The sun is shining today which makes a pleasant change after the rain of the last few days. This August has certainly been wetter than last year, but comparable with 2007.
We continue to trade well, welcoming increasing numbers of visitors to K&ESR. Our customer newsletter, an innovation this year, has been well received.
Over the last 3 weeks we have operated a promotion which is now closed. I have been quite surprised by the number of people who have telephoned to say “I know the promotion is over but can I still use the voucher?” They seemed to have missed the point!
Worse than this was a lady approached by a Station Master at Tenterden because she had been sitting on the platform for quite a long time. She was quite well physically, but she then asked what time the next train to London was! Assuming the link to Robertsbridge is completed in about 10 years time, 2020 would have been a good answer, but she might have then waited until twenty past eight.
Last Monday one of our neighbour’s willow trees fell across the track. This disrupted services for a couple of hours whilst we got it cut and removed. This Monday part of my neighbour’s willow tree fell into my garden. Fearing the worst we did an inspection of the line, but there was no disruption this week. An odd coincidence!
The appeal to extend our Carriage & Wagon works, where we undertake restorations of vintage carriages and undertake vital maintenance work, has now reached £12k and another £4k has been promised to us. This still leaves us a long way to go to reach our total of £200k.
We are budgeting now for 2011, and given the economic conditions. Forecasting business levels is fraught with danger. Given the number of travel companies going out of business and the strength of the £ against the Euro it seems that forecasting the same as this year is a reasonable bet as holidaying at home becomes an even safer bet.
I had a very interesting meeting with the Terrier Trust who own and part own our Terrier locomotives. We are going to give No3 (Bodiam) an interim coat of black paint to enable us to run a top and tailed black Terrier set on our anniversary celebrations next year. Next year we celebrate 50 years since the original preservation group was founded (just one tear behind he Bluebell) and 50 years since the last rain ran on the line. It will be good to have 2 Terriers in BR livery to celebrate that.