In which details of items for sale and merchandise commissioned by RRRG or RRU to raise funds for the project is given.
The RRRG sales stand will be out at Wansford next weekend (18-19 May) for the Nene Valley Railway diesel gala. Come along and have a chat about the latest Group news and progress, we will also have some new items of branded merchandise including mugs and t-shirts on the stand to tempt your wallet with! Many thanks again to the NVR for extending us an invite.
We are pleased to announce that we are now able to offer a cou
rier delivery service for purchases from our online shop, in addition to the regular Royal Mail services. Royal Mail raised their prices and changed their services as of April 2013 and regrettably we have had to pass these alterations on to our customers. A side effect of the changes to Royal Mail's prices has been the effect on our ability to offer fully insured delivery for valuable items purchased from us, such as our range of Hornby models. Delivery by courier can be more competitively priced and just as quick as Royal Mail, with a two day service available in most cases. As a result, our range of Hornby models can now be purchased at very keen prices and with even more competitive delivery options! Why not check out our range? Remember you'll get discounts of up to 10% on the published prices if you are an RRRG member!
On 23rd and 24th February the RRRG sales stand attended the Nene Valley winter steam gala. The stand was predominantly coordinated and managed by Tim and myself; Mark was around on Saturday morning to bring stock down and help set up but couldn't stay because of a family appointment. It was cold. Very cold. So cold, in fact, that it was the first time in ten years of RRRG trading that we have had the sales stand out whilst snow has been falling... That said, it was nice to see a preserved line trying something new and trying to extend their operating season to make more money. Saturday trading was reasonable although in the afternoon the star attraction no 70000 Britannia unfortunately derailed at Yarwell Junction whilst backing onto coaching stock at the end of a run round manoeuvre. The non-availability of this locomotive undoubtedly affected attendance levels at the gala, which was a shame. We sold a mixture of items but no really high value items such as the boxed Hornby model sets you see in our online shop, sold, which was again a bit of a shame.
The final figures for sales were:
Saturday 23rd Feb: Total Turnover £161.55
Sunday 24th Feb: Total Turnover £137.25
Total RRRG profit after fees was £93.08 for the weekend, which was a respectable showing. Renown Repulse Universal, RRRG's commercial wing, also sold a number of items from the stand over the weekend to create profit which can be re-invested in RRRG and its activities (such as the hosting fees for this site!) and contributed to the putch fee.
Even though I fell ill late on Sunday evening with one of the worst colds I've had in many a year, doubtless aided by standing out on a freezing cold platform all weekend, it was still a worthwhile event and our thanks go to the Nene Valley Railway for inviting us to have a stand once again.
RRRG will be attending the Nene Valley Railway steam gala with our sales stand at Wansford station on February 23-24. We will have our usual selection of books, DVDs and keenly-priced Hornby models on sale and we thank the NVR for extending us the invitation to attend their events once again this year. Come along and say hello, there's a good lineup of steam power on show including 70000 Britannia, and you can chat to RRRG representatives about the state of the project and how you can help.
We've been a bit quiet here whilst we all took it easy over the Christmas break. Back to the grindstone now however! (At least for our regular day jobs!) This weekend I made a few changes to the shop on the RRRG site. I added a few new products and also comprehensively revised the Past and Present books in our used books section. I added scans of a few sample pages from each one so you can see what you're buying, and also the maps from each volume showing the areas covered - again, so you know what you're buying! The most significant change to the shop is the addition of second class postage options for some products and insured delivery for our higher value products. I am personally a first class postage man, prepared to pay a premium for express service, but we realise that it makes sense to give the option of a cheaper service if you aren't insistent on having your items arrive quite so quickly. This is only available for some items because items over 1kg in weight can't be sent second class, plus some models are more expensive than the insurance level offered by second class post. However if an item from the shop is eligible for second class postage then the option will be presented when you check out. We will be adding more merchandise over the coming days so keep checking back!
