The Board held its fourth Board meeting for calendar year 2019 on Tuesday 30 July. As Rob Mason was away, I (Alex Claassens) chaired the meeting.
Highlights from this meeting were:
2019-20 Business Plan
The Board adopted the 2019-20 Business Plan - our first under the new strategic plan. The business plan outlines the activities we will undertake this financial year towards achieving our five-year goals. The priorities outlined in the plan will be shared with members at a forthcoming members’ information forum.
Locomotive 3001 restoration
The Board approved starting the restoration of Locomotive 3001 to provide much needed capacity to service our increasing demand for heritage train services on the Loop Line at the NSW Rail Museum. A fundraising appeal will also be run to support this important restoration project. More details on this project and how you can help will be available through eNews and our website over the coming weeks.
Annual General Meeting 2019
The Annual General Meeting of THNSW will be held on Saturday 30 November 2019 at the NSW Rail Museum, Thirlmere. This year, three (3) Elected Director positions will be elected in accordance with the transitional provisions as adopted in the updated Constitution at last year’s AGM 2018, i.e., the two candidates with the highest number of votes will be elected for three years and the candidate with the third highest number of votes will be elected for two years. More details will be circulated to members during August, plus the call for nominations to be elected.
Life Member nominations
Life Membership is the highest honour THNSW can bestow on a member and is awarded at an AGM by a vote of our members. A call for nominations for Life Members will be made shortly, including eligibility criteria, and I encourage everyone to think about our most worthy nominees.
Locomotive 3801
The Board received an update on progress with the boiler and the project. The boiler has passed hydrostatic testing and was relocated from Goulburn to Chullora on 1 July 2019. A full update on the Locomotive 3801 project is available here.
Heritage Hub Chullora
Aurecon have been appointed by Transport for NSW (TfNSW) to undertake the initial functional planning for the Heritage Hub development. This includes a detailed review of remediation works required, a high-level functional layout for the various activities planned to be undertaken at the site, and a cost estimate for these works with possible staging options. This work is essential to the business case for TfNSW to secure the necessary future funding to undertake the site remediation and the refurbishment works before we can start to use the site.
Loop Line funding commitment
Discussions continue with the NSW Government and other stakeholders regarding the $5.5M grant commitment made during the recent NSW State election campaign to upgrade the Loop Line. Further information will be provided as details are finalised.
Board subcommittee expressions of interest
The Chairs for our two new Board subcommittees – the Collections & Curatorial Committee and the Rail Operations Support Committee - are meeting with shortlisted members who expressed their interest in volunteering on these committees during August to finalise membership.
Annual membership
Membership renewals are open and well underway. If you haven’t already renewed your membership for the new 2019-20 membership year, please do so now.
Alex Claassens
Deputy Chair