Steamed Up

Concern over recent managerial failings at the Bluebell Railway resulted in the following correspondence (transferred from Film Crusty's Blog):

Thursday, August 21, 2008
A Steamy Affair
Ever since 1960 the Bluebell Railway in sunny Sussex has been running steam trains on a section of railway which traverses the High Weald Area of Outstanding natural beauty. Twenty two years ago Paul Channon MP, at the time Minister of Transport in the British Government laid the first panel of track for the extension of the line to the historic market town of East Grinstead where the Bluebell railway can connect with the national rail network. Slowly the Bluebell has been working towards this objective. In July Bluebell launched a share issue to raise funds for the final section which includes the removal of household waste from a former railway cutting. That's an expensive business estimated at £4m. The excavators will move in during September if the Bluebell Railway PLC give the expected go ahead at their meeting on 22 August.

However fund raising needs to be stepped up if work is to continue. So far less than 10% of the 8000 adult members of the Bluebell have purchased shares. In fact the whole share issue story is catalogue of failures by management. The primary reason for this is the Bluebell's peculiar structure. The Bluebell Railway Preservation Society, an unincorporated body owns Bluebell Railway PLC who operate the railway. There is also a Bluebell Railway charitable trust, but as it is a private trust it is restricted in how it can help the railway and the Charity Commissioners ruled last year that the trust cannot raise funds for the extension owned by the PLC. Twelve months on and Bluebell management (in fact the PLC chairman, company secretary and administrative trustee of the charity is the same person) have failed to do anything to rectify this anomaly.

The share issue runs until 31 December. So if you would like to own a small piece of the UK's most respected and successful steam railway visit the Bluebell Railway web site now. Visit http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/

Hopefully in the New Year Bluebell will restructure itself and appoint a General Manager (Bluebell is unique among preserved railways in not having one person in charge reporting to the directors). In my opinion the trustees of the preservation society elected by the AGM) could become the trustees of a sole custodian charity which could own the track bed and fixed assets. This would enable the charity to raise funds for the extension as it would own the land. The PLC cold be replaced with a CIC (Community Interest Company) limited by guarantee in which all members of the the preservation society would hold £1 share each along with existing shareholders of the PLC. In addition community groups in East Grinstead (which for a town in South East England has a high level of community awareness) could own a share. These could include the Town Council who have been great supporters of the Bluebell's efforts to reach their town. Making Bluebell a true community project would, I feel certain, be positive for attracting funds. CIC's are eligible to apply for grants to public sector bodies.
Posted by 21C123


Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Steamy Affair - A response from a Bluebell Director
"I am grateful to Film Crusty for the chance to make some points in reply to 21c123. However I would make one initial note; it is unhelpful for the wider world not to know whether 21c123 is a stakeholder in Bluebell in terms of being a member. If he or she is not a member then of course they cannot be in possession of all the facts that some of the closer membership is likely to be. If they are a member then we can all look forward to a lively debate at the the next Annual General Meeting of the Society when these interesting constitutional proposals are submitted for discussion on the Agenda, but I would venture to suggest that in order to succeed they would need a champion on the top table of the same calibre and tenacity as the late, and much missed, Peter Thomas. This person would have the understanding of the issues and the long term staying power to persuade all that proposed changes would be in the best interests of the railway, and then see them through to implementation. If 21c123 is that person I commend him or her, now, to the membership in the 2009 elections. There are too few coming forward of whatever opinion or skill than is healthy in the long run.

"On the point of a General Manager the directors have, in recent years, considered restructuring the railway to make space for one, and they would on the whole welcome relief from the burden of the day to day grind of keeping the show on the road. However there are very good reasons why, in the wake of the events in 1971 the Society, as the major stakeholder, has shied away up to now from depositing that power in one individual. And, although we do have our ups and downs, most observers consider our current operation to be a success, and you make changes to a winning formula only after very careful consideration of the effects that the, albeit temporary, instability will have.

"In addition, it is not simply a matter of appointing a new layer of management to the current structure, at the expense of volunteer time from the board and Society (however constituted). The individual would want remunerating at a level consistent with his or her responsibilities, and this would require funding out of an already very tight budget. That would throw into question the whole paid staffing structure of the railway, a step for which there are no plans at present. It would also be quite wrong to embark upon such a root and branch re-build while we are trying to complete Capital projects worth £8 million. That said changes to the wider regulatory regime in which we all live may not be the least powerful argument for going down that road in the future, and such an outcome might be worth striving for at some time in the medium to longer term, who knows ?

"But right now, among other long term challenges, dealing with an ageing membership and workforce is the most daunting and insidious, one which our younger members are considering . And in the short term, the success of the railway will be judged by the membership's commitment to Operation Undercover and to the Extension, and the exhortation to buy shares in the present appeal is one we should all endorse and support.

I hope that this helps put some context on an interesting blog contribution."


Russell Pearce (a name not a handle!)
Volunteer Driver, Guard, Shunter,
Director Bluebell Railway PLC, and Trustee BRPS.


The result of this is that the BRPS Trustees will have before them at their November meeting a memorandum setting out the options available from do nothing which results in the Bluebell motto that "if a job is worth doing, it is worth doing twice" to various combinations of alternative structures which will encourage a more effective use of resources bith volunteers and fiancial.