Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Indian Steam Railway Society held on 22^nd September 2019 at the National Rail Museum New Delhi.

1. The President welcomed all the Members present to the Annual General Meeting of the Society. The attendance of Members was duly recorded in a separate register. The President informed Members present of the inability of the Founder Member and Working President Sh. Ashwani Lohani to attend due to some inescapable commitment that came up at the last moment. He specially thanked Sh. Rajesh Agrawal, the Chief Patron of the Society and Member (RS) Railway Board for having found time to be with us for the meeting.

• The Annual Report of the activities of the Society prepared by the Secretary Sh. Shankar and Joint Secretary Sh. Luthra was read out by the President.

In the discussion that followed Sh. S.K. Suri suggested that Indian Railways should consider taking up manufacture of new steam locomotives. The Secretary Sh. Shankar mentioned that Golden Rock Workshop on SR does on occasion manufacture new locos for the NMR. Sh. Suri suggested that manufacture of new steam locos should be included in the RSP and made into a regular activity. He suggested that at least two new steam locos be built per year (for all gauges incl BG) at any one of its Workshops like say Golden Rock, so as to keep the skill, technology and capability alive. The House was in general agreement with the suggestion and agreed to forward the recommendation to IR Board for their consideration.

The President mentioned the need for opening of regional Chapters of the Society, as well as initiating a drive for attracting new young members to join the Society. He also mentioned that the growth and popularity of the Society depended largely on IR introducing several well publicised new steam services in and around metropolis regions. The basic requirement for such an initiative is the availability of adequate number of steam locos in good fettle.

Shri Amit Chopra pointed out the necessity of having regular interesting activities to attract young and new members to the Society. He also wanted that the regular winter steam runs be notified well in advance and booking of tickets to be made easy. Shri Amit Chopra’s suggestions were noted.

Shri Amit Gupta Sr.DME SSB NR mentioned that there would be regular steam runs from Delhi Cantt to Alwar on 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the Winter months starting from October 2019 till March 2020. While the run on 2nd Saturday would take place regularly, the run on the 4th Saturday would depend on seat booking being more than 50%.

Sri Amit Gupta gave the good news that boiler of the 1862 built RAMGOTTY steam locomotive (BG) had been attended and the loco steamed up and even moved. He showed videos of the same for the knowledge of the Members. The loco is expected to be ready and available for display in the forthcoming Steam Congress.

It was also indicated that action for getting facilities in place for complete overhaul of Steam Locos at the Rewari Steam Centre was in hand.

Sh. Shubhabrata Chattopadadhyay pointed out some additional milestones achieved during the year, for example, the revival of ‘Miss Muffet’ by Jamalpur Workshop, and the ongoing revival of ‘Ramgotty’ locomotive by NR, and the operational 1:8 model at CLW. This was acknowledged and President assured they would be added to the Annual report to be presented to the upcoming 17^th National Congress.

                The Annual Report was duly accepted after that.

• The next item on the Agenda was the consideration and passing of the audited accounts of the Society for the FY 2018-19. The President read out excerpts from the Asset Liabilities and Income Expenditure statements. It was suggested that the balance in the Bank should be kept in Fixed Deposit using the “auto Sweep” function keeping a bare minimum of say Rs.10,000/- only in the current account. The possibility of opening a savings account instead of a current account with the same auto sweep function should also be explored.

The audited account was duly passed by the House.

The Chief Patron suggested that the Society builds a corpus as a foundation so that the normal annual expenditure of the Society can be met with from the interest thereon.

• The President proposed that the Auditors M/s. P.B.Mathur and Associates be appointed as Auditors for the Society for three Financial Years viz. FYs 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 which was approved by the House.

• The President then called for the election of the new Managing Committee and mentioned that if for the present there were no other candidates the House could consider extending the tenure of the existing Committee till the next AGM. This was accepted unopposed by the House.

• The President requested the Chief Patron to address the AGM. The salient points of the address of the M(RS) and Chief Patron were as follows:
• Having been associated with the Society since its inception the Chief Patron suggested that it was time for the Society to expand its objectives and to participate more actively in the promotion and preservation of steam railways.
• Items v), vi) and vii) of the “objects of the Society” as recorded in the Memoradum of Association must be re-looked at critically to see if the Society could expand its role even while continuing as a not-for-profit Society.
• He praised the work being done by NR at Rewari Steam Centre and Shakurbasti Shed in the revival and maintenance of steam heritage.
• He wished the Society all success in its future endeavours specially the upcoming 17^th National Congress scheduled for the 23^rd of November 2019.

• The meeting adjourned with a vote of thanks proposed by the Secretary to the Chair and to all members present and most of all to the Chief Patron for his presence and continued support to the Society.