Is the Swanage Moguls Fund a registered Charity?
Yes. The Swanage Moguls Fund is part of the Swanage Railway Trust (SRT) Registered charity number. It is essentially a fundraising brand of the Trust. Funds collected are held in the SRT accounts and administered by the trustees of the charity. The fundraising activities of the Swanage Moguls Fund is approved and governed by the SRT.
How can I donate
We have tried to make it as easy as possible for you to donate and provide a number of options. You can donate on line or by cheque or bank transfer. You can even donate using your mobile phone. We also have one off or regular donation options. See our How to Donate pages for more information.
How did you get to the Figure of £1.5M?
We expect that each loco will have two full overhauls in the life of the contract. The first overhaul of each will probably cost £300,000 – £400,000 to bring them up to a standard that will give 20+ years of reliable service. A substantial part of this is usually boiler work. We expect the second overhaul during the life of the agreement to cost allot less and a very rough estimate in today’s money would be around £150,000. In 10 years inflation will of course have made this figure a lot higher. With the three locos therefore costing around £0.5 million each to overhaul during the life of the contract this gives the very sobering figure of £1.5 million in today’s money. Hence we need your help!
How will my donation be spent?
All funds are initially being used to support the ongoing overhaul of N Class 31874. The vast majority of the donation money received will be passed as a grant to the Swanage Railway Company who will use it to pay sub contractors and suppliers for services and materials needed to return the loco to steam. A small proportion of the donations may be used by the Swanage Railway Trust to cover the costs of fundraising for example advertising, merchandise, PayPal fees, printing or web hosting. Any surplice remaining after 31874 is paid for will be directed to a subsequent appeal for 31625 or 31806.
Why are you only appealing for £50,000 if the overhaul costs £400,000?
A large part of the funds have have been contributed from Swanage Railway Trust general funds which in turn have come for legacies and donations from the public. Private Individuals have also made contributions via the trust. The costs of the overhauls of the locomotives amount to more than the Trust is able to bare on its own and so like many steam locomotive operators we need to appeal to the public who enjoy seeing the locos to help to keep them running.
These locos are privately owned. Wont my donation be going to improve someone else’s asset?
Not really. The benefit is to the public in being to enjoy these locos in steam which is ultimately why we do it. The locos are on a long lease to the Swanage Railway and even if the owner sells them during this period they can’t leave the railway until they are released from the contract. The overhaul work is essentially consumable in that it will all need doing over again in 25 years time so there is no net benefit to the owner. We are only doing the work necessary to enable the locos to run on the railway for the next 25 years. Many locomotives are all indirectly owned by private individuals, often by holding shares in an owning group. These owning groups often raise funds via donations to supplement the steaming or hire fees and this is no different except that one person currently holds all the shares.