Tram Barn 3 - Fundraising appeal

Update: - Fundraising progress to date:

In addition, there are some additional fund raising initiatives that you can read about here and also in May, June and July 2011 Tracts. Keep up to date with progress in Ferrymead Tram Tracts.

Recent Progress Update

LATEST NEWS: The Building shell has been errected, rails laid and the three trams and trailer ex City Tramway now finally re-located inside. A grand opening gala is planned for 4th February 2012. The following picture (taken 21 Jan by D Hinman) shows the interior of the building with thr trams inside (trailer 115 is on the track behind 244 and thus blocked from sight by 178).

And fundraising almost reached our initial taregt of $100,000 which was our budget cost to errect the building shell. While we are getting close to our target, this target is only for the building shell and does not include any fit out. In addition, building fees and Geotechnical Surveys have also eaten into our funds to a higher degree than expected. The fitout will require further funds for electrical wiring and lighting, security system extension, concrete floor, electrical overhead on centre running road, sprinkler system extension, shelving, and concrete apron outside etc.Keep those funds coming.

The following picture is a site plan of where the Tram Barn 3 has been built.

Background

As you will read in April 2011 Tracts, because of the disastrous earthquake on 22 February, the City tramway is currently out of action and likely to remain so for many months, if not longer.   Four of the city trams, owned by the THS and leased to the City Council/Christchurch tramway, were marooned in the streets and due to track and building damage in the city could not be returned to the town tram shed.   They are now all at Ferrymead, but are out in the open, unsecure and uncovered.   These are priceless assets for the Society and the Christchurch community and in the fullness of time they should be once more earning their keep back in town.   They have come to Ferrymead as they will require some repairs and refurbishment before returning to city service. 

With winter coming on there is an urgent need to provide covered and secure storage for them and we are looking for assistance from a number of sources to enable this to happen. We have investigated several options, including placing our unrestored tram bodies outside but their even more fragile condition would be further seriously compromised if that were to happen. We were short of depot space before the city trams arrived back and this was making difficult our work on additional trams for the city and tram work proposed for others (Dunedin and Sydney) to ensure the on-going viability of our combined paid and volunteer work force.   With the city tramway no longer operating our funding is drastically reduced and it is more important than ever that we have the space to undertake work for these other projects. The arrival of the four trams from town has exacerbated the situation.

What we are keen to do therefore is to erect a new building, with access to the traverser (i.e. where Yank 12 and the coke container are currently sitting), large enough to hold all of the city trams or their equivalents. We would propose to relocate some trams from tram barn one into the new facility to provide more room for both new restoration work and for refurbishing the city trams.

We have received a revised quote for a "Total Span" portal building approximately 28 metres long x 12 metres wide. This length would allow 3 tracks with 2 Christchurch style "bogie" cars stored per track.The cost would be over $86,000 exclusing GST. In addition, we would need to lay the tracks and concrete most of the floor, install power and other services, as well as pay building consent fees. Realistically we are looking for over $100,000. 

The building could be erected within 9 weeks, assuming a fast tracked consent (which we have been advised is likely), and with the onset of winter we need to get started as soon as possible.

The question is - how to find the money?  We will need assistance from our Members and supporters - at this stage pledges and donations, and later, for those who are able, assistance in track laying and other finishing touches to the building. We will also be looking at other fund raising options.

Please consider whether you can make an investment to help secure the future of your Society. 

We already have some pledges and donations including funding earmarked from Heritage Tramway Trust funds - progress on fundraising will be tracked at the top of this page.

The Society is a registered charity and has donee status with the IRD. If you make a donation to a donee organisation, generally you can claim a tax credit (formerly rebate) of 33% for that donation. This applies to Companies as well as individuals making donations. 

It doesn’t necessarily need to be a one-off donation – we would be happy to accept “drip-feeding” paid at regular intervals (e.g. weekly, fortnightly, monthly). In that case the IRD tax credit applies to the total sum donated for the financial year.

Payments, including by instalment, may be made directly to the Society’s Westpac Bank Account number - 03- 0802-0095056-01 – please use your name and “tram barn appeal” as a reference so that we can identify your payment. (For overseas payments, our SWIFT code is WPACNZ2W or refer to the donation form below). This is our preferred method of payment, but if you would like to pay by cheque or other means then that’s fine by us.

A donation form that can be printed off can be found here: <here> - or alternatively we would appreciate the same information be e-mailed to the secretary at the e-mail address below.

If you would like to discuss this further with the Society, please contact one of the people below.

We look forward to good support for this very important project and should we be fortunate enough to raise more than we need, we have also been progressing the much needed trolleybus barn extension and that also needs to be funded.