Business News The Griffin Report
Jon Griffin, Chamberlink’s award-winning columnist, gets all steamed up with Michael Whitehouse, chairman of Birmingham-based Vintage Trains, a project which recalls the golden heyday of Britain’s railways. Michael and his team might deal in old trains, but they see them as having a big role to play in the future.
A unique £12m plan to preserve the golden age of steam in Birmingham – and attract thousands of extra international tourists to the West Midlands - is taking shape at a historic city rail depot. Trustees of Tyseley-based charity Vintage Trains are working on a ten-
year rail project bridging the centuries and celebrating Birmingham’s former status as the industrial workshop of the world – by combining the hi-tech expertise of HS2 with the halcyon days of steam travel. Vintage Trains chairman Michael Whitehouse, a commercial lawyer and
self-confessed ‘rail buff,’ revealed his long-term vision for a Birmingham- based global tourist attraction, more than doubling the frequency of the famous Shakespeare Express from Moor Street and Snow Hill via the Tyseley depot to Stratford. The international tourist initiative will be centred around the renowned
Great Western Railway locomotive depot at Tyseley, securing engineering, operating and business skills for future generations. Mr Whitehouse, who grew up with steam in his blood after first being
taken to the Tyseley site at the age of three by his rail enthusiast father, said HS2 offered a once in a lifetime opportunity to bring tourists to the West Midlands and create a ‘main line heritage railway company.’ “I was delighted to see HS2 get Royal Assent – the eventual plan is for Japanese, Chinese and other international tourists to come up from London by HS2 and then go back 75 years or so to take a steam train to Stratford and spend the weekend there. “This depot at Tyseley was built
in 1908 and at its peak there were 120 engines here. It has a phenomenal history and is still very much a working depot. It is a bit like a garage – trains are maintained, serviced and kept here. We mend heritage engines and run express steam trains on the main line. “People do not think that Birmingham had a railway industry, they think
40 years, says: “This is a business built on passion. I am nuts about this place – we have the magic of steam engines here, the sound, the smells, the noise. “It is a fantastic Birmingham cottage industry. We rely on our own income
– we run this as a business, and the average annual surplus is in six figures, all ploughed back into restoration but there are never enough funds and we will shortly also need to make essential regulatory upgrades for our carriages. “But we have to seek donations in cash and kind like any charity. We do
not have enough money for capital development and the whole plan, if we get it into place, is around £12m.” The Vintage Trains vision statement says the project involves combining
the Birmingham traditions of carriage-building with continuing steam travel hauling express trains in a regular timetabled service as a global tourist business.
‘This is a business built on passion. I am nuts about this place’
it is all about cars. But Boulton and Watt changed the world and we want to carry on that tradition.” Mr Whitehouse, who has retired as a partner with Wragges law firm after
Express project: Michael Whitehouse with Britain’s best known train
“We want this to be a Birmingham story, run out of the city centre. Our ambition is to run 100 trains a year, at present we run 40. “We want to double turnover to £3m. We believe that we could
contribute £6m a year to the economy.” The vision statement says Vintage Trains will work with the City and HS2
to deliver a ‘heritage gateway’ to Birmingham incorporating the Grade One listed Curzon Street station and the 1906 GWR restored Moor Street city terminus, attracting tourists from London to get them on board the Shakespeare Express to Stratford. It adds: “We would be pleased to discuss ways in which you can help us
and work with us to achieve our vision and objectives. “These might be by lifetime gifts, legacies, donations in kind,
volunteering time or working with us in many ways to facilitate future success for both our collection and the next generation.” Vintage Trains is holding its annual public open weekend at its Tyseley
depot on 24-25 June. Over six engines will be in steam with many demonstrations and depot shuttle rides. On Sundays in the school summer holiday The Shakespeare Express will run from Birmingham to Stratford offering passengers a day out in Shakespeare land or Sunday lunch in Pullman restaurant cars.
Full-steam ahead: A line-up of old steamers on the turntable at Tyseley 14 CHAMBERLINK June 2017 Visit:
www.vintagetrains.co.uk
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