Annual Report on 2011

As usual I must caution readers that this statement is written in January 2012, and reviews the year 2011, looking forward into the future. By the time the AGM considers this report in May, events will have overtaken it, and some items may be out of date.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee has continued with its policy of meeting four times per year, with dates fixed to best suit the needs of the Society business year, and will do so again in 2012. In October 2011 Mr Peter Davis came to the end of his five year term as TLRS President. He now becomes a Vice President and we thank him for his continuing support. He is succeeded as President for the next five years by Mr Geoffrey Claydon. Mr Ted Oakley has stood down from his post as Vice President after over 40 years of serving on the committee in various roles. We sincerely thank him for all his past efforts on our behalf.

Tramway Liaison Committee

Our membership of the Tramway Liaison Committee is a useful exchange forum between the Light Rail Transit Association, the Tramway Museum Society, and ourselves, particularly in the context of joint meetings and joint subscription collection. The TLC meets three times per year.

Publications

Our publication "The Manx Electric and Snaefell Mountain Railways - A Modeller & Historian's Inspiration" by Robin G. Winter initially sold very well through trade outlets, and mostly received good reviews. However, retail sales, particularly to TLRS's own members, have proved poor. It will be quite a while before we recover our costs and this may well influence our decisions on other publications. "An Introduction to Tramway Modelling" by Peter Hammond, is now out of print. We are still considering the viability of a new edition.

AGMs

For 2011 we had a wonderful time visiting the East Anglia Transport Museum. Despite the remote location, the attendance was much above expectations, better in fact than many of our "city" venues. For 2012 the AGM will be at the Milestones Museum at Basingstoke, hosted by our Solent Area Group.

Models

Once again during the year a number of our members and friends have produced kits for our mutual benefit. Some of kits are now appearing in resin, an interesting variant. For the UK Trade manufacturer's Halling have introduced a Manchester M5000 and a Blackpool Flexity 2. Also of possible interest to UK modellers is the Bachmann Hong Kong 4-wheel double-decker as it has a very good mechanism which could be used elsewhere. In addition we have seen prototype versions for the Birkenhead 'Hong Kong' car liveries. For the larger scales it is of interest that Occre, who produce wood kits for single deck cars in G scale, have now introduced a kit for LCC 106.

UK Tramways Progress

There are no new British tramways although work and planning on the extensions to the systems in Birmingham, Nottingham and Manchester are continuing. Orders for new cars are in hand for Croydon, Sheffield and Midland Metro, and the renewal of the Blackpool system with its new fleet of Flexity 2 trams will be completed during 2012. Alas progress or lack of it on the new tramway in Edinburgh continues to puzzle. The opening date there has slipped back yet again, now to late summer 2014.

Tramfare

Production of Tramfare by Latimer Trend continues to please and give us substantial savings compared with previous printers. Thanks go to our Editor, Graham Sidwell, for his continued efforts compiling Tramfare, and for producing the printed version of the AGM annual report, and also to Geoffrey Heywood for magazine distribution.

Festivals and Exhibitions

The 2011 Festival of Model Tramways at the Kew Bridge Steam Museum, with members and area groups taking an active part as usual, was less well attended than before, although the results were better than other exhibitions at that venue. The economic hard times are biting, particular with general public visitors rather than the pure enthusiasts. We were also saddened by the death of member Gerald Warner, who collapsed during the setting up of the show. Elsewhere the TLRS was represented by members at a number of model exhibitions, with some area groups running their own local shows. For 2011 the Festival of Model Tramways will return to the Transport Museum in Manchester where once more the TLRS will be strongly in attendance.

TLRS Website

The TLRS web pages are hosted by my Tramways Information website. As before the site continues to be a major source of new members. People can join the TLRS and renew subscriptions or purchase publications and models.

Membership

Sadly TLRS membership continues to fall again, with losses at renewal time being only partly made up during the year with new recruits. The average age of members is still on the increase. During 2011 I once again had the pleasure of visiting a number of the groups as a guest speaker. As always I found those there to be full of the enthusiasm that keeps our hobby alive.

Archives

The Society is grateful to members who bequeath items to the archive, and from time to time we publish advice on the form bequests should take. A number of our images have been used in publications. In 2011 the display of some of our archive models at the Aston Manor Transport museum had to be removed as the museum has closed. In its place a new display is on show at Heaton Park. David Voice is to be congratulated for his work in maintaining and promoting the archive.

Future Prospects

The revenue from "Gift Aid" still helps us although once again it has fallen due to reduction of the rate. A proportion of our income is derived from the interest paid on our capital and continuing low interest rates means this is now very small. However, we have been quite prudent with our expenditure and on balance the financial position of the Society remains sound and we can look forward to the year ahead with reasonable confidence. However, recovery from the recession in the UK is slower than expected, exacerbated by the problems in the Eurozone, and once more the committee will need to continue to be vigilant.

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