West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Quelle surprise!

 

But wasn't everything rosy in the garden, or was that just meant to placate the adoring masses, so a deficit of £316,442, of which £105,000 could be put down to legal costs for removing people you don't agree with, was it worth it?? when your own finances are not that strong, As regards Washford, yard, I have for a long time thought that was more to do with an pro GWR bias within some senior people at the WSR, who never accepted having the S&DRMT on site, and once JJP became chairman, they had someone they could manipulate into doing what they never were able to.

 

I know I am a cynic about the loss making potential of unduly long tourist lines but 2021 was a very lucrative year in some places and those who could not break even will face greater difficulty in future

 

Indeed. But if you strip out the £105k of legal costs from those numbers (and I don't have sight of the report), that makes a big difference to the operating loss. As ever, the difference is between what a layman would regard as opertaing costs, and the accounting treatment which will include activities that are part of the business but not directly related to day to day operations.

 

It would still be £211k - a pretty sizeable chunk of money, especially when you add it to the last few years losses

 

Indeed. But what I didn't say very well is that there may also be other "one off" costs that would affect the interpretation of those numbers. I'd also want to check back (and can't be bothered to do the search here!) as to when they operated fully in 2021 - it was a short year, and I suspect fixed costs weighed relatively heavily.

However, all of the above is of limited relevance given the general tendency for the railway to oscillate randomly from "we're about to go broke" to "everything's fine" in the public presentation of their position.

 

Fair enough if you only want to look at the actual profit or loss of operating but there are a number other expenses and, perhaps, income that need to be taken into account to see what the real financial position is. No great value in making a hefty surplus on running trains if you are paying out large amounts elsewhere, whether in legal expenses, interest payments, rents or whatever. The money has to come from somewhere !
How would you lay out the accounts ?

(Edit)
An additional observation : the movement in Equity (the balance of Assets and Liabilities) since the previous year will indicate which way things are going.

 

Absolutely so. However, once the season got going, there was a great deal of business. One line had its most lucrative year ever

 

Completely agreed - and you'll be aware I'm no fan of the plc in its current form. But important as year end results are, results distorted by one off items give a poor insight into the underlying business.

 

If that is the case, then it was certainly not money well spent. £96K translates into a hell of a lot of passengers who would have to have been put off by not being able to terminate in Minehead. Does anyone know what the average profit per passenger is?
I wonder whose coaches they were hiring?

 

You know perfectly well whose buses they were. If I was supplying a fleet of vintage road vehicles which are normally based some distance away in Weston-Super-Mare, for several weeks, along with drivers and other support staff, I would certainly charge.

 

Oops, call me Mr Silly too. I was thinking Coaches = Mk1's? Mk2's? 4 Wheelers? Duh!

 

To be fair Martin that thought did cross my mind earlier today.

 

If the WSR is to survive, it needs a new structure, new ideas, new attitudes and new Directors.
The water is cold, the iceberg approaches, the rudder is small, but the binoculars were left behind some time ago.

 

The binoculars were not left behind, the key to the locker was taken by an officer who left.

I visited the railway a few weeks ago, clearly Covid may help to explain some things but the lineside wasnt to the old standard and there were a number of 10mph TSR's

 

A look at the accounts for the last three years or so will show the trends. Any "one off" items then stand out (and will have been high-lighted by the auditors). Standard practice when reading accounts.
I do hope you are correct in terming the legal expense for last year as a "one-off". Far too much money has been wasted in the unnecessary defence of egos around the WSR over the past few years.

 

Sadly this.could be applied to many other heritage railways across the UK Robin..weak leadership, short sightedness and ego massaging will cripple many HRs as time goes on

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