A Little History.
The company name has been officially changed to "Stanegate Restorations and Replicas" with effect from 01 April 2009.
The original company (M&Y) had been an idea in gestation for quite a few years, when Ian Yates came to the conclusion that the time had finally arrived for him to branch out and start his own business, in order that he could leave something for the future, by helping to preserve part of our heritage for the next generation. After making some quite detailed provisional plans, he approached Peter, with the idea of going into partnership. Fortunately, the timimg of all this planning produced a further useful coincidence in that a mutual friend, who was about to take early retirement, was contacted and he agreed to help with the start up costs, and to oversee the legal and financial processes involved.
A workshop was leased in November 2006, and the task of transferring and overhauling the accumulated tools and machinery was started. Some additional machinery and other items were obtained and installed, such as appropriate dust extraction equipment to provide H&S compliant facilities.
Since then quite a few projects have been carried out, some following on from the work Ian and Pete had been involved with on various Welsh narrow gauge railways. So far, the three major projects have been the WHR Buffet Car restoration, the construction of the replica carriage Number 25 for the WHHR, and the refit of the William Riley lifeboat. Fitted in amongst these three have been several smaller projects. (SEE: the current and past projects pages for more details, and images).
 |
 |
 |
| WHR Buffet Car | William Riley | WHHR '25' |
Just before the end of February 2009, Peter announced that he was resigning immediately, in order to pursue other personal interests. Despite his very appreciated early input, it had become quite clear that his heart was involved with other things, and after a period of several months of part-time work he offered his resignation. Consequently, the company name has been changed to "Stanegate Restorations and Replicas", with Ian Yates as Managing Director, and other staff have been brought in to assist with the workload.
The order book has a very healthy feel, and in between sessions of slaving over tools and making wood into shavings and sawdust, the welcome job of bringing in further projects from existing customers is continuing, and contacts are underway to expand into working with additional clients.