K&ESR Members e-newsletter No 60

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‍Kent & East Sussex Railway

Members e-newsletter No.60

‍Hello   

‍Welcome to the May issue of the e-newsletter.

‍‍From the Chair...

‍It will be the best part of three weeks from my writing these words to them appearing on your screens, and with the pace of events at the moment a lot might have happened between now and then. So apologies in advance if it looks a bit dated!

Our thanks to Mark Stuchbury for being the mastermind and to all those across the Railway who have contributed. People are going above and beyond to achieve this. And after the festivities of the Jubilee weekend, it goes off to Tower Hamlets to star in our partnership initiative with the local schools in that part of London. By doing this we hope to extend knowledge of our Railway into areas hitherto untapped.

And on top of all that, thanks to the Guest Engine Fund, an often forgotten part of the K&ESR family, we are of course due to host a former LNER freight locomotive for part of the summer season, to work alongside the two engines currently on hire.

The carriage works is as busy as ever. The kitchen car for the Pullman set is taking final shape and the internal fitting out, including some exquisite varnished wood, is well under way. There is a very large and shiny goods brake van which apart from being a heritage vehicle – it’s about to celebrate its centenary – will be of real practical use. And the South Eastern & Chatham Family Saloon is now beginning to look resplendent in its new olive green livery. It will be a perfect match for the existing Maunsell coaches, and we’ll be able to market it for private hire!

Alongside these projects the never-ending task of ensuring we have enough regular service vehicles is continuing, helped now by a new partnership with Hitachi at Ashford who are doing some wheel-turning for us.

Apologies to those departments I’ve not mentioned this month.

If we are going to maintain this pace of activity – and we must – then working together to a common aim is going to be at even more of a premium. Our Railway’s values and behaviours statement is elsewhere in this issue; please take a moment to read it, and please be guided by what it says. Much of it is simple common sense and courtesy.

Finally, I do need to repeat that the economic environment continues to give us cause for concern, and that the concern is increasing. We will need to be even more careful about how we spend our money, and even more rigorous about insisting on a strong business case before we commit any unbudgeted expenditure. We will also have to be alert to new risks and circumstances and be prepared to adjust our plans and activities accordingly. That is only prudent. The world is changing, and we must change with it. We can, and we will. 

‍‍Simon Marsh

Chairman

‍From the Boardroom

‍

The board of trustees had its monthly meeting on Saturday 30th April. We met in the function room of the White Lion in Tenterden High Street. Apologies were received from the company secretariat, and we welcomed Mark Stuchbury to his first meeting as our management consultant to assist the transition to a new General Manager.

The e-Newsletter provides an opportunity to give a brief flavour of some of the most important points. It should not in any sense be regarded as a comprehensive formal record.

We confirmed Andy Papworth’s co-option to the Board, the unanimous vote having previously been taken by email.

We received a report from the General Manager covering recent business. The supply of locomotives and carriages was discussed. We also discussed the need to increase load factors, ideally by increasing demand but if that were not possible by reducing the frequency or length of services. We noted the work in hand towards this, and we looked for further progress from management.

We noted that the K&ESR website was still sub-optimal and endorsed the General Manager’s proposals for rectifying this.

We agreed that in the light of current economic uncertainties we should aim to get the 2022 Santa services on sale as soon as possible.

Our overall financial position was still sound but galloping cost increases, a need to maintain working capital for contingencies, and uncertainty about future passenger levels meant that we needed to be very cautious about committing expenditure. In particular, the profitability of the catering offer would have to be watched carefully.

On safety, we discussed how the new system of spot reporting of hazards was bedding in, and its interaction with incident reporting.

We also noted with approval a new approach to the Safety Committee which included a prioritised actions log and active progress chasing. We agreed that attendance at the Safety Committee should be mandatory for managers; on the rare occasions such as leave or sickness when a manager was genuinely unable to attend a fully briefed deputy should be fielded instead.

We noted that safety training would be arranged for new members of the paid staff.

There was nothing to report from the Risk and Compliance Committee.

Some good ideas on sustainability had come forward from recent briefings on the subject and these would be progressed. The Board agreed that staff and volunteers should be briefed on what to do in the event of questions or protests about the coal issue.

We discussed planning for Terrier 150, including an update on work on the engines. We stressed that it was essential to have Bodiam/Poplar ready for the Jubilee weekend.

We had a careful debate around a paper from the Fundraising Working Party about 6619. We reluctantly concluded that the National Heritage Lottery Fund was not a viable option; the feedback from our initial approach had been that a successful bid would have to demonstrate, and guarantee, societal benefits to a degree not possible with a locomotive restoration.

We felt that we could develop other funding bids that were a better fit with the NHLF criteria, and we would put work on this in hand. In the meantime, we, in conjunction with the 6619 membership, would have to find other funding sources for 6619.

We discussed progress towards completion of the kitchen car.

We noted that an initial meeting had been held on the Rolvenden Field 51 development, and that we were getting to the point where a project manager would need to be appointed. We would likely advertise internally for the role.

We noted the good initial response to the online volunteer survey and looked forward to further developments on the volunteering front. It would be important to ensure that newcomers were integrated into the Railway, and in view of the welcome volume of new volunteers, new processes might be required.

We discussed briefly the possibility of putting disabled access into the Mark 1 coach recently arrived on the Railway.

We noted that Shaun and Mark were discussing how they might best work together in the period before Shaun’s actual retirement.

The next scheduled meeting of the Board would be held on Saturday 28th May.

Simon Marsh

Chairman

‍4253 Locomotive news

A considerable amount of work has been carried out on 4253 in the first half of this year, as well as some work towards completion of the Fireman’s Side water tank for 5668. However, we have had to be cautious on how much we can spend on materials for the water tank - due to the effect on our cashflow of the covid lockdowns.

However, we have been able through further donations following our appeal in our own newsletter, to continue with the boiler work at HBSS Liverpool, as well as paying for the manufacturing of a connecting rob and a coupling rod for 4253. One of these has now been delivered to us, while the other should be delivered, hopefully, by the time this report is published. Unfortunately, despite numerous appeals and calls to other steam railway enthusiasts and ‘collectors’ of all things steam; we were unable to find these two rods, and therefore had to have them manufactured.  Work has begun on preparing the existing rods, and once we have all eight, we can begin fitting them.

We were also able, over a period of a few weeks, with the help of Dave Stubbs, to renovate two sack barrows from Tenterden station, that were in such a bad state that they were near to being disposed of. To ensure their authenticity, only rotten wooden lower sections of the handles were replaced together with one or two small metal stays, thereby keeping them as original as possible. ‍

Kelvin Williams

4253

‍Grant application writing and Community involvement

Additionally, we wish to be more proactive in ensuring that our railway is available for the enjoyment and education of everyone in our local community. We are therefore seeking to bring together a group of volunteers who can assist us in forging closer links with local groups and specific interest charities, together building plans to ensure they can enjoy the benefits of a closer connection with K&ESR. Again, if this is of interest to you, please contact us.

For more information or to register your interest in becoming involved, please email dnibloe@kesr.org.uk or fundraising@kesr.org.uk

Thank you

David Nibloe

Trustee

‍PLEASE HELP: ‘POPLAR’ VISIT THE DOCKLANDS LIGHT RAILWAY

We are grateful for the enthusiasm of the volunteers who have come forward so far, but we still need a few more people to ensure this event is a success. Bookings for the school visits have been very popular and we are expecting over 700 primary school pupils to attend in class groups with their teachers.

WHAT IS THE PROGRAMME?

15/16/17 June – School visits

18/19 June – public weekend opening for pre-booked tickets

20/21/22 June – School visits

WHEN IS HELP MOST NEEDED?

We are short of help over the over the Public Opening weekend, and to support the School visits on 20th and 21st June.

WHAT WILL VOLUNTEERS DO?

We need help with welcoming the visitors/school groups on the day, stewarding people around the site, giving some explanation of the loco on the footplate, and some background about the engine and its history. If you are happy to talk about the loco, notes will be provided with all the information you need.

HOW DO I GET THERE?

Poplar station is on the Docklands Light Railway and easily reached from central London via the underground/DLR. There is no parking for cars.

WHAT ABOUT THE COSTS OF TRAVEL?

This project is supported by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and there is a budget set aside for travelling expenses for volunteers. You can claim up to £55 per day against your costs of reaching the venue.

HOW DO I GET INVOLVED OR FIND OUT MORE?

Please contact Patrick Favell by email at secretary@terriertrust.org.uk

Thank you for helping to stage this unique event.

David Nibloe

Terrier Trust

‍From the Finance Team

‍

We are all threatened by the current financial storm clouds.

Energy, water, diesel, petrol, & food costs have all conspired to put immense pressure on us all.

In my own business, my prices are rising to offset these increases.

Our Railway cannot simply increase ticket prices. We must remain competitive and be a magnet for the Tourist pound.  Disposable income will shrink as the year progresses so we must have an attractive offer.

We are reducing costs as much as we can, including reducing the number of trains we run, to stop “empty air” being hauled around.

As we head into Summer and find ourselves with an abundance of "smaller engines" which may be more cost effective to run, we will explore ways of making the best use of them.

If you have any ideas to help reduce our outgoings, please speak to your line manager, or email either me: gcrouch@kesr.org.uk Shaun Dewey sdewey@kesr.org.uk or Mark Stuchbury mstuchbury@kesr.org.uk

I am working to protect the salaries of our paid staff. In an ideal world it would simply be a case of applying the current inflationary number, but we all know that the Railway has always struggled to make a surplus, and pay increases usually come from any surplus.

This year the pay rises will come from costs we can remove without endangering profit.

I recognise that during these extraordinary times we, as an employer, must do our utmost to help - and we will.

I am working with Finance Committee colleagues, to find as much as possible to fund pay increases, without jeopardising the hard won stability of the business.

I am looking to finalise the exact numbers by the end of this month.  Details will be communicated to paid staff in due course.

Please bear with me in the meantime.

Geoff Crouch

Finance Director

‍Commercial Update

Best of British Weekend 2nd – 5th June

We have a fun-packed Bank Holiday weekend planned at both Tenterden and Bodiam stations to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, including traditional British fayre, giant games and face painting for families, classic car displays (including one of only two known remaining Land Rovers from the 1954 commonwealth tour) and wine tasting tours in partnership with Oastbrook Vineyard to name a few.

Of course we also celebrate the return of Terrier "Poplar" following extensive restoration, which will be hauling services over the four days with sister Terrier "Knowle". A special Jubilee ticket discount also applies for Adult and Child tickets purchased on-line in advance of the event.

Please refer to the Best of British event page for full details of what is happening over the four days including the inaugural Terrier service on the morning of 2nd June.

It would hugely add to the visitor experience if we could have a couple of visitor engagement volunteers each day, meeting and greeting, handing out UnionJack flags and letting visitors know what's on the programme on the day of their visit -  so they can get the greatest enjoyment and value from their day out.

If you would be willing to help with this meet and greet role, please email me, hpackham@kesr.org.uk for more details.

Summer Campaign

Look out for the final in the series of our seasonal marketing campaign, summer adventures, which will be appearing from the beginning of June and features our very own Poplar as part of this year’s Terrier 150 celebrations. You will also see this beginning to feature on some of the merchandise in the shop.

Heather Packham

Visitor Experience Manager 

‍The importance of values

‍Successful organisations, such as we aim to be, all work to a set of common values. These set out how things should be done, and the expectations that are placed on people. They may not always be adhered to in every detail, but they provide a benchmark and a standard to aspire to. And they are part of what gives an organisation its distinctive character.

They are especially relevant in an organisation like ours which has under its wing people from a wide range of backgrounds carrying out many different tasks in different locations and which is committed to increased diversity and being a welcoming environment for all.

The Kent and East Sussex Railway’s values document has been in place for over a year now. It has been adopted by the Board; and it applies to, and is available to, all staff and volunteers. All of us in the wider Railway family, including rolling stock owning groups and other similar bodies, should aspire to live up to it. Perhaps it’s not as widely known as it should be, and we need to do something about that.

It’s important that from time to time we remind ourselves of what our values are, so here they are:

• We are all One Railway. Within the Kent and East Sussex family we work together and support each other.

• We run a safe Railway which complies with relevant standards or recognised best practice.

• We recognise the importance of communication which should be open and transparent.
  

• We respect each other’s viewpoints. If we disagree, we do so constructively with the intention of finding a better solution.

• We recognise that resource will always be limited, and we look for solutions that are safe, effective, proportionate, and practicable.

• We take pride in what we do, and in our Railway and its surroundings.

• We want our visitors to have a positive experience and look forward to coming back.

• We value all our people. We treat other with respect. We are here because we want to enjoy ourselves.

• We challenge, appropriately, those who do not display these values and behaviours.

We shall update the document periodically, but in the meantime, just run your eye again over the list and think about how it applies to you. Our Railway is already a great place to be – if each of us really lived up to these values it could be even better!

Simon Marsh

Chairman

‍Carriage & Wagon Update

May has been another busy Month for C&W, the main push of course still being the Kitchen Car 1987.  Our wood Machine Shop has been recommissioned and the first batch of staff assessed by our good friend Paul Jessett and it really has been like getting our arms and legs back. 

The Kitchen Car has really started to take shape with completion of the floor woodwork. This has enabled panelling to be refitted to the walls, a large part of the ceiling fitted  and partitions for the new kitchen. Our electrical friends continue to burn the midnight oil fitting the electrical systems and work is underway on the doors and windows. 

‍We have also seen 18 monthly exams on the Metropolitan Coach and Maunsell CK56.

Meg has finished lining the Family Saloon, and it really is starting to look quite something. It’s getting nearer to escaping; with work taking place on the mechanicals with in particular it’s vacuum brake cylinders have been rebuilt. The varnished wooden droplights are nearly all refitted and the door furniture being replaced. We are all looking forward to seeing this very special vehicle back out where it belongs.

The SECR Dance Hall brake hasn’t been forgotten, and is looking splendid in its Southern Brown livery with bright red ends. Peter Bolton has done a lovely job of signwriting the lettering on the side and the underframe is now receiving attention.

Now we roll on to a hopefully momentous June! 

Peter Blythe

Carriage & Wagon Manager

‍‍View from the Stationmaster’s Office

The past month has been a difficult one for our roster clerks who have struggled to fill turns and sometimes been unable to. I haven’t tried a detailed analysis of why this might be but suspect a broad range of factors are in play.

Many of us are feeling the effects of rising prices and having to think more carefully about our discretionary spending, this must be having a particular impact on those who travel some distance to support the Railway.

The 2 years of COVID interrupted services saw a hiatus in recruitment, whilst the fabulous work done by Sarah Tagart and her team has restarted the flow of new blood it does take time to get people up to speed, familiar with their role and able to replace those who have moved on.

There will always be individual circumstances that interrupt the ability to get to the railway. Issues whether heath, family or transport related that are difficult to plan for. We hope to build a bit more resilience into the team by increasing the number of roles that people can fulfil and thus our flexibility to respond to the unexpected.

Whilst we are seeing an encouraging number of younger newcomers it remains the case that our stationmasters, platform assistants and travelling ticket inspectors are predominantly at the “more experienced” stage of life. Several people have commented that the days can seem quite long and rather more tiring than they used to. This has made me wonder whether a pairing arrangement with each partner working half a day would be helpful for some, we know that there are a pair of TTIs who divide their day this way quite successfully – could it help others? If you have any thoughts on this or other cunning ideas, please get in touch with me.

Thanks to all those who have gone the extra mile in these rather challenging times, it takes just a quick view of Trip Advisor reviews to see the impact that effort you make to make our visitors feel special and valued has.

Geoff Colvin

Chief Station Master

‍Tuesday Group

‍The months of April and early May have been very kind to the Tuesday Group as the weather has enabled us to complete a number of aesthetically pleasing jobs at Northiam Station.

The focus has very much been on repairing/replacing/improving the vast amount of fencing at NM. Storm Eunice did her bit in damaging the main signage, but this has now been re-installed and secured in such as way as to provide more resilience, should Eunice come a-calling again.

A handrail was fitted in the disabled toilet to assist our less able customers whilst also ensuring our compliance to any regulation that may exist. One of the biggest jobs was to high pressure hose the extensive car park wall, wire brushing the more stubborn areas and finally painting the whole wall with black masonry paint. Whilst time consuming the end result was very worthwhile with many customers commenting on how nice it looks.

‍The usual strimming & mowing continues apace with the English weather doing its very best to ensure it grows nearly as quick as we cut it. The rest of the season will see further enhancements to the appearance of both the station and the signal box. It’s a great group down at Northiam with exceptional tea/coffee making volunteers. That’s all for now.

Steve Bunn

Tuesday Group

‍Environmental Sustainability Working Group

‍What are we doing in 2022?

The Working Group was formed in September last year and its members are Paul Vidler (Chair), Keith Barron, Kevin Bulled and Philip Noakes. So far this year we have:

• Engaged in sustainability at national level. Paul is a member of the Heritage Railway Association (HRA) Environmental Committee and is leading on producing policy guidance for HRA member railways.

• Made presentations on the Group’s work at the Second Thursday online talk, the Station Masters and Crossing Keepers meeting and the Staff and Volunteers meeting at Tenterden Town Hall.

• Received a number of constructive and practical comments, suggestions and offers of help. Thank you to all those who have contributed. We will shortly be in contact with you to discuss your ideas and collect more examples of good practice.

• Identified a number of priority areas in which an impact can be made in the short/medium term, being led by a group member. We are currently gathering information and discussing these with the relevant departments.

    Catering – Kevin

    Communication, engagement and education – Philip

    Infrastructure – Kevin and Paul

    Lineside – Keith

    Utilities and fuels – Keith

    Waste and recycling – Paul

• Drafted a framework document for a sustainable railway, based on the priority areas. This will be followed by an action plan against which progress will be assessed and recorded. Both are to be published later in the year.

The Group will continue to engage with, and update, volunteers, staff and the membership on its work.

If you have any ideas, comments and suggestions or would like to get involved, please contact the Group by emailing pvidler@kesr.org.uk 

REDUCE; RE-USE; RE-CYCLE

Paul Vidler

Trustee and Chair of Environmental Sustainability Working Group

‍Newsletter Archive

Have you missed a newsletter? Have you recently joined us? Whatever the reason, you can browse recent editions of this newsletter at https://kesr.org.uk/members-e-newsletter-archive/

Tenterden Terrier Online

As a member of the K&ESR, you can receive notification when ‘The Tenterden Terrier’ magazine is published online by registering your details at

https://kesr.org.uk/tenterden-terrier-online/

‍All editions of ‘The Tenterden Terrier’ are now available to view or download from our website: to access this fascinating archive, click on the image above or visit https://kesr.org.uk/terrier/

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‍From all of us here at the K&ESR, our very best wishes

‍Kent & East Sussex Railway

Tenterden Town Station, Station Road,

Tenterden, Kent TN30 6HE

www.kesr.org.uk

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