Llangollen Railway

Received and replied to!

Bob has explained the situation in private and it certainly looks like things are changing for the better at Llangollen.

Keith

 

We all have a PM, unless you are in the US where it is still am

 

Never mind - there's no secrets in there !

Bob.

 

I thought the US had a POTUS? (Though at long last they may now also have a poultice too)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I thought a POTUS was some sort of nasty pustule......... the current one seems to be.
Ray.

 

You mean, like the former head of the Labour Party?

Now, can we please keep snide, snarky political posts out of rail-related threads? Thank you.

Noel

 

Does "Amtrak Joe" count as rail-related? OK ... I promise that's the last one (for now!)

 

The railway's volunteer p/way team started work on the Dee bridge waybeam renewal project on Tuesday this week and by end of play today have removed the running rails and check-rail to the sides of the bridge deck and taken up all of the old waybeams by chainsawing them into two foot lengths.
These have all been removed from the bridge deck. An excellent effort by all concerned.
The next job will be to prepare the bridge deck and apply new paint coatings, probably before the Christmas holidays.
Hopefully our fund raising effort to pay for the new waybeams will be approaching its target, but as of last weekend we were still short of £4k
Should anybody wish to make a donation towards the cost of this work, details of how to contribute can be found on the Llangollen Railway Unofficial Facebook site.

Bob.

 

With 5199 going to the WSR, what is the state of play with the locomotives for next year, namely 80072 & 6430?

 

80072 is out for 10 year overhaul, which the owning group aren't planning to start for another couple of years. 6430 currently being put back together and will be available shortly.
Our pannier tank 7754 only needs the boiler work finishing. One of our boilersmiths is working on it this week, finishing copper work in the firebox, then the tubes can be fitted.
The bottom end is all finished ,so when the boiler has passed its steam test everything is ready to go back together.
Then it's testing and a paint job (starts livery debate !) and hopefully pulling trains to Corwen next Summer.

Bob.

 

It's currently having its tender brakes re-fitted after overhaul, but will be available shortly.

Bob.

 

Grim news from Llangollen:

It is with great regret the directors of Llangollen Railway PLC have had to take the reluctant step of inviting the bank to appoint a receiver.

Really feel for all the volunteers there at the moment, I very much hope that something can be sorted out with the Trust.

 

I too hope that this ends well for the railway.

I'd seen that GWR 280 No 3814 was photographed at Wishaw on a low-loader on 15/2 and thought something was afoot.

 

I don't doubt it, but what is your source?

 

It’s on the page linked to (scroll down if you are in a mobile phone).

Tom

 

Llangollen Railway PLC – Press release 1st March 2021

Formal announcement:

It is with great regret the directors of Llangollen Railway PLC have had to take the reluctant step of inviting the bank to appoint a receiver.

The company’s accounts show pre-tax losses of £330,601 in 2018, £329,175 in 2019 and £258,804 in 2020 (pre-audit). A number of significant engineering contract disputes, all of which arose in the years prior to the current board taking over in October 2020, have crystallised in the last few days. The claims against the company are compelling and are in excess of £250,000 in total. There is no prospect of meeting these liabilities, even over an extended period.

As a result the balance sheet is now insolvent to the extent of £350,000 approximately, adjusting for intangible assets also. In such circumstances the company cannot legally continue to trade.

The directors would like to acknowledge the considerable support of the Welsh Government through two significant grants, and NatWest Bank which, together with furlough payments, have enabled the company to continue to meet its commitments over recent months until now.

The Trust’s balance sheet remains solvent and there is some cash in hand. The Trust board will need to take steps to negotiate with the receiver to try to secure the line and preserve rolling stock and infrastructure to the extent possible. It is intended to recommence operations in due course but this is dependent upon legal and regulatory approvals, including licencing, all of which will clearly take time.

The directors very much regret the impact this will have on our staff and employees, customers, suppliers, locomotive owners and their organisations, and anyone else with connections to the Railway. It is hoped to rehire many of our staff and employees and that it will be possible to maintain connections with many longstanding friends.

Customers who have purchased tickets in advance, including driver experiences, deposits for weddings and gift vouchers, will either be refunded (the monies have been reserved) or will hopefully be able to travel at a future date.

Where shareholders have ongoing annual ticket entitlements, these will continue to be met through the Trust.

Anyone wishing to make a claim in the receivership should contact the Railway by e-mail at commercial@llangollen-railway.co.uk and details will be passed to the receiver.

Anyone wishing to contact the Trust, please do so at the above e-mail address also.

 

That is very grim news.

 

Only peripherally relevant, I think. Like other locos being built or overhauled as contract jobs its owners would have been asked to remove it when LR Engineering was closed down.