S&D Railway Trust

The PLC is the controlling and operating body. There is no Trust holding the assets - that's part of the problem.
The WSSRT is a bystander as much as the WSRA is - neither body own or control the assets of the railway. If the PLC goes belly up, then the LRO, the track (not sure about signalling and station equipment), No 9351, No 7828 and possibly some (most?) of the carriages are all at the mercy of the administrators.

This has been discussed before and the general consensus was that it would be much too expensive for an operator to take on, as the branch would need to be relaid to NR standards for higher speeds and probably resignalled too.

Keith

 

I speak from outside, so am not sure of the small print of who owns what, and where it's all sited. However, the more assets of the railway that aren't owned by the WSR plc, the more value there would be for an administrator in trying to ensure that the plc remains "live" rather than getting into a sale of assets.

The structures where assets are largely owned outside of the trading company is one that I've seen in various forms elsewhere and which I have often wondered why the WSR does not move towards. However, we know that West Somerset does not always do things the same as elsewhere...

PS - re. featuring as part of the national network, my hunch is that the costs of getting acceptable public transport journey times and the likely limited demand (see other threads passim ad nauseam) mean that, in the post Covid world, the odds of the public sector investment required to deliver such change are non-existent.

 

Err - I think we are getting confused between the specific S&DRT/Washford issue and the wider WSR problems.

The WSR land and buildings (but see exceptions below) belong to the Somerset County Council, who lease it to the WSR Plc.
The Plc sub-let the Washford site (presumably excluding the actual running line) to the S&DRT.
The S&DRT lease the station building, the structure of the former GWR signal-box, and the land in the yard.
The current contents of the station building and the old signal-box were installed by, and belong to, the S&DRT.
All the sidings, buildings and other structures (eg demonstration signals) in the yard were installed by, and belong to, the S&DRT.
Most of the rolling-stock etc currently occupying the sidings belongs to the S&DRT, tho' no doubt there are some items there at the moment which may belong to individual members or other groups.
Locomotive 53808 is leased to the Plc, but belongs to the S&DRT.

On the wider issue of the rest of the WSR, then the response from ghost covers the basics.

Although in the fullness of time the S&DRT could no doubt 'prove' all of the above and demonstrate its title to almost everything at WD, I suspect that if the Plc were to fall into administration/receivership then initially they might find access to it all to be difficult. No doubt similar might apply to the DEPG etc.

 

Presumably Lloyds Bank would have the major say in any insolvency. It does seem that they have more than a passing interest.

 

The present company secretary is not a ‘board member’. Their role may require advising the board and implementing decisions but they have no vote at board meetings.

 

I believe until recently Corby was the town with the largest population without a passenger rail connection population 62400 according to Mr. Google, and it took many years for a business case to get them connected. Minehead has population of just under 12000 so even without a financially desperate UK economy post Covid-19 I agree it would not be a candidate to become part of the national network. Also as I have said before it has a parallel bus route.

 

Furthermore, a bus route on which a large proportion of Minehead inhabitants enjoy free travel.


Sent from my SM-T590 using Tapatalk

 

You are indeed correct. It means that the number of accountable officers is even smaller.

 

It makes me wonder if the S&DRT eviction notice was
a) a unilateral decision by the chairman without reference to the Board
or
b) a majority decision by the Board of 3
or
c) a decision by the head of Plc finance

I suspect a) is the answer
but if b), then given the reputations of Meanley & Brown, did they not foresee the obvious reaction?
& c) is still a possibility on purely financial grounds, even if no rational reason was stated.

I still think the Plc could back out of this with grace & elegance - they surely have a clear message by now.

 

So on the face of it, is the chairman, in effect running the show, and acting as if it was his own company if so, that would explain a lot, why certain other companies that he appears to have an interest in are now in charge of accounts etc, whats to stop him selling the assets of the WSR to JPP Holdings on a lease back agreement to remove them from the inventory and to in effect ensure he will be in a position if the railway folded to launch a new company with backing from other parners such as LSL Vintage trains etc ?

 

Martin, the LRO can't be sold. So asset stripping the WSR, and then having it fold = no railway.
Pat

 

There are some wild ideas floating around on this thread about what the chairman can and cannot do without approval from the board, the shareholders or SCC, but this one is out there on its own.

Whilst the trials and tribulations of the WSR and its failure of it and its associated bodies to get their acts together over the past 40 odd years, are mildly entertaining and a lesson to all preserved railways, wild ideas that would fall at the first hurdle add nothing to this debate.

 

I totally agree, they only serve to muddy the waters and allow supporters of the eviction to dismiss *all* arguments against it as rubbish when there are some serious reasons.

 

Who else was at the Oake Manor golf club which hosted the stakeholders event a number of months back ? The Dear Leader made a couple of references to "my railway" and "my business" which raised several eyebrows.

As stated above, it explains a lot.

 

@martin1656 Quote:- So on the face of it, is the chairman, in effect running the show, and acting as if it was his own company if so, that would explain a lot, why certain other companies that he appears to have an interest in are now in charge of accounts etc, whats to stop him selling the assets of the WSR to JPP Holdings on a lease back agreement to remove them from the inventory...<snip>

I would not be so quick to pour scorn on this. It does appear from his other businesses as though the Chairman is quite adept at maintaining the holding company should subsidiaries fail. So is it really so wild?

Would anyone, apart from the Directors (or even just one person with the authority and the accountants) even know if this was happening? The story could be 'Selling off assets in a time of crisis to raise much needed funds...'.

 

Yes because AIUI the other companies are controlled by the chairman through his shareholdings. This is not the case with the WSR where no one has a majority shareholding.

 

I hope we haven't just given someone any 'bright ideas'..

 

There's no I in team but there is a U in .... ...
The WSR is the one line over 250 miles from home I visit regularly and always enjoy my visits for both the railway and the area.However ,unfortunately ,due to its management it's one of the few I won't support in a financial crisis as I have no faith in any donation being spent correctly.

 

that was where I was coming from, dress it up as saving the company, enabling it to stay afloat in these perilous times, ETC, and of course he then has the total control of the railway, lock, stock and barrel, he would have the whole railway over a barrel, do as I say, or you won't have any part being on my railway,

 

Financial tip no 999. How to make a small fortune. Step 1 make a huge fortune. Step 2 set up a preserved railway and watch your huge fortune turn into a small one.

No one goes into Railway preservation to make money. A couple of companies make a reasonable return as commercial operations but most preserved lines are a money pit, none bigger atm than the WSR which requires millions to renew its infrastructure.