Minutes and financial report attached; other reports copied below.
Nathan wrote:FOTR CHAIRMAN'S REPORT 2009
The start of every year is always frightening with the possibilities of what will happen to tourist train operations and the national carrier. Once our first train of the season has passed, things just seem to go so much better. In fact, without quoting figures here, we had our best EVER year as far as turnover went since we started running trains.
Normally I thank everyone at the end of the report, but let me start off by thanking everyone of you members of FOTR for your continued support. To the few new members, thanks for showing the interest in us and we hope you will enjoy and contribute towards the aims of our club.
The serious thanks to the following members, who have done so much, so selflessly for the club and without whom we would never had got as far as we have must go to:
Arno and Billy Victor from Marketing. John and Robert Dadford from Technical.
Tom Mcrery, Gabor Kovacs, Steve Smith, Steve Appleton, Tony Attewell, Henry Lazenby, Bev Terry, John Mokopo, John Madisha, Kobus Steyn, "Spikkels,"
Eric Samuels, John Mathieson for help on train days. The rest of the thanks parade must go to the board members without whose teamwork and enthusiasm, we would not be where we are. To Chris Janisch, Liesel Hagen, Kevin Wilson Smith, Steve Appleton, Steve Smith and our Treasurer, Chris Koch, thank you so much for giving up private time for club duties.
Our great loss this past year was the departure to foreign shores of Mike Haslam, and John Ashworth and Joy Hodgson. We sorely miss you people and thank you so much for the extreme efforts you people have performed for FOTR. Thank you.
The year had its problems as with any club. The railways itself prohibited the running of steam on the annual Witbank to Middelburg Marathon. We had our late submission to Rail Safety Regulator, but fortunately have been granted our certificate to operate. There are the usual personal problems, but we do overcome these and with the few hours we are together on operating days, we just get on with the job.
The bright side this past year was the operating of our first train from Hercules, and since then, we have departed on our trips from there to our destinations. The locomotives and some rolling stock is still based at Capital Park, but we are making progress in preparing Hercules for our final move.
Our return to service of 15F 3117 was a major plus, and she has proved a wonderful locomotive. Two more coaches have been lifted and certified. Two new coaches have been put into service to add to our fleet, with the result that the last train of the year was 12 coaches long!
We have reconverted the open Vodacom coach, as she is known, back to a sitter coach. An intercom system is being installed throughout the train and a diesel generator has been purchased to supply power to the system, coach lighting and bar refrigerator.
We had a change of bar crew and Kobus Steyn and Jimmy Ross, no longer perform those duties. Thank you guys for the years of tending the bar. New operators are Karen McDonald and Les Weideman.
The station shop at Hercules site is proving a success as is the cosy atmosphere on the platform, with the afdakke and seating for passengers. The site is extremely user friendly. A doorway in the main building has been reopened to enable passengers to get more toilet access. A caretaker family has been residing on site to take care of the daily maintenance of the place. A contract has been drawn up and signed by them.
The interest in the new site has led to an increase in corporate trains. Corporate sponsorship has been slow, but thanks to James Smith, we have had meetings with the PPC cement people for possible sponsorship towards the new inspection pit. James has been very involved with the track laying team at Hercules and on board our trains when available. His help and assistance is much appreciated. Track laying has progressed to the point where the approach line on the Western end has now almost reached the gate to our site. Track has been removed from the Russels Furniture warehouse, thank you Russels, and relocated on our main line. We are hoping to get a mass of concrete sleepers sourced by one of Arno Victor's associates.
The trains have been very successful, although the Tshwane Xplorers do battle sometimes to get full, but towards the last months of the year, we ran a train every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This placed a lot of strain on the guys but we did it. Driver Frik Boshoff was our saviour and some help from Peter Odell when we had a double header.
Brochures have been designed by Miemie Wolmarans for distribution on the trains. Membership forms and passenger tickets have been printed.
We do need more help on the operating days and we urge you to try recruit a member or helper for the day to be a coach assistant. We have started to train one or two outsiders as coach assistants for the busy weekday periods when we battle for staff, and once more encourage your support for the trains.
Our meetings at the Transvaal Museum were not well supported and possibly this year we may consider reducing them even further. The turbulent financial times etc. we live in!!
In rounding off the report, we would like to say to you all, that there is a strong interest in our product. A common public comment is "Where do you advertise? We heard about you from someone who had travelled on one of your trains". Our successful operations, Coach Controller and on board crew enthusiasm and professionalism have proved that word of mouth is one of our major advertising tools. Let's keep it that way and try improving on that. Be on time for trains, perform your tasks as you have been trained to, and we will continue to grow and go forward.
From me to you, after sitting here for 22 years, a big, wonderful, thank you!
As always,
Nathan
Chris J wrote:SECRETARIAL REPORT 24 FEBRUARY 2009
Since our last full meeting in October, FOTR has made great strides forward. Progress has been monitored by numerous subcommittee meetings along the way.
We had our busiest charter season ever, with full trains running right up until the middle of December, often on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Once again we had Arno and Billy to thank for getting the bums on seats, and it was certainly a stressful period for him. In general our Cullinan trains ran well and the locos did their job. We had only one nightmare train where the pilot did not throw the points correctly at Rayton, causing our train to split the points. This was no fault of ours but the train was delayed by several hours as a result, only returning to Hercules after 8pm!
Cullinan station did not live up to promised expectations and the restaurant only opened briefly before shutting due to non-obtainance of a liquor licence. Our passengers have taken to braaing near the station with some exploring the town. Cullinan remains a popular venue, even though activities there are limited. The Tshwane Explorer trains were reasonably well patronised, especially as the season moved on. We also ran our first diesel-hauled expedition to Bela-Bela, which had its problems but was operationally successful. The season ended on a high note with the newly restored 15F locomotive 3117 returning to the high rails again for the Tshwane Explorer of 16 December. This event was well supported by club members and 3117 performed impeccably, although hampered by a lack of water on the last leg of the journey. Driver for the day was Cliff Petzer and fireman John Ashworth, back for a brief firing stint.
Although the money for the season was banked, we had a number of problems on the trains. Lack of personel, especially on board, and lack of communication were evident. Many trains were badly understaffed and we were thankful for stalwarts like Bev Terry, James Smith, the Steves, Henry Lazenby, Eric Samuels and John Makopo for their devotions. Some pax complained about seating arrangements and were unhappy with using some of the new sitter coaches. Smoking remains an unsolved problem.
A meeting was held in January at Hercules to discuss problem areas and ideas for the coming year. It was decided to attempt to recruit and employ trained coach assistants as necessary. Liesel started work on a seat numbering system. A PA system was sponsored by Arno and is being installed. A generator is being sourced as a backup for lighting and for use as power in the bar. Steve S continues to work on the electrics of the coaches. The Vodacom coach is being re-seated to give more 1st class accommodation. Meanwhile, 3 new sitter coaches have been returned to service and painted. The toilets were refurbished and painted, led by suggestions from Liesel. Miemie, Liesel, Chris J and Nathan have developed promotional pamphlets and train tickets, and these have been printed and are in use. Jimmy and Kobus have resigned the bar duty and Les Weideman and Karen have stepped in. They have signed a contract which promises good revenue for the club and will be more proactive in their sales strategy. They have been busy improving the bar facilities, including a lock-up fridge and new seating areas. Arno has issued the 2009 schedule and it looks promising. So far bookings are encouraging and with our pamphlets and internet exposure increasing we can expect a good year again, despite the economic climate.
All the above lead us to believe that we have a more polished and professional product in place in 2009. Unfortunately the human factor can undo all this, and we need to raise our game in this department, especially with regard to communication and responsibility. All train and marketing staff need to meet before departure to plan the day properly. Already our first train on 14 February was victim to personel problems. It must be stressed that the operations side is aware of the problem areas and is constantly working on them. We have to deliver a product of which we are proud.
Hercules continues to strengthen as an operational base. All trains depart from here and the platform is a popular passenger socialisation and braai area. Work is ongoing in improving facilities. A number of extra benches are available and lighting has been worked on. Some welding work was done to get the radio room and shop secure, and a metal store has been erected on the southeastern end. The shop is running well and it will play a bigger role when we eventually habve site open days. There has been too much pressure on the single public toilet, and a new door has been installed to the caretaker's toilets. Koos has been given a contract to sign and will be given a small allowance, but will be expected to keep the premises tidy and gardened and do the parking on train days, along with various other responsibities.
The long-awaited tracklaying at Hercules started on Feb 16. A black gang from Lydenburg have been contracted to do the work, and they started by lifting the point out in the western TFR yard and replacing it with a straight panel. The track is now slowly but surely heading eastwards towards our fence. We have used available concrete sleepers and have received a further donation of sleepers recently. James Smith has been overseeing the work and we regularly have a TLB on site. This is also busy flattening the new parking area on the east side, and removing rails and ballast from the old Russell's yard across the road. Bits and pieces continue to be moved across to Hercules, and good progress is evident. Once track is laid on two lines at Hercules, we will only have to keep our locos at CP.
On the technical side, locos 3364 and 2650 soldier on. The 24 however is in need of motion repairs, and specifically new big-end bushes. At a technical meeting held in early Feb it was decided that Robert would obtain the required materials and then begin work on her. The 19D also needs some work but nothing too serious. The 15F 3117 is now in service and will be used for the next few trains, with her first Cullinan due at the end of March. She will run with a feeder tank as she only has a short tender. 15CA 2850 has had her boiler inspected and she may not need a full retube, which may make her return to service more of a possibility.
Some of our coaches were lifted over the holiday period. We are thus making a start on safety standards compliance regards rolling stock. Good work has been done on returning some of the new coaches to service. Although they are unpopular compared to the suburbans, various options exist in order to make them more passenger-friendly.
On the footplate, Frik Boshoff was a stalwart over the charter season. We also used Cliff Petzer and Peter Odell. Flip Reimers was lost to the roster after he collapsed and was taken to hospital suffering from a brain tumour. He sadly passed away on 10 March after a long battle. Our deepest sympathies go his wife Darlene and family.
We also lost John Ashworth and Mike Haslam, but Steve Smith and Dewald Heydenrych successfully completed their train assistant course and were passed out on 14 February. They can now start learning how to fire (and firelight)! Gabor, Nathan and Tony Attwell carried the fireman duties over the charter season.
John and Robert continue to work hard, but we hope that some new members might come forward to assist. We have recently gained some technically-minded people.
Lack of coach controllers remains a problem and this has been addressed. We also need to train more guards and train managers.
Relations with TFR remain stable, with access granted on our usual routes. The Rodgers tour planned for this year was cancelled due to lack of guaranteed access and poor loco availability. Geoff Cooke will be visiting us in September and hopefully again next year for a bigger tour. We have plans for a few more photographic occasions when winter comes.
Chris Janisch
Arno wrote:FOTR MARKETING REPORT AGM 11 MARCH 2009
2008 was a great year for the marketing team. We had almost 50 train trips in 2008 and nearly exceeded the R1 million income limit. We intend to make 2009 even a better year. 2009 started off with a bumper Valentine’s trip of 540 passengers and a Tshwane Xplorer with 260 passengers. Two trips and we look at almost 800 passengers. Our mailing list members have grown with 850 new members and we are now only in the 3rd month of 2009. The marketing team attended Meetings Africa two weeks ago and we are optimistic on the outcome of some of the contacts we made. Contact with Gauteng Tourism and Tshwane Tourism has also been made and we are busy with negotiations of making FOTR a major part of what Gauteng and Tshwane offer the tourist, including the possibility of FOTR supplying the transportation to Loftus for the FIFA officials. We have decided on a major marketing drive in 2009 and really would appreciate if the members will email or phone us with all the names and contact addresses of newspapers and magazines that they have received in the post, in the fence or by taking one at at shopping centre, which have an events diary or may be willing to do an article on FOTR.
Kind regards
Arno
