Heritage lines appeal for cash support as lockdown rolls on
BRITAIN’S preserved railways have taken measures to try and offset the loss of revenue caused by the coronavirus lockdown by launching ‘resilience appeals’ to bring in much-needed income.
Revenue from ticket sales and associated visitor spending provides the lifeblood for almost all lines, but the closure of the railways has resulted in the simple equation – no trains = no money.
However, the overheads remain, bills still need paying and, for those lines that employ staff, wages need paying.
This latter issue is particularly true of the larger railways which are significant employers, as they have found their business insurance does not cover them for this type of business interruption.
The Government has put measures in place to help businesses, including a scheme to underwrite 80% of salary costs for employees that are furloughed, but they are insufficient to make up for the loss of income, particularly the lucrative Easter holiday traffic.
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway, for instance, estimates it could lose up to £1million as a result of the lockdown. The fact it is a registered charity does not help as the Government’s £70m package to help charities is aimed at those providing services that are helping directly with the Covid-19 fight.
For the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) the shutdown has also hit hard, despite the fact the railway only has six employees on its books. It has meant the railway is unable to fully fund the necessary repairs to the embankment slip south of Gotherington station
(RM March), caused as a result of the heavy rains in February.
Repairs
Preliminary repairs were carried out thanks to a substantial contribution from the railway’s supporting charitable group, the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway Trust, which enabled the railway to operate during the Cheltenham Festival. However, there is still much to do, and the repairs were to have been funded largely from ticket revenue.
Richard Johnson, voluntary chairman of GWSR Plc, said: “We can’t halt work on the slip, which has turned out to be more severe than originally thought.
“If we halt works now to save money, the eventual repair cost will be considerably greater than if work continues.
“We need to raise at least £250,000 as quickly as we can, otherwise the consequences are unthinkable.”
An appeal to raise around £500,000 was launched by the GWSR on March 23, which at the time of writing had already seen more than £175,000 donated.
The Severn Valley Railway was already feeling the pinch before the Covid-19 lockdown owing to the recent floods and the fact the line had been closed between Kidderminster and Bewdley to facilitate repairs to Falling Sands Viaduct.
Passenger numbers were about 75% down during the first weeks of the season before the shutdown, and as a consequence it launched a £250,000 appeal to keep the railway ‘alive’.
Many of the SVR’s paid employees, with the exception of essential staff, have been put on furlough, and the railway will pay no business rates for the next year.
By the time this issue went to press the appeal had raised an impressive £565,000; more than double the original target.
£500,000 loss
Other larger lines, including the Bluebell, Swanage, Llangollen, West Somerset and South
Devon, have all started similar appeals. The South Devon Railway believes it faces a potential loss of £500,000 in revenue.
This could not have come at a worse time for the railway which, like the Gloucs-Warks line, suffered infrastructure damage during the winter.
The well-known Nursery
Pool Bridge, which takes the railway over the River Dart near Buckfastleigh, received damage to one of its piers during the February storms and now needs urgent repairs.
A video SOS appeal was well received and by the last week of April more than £114,000 had been received.
Smaller, wholly volunteer-run railways have been similarly hit and have launched appeals of their own. While they might not have the wage bills of their larger cousins, the size and scale of their operation means they rely 100% on ticket sales for their continued existence.
The long-term impact of the coronavirus epidemic has yet to be felt, but it seems certain it will be devastating for many lines, and potentially even catastrophic if the situation runs through into the summer.