Derwent Valley Light Railway Society Annual Report 2021
We started 2021 with a return to nationwide lockdown due to the Covid pandemic, and activities at the railway returned to security and essential maintenance. The trustees returned to fortnightly meetings on Zoom, but like the rest of the country our wider operations ceased for a time.
However, we were keen to plan for the upcoming season in whatever form that might be able to take and from February onwards, plans began to develop.
At an operational level, that meant planning for FTRs for our rolling stock and training and skills refreshing for our working volunteers. By April we were able to run socially distanced PTS training and works had begun on PW maintenance.
The season eventually began in June with us only able to offer shunting demonstrations during the first part of the season. It was August and Yorkshire Day before we were able to finally begin running passenger trains from August 2021.
There were also a number of other projects.
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Station Clock was installed after being restored for us.
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CCTV was installed across the whole of the Murton Park site including the DVLR along with wifi installation, improving security of the site in addition to the alarm system installed in 2020 following the spate of thefts from our site
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MK1 coach restoration undertaken by the Tuesday working group, has seen the coach completely renovated, ready for multi-functional use, as rolling stock or as a venue for events
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A successful application was made to acquire a Coles crane from the NRM, although the process of extracting the crane from the railway museum site has taken much longer than anyone could have predicted.
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Restoration works on Jim started, with Steve Plowman determined to complete these works, undertaking the hard labour and funding this restoration.
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Drewery arrived from NYMR, to be homed here but with the restoration work the responsibility of the York Area Group.
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A training programme for Signalmen was developed by Allan Briggs, and signed off through Mike McPeake and the signals team at NYMR.
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Development of a workshop to provide training courses for Rail Delivery Group, funds spent to purchase equipment but income and donations from the first course (run in XX) ensured that this venture has already broken even.
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Trevor Humbey led the restoration of the Steel flat wagon
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Andrew Marshall has been renovating his PMV with the intention of this being able to house a DVLR museum, bringing the history of the railway to life in more detail
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08528 arrived at the DVLR, giving us a new attraction to the railway. The loco is owned by the Lamberts who have kindly loaned the loco to us.
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Osbaldwick ward contributed to the replacement of the gate at the end of the line.
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A new range of driver experiences was introduced, building on the driver for a fiver (which is now priced at £10) and including bronze/silver/gold options for a longer experience
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We began hosting visits to the railway, including a visit from the U3A
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Shed – funds spent on 3 way turnout from Clapham Junction for future site development
The usual running season ended in October, but as always, the year ended with Santa at Murton Park, although for the second year running we took the decision not to run trains. Instead, we hosted catering options at the station, opened the shop and Mother Christmas ran entertainment sessions in the MK1.
Donations
Donations generally increased in 2021, including for specific projects such as the Coles crane.
Our Archivist, Mr Jonathan Stockwell, has made another donation in respect of his book royalties and it was agreed in October to make him an Honorary Life Member in recognition of his long standing contribution to the railway.
We are receiving a regular donation from K Norton for which we are very grateful,
Trustee News
Following Allan Briggs being co-opted back to the Trustees in 2020, Mike Pinder was also coopted as a trustee in April 2021.
In June 2021 Andrew Marshall decided to step down as a trustee, after 7 years. We are very grateful to Andrew for his service as a trustee.
DVLRS Profit and Loss Statement
| INCOMES | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| to 6th June | |||||
| Donation | £2,386.26 | £4,061.19 | £4,888.21 | £398.47 | |
| Interests | £51.33 | £28.77 | £4.22 | £3.73 | |
| Membership | £2,140.00 | £2,080.00 | £2,295.00 | £1,155.00 | |
| Museum Admissions | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £12,761.00 | |
| Santa Specials | £10,088.00 | ||||
| Other Incomes | £4,921.35 | £9,989.17 | £2,878.23 | £1,153.50 | |
| Sales | £3,472.74 | £2,244.36 | £10,365.32 | £3,078.37 | |
| Total: | £12,971.68 | £18,403.49 | £20,430.98 | £28,638.07 | |
| EXPENSES | |||||
| Bank charges | £74.18 | £92.91 | £219.55 | £82.25 | |
| events | £677.81 | £0.00 | £131.21 | £67.85 | |
| General Business Expenses | £1,082.33 | £1,070.00 | £1,778.94 | £646.52 | |
| IT services | £239.88 | £276.00 | £156.95 | ||
| Loco Fuel | £170.00 | £112.65 | £3,038.22 | £0.00 | |
| RollingStock repairs | £3,422.04 | £2,566.25 | £7,810.25 | £259.57 | |
| New Building | £0.00 | £0.00 | £5,707.00 | £0.00 | |
| Marketing | £589.68 | £59.25 | £0.00 | £598.00 | |
| Mileage Money | £975.00 | £200.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | |
| Newsletter | £634.76 | £594.30 | £665.60 | £363.00 | |
| Postage | £100.14 | £26.50 | £317.10 | £22.40 | |
| Rails alongDerwent | £413.10 | £197.70 | £45.90 | £0.00 | |
| Repair & Gen. Maintenance | £3,448.98 | £2,177.84 | £3,402.84 | £661.31 | |
| ShopStock | £952.18 | £638.12 | £3,796.89 | £983.94 | |
| Tools | £565.00 | £0.00 | £3,339.20 | £767.84 | |
| Trackwork | £0.00 | £0.00 | £7,095.00 | £0.00 | |
| Total: | £13,105.20 | £8,020.40 | £42,411.70 | £4,809.93 | |
| Profit/loss: | -£133.52 | £10,383.09 | -£21,980.72 | £23,828.14 |