Peril for Llangollen as assets to be auctioned
THE LLANGOLLEN Railway Trust has stepped up its fund-raising activities, in a bid to take over the running of the ten-miles line. It follows the collapse of Llangollen Railway PLC with debts of £350,000. The assets are being sold to the highest bidder and, significantly, they could include a key section of the line. The trackbed and Llangollen station are leased from the Council, while the Trust owns some rolling stock and the Light Railway Order/TWO.
The Trust hopes to take over running of the line and has been fund-raising in the hope of being able to buy the PLC’s intangible assets (eg website, key contracts, information IT systems) to ease the transition from PLC to Trust. Trains cannot resume until the Railway Inspectorate (ORR) is satisfied that the Trust can demonstrate it has put an effective Safety Management System (SMS) in place. This will require a new management structure, along with proof of training and competences for all operational staff, including volunteers. Additionally, the 30-year-old track in the 689-yard Berwyn Tunnel needs repairs to the concrete sleepers’ fastenings before traffic can resume.
The operating and engineering assets, together with the business potential, are being marketed for sale by agents Lambert Smith Hampton. It is acting for Manchesterbased Cowgill Holloway Business Recovery, which was appointed on March 25 to put the PLC into administration. PLC employees were issued with redundancy notices on March 27.
The assets were described as a “unique and rare opportunity to purchase the operating and engineering assets, together with the business potential of a prestigious heritage railway”, and the deadline for offers expired on March 22. While there was considerable interest and a number of offers, no single party bid for all the assets. As a result, by mid-April the administrators were understood to be considering an online auction in mid-May. The lots would include the website, workshop machinery, forklifts, four Transit-sized vans and PW equipment. This includes an EE 0-6-0DE, Cowans Sheldon crane ADRC96718, road-rail excavator and a Plasser & Theurer 12T crane – all in working order. Lowmac wagon B904534 and GUV 95151, along with Mk 3 ‘party coach’ 34584 are also for sale.
Of the 20 coaches based on the line, ten Mk 1s are being sold (the others are not owned by the PLC), of which most were in service preCOVID: TSOs 4472, 4503, 4643, 4702, 4858, 4947, BSK 34537, CK 15667, SK 18421 and RMB 1864.
While the Llangollen-Glyndyfrdwy and Carrog-Corwen track is owned by the Trust, the central two -miles between Glyndyfrdwy and Carrog is understood to sit on the PLC’s accounts, as a result of it being funded by the PLC’s 1993 Share Issue. The share issue, which had remained open until the PLC’s collapse, raised £845,821, of which £79,099 worth were sold in the year to December 31, 2019.