3.1 Purpose of Fundraising
The Bala & Ffestiniog aims to restore the mothballed line between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Trawsfynydd Lake Halt through the development of a heritage railway operation.
We aim to apply for permission from Network Rail to access the trackbed and associated infrastructure (signalling etc). Once this is achieved we intend to carry out a detailed programme of works to bring the line trackbed and associated infrastructure up to current standards in order to operate trains over the mothballed section of line. We will need to demonstrate that we have the people, systems and financial resources in place to run a safe railway service – which we believe we can achieve with the support of our members and the wider stakeholder
community. This is why effective fundraising will be so important.
Only by doing this, can we build the financial base necessary to carry out the significant amount of work required before we can run a single train over the line. We will learn from the efforts of the pioneering people behind preservation (albeit with a lot of additional regulatory and Health and Safety requirements!) and show that it is still possible in this day and age to start from scratch again. Our ambition is to build an exciting future, and act decisively to protect this important part of Britain’s railway heritage, before the skills disappear forever.
3.2 What we will use the funds for
We will need to satisfy a wide variety of regulatory and statutory bodies such as the Office of Rail and Road, Network Rail, Natural Resources Wales, local councils and the members of the local communities that we have the resources required to run trains reliably and safely;
- the qualified staff we need;
- the working capital needed for a seasonal business.
- the resources and ability to maintain the permanent way
The primary use of funds raised will be to carry out initial work in establishing the processes and procedures, generating the paperwork needed in order to meet the requirements of the many organisations involved from which we need to seek support and / or permission to operate on the
railway.
3.3 Fundraising Sources
No preservation project can survive on the basis of fundraising just from its members alone and this project is no different, it will be necessary to utilise a variety of sources for fundraising both local and national. Consideration will need to be given long term to employing a full time Fund raiser for the Trust to target fundraising to a tune of £1.4 million to £1.8 million a year (average) for 10 years). These estimates are based on average figures from works carried out on other similar preservation efforts elsewhere in the country. The actual costs of the work will be determined from the schedule of works generated from the surveys carried out.
Examples:
• Welsh Assembly
• Local Council Funds
• Employment Grants
• Heritage Lottery Fund
• National Lottery Fund
• EU Structural Funds (*Brexit dependent)
• Magnox Community Fund
• Grants Online
• Government Development funds