SVR General Discussion

I have not seen a whole lot of discussion in recent pages on this thread with regards to attracting volunteers and and keeping them. A happy and obliging volunteer community must surely be a railways greatest asset and brings a host of benefits. Without it, certain costs and the resultant quest for extra income are going to keep snowballing, and also that the demeanour of staff is often one of the things that patrons remember.

 

I suspect the "abstraction" is probably not that great. For example, on the Bluebell about 2/3 of the locos are directly owned by the railway, and about 1/3 by separate groups, but those locos have shouldered a considerable proportion of the burden in recent years. For example, I can't remember when was the last time that there wasn't at least one Maunsell Locomotive Society loco in traffic. The question though is who are the MLS members; there are only about 200 of them, and I suspect (but have no proof) that they are overwhelmingly BRPS members as well. So although it is more than likely that if they didn't support the MLS directly, they would probably support the railway in more amorphous terms, the society creates a focus for that fundraising and support effort. In a way (*) it is not dissimilar to a charity having a restricted and general funds: experience shows that fundraising is easier into restricted funds. Similarly, I suspect it is easier to motivate MLS members to support "their" locos than to contribute to a more general fund that could be spent on a variety of projects, not all of which would necessarily motivate those members. My strong suspicion - but I can't prove it, you can't do the control experiment - is that the net inflow of funds into the railway family is greater by virtue of the separate owning groups than it would be if everything was under one umbrella.

It does come with a down side, which is that locos that are wholly company owned rarely bubble to the top of the overhaul queue, unless some one or some group steps up to start raising funds. In our case, there is an established "Little loco group", currently working on No. 27; and more recently the "awake the giant" group to support the 9F'; but the locos in between (notably the Adams Radial, Birch Grove, 75027 etc) risk being forever the bridesmaids without an active fundraising group.

I appreciate on the SVR, the loco owning situation is much more heavily weighted to independent groups with, AIUI, hardly any locos directly owned by the railway.

(*) Psychologically, not legally

Tom

 

As far as Bewdley is concerned I don't think the walk is especially taxing, so even if the regulatory and financial issues surrounding bus transfers did not exist I'm not sure a bus would be particularly highly used. Unlike with Bridgnorth the town centre isn't up a steep hill from the railway, plus much of the walk is pleasant in itself (traffic permitting). It's good that these days there is a sign at the bottom of the Bewdley station car park showing walkers where to go for the town, as it isn't obvious if you don't know the place.

On another issue, several people have said something along the lines of "the SVR needs your support now more than ever, so it's time to be generous and dip into your pockets." But this is in itself part of the problem: the cost of living crisis means that for a *lot* of people, financial support of "nice-to-haves" is simply not something they can afford on the scale of a few years ago. In other words, the harsh reality is that many people not only can't afford to increase financial support, they are having to *reduce* it. And they're not reducing it because they don't like the SVR anymore, they're reducing it because their food and petrol and heating bills are frankly much higher priorities.

To an extent this is also the problem with the idea that a day out at the SVR is "expensive and probably needs to be more expensive." Who's going to pay, then? Not the people who are struggling to afford it at current fare prices, that's for sure. And while there are people who are happy to pay large sums for heritage rail travel, as we see from the continued existence of the usually *very* expensive mainline steam charters, how many of them are there? As was quite rightly said a couple of pages back, people posting here are not very representative of the SVR's typical customers.

I don't know. I certainly don't have some magical answer that will solve everything. I'm sure there isn't one. But any approach that assumes the bulk of visitors will have the sentimental attachment to the SVR that most people in here do, I think that approach is doomed to failure. For an awful lot of people, there's no more deep loyalty to the SVR than they have to Sainsbury's or Tesco. It's a tourist attraction like the safari park down the road, and people want value for money. If they think it's too expensive for what they get in return, they won't offer support and understanding and cough up the extra cash. They'll go somewhere else entirely.

 

Steam, 3 owned by the PLC and 1 by the Charity. Only Hagley Hall is in traffic, the three others are stored

 

I’ve said before, myself and my family have given a fair bit in time, effort and cash to the SVR over many years , but at the moment I’d have to put the question to the current board, ‘If I give you my cash, what are you going to do with it, bugger about with it like you’ve done at Bridgnorth?’

Ms Smith has had some stick on here and some of it maybe justified, but I really think certain other people at the top need a bloody long hard look in the mirror at what they’ve done regarding the mistakes they’ve made and ploughing on regardless, rather than holding their hands up and saying ‘yes we dropped a rollock there’

 

This is something that those in charge seem to have forgot.

 

As a general fact of life a MD is dependent on the staff around them and the help they give them and the decisions they take under their responsibility devolved from the MD. A good MD can be let down by those under them, equally an average MD can be carried by good subordinates.

 

I'm not involved in it so can't say much, but certainly the railway continues to attract them. The Volunteer Liaison office was restructured and strengthened in 2021, with five taking on the work that one had been doing. A new website is afoot (only yesterday a couple of us were asked to advise/assist). The Junior Club is revived. All this has been publicised, such as in SVR News and the newsletters (where I pick it up).

 

Here is a fine example of a GM providing leadership, communication and inspiration for staff, volunteers and contractors:-

 

I know I said I wasn’t going to comment, and I won’t mention the “p” word I promise. I just wanted to add that all that is true, and in addition that a good MD or GM can also be let down by the support or lack of from the board or worse boards. An average GM can to an extent be carried by a board, but this is rarer I think. I can think of a good few instances in recent years where a good GM/MD has not received the support needed to be effective.

 

It is. The SVR MD (and indeed board Chairs) also do a weekly briefing quarterly-ish live online Q&As, recorded and available to all staff and volunteers. The last quarterly one from memory ran to an hour and a half, so not brief.

The SVR doesn’t do a similar thing to the TR for non-working members and shareholders, which I think is something the next GM might like to consider.

I’d also recount the then new MD was very open on social media, and sadly the actions of some members cut off that line of engagement. (Edited)

 

Not going to make too much comment yet but if the rumours circulating on forums and also privately prove to be mostly true then at least my SVR visits will be all but axed.

But let's wait and see.

 

John Dunster has been appointed new interim managing director a good appointment i think.

 

Just as long as he realise’s that there are other locomotives based at the SVR other than certain EE Type 4’s…

 

There's a few of us who have said the same, but if he comes with the right head on, he could do a good job, and until things become clear, should get our support.

 

I know this is super early, but I did notice a little something on the spring gala on the Severn Valley website:
https://www.svr.co.uk/events/spring-steam-gala-2023/

"Locomotives from across the eras and from a variety of builders will run – alone, in double headers, in top-and-tails – and will be matched with an unparalleled selection of perfectly restored coaches. GWR, BR, LMS and LNER locomotives in front of the SVR’s LNER teaks, GW, BR and LMS coaches – perfect!"

Do I detect that there'll be 4 visitors from each of the Big Four companies?

 

Class 50s for everyone!

If he veers towards one agenda, ie more cl50s/ diesels then he wont last long as interim gm or vice chairman.
He will have the railways best interests at the forefront of his role. Without the railway. Nowhere for the 50s to play.
The railway is facing a very pivotal year. Here in 12 months time and we continue to build. Others, behind the scenes are in the same boat.

Comments of, its better to have a railwayman at the helm rather than someone who doesnt know how to run trains have come around today. There are enough self appointed experts who can tell anyone how to run a train service. Heritage railways are no longer about running trains so a strong commercial mindset/ leadership is now needed.

 

Don’t disagree with that mate, as someone who worked with him many years ago I have say he’s someone who’s prepared to get his hands dirty.
I do hope he’s learnt from his previous managers on the big railway.

 

Well, as I said, we need to support him until things become clear.
Yes, no railway does mean nowhere for the 50s to play, but it also means nowhere for the rest of us to play. Perhaps we ought to see which way things go before making statements like "class 50s for everyone"
We are all aware that we need a strong commercial mindset, but as a railway, running trains is at the heart of that.