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Old Oak Common 03 May
64. The latest dated picture we have of the loco before she was condemned and consigned to Barry. Copyright Mike Green. A big THANK YOU to all of you who have supported
our Project thus far whether by your time or money or in many cases BOTH! Once
again the politicians tell us we’ll be tightening our belts this year, however you can be sure of two rules that the
6989 Group stick to rigidly. 1) We don’t spend money we haven’t
already raised and 2) We spend carefully and responsibly. Consequently the Locomotive is being restored to a very high standard, even though
we don’t plan to run it on the main line. As Charlie’s
report shows, we have made good progress on both the boiler and the tender in 2011 and our regular helpers have done a splendid
job. Notably the Fundraising Team have kept the Sales Coach and Christmas Stall bringing in valuable income, despite falling
numbers of public attendance at the Centre. Also, the Restoration Team was reinforced this year by Geoff Fishpool and Roger
Fox, and by the return of Andrew Jones (despite his occupational injury from a badly behaved horse), who lent his much appreciated
welding skills in his spare time from "farrier-ing". Jeff Jackson, John Spaull and of course Charlie, have brought
the tender to near completion and the loco frames only need detailed pipework ready to receive the boiler again, some time
later this year. However we have suffered delays to work on the boiler due to decisions beyond our control which meant that
we have had to seek professional help from a new source. While nearly 1000 stays have been fitted we were hoping to be nearer
completion of the boiler now. Instead we have to be patient and we now envisage completion late this year with the locomotive
complete in 2013. Progress is being made on the superheater header and flues, which should be back in by the summer. We still
anticipate the Tender being completed by the autumn. Once again, we couldn’t get
this far without our Supporters’ generous help for which we are very grateful. Best wishes, Rod. |
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News
from our Treasurer - January 2012: The past year has been one of mixed
fortunes with earnings from sales down by 2% but donations up in excess of 30%. The
finances remain healthy, but following boiler problems at another Railway, who used the same boiler–smith, their work
on our boiler had to be suspended and alternative boiler-smiths engaged. The net result is that the cost of repairs to our
boiler will be significantly more than the original forecast and we need to raise at least a further £10k to offset
these additional costs. Donations for the engine should be made to the Treasurer,
6989 Group, Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, Station Road, Quainton, AYLESBURY, Bucks, HP22 4BY. Remember if you are a British Taxpayer if you gift aid your donation it is worth a further 25% (ie £20
becomes worth £25). Chris Tayler Treasurer
6989 Group |
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