Tornado

A couple of updates on the loco and Trust.

Loco is a Toton - minus motion and valve covers - presumably for tyre turning. Don’t know why the cab is off. Pics from FB spotters site.




Also from Companies House, Grahame Bunker-James has resigned as Director of the Trust

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I wonder what has precipitated GB-J’s resignation?

 

That’s something I’m mentally asking questions about. I totally get that people move on, but I find it a little concerning that 2 senior people from the same organisation have decided to move on in a very short space of time.
I really hope I have nothing to be to concerned about.

 

He's listed as Graeme Bunker with the A1SLT but he has two other appointments under his married name. Probably nothing of concern.

 

I’ve been concerned for quite a while now. I am a covenanter and founder of the P2 but I now get no information from the trust, I assume the Tornado Telegraph and Mikado Messenger are no longer sent out. I’m now convinced is something going on that we don’t know about. I’ve hesitated for long enough and reluctantly think the time has come to cancel the direct debit and redirect the money to a more worthy cause.

 

I assume you've emailed/rung/written to the Trust to enquire about the missing newsletters and your concerns before taking drastic action?

 

How is it ‘drastic action’? I chuck the odd few quid here and there, I’d like to know what it’s spent on when I give it and what it’s for.
Like it or not certain aspects regarding 60163 don’t seem to be as they were shall we say?

 

Well it's pretty drastic action to withdraw all support if you are a covenanter and founder, without even contacting the Trust to make sure its not just an admin error!

 

I did contact them and they emailed the current TT and MM, since then nothing. I’m a member of three other locomotive owning groups and two heritage railways, I’m not poor it’s not a bottomless pit and I allocate funds to what I think are deserving causes. In my opinion the A1 Trust no longer qualifies as such.

 

Well that's fair enough. It just sounded like you hadn't given the trust a chance to fix things.
If your experience is widespread, they could see a very large drop in income

 

I get TT, MM and Communication Cord regularly so you must be suffering from some kind of admin cock-up. If so, it's shameful that they haven't sorted this out. Have you checked that your mailing preferences are correct?
The sudden departure of senior people does make you wonder what is happening. Apart from that, I've been concerned at the recent departure of one of the Trust's long-standing contractors, an individual who has done a huge amount of work on both Tornado and the P2.

 

Current unfilled roles at the Trust, not including the latest vacancy.




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That's one thing that's been worrying me...getting too top heavy...?

 

I’d say having a someone in charge of your finances and your day to day running are fairly important. I do agree with you about thing’s possibly being a little top heavy.
Is both a manager and chief operations officer necessary?

 

It’s interesting that they don’t itemise salaries and directors fees separately in the accounts, it must be in the total expenditure somewhere.

https://register-of-charities.chari...lsPortlet_priv_r_p_organisationNumber=1022834

 

I’ve tried in the past to unravel the accounts at CC and CH but to no avail. Salaries and expenses broken down would be of interest to us investors.

Here’s a high level summary of 2021/22 when loco was operating until Jan 22 from CC website ….. £1.25m spent on fundraising?

22/23 a/c’s should be interesting with zero tours run.







Anyone remember when Graham Langer, A1 Trust Director, aka ‘Foxhunter’ used to post regularly on here?

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I’ve found it down in the notes to the financial statement, the wage bill including NI and pension contributions was £175,458. The pension contributions are given as £3704 but the minimum for an employer is 3% of salary so I’m not sure how that’s calculated. Possibly there are employees over state pension age. They have seven employees so the amount doesn’t seem excessive when compared with the size of the operation. I cannot find an entry for directors fees so presumably there are none

 

Thanks for that info..they don't seem top heavy by that. Maybe lost a sense of direction? I've not been able to get to meetings of late to get a feel. I just hope my contribution to the P2 project is used wisely and I don't go to landfill before it's running..

 

As you appear more conversant with the financials than I am, here’s an outtake from the last accounts to ponder, the contrast between 29/21 and 21/22 and profitability (or otherwise) may be of concern?

 

My background is in financial services so I had to have a working knowledge of accounts during my career. I was looking at the group results, the figures you have seen relate iven allto the subsidiaries, it’s to be expected that the P2 will make a loss as it involves heavy expenditure. It’s also common practice to a separate operating company for railtour income and it’s not surprising that it also made a loss given all the problems
This is a copy of the full group accounts that give the whole picture that doesn’t look bad. I’m surprised that covenanted income has increased quite substantially, a lot of contributors will be from older people so I would have thought that it would be a declining income stream by natural wastage

https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/...5eceafccb35d45df6bb9f73a720274d6f15d063a367c2