BACK FROM THE BRINK

YOU could be forgiven for thinking the title of this article is a little over the top. After all, we’re talking about the West Somerset Railway (WSR).

It’s one of the country’s leading preserved railways with an annual turnover of around £3million, and has continued to grow and develop since the first section of the Minehead branch reopened in 1967. No, that title is just another case of a railway journalist being melodramatic. If only that were the case!

On March 2, the directors of West Somerset Railway plc held a briefing for its stakeholders at the Oake Manor Golf Club, near Taunton, where chairman Jonathan Jones-Pratt (JJP) painted a very honest picture of the precarious situation the WSR found itself in last autumn.

The meeting was presided over by JJP, with fellow directors Paul Conibeare, Mark Smith and Rick Auger. Also present were the chairman of the WSRA Paul Whitehouse, his opposite number Chris Austin, from the West Somerset Steam Railway Trust, and former Tyseley Locomotive Works chief Bob Meanley, who is currently the WSR acting chief mechanical engineer

In an unprecedented move, journalists from the railway press were invited to join the 320-plus attendees to report first-hand on what has led to the WSR having to voluntarily close for three months, sell off locomotive assets and lay off staff.

When words such as ‘insolvency’ and ‘liquidation’ are used, it becomes very clear this isn’t a case of journalistic melodrama. This is a railway that has genuinely found itself on the brink of managerial and financial calamity, and is now facing an uphill battle for its continued survival. What follows is largely based on transcriptions from the meeting.

ORR concerns

In November 2018 the West Somerset Railway publically announced it would voluntarily close for three months from January 2 to March 30 this year in order to “re-group”, following a visit by Office of Rail and Road (ORR) inspectors Steve Turner and Andy Lewis on October 18-19. Such a move was unheard of, prompting much speculation as to what could have led to the WSR taking such radical action.

At the time the WSR confirmed the visit by the rail regulator had resulted from, among other things, public concerns sent to them on how the railway was being managed, and comments made on one of the internet railway forums. It also confirmed that as a result of the inspection, the ORR had provided an eight-page document outlining its concerns and recommendations. These focused on the WSR’s corporate governance, control of safety critical work, mechanical engineering, and aspects of infrastructure, including level crossings.

Yet few outside the railway could have imagined quite how bad things had really become. That