I’ve been told about this thread by several colleagues. All I can say is that I’m very flattered and appreciate the support. There was a period about this time last year when I really was on the verge of packing it in but things have moved on a bit and through the help of several people I’m back in business and will be making more videos for a while yet (I’m probably not on Video 125s Christmas card list). I think you’ve worked out pretty well what happened but if I can answer any questions or clarify the situation I’ll be glad to as far as I can without violating TPEs rules. They pay my wages so I’m not about to upset them and in any case, they got me started with all this.
I’m sitting on several thousand pounds of advertising revenue which after discussions with TfW and Metrolink, we’ve decided will go to the Samaritans but I’ve had to hire an accountant to keep me out of trouble with the tax man and I’m waiting on his word about whether I can do it tax free. Everything needs to be declared and transparent to do it but I just need to get a green light off him.
I’ve been lucky to obtain some footage from Freightliner and I’ve just released the first of a full set from Metrolink who contacted me and filmed the routes with one of my cameras. There are two more cameras out and you’ll see the result of that in due course. Northern have always been helpful and they’ve pledged more help but as you can imagine they’ve got their hands full with covid and overdue training so I won’t be bothering them just yet. Once again, thanks for the kind words and as above, I’m happy to answer any questions about what happened or future events. I’m semi retired and on a job share now and I work a fortnight on and a fortnight off. I’m on this week so I’ll only be around some of the time, the rest I’ll be playing 1:1 scale trains.
Thanks and regards.