Llangollen Railway

I suspect there will be a public announcement in the coming days...

 

Seems to have arrived earlier than expected - just seen on the station entrance road at North Weald.

 

It was mentioned that on the viewing day there was a potential buyer with a six figure budget available - I wonder if we now have a clue as to who it was!

 

Not sure if you're referring to Epping, but this is the only one they've acquired (or at least that we've been told.)

 

Got to feel sorry for the volunteers at Llangollen - it must be gut wrenching to see stock, some of which they will have worked on as volunteers leaving the railway.

David R

 

All the speculation online and vultures picking up the assets makes thinks better

 

This will have been a hideous time for anyone at the LR and hard lessons will doubtless have been learned. On the 'plus' side, there's now a secure (and extended) railway to bring back into full service and things could easily have turned out a lot worse than seems to be the case.

I sincerely wish all those at the LR well in getting this fine line firmly back on it's feet.

 

We can all help by making the effort to have a ride on the line where possible or,if not,to make a donation.

The short term may be secure,but the line needs bums on seats going forward.

I agree with the comment about vultures,I don't think the movement has shown itself in a very good light.

 

Ll plc went bust. It owed more than it owned. Lots of people including other preservation groups have lost out in irrecoverable ways.

By others paying a good price for assets, Ll plc is able to pay the portion of it's debts it was required to. As a result of that the Ll trust was able to pick up more of the pieces.

What would you have preferred?

 

Can any sanction be applied to those now former directors, the ones who so badly let the railway down, for instance, can they be banned from ever setting foot on the railway again, I shouldn't think any would have the desire to do so, as they would hardly be welcomed back, even as visitors

 

The truth though is that its very unlikely, that those owed money, other than the bank, will ever get whats owed to them, the money raised by the selling of the assets of the former PLC, only benefited the receivers, their agents, and the bank , they get paid in full, everyone else might be lucky to get pence in the pound in costs,

 

Sanctions only occur for Wrongful Trading (effectively trading when knowing or reckless as to insolvency or taking profits due to the receiver).

In a business context, it's difficult to say they did something that's wronger than going bust - they took on risks and they didn't pay out. They weren't unusual risks for the business they were in.

This comes back to my point that preserved railways do live in a protected bubble and the general commercial world can be a lot harder.

 

Which is still more than they'd get otherwise.
Also bear in mind every railway will now be paying for it as their perceived insolvency risk goes up.

 

On Tuesday last .a member of the Northampton Railway told ne they were after one.

 

I must admit to getting angsty whenever the burning pitchforks come out and people start talking about bans and such like. There were some directors, they ran a company, it failed. Unless you are suggesting that they wilfully caused it to fail, what do you suggest they did that requires banning? (Please don't spend ages answering that, at the risk of just getting into more hot water).

It's difficult enough finding willing and able directors of heritage railways at the best of times. The last thing you want to do is make that task harder by engendering an atmosphere that anyone who tries and fails will be crucified by social media. The lesson I would draw is not that certain people should be hounded out of preservation, but that anyone who has a stake in a preserved railway - which means variously shareholders, society members, volunteers etc - should be more observant of the underlying performance of their own little bit of the preservation world.

Tom

 

Two taken at I C I Northwich in August 1993.They are Perkin ,the other loco with it is Ludwic Mon ,6WD built by CECT. The loco on it own is John Brunnel ,caption states ..They are not 08s.

 

Could you please explain what you mean by this statement?

 

Doesn't that assume that there are mechanisms to monitor performance and to step in. One of the issues in some of the worst offenders has been the inability to act even when people can observe poor performance.

While I take your point about burning pitchforks, I can think of some very good people who have been effectively blackballed for far less, moreover, if people have something that other people want such as a loco then there will always be someone willing to welcome them no matter how bad their previous actions. As ever, wealth protects.

 

I agree, but recall a comment up thread by a former(?) director about a clique that were impossible to oppose. That rings our alarm bells to me, bells that were I suspect audible a while back to those tuned to the right channels.

I suspect that the issue, in the foreground here but lurking more often than we’d like, is that the combination of willing and able is rarer than we’d like, and that ability is not to be taken for granted.

If I were of a GWR mind, I’d certainly be thinking carefully about the credibility and viability of the projects those ex directors are involved in, and weighing up my willingness to donate or trade with them in the light of what’s happened at Llangollen.


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There does seem to be a rather (ugly) appetite for retribution in so many aspects of life these days