Southbound Pendolino at Crewe

ANNUAL REPORTPORT

Including 2007 AGM minutes (p12)

MAY 2009

Southbound Pendolino at Crewe

CHAIRMAN’S FOREWORD

2008 has been a notable year in many respects, both inside and outside of the Society

The occasion of our 30th Anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on how the Society has evolved over that time, as well as the challenges for the future. When we started, we had perhaps 40 members; typing was manually done; the magazine was assembled literally using cut and paste and then reproduced by photocopying, and all communication was by letter. HSTs were in their infancy; nothing else was officially allowed to exceed 100mph (though at times one could be forgiven for thinking that line speeds were a matter of driver advice rather than an absolute) and anything worth timing – HST apart – was very definitely loco hauled. Our members covered a spread of ages; some were performance enthusiasts rejuvenated from service Steam days; there was a big group of members in their 20s and early 30s; and a lot of professional railwaymen were involved. Timings were by stopwatch only.

At the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, our hobby and Society have moved on rapidly with the times. We have about 170 members – a number that has been constant for a good few years now. The 20-somethings have become 50-somethings; the professional railwaymen have largely left the railway. The magazine’s production is wholly electronic, and it has twice the volume of content of the original. There’s a huge volume of data and information available to members; we have Line Charts giving a wealth of detailed information for the train timer not available anywhere else; our unique Fastest Times records; and the largest database and archive collection of train performance logs anywhere in the world. All of this is available electronically to those who want it. The Editor’s (traditional) postbag is almost empty as email has become the universal means of communication, and the means of constant communication between the Committee. Even ‘local’ trains are designed to run at 100 mph as a matter of routine; 125 mph is widespread as seen to be ‘old hat’; and on mainland Europe 200 mph operation is now a routine service standard. The locomotive has all but disappeared from UK passenger operations, whilst small battery powered devices receiving information from satellites have become the key tool in performance logging.

Who, 30 years ago, would have predicted all of those changes - or that 2009 would see the completion of the first new UK main line Steam locomotive for almost 50 years?

All of that is a huge change by any standards. Our challenge is to continue to adapt to changing times, whilst still preserving the essential forum for those interested in matters steam, and what are now regarded as ‘heritage’ diesels. The measure of success will be in the extent to which we attract new members and grow the Society’s membership; in a world where railway enthusiasm generally seems to be becoming the pursuit of the older man; the key to success over the next 30 years is to take the interest in the hobby to a new generation in ways which are relevant and accessible to them

We have started down that road; there is so much more to do. In 2008-09, thanks to our new Publicity officer, Baard Covington, our website has had a major overhaul to give a much improved ‘showcase’ for the Society, as well as much more information for members. The art of train timing now gets regular coverage in the wider railway press, thanks to the regular ‘Practice and Performance’ column contributed by members John Heaton and Keith Farr in Railway Magazine, and Neville Hill in Modern Locomotives Illustrated. A small but keen group of members continues to develop the use of GPS in train timing, including now the production of Line Charts specifically for GPS – a key development, given the very widespread availability and use of GPS devices amongst the general public – even being included within some mobile phones.

I would like to thank every single member of the Committee for the tremendous work they have put into the Society over the last 12 months, and for their support for me during my first year as Chairman; and to thank every single member of the Society for their contribution, however large or small, to the Society, and for their continuing support. I am sure that every member will wish to see the Society grow and thrive for the next 30 years; together, we can make that dream a reality

Frank Collins

Chairman

Treasurer’s Annual Report 2008

FINANCIAL

This report contains the accounts for The Railway Performance Society Limited (RPSL) for the year to 31 December 2008.

In RPSL for the year we had a deficit of £782 (2007 surplus of £360). Income remained almost exactly the same as 2007 but increased expenditure relating to our website has caused the deficit. Whilst some of this was forced upon us some was incurred to improve the site. The amount of donations from members increased slightly to £185 (2007 £175). This has become a valuable extra source of income to the society.

This year again nothing has been charged against the General Reserve and it remains at £1,874.

RRPCL has again not traded and continues to be in a dormant state. The accounts are not included as there has been no change during 2008.

Peter Smith

MEMBERSHIP REPORT

At the end of 2008 we had 176 (2006 175) members making a net gain of 1, putting our membership at a year-end record level. (At one point we had 177 but late in the year one member died). Again all the new members applied following downloading an application form from our web site, showing her valuable a tool and how much use it is.

Peter Smith

The RAILWAY PERFORMANCE SOCIETY LIMITED

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT

FOR THE YEAR TO 31 DECEMBER 2008

2008 / 2007
INCOME
Subscriptions / 3,415 / 3,400
Back Issue Sales / 26 / 13
Supplement Sales / 96 / 159
Interest received / 521 / 498
Donations from members / 185 / 175
Donations for projector usage / 0
------/ 0
------
TOTAL INCOME / 4,243 / 4,245
EXPENDITURE
Printing – Milepost / 1,298 / 1,051
Printing - Fastest Times / 464 / 420
Printing - Distance Charts / 458 / 625
Printing – Misc / 286 / 238
Milepost postage and envelopes / 564 / 643
Sales Items-Reproduction / 14 / 0
Sales Items-Postage and envelopes / 76 / 47
Publicity / 0 / 0
Meetings expenses / 467 / 528
Website costs / 1,175 / 84
Miscellaneous / 157 / 182
Bank Charges / 0 / 1
Depreciation of projector / 66 / 66
TOTAL EXPENDITURE / ------/ 5,025
------/ ------/ 3,885
------
SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) / (782)
==== / 360
====

BALANCE SHEET as at 31 DECEMBER 2008

2008 / 2007
Fixed Assets – Projector / 786 / 786
Less depreciation reserve / 699 / 633
----- / 87 / ----- / 153
Investment in subsidiary company / 146 / 146
Current Assets
Scottish Widows Deposit Account / 12,150 / 12,850
Lloyds Bank Current Account / 123 / 131
Prepayments / 120 / 150
------/ ------
12,393
------/ 13,131
------
LESS - Current Liabilities
Subscriptions in advance / 829 / 853
Sundry Creditors / 0 / 0
Accruals / 355
------/ 353
------
1,184
------/ 1,206
------
11,209
------/ 11,925
------
TOTAL ASSETS / 11,442
===== / 12,224
=====
Representing
General Reserve / 1,874 / 1,874
Profit & loss b/f / 10,350 / 9,990
(Deficit)/surplus for year / (782) / 360
Profit and loss account / ------/ 9,568
------/ ------/ 10,350
------
11,442
===== / 12,224
=====

MEETINGS OFFICER ANNUAL REPORT 2008

Once again, in the last year we have continued the policy of having speakers at most of our meetings.

At last year’s AGM we were pleased to welcome Paul Steane from AC Locomotive Group who talked about the problems of running preserved AC locomotives, 86101 in particular.

This was followed in September by Jonathan Tyler from Passenger Transport Networks who outlined his proposals for an interval service on ECML and the efforts he is making to influence government policy.

In November Christian Wolmar, the well known transport Journalist and author gave us a very candid and thought provoking talk – and also managed to sell nearly all the books he had brought with him.

Lastly in January Karl Atkinson, a Technical Riding Inspector for FGW gave us a talk about the various types of HST engines and the problems involved in keeping them running.

Of course the popular Bristol meetings, hosted by John Heaton, continued to attract good numbers on Thursday evenings once every three months. Starting in February we have also started a northern version of these sessions, in Leeds, hosted by Chris Taylor.

We welcome David Stannard, one of our members, as speaker at this AGM.

For the rest of 2009 we hope to have a GPS workshop in September and a speaker in November.

Of course not all the meetings are ‘one way’. In February we gave a talk about the RPS to the Abergavenny and District Steam Railway Society.

As has been mentioned in Milepost, after 5 years as meetings organiser I am looking to relinquish this post in the next 12 months in order to bring ‘fresh blood’ into the meetings process. Anyone who relishes this challenge is welcome to contact me or any member of the committee to discuss the issues involved.

Martin Barrett

Technical Report

I have been investigating the calculation of power output from timing measurements. I am willing to offer advice and help to members on this, and is looking into updating the RPS horsepower calculator for modern traction types as well as the development of spreadsheet-based simulations to match timing data.

David Stannard

Archivist/Database Report 2008

Martin Tasker Memorial Library

We now have ~135 books in the collection. It’s a great shame that there is still little borrowing activity.

Lee Allsopp

EDITOR’S REPORT

Once again, four magazines have been filled with a wide range of motive power, geographical areas and traction types – ranging from 67’s in various parts of the country, a recent comprehensive survey of travel opportunities in Ireland, and the continuing theme of Britannias’ in their final years of operation.

Total content was 368 pages, which is probably a record, and represents a 10% increase over 2007 – mainly due to a larger Mass Timing Day supplement in 2008 and a supplement to the 2007 Mass Timing Day supplement.

Whilst I don’t normally single out any particular contributor for comments, I would like to thank Martin Barrett for his contributions which amounted to a third of the total material published in the year. Similarly, thanks are due to Martin Robertson and Alan Varley for their regular articles and all other contributors. Whilst stock of material on hand is at a satisfactory level, I would still appreciate a broader contributor base, so if you have thoughts for an article, please get in touch and I will try and assist you in any aspect you are unsure about. Steam articles seem to attract interest, so I would particularly like to increase the steam content in the magazine: Don’t forget you have access to the most comprehensive archive of logs.

2008 may have been a year when we were marking time, and suffering from the effects of “defensive driving”. 2009 hopefully will be better. Exciting opportunities with the introduction of the Virgin VHF timetable, and five EMT trains an hour out of St Pancras should provide scope for interesting journeys. Late in the year, the 140mph service on South Eastern Trains will revolutionise travel into Kent. Plenty of scope here for articles; I look forward to receiving them.

David Ashley

OVERSEAS LINE CHARTS

During the course of the year issue 10 of the 'profile' style charts of the SNCF second series have been added. This very much a mixture of a ‘fill-in’ nature. There is more in the pipeline.

The available RENFE charts, in the same style, are available only on the RPS website. There have been odd tweaks over the year, but nothing substantially new as such.

Both sets of charts and accompanying text are in PDF files, for which Adobe Reader will be required - a free download via

My thanks to Alan Varley and Reinhard Douté for their help in the production of the source files, and also to Tony Leopard and for additional assistance.

David Sage

FASTEST TIMES

As this is written, in mid-February, the current state of play with regard to new Fastest Times is shown below:-

GB / OVERSEAS
Section / Up / Down / Last updated / Section / Up / Down / Last updated
Great Western / 26 / 26 / 03-Feb-09 / Ireland / 0 / 0 / 23-Jun-08
Welsh Marches / 3 / 0 / 07-Dec-08 / SNCF - GL / 25 / 27 / 05-Jan-09
WCML / 35 / 42 / 13-Feb-09 / SNCF - TGV / 12 / 10 / 10-Nov-08
Scotland / 0 / 0 / 01-Apr-08 / RENFE / 3 / 2 / 29-Oct-08
ECML / 17 / 11 / 13-Dec-08 / DB / 39 / 34 / 10-Nov-08
MML / 2 / 2 / 18-Jul-08 / Australia / 4 / 0 / 29-Jul-08
TransPennine / 0 / 4 / 08-Jul-08
South TransPennine / 0 / 0 / 15-Nov-06
Chiltern / 3 / 3 / 02-Oct-08
Midlands-East Anglia / 1 / 3 / 17-Jan-09
East Anglia / 8 / 5 / 05-Jan-09
c2c / 3 / 2 / 26-May-08
Wessex / 6 / 9 / 24-Jan-09
Brighton / 3 / 3 / 02-Feb-09
Eurostar / 8 / 5 / 06-Nov-08
Ffestiniog / 2 / 0 / 10-Nov-08
Kent / 1 / 3 / 26-May-08
Total: / 118 / 118 / Total: / 83 / 73

An evenly balanced total of 236 new GB records at the current state of play – compared to the 181 of last year. A poor comparison to the year before with 563, heavily influenced by Pendolino times and the 446 of the year before.

Removal of redundant traction, except where all-comers status exists, continues. Such former records are not lost to the Society, but remain not only in the ever expanding archive.

Thanks are given to Bevan Price who manages the Historical Fastest Times which are now available on the website.

The Overseas section has a total of 156 new times - 111 last year, 135 the year before and 108 the year before that.

Further thanks to John Heaton for maintaining the Voyager, 390, 180 and 222 times and to Bill Long for overseeing the DB part of the Overseas times.

For the most recent listings see the Members area of the RPS website.

David Sage

Publicity Report

This has been a fruitful year for the Society in terms of publicity. A number of press releases were circulated which appeared in the mainstream magazines and a number of websites. Press releases regarding new speed records in the UK and in France were deemed newsworthy by Rail, The Railway Magazine, Modern Railways, Todays Railways Europe, and Rail Express to name a few. Our thanks to the RPS members that alerted us to this news and helped us create these interesting News Stories.

In addition to this, John Heaton and Keith Farr continue to plug the society with their Practice and Performance articles in the Railway Magazine. This activity has attracted new members.

If this wasn't enough, our Steam Specialist Michael Rowe drafted up a tailored letter to go off to a number of other railway societies, some of which are already yielding interest and positive feedback.

Our very own John Heaton and his colleague Neville Hill secured a deal to provide performance data and commentary on a bi-monthly basis to the recently launched 'Modern Locomotives Illustrated magazine series. Once again, thanks to those members that have assisted Neville and John in preparing those articles.

The Society invested in a revamp of the website, to improve the way we communicate as a society, and how we present ourselves to the rest of the world and railway enthusiast community.

The website is fast becoming an interactive area for you our members to share views, discuss performance related matters, as well as keeping up with the latest news, fastest times and distance charts.

The site belongs to you, the members, so please have a say and contribute to the pages and information contained within.

The year ahead is challenging, but already we have a timing workshop planned, which will include a focus on modern timing methods - particularly the latest developments in GPS and how to make the most of it in our activities. We will be publicising this event as well as the various meetings and other events being arranged throughout the year.