please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages the topic of this article may not meet wikipedia s notability guidelines for companies and organizations . please help to establish notability by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond its mere trivial mention . if notability can not be established the article is likely to be merged redirected or deleted . find sources national preservation news newspapers books scholar jstor free images january 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message national preservation nat pres ltd type private industry railways genre online founded 25 june 2008 2008 06 25 founder glyn murray headquarters uk products retail and discussion among railway enthusiasts owner glyn murray number of employees 11 volunteers website http www.national preservation.com national preservation is the trading name for nat pres ltd a british based online company that specialises in retail and discussion among railway enthusiasts . the company was created on 25 june 2008 as an extension of the original national preservation forum which began on 10 march 2005 1 and has since moved to its own server . however nat pres ltd has expanded beyond the original forum and now runs railtours live . the company is run by glyn murray 2 who manages the entire website and is the ceo . other directors are alexandra murray . other posts include forum manager ralph whitby . the forum is maintained by a team of volunteers acting as moderators settling disputes and ensuring users stay within the pre determined forum rules . the company has forged a working relationship with steam railway and the railway magazine two of the biggest selling railway periodicals in the united kingdom thus expanding the forum s audience and attracting input from professionals within the railway preservation movement . the forum also hosts representatives from the national railway museum to discuss matters relating to their individual areas of expertise as well as providing them with a platform to promote their various publications or institutions . contents 1 forum 2 impact 3 criticism 4 references 5 external links forum edit the online forum is where most of the publicly viewable activity takes place . it was the first tangible signs of the company on the internet . it began as a purely free online forum however has since grown into the formation of the company nat pres limited . the original forum now serves as both a discussion board and as a place where various special events or mainline railtours by heritage railways and mainline tour operators can be promoted . there is now a regular flow of information and news from some of the major players in the uk railway preservation sector . these include the a1 steam locomotive trust the 82045 trust and the group aiming to rebuild a gwr grange locomotive no. 6880 betton grange 3 as well as many smaller groups trusts and societies . this is in addition to many ordinary members of the various heritage railways in the uk from some of the largest such as the severn valley railway bluebell railway and north yorkshire moors railway to some of the smallest . the forum first came to mass attention during 2006 with an incident involving british railways 4mt no. 76079 on exeter bank near exeter central station when the locomotive slipped to a stand on a railtour . the forum became a centre for the activity on that day as news broke of the incident and reaction given from various sources including the locomotive owner ian riley . this led to the forum being cited in the report on the incident in steam railway magazine by david wilcock 4 the first example of the importance of the website being recognised by major players in the railway preservation movement . as of 17 february 2009 the forum has 3 833 members who between them have posted over a quarter of a million articles to the forum . on average the forum has gained about 160 members per month since the start of 2009 . the forum has added roughly 1 000 to its membership year on year since its formation in 2005 . 5 year ending forum membership 31 12 2005 400 31 12 2006 1 158 31 12 2007 2 182 31 12 2008 3 528 31 12 2009 7 945 31 12 2010 11 394 31 12 2011 13 643 31 12 2012 15 934 31 12 2013 21 124 6 the badge produced to help support the website impact edit the company and forum are now one of the more respected and well known general groups in the world of railway preservation . the first tangible signs of this increase in importance were the impact the forum made in the enthusiast press following the aforementioned exeter incident . in 2007 the forum members raised funds for the welsh highland railway appeal to restore their original engine russell following a poll among users over which of several deserving candidates should receive the donation . the funds were raised through individual donations as well as subscriptions and proceeds from the shop a newsletter by the welsh highland railway was produced to celebrate the event . 7 a new poll is being run currently . national preservation was used in helping the betton grange society publicise their major gala steel steam and stars in april 2007 held at the llangollen railway . the forum was used by the group to post details of the gala as they were confirmed and to provide information and reports on the event afterwards . for the follow up gala in 2009 the forum has been utilised in a similar way 8 but has also been used to help provide volunteers for jobs during the event and the company is sponsoring the running of specific trains and a guest ale at the beer festival held alongside the gala . national preservation was also used in helping with the new churnet valley railway & moorland & city railways cauldon lowe branch re opening gala . on the weekend of the 13 14 november 2010 . the forum had the first 12 coach express beer train to run on the new cauldon lowe branch sporting the national preservation headboard . for a spell during 2007 steam railway magazine actively ran a feature on the forum . entitled overheard at the bar the section reprinted a selection of some of the best posts from the forum during that month chosen jointly by danny hopkins and glyn murray . these covered issues such as steam locomotive history 9 10 and other sundry events within the movement such as railtours . 11 it is believed that national preservation is the first forum to have its own locomotive headboard cast . criticism edit among the criticism leveled at the website has been the perceived lack of understanding among members on many areas often calling them armchair enthusiasts . 12 however these views have been weakened by the arrival and presence of many well respected figures from within the movement . another criticism which has been made of the forum is the large number of members who are not active volunteers often despite being members of at least one preservation society . others however believe it provides a cross section of the enthusiast movement with some working members but also railway photographers videographers backroom staff and general enthusiasts . references edit http www.national preservation.com http www.national preservation.com team.html http www.6880gala.co.uk news news.php id 6877176796759297116 steam railway magazine issue 325 p. 12 13 details supplied by glyn murry director from the internal database internal database figures as supplied by glyn murray http russell2009.fr pdf whhr rusnewslet7webfron.pdf http www.6880gala.co.uk news news.php id 6877176796759297116 steam railway magazine issue 338 p. 112 steam railway magazine issue 340 p. 114 steam railway magazine issue 339 p. 118 steam railway magazine issue 325 p. 12 external links edit homepage of national preservation national preservation forum retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title national preservation & oldid 719959983 categories companies established in 2008privately held companies of the united kingdomcompanies based in kentonline companiesrail transport preservation in the united kingdomobservation hobbiesheritage railwayshidden categories use dmy dates from october 2015use british english from october 2015articles with topics of unclear notability from january 2010all articles with topics of unclear notabilityarticles needing additional references from january 2009all articles needing additional referencespages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk 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