Chairman’s Chat – March 2023

By Neil Taylor

Boiler Campaign Progress

In this brief Chairman’s chat I just wanted to provide an update on the progress of the Boiler Appeal. In broad terms we are about 60% of the way to funding the remaining boiler materials. The sums already raised and the sums to be raised can be broken down into four parts:

1. Special contributions – “Over and Above donations” for the boiler materials have to date amounted to over £31,000
2. Regular donations in 2022 will have provided an additional £19,000 of funding
3. Regular donations to September 2023 will provide another £21,000
4. That leaves about £14,000 required to specifically finish the boiler material content.

The great news is that the funds raised to date have paid for all the materials for the boiler stays, the manufacture of the boiler stays and the purchase of the material for some of the tubes and flues. Money expected from donations will pay for the completion of the Palm Stays and the Flue Tubes. The remainder will hopefully come from further individual contributions. In simple terms we are still looking for the equivalent of:

• The remaining 65 small tubes at £50 per tube (£3,250)
• The remaining 11 superheater elements @ £1000 each (£11,000)

In order to complete the mission, we will raise the final sum of money in a number of ways. Through increased efforts at the SVR Galas and other SVR events, we plan to raise between £500 and £1000 at each event. We will push more clothing sales and we have a significant selection of books to sell, all in very good condition. We are still happy to accept any further “Over and Above” donations to sponsor components and all such donations will come with a Certificate of Sponsorship. I am also hopeful that we are in line for a contribution from the SVR association raffle and our fundraising team are investigating this potential. If all these approaches pay off then we should be sufficiently funded to complete the boiler by the end of the year. The rest is then down to the SVR to spend our monies and complete the physical efforts on the boiler.

The boiler is progressing well and most of the structure now in exists. We have an inner and outer firebox that are coming together as a unit, we have a barrel that was finished some years ago that can be mated with the firebox and we have purchased much of the raw material to stay the boiler in the coming months. We are negotiating to purchase the tubes (small and large) to complete the tubing of the boiler, and we should start that process shortly. As you can see from the picture this is definitely starting to look like a boiler.

 

 

Book Sale

One strand of our drive to generate the sums of money for the boiler materials is the sale of a significant number of books. On the next two pages is a list of titles that we have for sale. Almost all are in extremely good condition and most are hardback versions. If you are interested in any books please get in touch. All can be purchased for between £5 and £10 each. The books will also be on sale on our stand at the SVR Spring Gala in the Kidderminster concourse.

82045 Steam Locomotive Trust – Books Sale

LNER & Scotland
1	Locomotives of the LNER (mostly first edition copies 1963 on)	No ISBN
	a. Volume 1
	b. Volume 2B
	c. Volume 3A
	d. Volume 4
	e. Volume 5
	f. Volume 7
2	The North British Railway	(Second ed. 1959)
3	The North British Atlantics	ISBN 0-7153-5588-0
4	Caledonian Cavalcade	ISBN 0-7110-0919-8
5	North Eastern Album	ISBN 0-7110-0563-X
6	Caledonian Dunalastairs	ISBN 7153-4251-7
7	2750 Legend of a locomotive	No ISBN
Midlands and Staffordshire
1	Pre-grouping in the west midlands	ISBN 0-86093-328-8
2	Midland Railway portrait	ISBN 0-906579-72-4
3	The power of the Duchesses	ISBN 90-2888-98-6
4	Profile of the Duchesses	ISBN 0-86093-176-5
5	North Staffordshire album	ISBN 7110-0128-6
6	Gloucestershire Railways of the 1920s	ISBN 0-86299-197-8
7	North Staffordshire Railway	ISBN 0-7153-5121-4
8	North Staffordshire Railway	ISBN 0-904532-21-6
9	The Knotty	ISBN 1-899889-01-9
10	Twixt Hatton and Harbury	ISBN 0-902280-10-4
11	The Ashover Light Railway	ISBN 0-85361-350-8
12	The Honeybourne Line	ISBN 0-907036-12-0
13	North Staffordshire Railway Locomotives	ISBN 0-85361-275-7
14	The Churnett Valley Railway	ISBN 0-903485-16-8
15	The Cromford and High Peak Railway	ISBN 0-85361-319-2
16	Salute to Snow Hill	ISBN 0-906160-00-6
17	BR past and present - North Staffordshire	ISBN 1-85895-204-2
Other
1	Cambrian Railways Album	ISBN 7110-0784-5
2	CORRIS	ISBN 1-871608-18-X
3	British Steam Nostalgia	ISBN 1-85422-688-6
4	British Steam Railcars	No ISBN
5	Enginemen Elite	ISBN 7110-0351-3
6	Preserved Locomotives of BR	ISBN 1-902336-30-5
7	Track Plans Catalogue	ISBN 0-86093-293-1
8	Preserved Railway Coaches	ISBN 0-71100664-4
9	Bill Hoole – Engineman Extraordinary
Southern Region
1	The Locomotive History of the London, Chatham & Dover Rly	ISBN 0-901115-47-9
2	The Locomotive History of the South Eastern and Chatham Rly	ISBN 0-901115-49-5
3	London Brighton and South Coast Railway	ISBN 0-7110-1187-7
GWR and the west country
1	The Great Western 4-4-0’s
	a. Part 1: Inside cylinder classes 1894 - 1910	ISBN 0-7153-7411-7
	b. Part 2: Counties to the close 1910 – 1961	ISBN 0-7153-7684-5
2	The Churchward 2-6-0’s (signed)	ISBN 0-907036-09-0
3	Castles and Kings - A pictorial tribute	No ISBN
4	GWR 4-6-0s in colour	ISBN 0-7110-2552-5
5	The golden years of British steam trains GWR	ISBN 1-900193-40-X
6	The great days of the GWR	ISBN 0-946537-63-1
7	The great western at the turn of the century	ISBN 0-902888-93-5
8	A great Western Gallery	No ISBN
9	The Great Western Railway in the 19th Century	No ISBN
10	The Great Western Railway in the 20th Century	No ISBN
11	Great Western Portrait 1913 – 1921	ISBN 902888-021
12	Great Western steam through the years	ISBN 0-85153-338-8
13	Salute to the Great Western	ISBN 7110-0181-2
14	Great Western Album number 2	ISBN 7110-0135-9
15	Western steam in colour	ISBN 0-7106-0286-3
16	Great Western Way	ISBN 0-902835-03-3
17	Great Western Main Lines	ISBN 0-906899-11-7
18	The West Midlands lines of the GWR	ISBN 0-7110-1221-3
19	The Great Western north of Wolverhampton	ISBN 0-7110-1615-1
20	Taunton to Barnstaple	ISBN 1-873793-60-X
21	The Cornish Riviera express	ISBN 0-7110-2723-4
22	Railways around Exmoor	ISBN 900131-01-2
23	The Witney and East Gloucestershire Railway	No ISBN
24	The Woodstock Branch	ISBN 0-902888-23-4
25	The Broad Gauge	ISBN 0-85361-314-1
Non-UK Railway Books
1	The end of the line – The Newfoundland Railway in pictures	ISBN 0-921191-39-1
2	Too many loose rails [Tasmanian Railway book]	ISBN 0-646-03206-2
3	Tasmanian Railways – 125 years	ISBN 0-646-27633-6
4	Locomotives of the tropics [Queensland Railways]	ISBN 0-909937-13-3
5	The crookedest railway in the world [USA]	No ISBN
6	Locomotive 346 The first 100 years	ISBN 0-918654-30-1
7	Railways of Canada	ISBN 0-88665-479-3
8	The steam locomotives of Czechoslovakia	ISBN 1-873150-148?
9	The locomotives of Steamtown	No ISBN
10	Logging railroads of the west	ISBN 0-87564-722-7
11	The Railroad Station	ISBN 0-300-00764-7
12	Sveriges Taghistoria	ISBN 91-630-5304-7