In what I’m hoping to make a yearly tradition, it’s that time of year again to sit down and reflect, with 2022 over and done. Happy new year to all of our followers. Like everything in railway preservation, things don’t always go to plan and unfortunately, this year is no different. So as I sit here to write about this last year, We're looking back to the past 12 months, to try and really round things up for the year.
It’s also quite hard to summarise this year without being slightly more candid and open about my personal life, Which is really not an easy thing for me to do. Things have no way been a smooth ride and, Unfortunately, it has had a knock-on effect on this group. I can only apologise that we perhaps aren’t further forward than we potentially could have been. Some of these things below have been hard to write, but I really do want to emphasise, it’s okay to not be ok. Tackling the woes of preservation is hard enough to do at the best of times, and I want to thank those who have been there in a personal capacity this year to keep me going. You know who you are.
We started off strong in January, Launching our website on the 59th anniversary of the 309’s entry into traffic. Since then this has provided a valuable place to share information and raise money through the sale of merchandise. To anyone who has brought anything, I thank you so much for supporting us.
Also in January, we had the second inspection of 624. At this point, I can now be more open and say we had our interested benefactor and that was the core reason for visiting. Between this point and late March, things were agreed in principle with just a few small things to sort out before we could make a public announcement. This period was agonisingly painful because I wanted to shout out from the rooftops we had done it and proved every doubter wrong, However, I’m glad that we did hold off, due to what happened a week later.
At the end of January, The CEPG was invited by the Southern Electric Traction Group, to come along to their depot in Strawberry Hill. Of course, we were there to go and visit perhaps one of the finest southern EMUs preserved, 4-VEP 3417 “Gordon Pettit”, to gain some advice and see how they were progressing with the restoration. But on this day, we got given some bad news, that our proposed new home for the set had pulled out after months of negotiations. This had the potential to end the dream, and at this point, I was close to throwing in the towel. But I can’t understate just how much the gents at Strawberry Hill got me through that day and helped me to not give up. Really first class and I have the highest respect for them all.
I’m glad that I didn’t give up because, after a couple more months of negotiations, we reached an agreement. On the 19th of March, we held a small gathering inviting everyone who had put faith in us and become a member before a purchase was secured. It was a way to try and thank those who had done so and that was marked as the “official” handover day when the unit passed into our custodianship. However, it was agreed to go to press on the 26th, coordinated with a live announcement on BBC Radio Essex.
Things were starting to look up for both myself and the group. However, not even a week later, personal circumstances meant I had to leave home. It was a huge change in my life and resulted in both my physical and mental health suffering. I Was living out of temporary accommodation for almost 6 months, which had a large knock-on effect on everything. Up to this point, the core management of the group has only been myself and our benefactor, alongside my partner. Unfortunately, that relationship also broke down this year hence why progress on the project frustratingly slowed to a crawl. There were other factors which all led to me not being able to go visit the unit much and most of the very limited restoration work achieved this year has been handled by our benefactor.
However, one highlight in an otherwise dark time was the 317 Farewell in July. We ended up raising over £800 which has really “kept the lights on” this year in terms of essential bills such as storage costs. It was a great day and we really want to again thank anyone’s generosity on the day.
August of course marked the start of the Diamond jubilee for the 309s and I personally made a huge effort to push more publicity and marketing. Unfortunately, the hopes that we could have the vehicles open for an anniversary celebration were not able to be achieved however we are finalising some replacement plans we should be able to reveal in the coming weeks.At this time, I cannot forget to mention being asked to help out on the EARM’s 317 vehicles. It was an honour to be a part of the external restoration and next year should see the completion of the project.
Sadly once more progress has slowed, the latter half of this year has been dedicated to trying to secure a new home for the vehicles. It is hoped more can be said about this in 2023. To cap the end of the year off, we were delighted to be invited to play a small part in the 315 farewell and give those units a good sendoff too.
Unfortunately, 2022 has been bookended with tragedy for me, as after a long battle with adverse health, my grandfather passed away Yesterday. He was 82, so he had a good life, but it’s not an understatement to say none of you would be here reading this today, for he was the reason I got interested in railways, and he was the one who initially encouraged me to pursue this project when I first started last year. Sadly, due to his health, he never got to see 624 in person, but it is my hope we can finish the restoration in his honour.
Lastly, a quick look forward to 2023. We are hoping circumstances can improve all around. We still have 12-month, 3-year and 5-year plans in regard to the restoration of each vehicle. It’s also hoped that we can see through the completion of another project and finally bring the unit “home”…
We wish all our followers a very happy new year, and we look forward to what we can achieve in 2023.
Brad W.
Chairman, CEPG.
📸 Michael holden
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