Llangollen Railway

Already answered, I thought?

There's a reason a lot of lines use a structure like this.

Noel

 

I resigned as a director of the plc because of the fact that no insurance company would provide us with a renewal of our directors liability insurance. I am still vice - chairman of the Trust.
Had I chosen to jump ship when the rest of the directors did back in October then it would have created some problems, but unlike them I had the railway's interests at heart.

Bob.

 

You did the right thing though

 

bit of thread drift...

GWSR & Llangollen have similar accounting periods. (Jan 2020/Dec 2019)
GWSR had ~£650k more turnover, with £250k lower cost of sales.
About 1/4 wage costs as well.

 

Oh I didn't mean to imply we were at risk, just that it could happen to anyone at some point.

 

A video memory from happier days.

Llangollen Railway, Spring Steam Gala, The Croes Newydd Special, 5th April 2014.

 

Terribly sad news about Llangollen, Hopefully, the firewall of the plc allows the rest of the business to carry on.

Did the plc have the contracting business in it? If so, then if the railway operation is fundamentally sound, then maybe that will stop the damage there.

 

I would hope that the GWSR is on a much firmer financial footing than the Llangollen were, one thing puzzles me, and its this, was the decision to become an contract overhaul base, done because the PLC needed to increase its income to offset its expenditures? , or was it because someone thought its a chance to exploit what the railway could offer to the heritage market? I ask because reading the first statement, its clear that it was the engineering business that created some, if not all of the financial pressure I'm assuming that is also where the bank got involved, did the PLC get finance from the bank, and put up its assets as collateral ?

 

Along with a lot of people, terribly upset to hear such news today. Currently seeing how much money in my bank I can part with to donate to the fund. Every bit helps. - Ben.

 

As I have said in a post, I was not impressed at all by the workshop. Quite frankly, I was horrified and almost pulled my financial support from the Patriot project. Subsequent findings by the Patriot team, I think confirmed my views.

 

Yes they have given Nat West a first fixed and floating charge over all their assets - whatever they may be - sounds like a few Mark 1s and the stock in the shop

David R

 

"Fixed and floating charges over the undertaking and all property and assets present and future including goodwill bookdebts uncalled capital buildings fixtures fixed plant and machinery."

which makes pages 21 & 25 of the last accounts potentially interesting...

 

With thoughts to all those volunteers who've invested so much effort over the years ....

Just having checked, Llangollen - Wrexham and (rather less realistically IMO) Ruabon - Barmouth currently still appear on Campaign for Better Transport's list of reopening aspirations, though neither appear to be part of any detailed proposal. When the combined populations of Llangollen and Corwen don't reach 6000, I leave you to draw your own conclusions. Relevant URL below:

https://bettertransport.org.uk/re-opening-rail-lines

I sincerely hope that the value of assets as an operational line, when compared with any (far lower) quantifiable residual value, make keeping infrastructure secure pending a viable reopening scheme a no-brainer.

Much will probably depend on the local (and to a lesser extent, national) governments' view on the financial contribution of a working line to the wider economy. Let's hope 'interested parties' with relevant experience and the necessary standing are in contact with the receivers, sooner rather than later.

 

I can’t believe that the Welsh government will let such a valuable tourist attraction go under. We have been here before with the West Somerset, although they didn’t quite get to the receivership stage. There is also the resilience of the enthusiast fraternity. They now need a breathing space to see if a financial package can be put together to put the business back on a more sustainable footing.
The real lesson to be learnt and the West Somerset still don’t seem to have taken it on board, is that when the ship is taking on water, the crew don’t start fighting among themselves.

 

A lot of heritage railways are similarly set up with the assets largely held by the charitable organisation. the NYMR is one. In this way, the future of the railway is better protected from events such as this.

 

You have good reason to feel uneasy with that set-up; perhaps not at the moment but circumstanves can quickly change.

 

Quite - it wasn't that long ago that we were on the brink of collapse due to circumstances completely beyond our control with a 7 figure sum to pay to repair landslips, so it's not just bad management that can do that to a railway.

 

Similarly South Tynedale sent into administration last September and supporting group there still seem to be getting on with work.

 

I suppose you could ask the question what is stopping people work on the railway. The volunteers pay membership fees to the trust, so the big one would appear to be insurance for which careful looking at the contract would be needed, and following that at some point the question of electricity/water etc will come in. If things look good from the insurance point of view then if, as is being suggested, the leases of the land and almost all of the other physical assets belong to the trust, then there isn’t really any reasons why voluntary work shouldn’t continue...

 

It is worth noting how little the Welsh lines got in comparison to their English counterparts.