Encouraged by Northern, Coastliners have been investigating the possibility of the line becoming a Community Rail Partnership (CRP). At our meeting on 27th April we were therefore pleased to welcome Brian Barnsley, Operations Manager of the Association of Community Rail Partnerships (ACoRP) as our special guest. Brian was able to take us through the necessary steps to achieve this objective and to explain some of the details of the workings of a CRP, particularly in regard to community involvement. A new idea which he suggested was the possibility of establishing a Tees Valley CRP which would combine the Durham Coast and Saltburn-Bishop Auckland lines. The Bishop Line is of course already a CRP as is the Esk Valley. This proposal has parallels elsewhere (eg the Cornish branches). We await further guidance from ACoRP.