Last Will & The Railway

[First class]

Hi,

Just drafting my Last Will, and I want to leave £20,000 to the railway, but I would like people to see some benefit from it...

Preferably something in Merseyside & Cheshire. It needs to be something that would still be viable in 30 years time or so, when I expect to die...

Any ideas who to leave this money to, i.e. organisations/TOCs etc...?????

I am confused because I have always loved the railways, and I feel they have provided me with a lot in life, so I would like to give something meaningful back...

I would love to hear any ideas you might have...

Thanks

 

[TheSlash]

Well i have to do my bit and first of all say your money would go along way on a Preserved railway.

However if you want to leave it to the mainline railway, how about a waiting shelter or similar?

 

[First class]

Well i have to do my bit and first of all say your money would go along way on a Preserved railway.

However if you want to leave it to the mainline railway, how about a waiting shelter or similar?

A preserved railway would be great. Do you know of any with Liverpool connections? I know £20,000 is a reasonable amount, but in terms of the a preserved line, would it actually do that much anyway?

I was also wondering about whether to leave the money to the local PTE, Merseytravel to put towards rail projects...

 

[TheSlash]

With respect, your £20,000 would be wittled away in red tape and consultancies.
£20,000 for a preserved railway?
You could give a Mk1 coach a really good overhaul.
You could overhaul the moving bits on a diesel loco.
You could go along way to overhauling a steam loco.
Relay/Upgrade a decent length of track
Renovate a station building

I am sure the list goes on.
I will have to get back to you on Preserved railways in the Merseyside area

 

[theblackwatch]

I agree with a preserved railway, or preservation group. In my will, I have left a sum to 2 preservation groups. Alternatively, if you want it to benefit the 'big railway', a local Rail Users Group (which are voluntary organisations) would be a better bet than a commercial outfit such as a TOC.

 

[Z12XE]

Or even better than an RUG - a Community Rail Partnership Actiongroup if there is one, the money would then directly go to providing additional facilites to passengers on stations etc.

 

[Mojo]

The average station platform shelter costs on average about £30,000.

 

[bluenoxid]

Hm. It is a good one. Who would benefit and who do you want to benefit?

Once you have sorted that out, it will help.

Do you want to help preserve history or do you want to improve the current railway system?

£20,000 will make it much easier to get the other 10K to pay for the shelter. Many small projects are achieved through partnership between a host of organisations

 

[AlexS]

The East Lancashire Railway is probably the closest railway to you on Merseyside, based at Bury.

You can do an awful lot of good with 20 grand.

 

[Metroland]

Cost of passing loop on Network rail, Falmouth Branch: £8 million

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7489554.stm

Cost of passing loop on a Mid-Norfolk preserved railway: £50,000

Conclusion: Money to preserved railways goes a lot further.

To complete this project:

* 1 signal box
* 9 signals
* 20 panels of track
* 1000 tonnes of track ballast
* 3 sets of points metals
* 3 sets of point timbers
* 3 point motors

The estimated cost of the project is £50,000, consisting of the following items:

* £13,000 for pointwork;
* £12,000 for ballast;
* £10,000 for building the signal box;
* £10,000 for modifications to platforms and the level crossing;
* £3,000 for signage, plant hire and fencing; and
* £2,000 for the signalling system.

http://www.mnr.org.uk/help/passingloop/

 

[bluenoxid]

He isn't dead yet, sheeessshhhh. You'll be dividing his organs up next

 

[First class]

You've certainly gave me things to think about... thanks

Why does the cost differ so greatly between engineering on the mainline versus a preserved one? Surely the materials are going to be roughly the same?

I think I'm going to put a preserved railway down, and I will review it in 10/15 years and check if it is still going and what it's up to... assuming I'm still around...

 

[westcoaster]

isn't there a preserved tramway in the liverpool area iirc its at birkenhead.

 

[First class]

isn't there a preserved tramway in the liverpool area iirc its at birkenhead.

Yes there is a tramway in Birkenhead, but I'd much prefer a railway... thanks anyway

 

[TheSlash]

You've certainly gave me things to think about... thanks

Why does the cost differ so greatly between engineering on the mainline versus a preserved one? Surely the materials are going to be roughly the same?

Volunteer labour
Volunteers doing the paperwork
Recovered compoments rather than new
No service disruption compensation
A more common sense approach to safety legislation

 

[class 313]

All I can say mate is take everything into account and then do what you think is best. Don't let anyone pressure you...

 

[thelem]

Volunteer labour
Volunteers doing the paperwork
Recovered compoments rather than new
No service disruption compensation
A more common sense approach to safety legislation

I've not seen the figures, but I'd have though the last two of these, plus site set up / return and general red tape would be the vast majority of the additional cost.

If it was just the first three factors then I think we'd be talking about 10 times the cost, rather than 1,600 times the cost (yes, 1,600 times, not 1,600%)

 

[O L Leigh]

Please make your cheque payable to driver O L Leigh at Bishops Stortford depot.

In all seriousness, many charitable organisations rely on bequests from people when they die to the extent that legacies have now become a major part of the charitable fundraising industry. Therefore it is not unlikely that a preserved railway or a local rail-users group would be able to make use of your generosity. I certainly wouldn't consider leaving any money to a TOC or Nitwit Rail.

Then again, I'm not sure what you could do with your money that would make a lasting impact. Station furniture gets swept away and replaced on a fairly basis and any rolling stock that your money could go to restore would still need ongoing restoration work to ensure it's continued viability. Perhaps your legacy would be best served by paying for something less physically tangible but longer lasting, such as underwriting a local transport campaign to restore rail services on a long-closed line or improvements to an existing line. Your money may not buy much in the way of infrastructure, but it would go a good way to meeting the legal and other associated costs of running a campaign and would be a long-lasting legacy in your memory.

O L Leigh

 

[TheSlash]

When i say volunteers doing the paperwork, i should include that they deal with alot of the red tape.
Don't forget that in the real world, everyone has to add in alittle bit of job creation, where as volunteers are more interested in achieving the end goal
stethomson90, why not contact the railway of your choice? It might seem morbid, but in this day and age, alot of places have aleast one person assigned to deal with legacies and post humous donations