Rant

In response to the original poster's desire to see photos of the Rampton collection, see the following links as a selection of part of the collection:

Bagnall Renishaw No. 5
Avonside geared loco similar to that in the Rampton collection
Bagnall 0-4-4T
Conqueror
Bagnall 2-6-2T AK16
Santa Ana
2 x Fowler locomotives
One of the diesels - not sure on i.d.!
Decauville
Fowler 0-6-2T
DeWinton Kathleen


I am sure more photos can be found on the web given enough time searching!


Charlie

 

Thaaaank you! I have nowhere said I have the right to view anything, just want to have a butchers. And for the record, actually if I had saved such a large collection I would allow people to have a look! I appreciate what everyone has said, and I agree its their private collection and free to do with was they please, all I said was I would like to see some pictures, no where was the word 'right' mentioned! I am on neither side in this argument, I don't believe I have a right to view it, and I appreciate it someones private collection (albeit belonging to a charitable trust), like I have said several times, I would just LIKE to see it

 

As I said before the fact that it has been placed into a Charitable Trust means it is no longer somebodies private collection. Presumably it was placed in such a Charitable Trust because there were certain advantages to be gain. That charitable trust set out its objects and they included the
exhibit and display of the "assets" owned by the trust.

Now if they are the stated objectives of the trust then the trustees should ensure that those objectives are met. In fact as trustees they have a legal obligation to meet the terms of the trust deed. If they wanted the "assets" to be kept locked away and not accessable to anybody they should not have set up the trust or set it up with different terms.

In simple terms if there are advantages of setting up such a charitable trust then you must accept the downside. If you only set up to make use of the advantages whilst ignoring the obligations then in my view that should make the trust void

 

But the question you have to ask is - if the Phyllis Rampton Trust owns and runs the VoR it could be said to have fulfilled its obligations under charity law by making this part of the collection accessibble. I don't believe there is necessarily any legal obligation to make all the items accessible. I'm not condoning the secrecy, because there are items in the collection that I'd love to have a look at - the Lawley from S.Africa and the Gwailor pacific from India as well as the Bagnall Meyer and the geared Avonside - but I can see whythe Trustees don't necessarily feel duty bound to throw the doors open particularly if the storage conditions don't lend themselves to it.

 

I have greatly altered my post as I have had a look at the accounts of bothe the PR Tust and the VofR. Both are charities and the accounts are freely available on the charity commissions website.

You may well be right as from a review of the accounts the PR Trust is not shown as owning any rolling stock or assets. Presumably the locos that some have listed previoulsy are therefore owned by the VofR which if it is the case then by operating the VofR they can probably be seen as meeting there obligations.

If they were owned what by the PR Trust, which is what I had previoulsy presumed going from other posts, and they were locked away far from sight then it might have been slightly less clear.

 

Two extracts from the latest annual return filed at the Charity Commission for the Phyllis Rampton Narrow Gauge Railway Trust:

PUBLIC BENEFIT
Phyllis Rampton Narrow Gauge Railway Trust supports the work of the Vale of Rheidol Railway Limited. The railway operates to demonstrate the operation of a victorian narrow gauge railway for the benefit of the public.
The Vale of Rheidol Railway is open to all members of the public. The public can benefit from and see the preserved locomotives and rolling stock in operation. They are available to be viewed on open days without charge. Fare concessions are also available for travel on the railway.


Note that there are no locomotives or rolling stock listed as fixed assets of the PRNGRT.


See here to read the latest annual return for yourselves. (pdf file)

Charlie

 

Santa Ana
anybody know annything about this loco it looks rather familier (falcon loco works?) and allso where was the photo taken it looks rather recent

 

I believe that the vast majority of the items in the collection of the British Museum are not normally available for public access, and the same goes for most major museums in this country (and no doubt elsewhere). Ergo the PRT/VoR is acting entirely consistently with many national collections in its access policy and it is unlikely that the Charity Commission would intervene.

Richard

 

Apparently repatriated from Spain - listed as a 1902 Hudswell Clarke.

http://www.uklocos.com/liveloco-results.asp?action=display&id=4782

Richard