tŷ Mawr have benefitted from tidying up and the removal and sale of unnecessary scrap. Nant Gwernol and Abergynolwyn stations were painted. The rebuilding of Nant Gwernol footbridge commenced towards the end of the year.

The workshops have acquired a more substantial second-hand bandsaw. Other advantageous purchases include a replacement works compressor, a hoist and a Bridgeport vertical mill. A Clarkson tool and cutter grinder was kindly donated by a gentleman from Aberdyfi.

Health & Safety

The programme of routine inspections continues to keep those involved busy. The principal safety monitoring procedures are now twice-yearly internal inspections and an annual Safety Management audit. Reports from these show that progress is being made in improving safety standards, such work having to take its turn among the many jobs competing for attention by our engineers. Following a visit by an Inspector of Railways from the Office of Rail Regulation, in November, considerable time and effort was devoted to updating and expanding documentation of the Railway’s Safety Management System, to match up to current requirements.

Society Activities

The Membership and Activities Committee reported to Council in 2010 on membership issues, area groups, volunteering, Tracksiders, the Young Members’ Group and Society events. Thanks go to all who helped in a variety of ways with these.

The year saw Lawrence and Jane Garvey hand over as Membership Secretaries to Rachel and Peter Featherstone. Your Council thanks Lawrence and Jane for their 12 years of sterling work and welcomes Rachel and Peter.

Volunteering was a key focus of discussions; how to attract and retain volunteers and encourage them to try new tasks. Lawrence Garvey became Volunteer Co-ordinator: he prepared a new volunteer information pack and began a weekly web update on tasks to be done.

Area Groups continued to offer a varied programme of entertainments and activities to all members in their local areas. They made an important contribution by attending events with their sales stands, raising funds and promoting the Railway. This frequently involved the same small group of volunteers, who found it increasingly difficult to recruit others.

Tracksiders continued to be highly successful, numbers attending being so high that Ian Evans appealed for parents to share the workload of supervising groups of participants. The Y.M.G. continued to offer activities for over-14 year olds, at the same time supporting new members and raising funds.

Enjoyable Society events were again organized by M. & A.C., with entertainments at New Year, Spring and August Bank Holidays, A.G.M. evening and the bonfire party.

Membership again showed a slight rise by the end of the Society’s year to 3,412.

Museum and Heritage

The Museum has had another successful year, with visitor numbers slightly down on the previous one, but consistent with the ridership on the Railway.

The year began with notification that we had received Full Accreditation from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Commission. Having achieved this, we will need to continue to improve our operation, to ensure that we maintain the required standards.

The collection continues to grow. Income from donations and from the Friends scheme has allowed us to purchase a number of items at auction where they can be obtained at a reasonable price, and where they are relevant to the collection. Of particular note is a file of correspondence relating to the potential acquisition of a new locomotive by Sir Haydn Jones following his purchase of the Railway in 1911. Although this never materialized, the papers add significant evidence of Sir Haydn’s attempts to revitalize the Railway at that time. Thanks are due to the member who alerted us to this sale, at an auction not normally monitored by the Trust. We also acquired a pair of painted wooden headboards from 1995 commemorating the Centenary of the Snaefell Mountain Railway and the Isle of Man Festival of Transport in the same year.

Work has continued on completion of the Weigh House at Wharf, and the weighbridge and mechanism were transported to the engineering works of a member for restoration. The renewal of the display lighting in the Museum (begun in the previous year) has been completed. Penelope, the Trust’s 2 ft. gauge Simplex locomotive based at North Ings, has had repairs made to its starter mechanism. This required removal of the engine, and was done by a specialist contractor.

Away from our own Railway, the Museum provided a grant to assist the transfer of the two historic Llechwedd Quarry electric locomotives Coalition and Eclipse to indoor storage at the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway pending a restoration campaign.

Two temporary exhibitions were held in the Museum during the year. The first was to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Tom Rolt, and we were pleased to receive Sonia Rolt as guest of honour at its opening, with representatives of other organizations with which Tom was involved also attending. In the Autumn, running through to June 2011, an exhibition was staged commemorating the diamond jubilee of the foundation of the Society and the transfer of ownership of the Railway.

Many thanks are due to our band of volunteer museum attendants who are present whenever the Museum is open, and to all who supported it in various capacities.

Report of the Honorary Treasurer

It is my great pleasure to be able to report that, following the excellent result in 2009 when the Railway Company reported its first surplus (of £35,160) since 1993, the 2010 year has also returned a surplus, albeit somewhat smaller at £6,699. This is significant as again the day-to-day operation of the Railway Company has not drained resources from other parts of the organization.

As I highlighted last year, the total surplus can include some items which are exceptional and not necessarily recurring in their nature. I believe it is better to focus on the “Combined Income” line which shows more of an operating position. In the year this shows a very small loss at £79, compared to the surplus in 2009 of £17,306.

Costs have overall been contained as far as possible in the year, although the inevitable build-up of essential maintenance and other expenditure deferred in recent years due to financial pressures has resulted in increased costs in some areas. Staff Costs, the largest single expenditure line, have remained neutral.

Whilst traffic revenue is almost identical to last year, increases in the shop revenue (by 17%) and in catering (by 9%) have ensured both of these areas have again returned excellent results in the year. The shop generated an increase in its surplus of 22% to £35,070 and catering produced a result very similar to 2009 at £24,970 despite pressures on margins and higher staffing costs.

Engineering jobbing continues to reduce its contribution to the overall results as valuable staff resources are focused on railway maintenance, a policy which will continue, and as a result this area is likely to reduce still further. Given this the Board feels that the separate analysis of this area is now of limited value and disproportionate to the work involved in making it available (some of which includes estimates) and therefore from next year this will not appear under its own heading but just in summary as a note in the accounts.

The continuing strong performance in the year has continued to have its impact on the cash position. In September 2010 the long-outstanding members’ loans of £50,000 in the Railway Company were repaid and no loan was necessary from Talyllyn Holdings to see the company through the traditional trough in the Spring. In addition in the current year (2011) the Railway Company has not had to draw upon the Society to provide cash funds as has been the case for many years, and as a result a substantial cash reserve is now beginning to build up in the Society.

It is important though to temper the present excellent situation with a note of caution. Without a growth in income from traffic it will be almost impossible to maintain this position and as costs inevitably increase the Railway Company will again slip into a loss-making position. Pressures on the limited staff resources are immense, but without the security of increasing income the ability to allow any increase in these costs is very limited.

There is little of exception to report in either the Society or Holdings in the year. In Holdings the level of donations received has dropped again after the exceptional year in 2008. A large element of the 2010 total is again from donations to the locomotive No. 2 Dolgoch Appeal as it was in 2009, and much of the boiler and rebuild cost of over £100,000 was covered by donations and grants.

As a result of the surplus in the Railway Company there is no requirement for a Special Grant from the Society in the year, and the surplus will therefore be carried forward.

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