Vintage trains company on track to raise £3m Share sale will allow huge expansion and investment plan
MORE than £600,000 has been raised by a Birmingham steam train company as part of its share sale to generate £3 million in funding.
Vintage Trains restores and promotes trips from its base at Tyseley Locomotive Works in Birmingham.
It launched the sale in January – said to be the first initial public offering of its kind in more than 100 years – in a move expected to create up to 11 full-time roles.
The firm is now within touching distance of its target of which £800,000 will allow it to establish itself as a train operating company.
The remaining £2.2 million will be used to invest in teaching traditional railway skills and preserving the fleet of historic steam locomotives.
Community share members will have voting rights, travel benefits on the company’s services and, after six years, members may also have the opportunity to receive interest payments on their shares and to withdraw their capital.
Vintage Trains restores and cares for a collection of historic steam engines and carriages at the Locomotive Works in Tyseley, preserving traditional skills and ensuring steam locomotives from a bygone era remain in everyday service.
The company has also promoted express steam train excursions to destinations including York, Oxford and the Cotswolds for a number of years.
Adrian Shooter, the former chairman of Chiltern Railways who will chair the Vintage Trains operating company, said: “It’s clear from