Swanage Railway General Discussion

Do you have a link, please?

 

https://563locomotivegroup.co.uk/t3-times/

 

Disappointed that the 2024 events page on the website doesn’t feature a steam gala.

 

Guess other 2024 events are to be added later?

If the fundraising goes well could the T9 overhaul be done at Herston works? Obviously the boiler work will have to be done elsewhere?

 

If Railadvent is to be believed, the intention is an initial assessment at the Flour Mill. If the outcome of that is positive, then it will remain at the Flour Mill for the overhaul to be completed.

 

Looks like things are much worse than previously thought:


SAVE YOUR RAILWAY
We at the Swanage Railway urgently need to raise £250,000 to overcome the changes in the financial climate and help us build a sustainable railway for the future. Without your help, the Swanage Railway may not survive this coming Winter.

Click here to find out more about our current challenges and to donate:

https://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/save-your-railway

Apart from anything else, this will surely be the death knell for Wareham services in 2024? I guess the DMU's could be sold for a decent price but the taxpayer funding of their restoration might be an issue.

 

SAVE YOUR RAILWAY
Save Your Railway!

''In the last 12 months we've made some fantastic achievements as a railway. From welcoming back the Flying Scotsman last year, our Train of Lights and Winter Warm Up events, hosting "Britannia" and being the first railway to offer driver experiences, the spectacular Steam, Diesel and Road to Rail galas, through to delivering the second trial of Wareham services, the farewell visit of the HST and now the launch of the T3. On the face of it, we've had a very successful year.

Despite these events, a good summer season and a 19% increase in footfall generally, we're still below visitor numbers before the pandemic. Alongside this our costs have continued to rise, especially in coal and energy costs due to the war in Ukraine, plus unexpected expenditure such as the repairs to Bridge 11. All this combined has hit our business hard.

Both the Trust's Council of Management and the Companies Board are working hard to improve our financial position but, being a mostly seasonal business and with the winter season upon us, we need help to see us through to the beginning of our 2024 running season. Already we've initiated a voluntary redundancy process, are looking into the disposal of assets surplus to the railway, and indeed are looking at cuts elsewhere, but there's only so much that can be done in a short period without causing further detriment to the railway itself.

As a railway, we need to identify expenditure savings (or enhanced income) of approximately £350K. We recognise this will not be easy, and has and will involve a number of painful decisions. It is crystal clear that we will need a robust and deliverable plan to restructure and refinance the Company. With that in mind we will be building a new business case and plan for the Company, designed to make it more efficient and effective, attracting increasing numbers of passengers beyond the levels prior to the pandemic.

This will involve reinventing the railway into a broader and more commercial visitor experience, and we recognise this will not be achieved overnight. Therefore the Trust has launched an emergency 'Save Your Railway' appeal targeted to raise £250,000 in direct support of the Company during these next fews months whilst these changes are made.

So, we turn to you, our loyal supporters, to please donate what you can to help Save Your Railway. We're well aware of the cost-of-living crisis affecting us all, but as little as a pound can help us immensely. All proceeds will go directly to supporting the Swanage Railway Company''.

Thank you

 

This was alluded to in post 9101 when I gave a brief precis of the key points at the SRT AGM.

It appears that the railway needs £250K of donations, £350K of a combination of additional revenue and cost savings and then to be restructured to receive C£200K of gift aid each and every year thereafter to be sustainable.

I am not sure how much redundancies would actually save given the length of service of many members of staff and thus their legal entitlement.

 

Little in the short term - but potentially a lot more over time.

 

The published accounts show:
year ending Jan 23 FTE 39 Cost £1,082,809 Key Management Compensation (I think this is redundancy costs) £NIL
year ending Jan 22 FTE 37 Cost £878,471 KMC £224,006
year ending Jan 21 FTE 36 Cost £984,832 KMC £258,632
year ending Jan 20 FTE 43 Cost £1,140,305 KMC 253,806

Wage inflation and lack of detail (what the employee composition is) comparisons are difficult but the figures to me suggest that generating the level of cost reduction required in real terms is very difficult indeed.

 

Hopefully the railway company doesn't fold. The railway has been good in 2024 to reduce expenses, for example 1 steam service all summer. But clearly even that isn't enough?

Maybe as they Point to, 2024 swanage needs to start from the very bottom again and find it's feet. But that is looking like more reduction of services. Will the TC set or DMU even be needed? Prehaps trains running only weekdays in Easter and July/August. Great to see year on year passenger numbers are UP 19%.

Looks like Wareham will be an absolute BIG NOO NOO for 2025 and beyond.

One thing I did think about, could Swanage run one train service , 6/7 car with a steam at one end and the 33 at the other during peak season. That would allow an hour frequency and only 1 set.

I really am thinking about volunteering for the railway next year, one of the childhood dreams to work and maintain a steam loco.

 

The jargon is unclear, but KMC doesn't read to me as redundancy costs but some form of classification of salaries (I'd normally expect to see terms like "restructuring", and wasn't aware that the year ending Jan 2020 had involved redundancies.

I don't disagree that achieving savings is hard, but the maths of redundancy tend to work out within a year - assuming that the roles are genuinely not required, and don't creep back. Looking at the release, the need is clearly a combination of creating some immediate free cash flow, and then also increasing charitable income by £200k/year, it implies by unlocking Gift Aid on existing donations to earn £200k/yr on existing voluntary income.

 

I did wonder about the meaning of KMC especially given it appears in 3 years accounts but then it seems very odd that there was no KMC in the YE 2023 and if it was to give some idea of salaries for key personnel surely the word remuneration would be more appropriate? Perhaps an accountant can enlighten us?

The gift aid figure would be from receiving gift aid on fares paid but this is only possible aiui if it was the charity operating the services (and not SRC as now) hence the restructuring outlined at the AGM. SRT already receives gift aid on donations.

The maths of redundancy nearly always work out within a year because under the govt redundancy regulations (which aiui SRC have within their contracts of employment) provide for a maximum of 30 weeks pay (capped at a certain level) plus notice. AFAIK no employee at SRC has a notice period of greater than 3 months.

I think SRC has a mountain to climb (that is not to say it cant be done) because even if it raises sufficient donations to get to next summer, thereafter it needs to operate a financially sustainable model ie at the least break even, something it has struggled to do for a number of years. Can it really cut employee costs (the single biggest cost by a country mile) without jeopardising the ability to run a service? Over time the Customer Services Department has seen a significant head count reduction, the shop is volunteer run, there are only 2 paid staff in catering. This would suggest that head count cuts have to be found in LC&W or in PWay.

 

[QUOTE="Tom02, post: 2843125, member:

One thing I did think about, could Swanage run one train service , 6/7 car with a steam at one end and the 33 at the other during peak season. That would allow an hour frequency and only 1 set.

I really am thinking about volunteering for the railway next year, one of the childhood dreams to work and maintain a steam loco.[/QUOTE]

Haven’t you recently complained on here recently about how much of a uneccesary chore that was though?
I really don’t want to have a pop but you do contradict yourself at times

 

Are you sure you mean "year ending" 2023 etc, given that we aren't there yet? Do you mean the accounts published in 2023, which would have been for 2022 etc.

Also - I don't know what KMC is, but I doubt it is for redundancy payments given it has been at a fairly consistent level for each of the three previous years.

Tom

 

The Year Ending Jan 2023 for example is how they are described in the accounts filed at Companies House. (Yes it is a bit odd that YE Jan 2023 reflects what happened in 2022).

Re KMC: agreed but we do know there have been 2 tranches of redundancy. Ignoring that for now though it still shows that the head count has crept up again. One could express salary as a % of turnover but given the peculiarity of the covid years may be a bit meaningless but having said that there hasnt been the reduction in total salary costs even allowing for inflation that SRC needs to make. As I said earlier it is the biggest single cost by a country mile.

 

If the Swanage railway is in such a bad position, and they are right in a very good catchment area, then what state are others in, There really isn't much they can do to lower costs, because much of it is operational, ie, fuel, lighting heating, coal, costs have risen higher than what can be made in income, run less trains, so less income, can any railway afford to not have a small nucleus of paid staff, ? can volunteers cover every duty, no they can't, I'm not sure what the answer is, there is no easy answer, run only on Sundays early season, resort to one engine in steam, one DMU, for the peak, but you still have costs to pay, before you even fill a coach, the only way is to stop every unnecessary expenditure, and look very seriously at what you can afford,

 

Ah yes, you are right, I missed the “January” bit!

Given many heritage railways have operated post Christmas until the first weekend in January and then shut up shop for winter maintenance, it probably makes sense to have a financial year that includes January as part of the previous year, since that’s probably how you have done your service planning. (For example, I suspect you would run your new years trains at the previous year’s prices and times, and then introduce new year fares and timetable whenever you started afresh in the spring).

Tom

 

Sadly the travails of the Swanage are far from unique. The after effects of lockdown exacerbated by unsustainable cost pressures are proving to be a perfect storm. Restructuring to focus on being a charity takes some time, probably at least a year with substantial legal costs. It's not a quick fix nor is Gift Aid on fares. It took the NYMR over two years to get the necessary HMRC approval. It's not a popular view but surviving almost certainly has to include much higher contributions from members. Whilst they tend to be the main contributors to appeals and leavers of legacies the net financial benefit of annual membership fees, after covering administration, magazine and AGM costs is typically around £10/15 a year. The hard lesson for the sector may be that heritage railway sustainability will involve at least that per member per month.