VIEW FROM THE VESTIBULE As the time comes around to start put- ting The Droplight together, there is always the slight worry - will there be enough material? There were no such worries this time, which is an indica- tion of the level of activity over the past year - a lot has been going on be- hind the scenes to ensure that the LMSCA has a sustainable future, and as far as the `nuts and bolts' side of things is concerned, 2003 was a very successful year for acquiring spares. CONTENTS Indeed, at the time of writing a team has been rescuing gangways for future The Chairman's Ventilator 2 use, in a combined effort with other Finance Report 3 groups. A big `thank you' is due to Time Spent Wisely? 4 everyone who has helped in any way. Membership Report 4 2004 should be an interesting year, 3031 Progress (TK2) 5 with efforts concentrated on finishing Scouse Gold 7 3031 (TK2), and taking the initial steps with the NRM Third Open 7828, not LMSCA and the Carriage forgetting (fingers crossed) the result of Convention 9 our application for charitable status. The LMSCA the National We are fast approaching our first Railway Museum and 7828 10 AGM as mentioned elsewhere. When The Third Open Years 1923-2003 12 we say we would like to see you, we Progressive Railway Carriage really mean it! We also realise that Lifting and Repairing 15 many of you live a fair distance from Scotland Trip 2003 21 Derbyshire and travelling can be diffi- cult at this time of year, but if you pos- Shake, Rattle and Roll 22 sibly can, do please come along. Notes and News 23 Season's greetings to you all. Jestoration! 23 David Winter (Editor) The LMSCA Vehicles 24 Opinions expressed by contributors are Cover design from an Eric Treacy not necessarily those of the LMSCA photograph © NRM, Catalogue No. MH-ET LS 769 © LMSCA 2003 1 THE CHAIRMAN'S VENTILATOR In the Summer issue of `The Droplight' I mentioned the negotiations which were in hand for the long-term loan of LMS carriage No 7828 from the National Railway Museum. Eventually, on the 15` h October, 7828 was delivered on a low-loader. The carriage is described elsewhere in this edition. Our task over the next two or three years is to restore it to a condition worthy of the NRM. The first stage will be to conduct a thorough survey of the carriage to establish in detail what work has to be done and report back to the NRM. Restoration work can then start in earnest. At this stage we will need to have assembled a team to carry out a wide range of jobs requiring a variety of skills. I am therefore appealing to our members to come forward and join in this project which when completed will give us a vehicle which can be run in Peak Rail train and allow us to experience the way we travelled all those years ago. 5 We are approaching the first AGM of the Association, which will be held on the 31 ` January, when I hope that as many of our members as possible will be able to attend. As well as the formal business meeting we are expecting that the NRM carriage LMS 7828, and LMS 3031 will be available for members to inspect when they will be ex- changing places in the shed. It will also give an opportunity for members to meet and discuss common problems. Finally, the latest on our application for registration as a charity is that we received a response from the Charity Commission to our application which asked a number of questions about us. A comprehensive reply has now submitted and we are awaiting further developments. These matters, it seems, are not to be hurried. John Leather Should our chairman worry about a rival organisation? DW 2 FINANCE REPORT I thought I had better write a short paragraph in this issue as we are holding our first AGM in January and all members will receive a Statement of Accounts for 2002-3 with their AGM notification. Our current surplus although never as great as I would like, you can never have too much money, remains satisfactory for the Company's current level of expenditure. The first AGM covers the period until May 2003, so far this financial year 2003-4 our income is of the order of £1000 however, our expenditure over the same period has been of the order of £3000 and therefore we cannot realistically pursue any significant new purchases for the remainder of this year. A large proportion of our income con- tinues to derive from membership, sales and donations. In the latter respect we have three members who donate regularly by standing order each month amounting in total to nearly £600 per annum. If any member wishes to donate a regular amount, however small, drop me a line or email and I will send details. The guaranteed annual income generated in this way is extremely helpful in defraying our day to day running ex- penses and in facilitating forward financial planning. The Company's application for charitable registration is ongoing. The Commission- ers have been in contact with us again and we are required to provide them with more information about our proposed activities, specifically to their expectations regarding these. We have recently completed this report and await the Commission's response. You will of course be informed as soon as we have any more information. I hope to meet some of you at the AGM in January, meanwhile may I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year and may I thank you again for your continuing support towards the Company's endeavours. It really does help the people at the 'sharp end' to know that others support what the Company is trying to achieve. Derek Mason The Trustees would like to thank the following for their kind donations received during the year: Keith Battersby from Swinton John and Alison Leather from Matlock Mick Bond from Sheffield Adrian Lewis from Higham Ferrers Roger Burgess from Bury St Edmunds Garry Marks from Crewkerne Harvey Coppock from Chesterfield Derek Mason from Belper Cliff Fraser from London Trevor Riley from Derby Donald Grindon from Macclesfield Peter Stanley from Derby John Holden from Lytham St Annes David Summer from Newton Vince Kay from Chesterfield Alan Taylor from Long Eaton James Knibbs from Milton Keynes Arthur Whitaker from Buxton 3 TIME SPENT WISELY ? It is our custom, mainly for insurance purposes, to record shed working times and it soon became obvious that it would also be useful to identify how much was being spent on individual projects. Costs are based upon unskilled labour priced at £6.25 per man hour (£50 per manday) which is the rate used by the Heritage Lottery Fund for calculating matching funding contributions. The results for the last financial year from 1 s ` June 2002 to 31 st May 2003 are as follows: Project Time (hours) Equivalent cost (£.p) 3031, LMS period 2 TK 1852 11,575.00 86183, BR GUV 84 525.00 Carriage shed building 710 4437.50 TOTAL 2646 16,537.50 Derek Mason MEMBERSHIP REPORT I apologise for no report appearing in our summer issue, it got missed for technical reasons at my end. I would like to express a warm welcome to this years new members. They are:- Richard Johnson of Solihull, Terry White of Markfield, Sean Martin of Matlock, Andrew Bodden of Manchester, Donald Grindon of Macclesfield, Glyn Jones of Chesterfield. I would like to thank those of you who renewed your membership this year and I hope you will all feel sufficiently interested to renew again in 2004 - I look forward to hearing from you all in the New Year. You will find with your membership renewal form with this issue and what I have called a skills register form which I hope you will fill in and return to me. A very happy Christmas and New Year to you and yours. Alison Leather 4 3031 PROGRESS (TK2) How many people does it take to write a Droplight article? In this case three - Derek Mason and Alan Taylor bring progress up to date, and Alison Leather relates how she made some droplight straps from, what else, but leather! (Ed.) The last straight approaches for TK2 as all the major repairs have now been com- pleted. Alison has spent many hours filling and sanding the beaded side with spread- ing quality stopping compound until a glass finish was obtained ready for painting. Also the ends, gutters and false windows have been painted in gloss black. Any more painting will have to wait for warmer weather now unless we can get hold of some heating equipment that is? On the compartment side, Derek and John have been working on the cant rail where large sections of cantrail had to be cut out in addition to those already cleared leaving only about 30% of the original intact. This all had to be replaced in sections and sanded down to match the roof contour before the gutter could be replaced. Fortu- nately no roof board replacement was required but the job was made much more difficult by the new felt roof covering fitted earlier. Short sections of guttering of the correct profile were then fitted 'dry' along the whole length and then sealed to the roof - again made more difficult by the uneven roof covering. The gutter ends were finished with metal flashings and the gutter itself cleared to protect the end grain and aid water drainage.