CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP

Introduction

The Sir Nigel Gresley Locomotive Trust is the owner of iconic LNER A4 steam engine Sir Nigel Gresley. Our locomotive was the 100th express passenger "pacific" built to the designs of Sir Nigel Gresley and hence has carried his name since it entered service in 1937. As such it has always been a celebrity amongst steam locomotives and its place in history was firmly secured when it set the post World War 2 speed record for steam traction of 112 mph. It is a member of an exclusive club of preserved steam locomotives that are famous not only in this country but around the world. The Trust, which is a registered charity, has owned and operated the locomotive since it was purchased from British Railways in 1966.

The Trust is committed to the continued operation of the Locomotive on heritage railways and the mainline network of this country. The maintenance costs of a 75-year-old steam locomotive today are expensive so to help ensure it will continue to delight young and old for many years to come the Trustees offer the opportunity for commercial sponsors to become associated with the Trust.

Sponsorship Packages

We offer three levels of support. Each package below is an outline and elements can be amended to suit particular sponsors. All sponsorship packages last one year but longer periods may be negotiated.

All sponsors:

• will receive acknowledgement in our magazine Chime when they sign up;
• be allowed to use the phrase 'sponsors of The Sir Nigel Gresley Locomotive Preservation Trust' on products and material;
• receive a complementary copy of Chime;
• have name, logo, brief description of company and web-link on the sponsors' page of our website.

Additional benefits of each level of sponsorship are given in the following descriptions.

Bronze Sponsors

The sponsor's name and logo (maximum size 40 pixels x 35 pixels) will be displayed on the sponsors' page of our website and in each edition of our magazine.

Silver Sponsors

The sponsor's name and logo (maximum size 60 pixels x 48 pixels) will be displayed on the sponsors' page of our website and in each edition of our magazine. The sponsor will be entitled to one half-page advert in our magazine per edition and have free use of our Trade Mark.

The Trust will not sign up more than five Silver Sponsors at a time.

Gold Sponsors

Gold sponsors will receive acknowledgement in our magazine Chime when signed up. The sponsor's logo (maximum size 75 pixels x 60 pixels) will be displayed on the sponsors' page of our website and on the home page as well as in each edition of our magazine. The sponsor will be entitled to one full-page advert in our magazine per edition and have free use of our Trade Mark. The sponsor will be displayed on each side of our support coach. The display will be of the format:

 
Sir Nigel Gresley Locomotive Trust
 
Sponsored by name / brand logo

Trust volunteers will hand out appropriate corporate material along with Trust material (e.g. sales flyers, membership forms etc.) on public occasions when the Locomotive is present.

The Trust will only undertake an agreement with one Gold Sponsor at a time.

Current Sponsors can be found on our Sponsors / Links page.

What next?

If you are interested in any of the above packages please contact us via our Fund Raising Officer and Chairman, Nigel Wilson, on 01225 868743. Email: fundraising@sirnigelgresley.org.uk or chairman@sirnigelgresley.org.uk.

Details and background

The Trust has a membership of around 700, which has been slowly increasing in recent years. Our magazine Chime has a print run of about 700 and is distributed free to all active members (excludes certain life members who are no longer 'active'). The magazine is distributed quarterly and over the past 20+ years has been published every quarter.

60007 Sir Nigel Gresley is based on the North Yorkshire Moors heritage railway (NYMR) in Yorkshire. The line carries 350,000 passengers each year making it the most popular heritage railway in the world. It featured heavily in the popular Heatbeat Television series and runs between Pickering and Grosmont with operations into Whitby.

Sir Nigel Gresley undertakes about ten mainline railtours around the UK each year and two or three visits to other heritage railways and galas. Each railtour has between 300 and 500 passengers and at least as many again come out to view the locomotive along the journey. Numerous video clips and photos are posted on YouTube, Flickr etc. Heritage railway galas have attendances of several thousand visitors. Railtours destinations have included Edinburgh, Newcastle, York, Norwich, Lincoln, Cambridge, London and Bristol. Other destinations in the last few years have included Carlisle, Birmingham, Chester and Dundee. On 10th April 2014 60007, hauling "The Cathedrals Express" to Kingswear, was the first steam engine to traverse the newly restored Dawlish sea wall after it was destroyed in a winter gale earlier in the year.

In 2010 the locomotive received press coverage not only in the specialist heritage railway magazines but also The Daily Telegraph, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Breakfast news as well as the locomotive featuring in many documentary programmes.

The Trust's support coach travels with the Locomotive wherever it is operating and is used as an operating base for the team looking after the locomotive. When running on the mainline it is normally next to the locomotive. The coach is not in a visible location when on the NYMR.

The Trust has protected the use of images of the locomotive by registering the nameplate of the locomotive as a Trade Mark. As such commercial use of images or representation of the locomotive that reproduce the nameplate require a licence from the Trust. A licence to use the Trade Mark is included in the silver and gold sponsorship packages.

Sponsorship periods may start on any given date and last for a minimum of one year. Details will be announced in the next edition of Chime with a press date after the date of signature of a sponsorship package. The full annual cost of the package will be payable on signature; payments for subsequent years will fall due on the anniversary of the agreement.

Our Website

This www.sirnigelgresley.org.uk website was launched in its present state in early March 2005 and since then has grown considerably and is now "mobile friendly" for all but the overhaul report pages.

In 2006 the site was judged the winner in category 'B' (for websites representing groups that are not open to the public) of the Heritage Railway Association's Websites Competition.

A 'hit' counter was added in 2006 and in the fifteen years to December 2019 registered more than 376,000 unique hits, an average of approximately 73 per day ('Unique hits' means visitors to the site are not counted a second, or further, time on any one day).

The site has up-to-date information on the locomotive, as well as some historical detail and copious photographs dating from the building of the engine in 1937 to the present day. There is a members-only section where members of SNGLT can be advised of up-to-date information prior to it becoming public knowledge.

A number of interesting articles that had previously been printed in the Trust's magazine, Chime, have been reproduced on the web pages for anyone to access. Full details for joining the Trust are available on the site and they have recently been upgraded to allow online joining/renewals and payment.

Photos: Graham Staples, Arnold Underwood, Nigel Wilson.