Preservation or Restoration?

[BigB]

And therein lies the dilemma... you have an item that may be historically important, but you have no resources or room to restore it, and cannot prioritise preserving it as there are many other equally worthy priorities. Ideally you could pass it on to another entity who would restore and hopefully use it, thus the whole reason for getting in the first place is realised.
However, what do you do when no other railway wants the item - it may not be historic to them, or they don't have resources or space and it would just rot away there instead.
That is a real world dilemma that a lot of railways have which explains some of the stored stock or wagons and in several cases engines, where people don't want to see these things waste away, but what is the choice?

If anyone has the answer to this please let everyone in the railway heritage world know as it would save us all a lot of pain.

 

[paul1609]

And therein lies the dilemma... you have an item that may be historically important, but you have no resources or room to restore it, and cannot prioritise preserving it as there are many other equally worthy priorities. Ideally you could pass it on to another entity who would restore and hopefully use it, thus the whole reason for getting in the first place is realised.
However, what do you do when no other railway wants the item - it may not be historic to them, or they don't have resources or space and it would just rot away there instead.
That is a real world dilemma that a lot of railways have which explains some of the stored stock or wagons and in several cases engines, where people don't want to see these things waste away, but what is the choice?

If anyone has the answer to this please let everyone in the railway heritage world know as it would save us all a lot of pain.

I suspect that with many preserved railways now looking towards the early 2021 season for financial survival the situation is about to become a lot more severe.

 

[BigB]

It has certainly changed priorities - work on main line stock, engines for external hire/ contract work and day to day branch stock Maintenance are the only work we are prioritising. Restorations are on hold (unless they are at a stage where damage may occur if left) and projects that have not started are pushed further down the list. That does not bode well for items that continue to deteriorate, but you have to balance that with survival of the railway (read company, for that is how we need to behave).
Where non-commercial work must continue it is limited to where there is external funding that must be used in a certain timescale, or where a hiatus would increase these costs to the point where the funding runs out.
For the big English railways major infrastructure jobs will need to continue if there are to be full services, and overhauls delayed this year may need to be prioritised to ensure that there are locomotives available to haul trains when they can start up.

Unfortunately with any organisation mostly staffed by volunteers there are some who only want to work on a 1879 cattle truck, and so this commercially focused approach is not universally welcomed. However we absolutely must have a product "oven ready" to quote BoJo for the public either main line or on the branch. We also need to gain external revenue. 1879 cattle trucks don't really help do this - it's only by having an operating profit that railways can allocate money for restoration of non-core items. So all hands to the pumps and hopefully we will stay afloat long enough to start getting money back in.

 

[paul1609]

I think you are lucky still to have your workshops open, down here in Kent our railway is more or less closed. The loss of all our santa services is pretty devastating to a railway that has always been financially marginal. Best Wishes for the new year, always enjoyed Bo'ness.

 

[BigB]

Whether you can keep workshops open etc. Really depends on the commercial footing as "work" can continue but there are definitions of this that you must be careful to adhere to. We took legal advice on what we could legitimately continue with, and that is what we are limited to. We have operated this process since the end of the first lockdown.
We have a strict roster, through HOPS and you must be approved and be on the list for that day and department to enter the site. And social distancing, use of face coverings etc. must be observed.
We have a main line engine that the guys are working long hours on to repair the engine so that it can go back on long term hire which brings in much needed income. And then there is the 314...
And if anyone wonders about branch stock - this needs to be Covid safe with partitions for when we restart as this may well be a condition. You cannot run trains without carriages...

Yes, at lunch break I may measure up materials for repairing non-revenue items, then let those with the purse strings know what is needed for future repairs etc. and if they order that in their own time can have it delivered to me. If I machine it at home in my own time then some other work is ready to go when we open to all volunteers. There are a few people doing this as well which does mean that when we can reopen on a more relaxed basis, restorations can restart at a good point.

The issue there of course is ensuring that there is some money to buy material with... money ringfenced for projects can be released if required, but general funds are keeping a lot of railways afloat at present, albeit with several successful appeals out there.

It comes full circle round to the debates on here starting I think with Swanage gala cancellation - if those who would have attended a gala at a preserved line in 2020 donated the ticket money to that railway, it would go a little way to paying the day to day bills whilst trains cannot run. This means in turn that when the world does reopen, that there is a chance to have another gala, or even just a train trip on heritage stock pulled by something interesting. You have saved the travel (and sometimes accommodation costs) so donating the ticket money means you may have the option of another event. Remember you saved the travel/hotel/beer costs last year, so it's only the cost of a ticket this year.. surely it's worth people doing this if they can, especially for those railways with no external income stream other than running trains?

Selfishly I want railways like the RH&DR to be there next time I am down in the Deep South, but already commit time and resources to two railways in Scotland (though one more than the other due to distance and restrictions on travel). To return to Preservation or Restoration, neither is possible without funding...

 

[paul1609]

Whether you can keep workshops open etc. Really depends on the commercial footing as "work" can continue but there are definitions of this that you must be careful to adhere to. We took legal advice on what we could legitimately continue with, and that is what we are limited to. We have operated this process since the end of the first lockdown.
We have a strict roster, through HOPS and you must be approved and be on the list for that day and department to enter the site. And social distancing, use of face coverings etc. must be observed.
We have a main line engine that the guys are working long hours on to repair the engine so that it can go back on long term hire which brings in much needed income. And then there is the 314...
And if anyone wonders about branch stock - this needs to be Covid safe with partitions for when we restart as this may well be a condition. You cannot run trains without carriages...

Yes, at lunch break I may measure up materials for repairing non-revenue items, then let those with the purse strings know what is needed for future repairs etc. and if they order that in their own time can have it delivered to me. If I machine it at home in my own time then some other work is ready to go when we open to all volunteers. There are a few people doing this as well which does mean that when we can reopen on a more relaxed basis, restorations can restart at a good point.

The issue there of course is ensuring that there is some money to buy material with... money ringfenced for projects can be released if required, but general funds are keeping a lot of railways afloat at present, albeit with several successful appeals out there.

It comes full circle round to the debates on here starting I think with Swanage gala cancellation - if those who would have attended a gala at a preserved line in 2020 donated the ticket money to that railway, it would go a little way to paying the day to day bills whilst trains cannot run. This means in turn that when the world does reopen, that there is a chance to have another gala, or even just a train trip on heritage stock pulled by something interesting. You have saved the travel (and sometimes accommodation costs) so donating the ticket money means you may have the option of another event. Remember you saved the travel/hotel/beer costs last year, so it's only the cost of a ticket this year.. surely it's worth people doing this if they can, especially for those railways with no external income stream other than running trains?

Selfishly I want railways like the RH&DR to be there next time I am down in the Deep South, but already commit time and resources to two railways in Scotland (though one more than the other due to distance and restrictions on travel). To return to Preservation or Restoration, neither is possible without funding...

The RHDR is still there, I had my motorbike tyres changed in the garage next to New Romney station just before christmas!

 

[Mat17]

A good question. My take is that it depends really.

One railway did a wonderful restoration of a class 108 and restored it to original appearance, original moquette, tungsten lighting etc. It looked real swell. So I'm all in favour of restoration.

However, that said, I see endless DMUs running around in BR green and, yeah they look good and fit the image of the steam era railway, same with all the maroon coaching stock, but it all becomes a bit samey.

Then I went to the East Lancs after a long absence and they had a diesel day and blue locos were out and some blue/grey coaches and it was like a breath of fresh air. It was wonderful, and nostalgic too. So nice to have a colour scheme I actually remember first hand and not from history books.

I'd love some DMUs in Regional Railways livery too. I guess, to answer the question therefore, I hope there's a place for both preservation (in its end appearance) and also complete restoration.

I expect as time moves forward and more post-steam stock get preserved from the 80s/90s/00s eras, that maybe some older types will be turned out in more modern liveries to match a change in what's being preserved. Very hard to make class 158 or Turbostar look as if it came out in steam days.