Somerset & Dorset Trust told to quit Washford by WSR plc
THE Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust (SDRT) was seeking legal advice after being given a year’s notice to quit its base at Washford station by the West Somerset Railway plc.
A formal solicitors’ letter was delivered to the trust on February 7, terminating the 50-year tenancy agreement made in 2018, the given reason being that the railway wants to use the site for its own purposes.
A statement issued by the SDRT on February 22 said: “This is very disappointing news for the trust who have been great supporters of the West Somerset Railway to date and ignores the remarkable achievements the trust have made over the last 40 years at Washford. We are currently seeking legal advice and will consider when this has been received.”
Trust chairman Ian Young commented: “Whatever the outcome might be, it will put the trust under severe stress and cause a great deal of concern to our dedicated membership, if not the heritage movement generally.’’
Claims denied
Trustofficialshavedescribedclaimsposted onthewsr’swebsiteas“inaccurateand untruthful”astheyimplythatthesdrt doesnotsupporttherailway,andwishes topursueitsownagenda.
The statement said: “The trust has done everything within its power to fully support the WSR whilst continuing to work within its financial and charitable restrictions. This is primarily through rent and the hosting of special events.
“Our only agenda has always been to promote the memory of the old S&D through our museum at Washford station and our exhibits which include a fully restored S&D carriage, coach No. 4, and numerous wagons with an S&D history. The intention has always been to enhance the heritage offering to visitors who travel on the WSR. It is regrettable that the WSR have embarked on this confrontational and negative approach.”
However, a statement from the railway said: “As you will know, the WSR plc was facing severe financial and operational crises last year, and the very future of the railway was at risk.
“In the past few months, however, the WSR has been undertaking a strategic review of its entire operations, and completely overhauling its finances. Coming into Christmas 2019, the railway had begun to trade profitably again, but there is still a long way to go before we will be raising the monies which we need to fund the day-to-day operations and our own wishes for ongoing capital improvements. 2020 will be another important year for us.
“Sadly, despite the efforts of other WSR groups who helped raise funds away from their own specific interest areas, such as the Friends of Minehead
Station which bought track and other items for the common WSR good, the SDRT is governed in such a way that it meant they felt unable to assist us financially, other than by allowing the WSR to hold and retain the modest profits from a real ale festival last year.
“They wished to pursue their own specific agenda and, in our crisis period, acted rather like a ‘cuckoo in the nest’ which the plc found unacceptable. As a result of this and other concerns, they have been served with a year’s notice to remove themselves completely from the Washford site which the WSR plc now wishes to use for different purposes.
“The WSR had also been looking at all the possibilities we have to develop our sites, and to raise greater income to help fund the railway and ease operational pressures. Currently, the SDRT occupy some of the land adjacent to the Washford station, but the rent they pay for this land is much lower than any other organisation occupying space elsewhere on the railway. None of the monies that they raise there comes to help the WSR directly.
“The WSR had sought to raise the SDRT rent to a more meaningful level but, with their current finances, and their own perhaps understandable focus on wanting to give any spare cash towards their own causes, the WSR plc decided with regret that it was now time to give the SDRT a 12-month notice.
‘Unacceptable’ changes
“The SDRT had also suggested that they might seek a change to our Light Railway Order at the Washford site and so operate the rail lines there as a separate entity. This would be not only expensive for them, but also is not acceptable to the WSR as we would have to object to it since the plc has some concerns about how they have operated the site, and we must also obviously protect our own operational Safety Management System with the ORR so that everyone on the line complies with it.
“We now plan to develop the Washford site to better meet our needs which we hope will include additional permanent way vehicle and equipment storage closer to the middle of our long line to ease future trackwork programmes; workshops for restoration works; and covered winter accommodation.
“We are also planning to attract a new stationmaster to Washford which will itself be developed further. We also plan to expand the museum facility there and are looking into possibly further developing the site as a visitor attraction with some small farm animals.”
Responding to the SDRT’S claim that the year’s notice was “a complete bolt out of the blue”, the railway said that the two boards met last July and a liaison meeting took place in January this year, and around 30 hours has been spent in meetings between the two. “Also, requests were made to them last September to open up more frequently than they have done in the past (which is infrequent) in exchange for a bigger profile on both the plc website and timetable leaflet which were ignored apparently,” said the plc statement.
The SDRT owns Somerset & Dorset 7F 2-8-0 No. 53808 which is operated by the WSR on a separate contract, which will be honoured by the plc as a separate and free-standing hire agreement so it will stay on the line.
WSR officials have also said that the SDRT could have launched a special appeal to pay an estimated £10,000 for the new tender top of the 7F which is badly wasted, rusting and thin, as requested by the plc. Such a move would then have saved the WSR from having to raise the funds as part of the 7F hire agreement and so contributed to the railway’s coffers without compromising the SDRT’S charitable objectives - as it would be investing in its own locomotive.
The SDRT has its origins in the closure of the Somerset & Dorset system on January 1, 1966, when a group of like-minded people met and formed the Somerset & Dorset Circle. In 1968, members voted to buy No. 53808 from Barry scrapyard and leased the station buildings and Up platform at Radstock North from BR. From 1972 onwards, industrial tank engines hauled brake van trips a mile along the former main line to Writhlington Colliery, and the following year the Circle became the Somerset & Dorset Railway Museum Trust. A separate Somerset & Dorset Light Railway Company failed to raise funds to buy the station, and was wound up in December 1976. New homes for the trust were considered: the nascent WSR offered derelict Washford station, and the 7F moved there in December 1977.
“The WSR had also been looking at all the possibilities we have to develop our sites, and to raise greater income to help fund the railway and ease operational pressures.”