If you register, you can do a lot more. And become an active part of our growing community. You'll have access to hidden forums, and enjoy the ability of replying and starting conversations.

Spa Valley Railway - Latest News

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by matt41312, Jan 15, 2014.

  1. Jonnie

    Jonnie Member

    Joined:
    May 28, 2012
    Messages:
    369
    Likes Received:
    1,543
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    General Manager
    Location:
    Kent
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Crop/zoom in of the photo that we've had as reference to the black name plate idea. I've no idea who the original photographer is and the copyright remains with that individual and not ours to take/use or otherwise.
     

    Attached Files:

    Sunnieboy likes this.
  2. Big Al

    Big Al Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Moderator

    Joined:
    May 30, 2009
    Messages:
    21,065
    Likes Received:
    20,773
    Location:
    1016
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Looks like a lovely weekend playing out at the Spa Valley with three locos in steam but not an image anywhere.

    Perhaps it's a set up that doesn't need to celebrate what it is doing?
     
  3. Wagoniester

    Wagoniester Member

    Joined:
    Nov 30, 2017
    Messages:
    583
    Likes Received:
    939
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Essex
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    (You posted that just as I was typing this!)

    The Summer Steam Up kicked off yesterday, and was blessed by glorious weather.

    DSC_0882.JPG DSC_0951.JPG DSC_1064.JPG DSC_1112.JPG IMG_3182.JPG IMG_3132.JPG IMG_3165.JPG DSC_1134.JPG
     
  4. Paul42

    Paul42 Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Jul 17, 2006
    Messages:
    5,922
    Likes Received:
    3,827
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    East Grinstead
  5. Dan Hill

    Dan Hill Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Aug 1, 2008
    Messages:
    2,576
    Likes Received:
    545
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Brick Machine Operator
    Location:
    Haywards Heath
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I believe 34059 and 34067 are two other examples of preserved Light Pacifics that also carried black painted nameplates with 34059 carrying them in service briefly before being withdrawn in 2011.
     
  6. Matt37401

    Matt37401 Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2014
    Messages:
    15,328
    Likes Received:
    11,666
    Occupation:
    Nosy aren’t you?
    Location:
    Nowhere
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Be judged by your deeds not your words maybe? :) If those in the south east are just quietly getting on with the job then maybe we should leave them to it? :):)
    I must admit though it’s somewhere I fancy paying a little visit too
     
  7. Jonnie

    Jonnie Member

    Joined:
    May 28, 2012
    Messages:
    369
    Likes Received:
    1,543
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    General Manager
    Location:
    Kent
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    I tend not to post too much on here about what we're up to as it doesn't seem to attract much of a response and I'm never sure whether people are interested or not! We just carry on quite happily with our 40,000 visitors a year, a Bulleid, Douglas, a selection of heritage diesels, a range of MK1s and a dining operation that is on par with some bigger organisations over our 5.25 mile line. A lot goes on that many people probably don't realise!

    If there is enough interest about what we're up to then I'll happily copy my weekly Facebook/volunteers blogpost about how we're doing onto here too. If you want to see lots of photos from the weekend our Facebook page (25,000 followers) and the Instagram page @spavalleyofficial have seen a lot of submissions over the past few hours. You can also find our Unofficial Spa Valley Railway Facebook page which is where my weekly 'how we're doing' piece goes along with lots of photos and videos of the railway.

    I spent Saturday firing Knowle and Sunday driving and firing Sir Keith Park, here are some of my pics from a fantastic weekend which saw 811 visitors and a healthy profit get turned over.

    'Knowle' is hauling trains again this Saturday & Sunday alongside 'Douglas'. For anyone that wants to see 'Sir Keith Park' in action the locomotive is next operating on 14th, 15th, 21st, 22nd, 28th, 29th & 30th August. Our next event that'll feature steam is the Model Railway Weekend on 11th & 12th September. The Diesel Gala on 6th, 7th & 8th August will feature visiting Class 33/0 33002 operating with D8188, 31430, 33063, 73140, 1317, 1497 and the shunters.
     

    Attached Files:

  8. Mark Thompson

    Mark Thompson Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2017
    Messages:
    1,430
    Likes Received:
    3,560
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    E sussex
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Wagoniester likes this.
  9. Mark Thompson

    Mark Thompson Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2017
    Messages:
    1,430
    Likes Received:
    3,560
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    E sussex
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I think I rather envy your lifestyle, Jonnie- quietly living a dream, without any razzmatazz.:)
     
    Jonnie and Matt37401 like this.
  10. Matt37401

    Matt37401 Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2014
    Messages:
    15,328
    Likes Received:
    11,666
    Occupation:
    Nosy aren’t you?
    Location:
    Nowhere
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Saw some of your photos of you on Instagram involving a small hound! Seriously Mate please keep posting some of us want to pay a visit at some point :)
     
    Jonnie likes this.
  11. Big Al

    Big Al Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Moderator

    Joined:
    May 30, 2009
    Messages:
    21,065
    Likes Received:
    20,773
    Location:
    1016
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Lovely images. I was impressed the last time I went and whilst it's not always easy to run trains with motive power at one end only, the SVR does try to do just that.

    It strikes me that a run round loop at Eridge would be useful but I realise that it would involve major work to do it.
     
    Jonnie likes this.
  12. Jonnie

    Jonnie Member

    Joined:
    May 28, 2012
    Messages:
    369
    Likes Received:
    1,543
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    General Manager
    Location:
    Kent
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    It is still an aim of ours to get a run round loop in at Eridge, part of the access for all project undertaken recently will see work on our side which will make the prospects of a run round much more viable. I can't go into great details yet as it isn't finalised but watch this space. I'd rather be able to run the Bulleid for 60 miles a day if we can!

    This past weekend has given us a taste of what would be possible with 'Sutton' too so being able to run around with the Terrier at Eridge would make a nice little shuttle train on our busier Summer weekends.
     
    ykin01, Vulcan Works, Big Al and 6 others like this.
  13. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2018
    Messages:
    2,696
    Likes Received:
    5,501
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Leicestershire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Thanks for your updates Jonnie. It is great to see the line progressing and increasing in popularity.
     
    crusader612 and Jonnie like this.
  14. ady

    ady Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2006
    Messages:
    2,369
    Likes Received:
    281
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Post office
    Location:
    South
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I was there for the whole weekend and it was alot of fun.

    Just a question whats the progress with the 'slip' and the siding space?
     
  15. Vulcan Works

    Vulcan Works Member

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2018
    Messages:
    261
    Likes Received:
    711
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    England
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Jonnie I live miles away from your line but I know more about the railway, what's happening and what your plans are than I do with 'my' Derbyshire railway that I've been a member of for 30 years...Your regular updates and degree of openness about how things are going is something many heritage lines would do well to learn from!
     
    Sunnieboy, A1X, Matt37401 and 4 others like this.
  16. Jonnie

    Jonnie Member

    Joined:
    May 28, 2012
    Messages:
    369
    Likes Received:
    1,543
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    General Manager
    Location:
    Kent
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    The slip site has been subjected to a lot of work that isn’t evident in recent years, a people change has helped progress it further and thanks to a legacy left we were able to undertake a detailed geotechnical study of the embankments condition and its make up. We then installed a form of monitoring to measure the levels of water within the embankment itself. If you travelled on our train these are the little black circular things you can see poking out the ground as you pass through the slip site, we dip these regularly and our Civil Engineer has a continuous idea of what is going on.

    The next task is to rebuild the drainage which will significantly improve things and our Civil Engineer is currently coming up with a plan of repairs. But... (there's always one of those isn't there) we also have three bridges that have/need significant investment. First of all, in December 2019, High Rocks Cattle Creep had around £10,000 spent on it to repair defects with the pointing and extend the life of this structure, this was a cheap repair job when it comes to bridges...

    More recently the A26 bridge next to the slip site has been subjected to over £20,000 worth of repairs following a lot of bridge strikes and pre-existing age related defects, this will extend the life of the structure but it is inevitable it will need replacing one day.

    Further down the line at Broom Lane Bridge (located about 1/4 mile away from High Rocks by Adams Well campsite) we've had a 10mph TSR since 2017 and the cheapest means of repair is to replace the whole structure, this is now in hand with a quote being obtained to get the job done one Winter and get rid of this long standing issue and give us a structure that will out live the current railway management.

    As for sidings, last Summer we completely relaid the yard at Tunbridge Wells West, taking advantage of being able to let volunteers return but not being able to run trains. We also laid a further back siding at Tunbridge Wells West to securely store our carriages, these sidings, known as the East/West sidings are now all fully laid, the far back siding just requires ballasting. The whole area is continuously monitored by CCTV (as is the whole railway) and is capable of holding all of our carriages, including more recent arrivals.

    Recently the 101 trailer car has been put up for sale by its private owners as it doesn't really fit with our image following the end of Thomas events in 2018, we now have 8 MK1s and 1 MK2 on site with our aim to replace the 101 with another MK1 in the future.
     
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2021
    ghost, marshall5, jnc and 2 others like this.
  17. Jonnie

    Jonnie Member

    Joined:
    May 28, 2012
    Messages:
    369
    Likes Received:
    1,543
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    General Manager
    Location:
    Kent
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    I'm glad they're appreciated. I'll endeavour to post more frequently when I get five minutes!
     
    ghost likes this.
  18. Jonnie

    Jonnie Member

    Joined:
    May 28, 2012
    Messages:
    369
    Likes Received:
    1,543
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    General Manager
    Location:
    Kent
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    I thought I'd pass over this update which I've just posted on Facebook. The Summer Steam Up was a very successful event generating over £4,000 after all the costs associated with such an event have been taken into consideration. This sort of income is very helpful as we're fast approaching our annual insurance bill so it'll go someway to ensuring this can be paid for in full, I have an excellent broker that always gets us a very good insurance deal but the invoice every year always makes my heart skip a beat!
     
    jnc, black5, ghost and 6 others like this.
  19. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2018
    Messages:
    2,696
    Likes Received:
    5,501
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Leicestershire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Thanks again for your updates. Your bridge/age problems are happening on many lines - inevitably and it does mean spending more money.....or else. At least you are aware and have plans.
     
  20. Bikermike

    Bikermike Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2020
    Messages:
    1,442
    Likes Received:
    1,595
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Thameslink territory
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Lovely stuff.
    With the bridge that has suffered strikes, are you able to put defensive measures up?
     

Share This Page