GWSR to SELL BROADWAY GOODS SHED.

Personally, I would be very wary of buying or selling any property with covenants attached. I recall a situation regarding a long standing restrictive covenant on a piece of land which was basically worthless and unenforceable once the new purchaser of the land decided to build on the land. Strangely enough, you can see Broadway Goods Shed from this same piece of land! It seems to me that this Goods Shed is only of interest to 2 parties, one of which currently owns it and the second of which currently rents it. Hopefully this will stay the same but it doesn't alter the fact that the GWSR needs a lot of money right now and it will come from us, not somewhere else.

 

No - you can't get it re-instated - you may be able to get a replica constructed

 

Message 43, if each message put £20 into the appeal that is nearly £1000!
Sell it and get a good price I say.
The caravan folk will look after it as it is an important part of their set-up.

 

That would probably raise more money as selling it with loads of covernants will only reduce its value significantly. The only problem is you have to pay it back! However with interest rates been so low, it might possiably be the best option IMO.

 

I think it would be absolutely terrible for the GWR to sell the Broadway goods shed. It is the only think that it left of the original station and I think it would end up being massively regretted in the future, especially when the line is eventually extended to Broadway. I have only been inside it one time and that was probably about 10 years ago. There is a very good picture of it when it still had another shed alongside here and some other excellent photos on the website of the line in BR days after closure just before the track was ripped up in 1979.

http://www.hondawanderer.com/Broadway_Goods_Shed_1979.jpg

 

I Agree sell it after all the railway needs every penny to survive what can you do with it anyway the caravan club have kept it in good condition so let them have it if the price is right sometimes you have to compromise.

 

Sell. A goods shed is of historical interest to a few enthusiasts but the GWSR is not at Broadway yet and probably won't be for quite some time if they don't raise the cash immediately to fix their landslide issues. Moreover the stations and most importantly the locomotives are what will draw the public in and have them spending money. A goods shed, not so much.

And to the people suggesting that every member donate a tenner or whatever, that's madness. Railways rely too much on their members for appeals and forget that most of the members are on average incomes and can't afford to be bullied into giving away their money willy-nilly, money which could instead be spent on their families or their other hobbies. They're already paying to be members. I dislike the attitude of squeezing every possibly penny out of members as though it's their obligation to give. Sell the shed and make some money so that the railway can actually operate full-line trains again - and then make some serious money.

Heritage railways are a business. You can't keep hold of an asset which is of interest to a select few people when it could prove invaluable in getting the railway back on its feet.

 

Sell it (with a first refusal buy-back clause). If my experience of the Caravan & Camping Club is anything to go by, they are highly conservation minded (David Bellamy is their President after all) and have fairly elderly memebership and committee who appreciate such assests. I doubt the Cavaran Club is much different, they're just a bit more G&T than lager and bitter

 

its a difficault one, Is the goods shed needed, not at the moment, but might be one day, its being looked after by the caravan park, so whilst they own the site, its safe but what if they sold up, what then?

to my way of thinking once the GW get to Broadway will the station, if theres still one there need to be changed to suit their needs, then maybe the shed will be in the wrong place? its only a building, buildings can be re built on a new site , and if using the same materials, would the average visitor know? everywhere railways build new historically correct buildings and over time you accept them , Whats more important is the immediate future and that land slip its preventing the operation of a working railway, its going to be years before Broadway sees a train from Toddington so isnt it a non brainer you have an building that you currently rent out and someone might want to buy, you need the funds to help to fix a problem you have today in the future you can build another good shed at Broadway as part of a project for the development of the site

 

With all due respect to all that have posted, a reminder that the Severn Valley works in 2007-8 came to £3.85m which was funded by £2m grant, £1m insurance, £600,000 donations and £250,000 from cashflow (which the railway has not yet replaced).

Every little helps, but a tenner here and there, adding up to £1000 or so, will not appreciably alleviate the GSWR’s awful predicament. They need to fix the gap quickly as each running season they miss reduces income. They need (apparently) a big six-figure sum which seemingly can only come from a combination of five and six-figure grants, loans, investments, donations and asset sales.

I’m sure the railway’s management will have considered options and taken appropriate advice, before coming to any decision. If they have established this building is one of their least-worst disposals, they have the options of selling the building and site outright, selling a lease on it for a period, or mortgaging it.

The amount they could mortgage it for will depend on its resale value and a multiple of the annual rental – so that the repayments do not significantly exceed the rental and the loan does not exceed the value. The mortgage would inevitably generate less cash than a sale.

A lease or a sale can have restrictive covenants and buy back clauses as mentioned but they might reduce the sale price and prove costly to enforce.

Not easy, but the possible effects of not raising finance through the disposal of this building don't bear thinking about

Patrick

 

The goods shed at Broadway is the only building left standing of the original station. The wooden signal box just to the north of the goods shed was demolished as was the whole of the station, including the platforms. Demolition started in 1962, the station closing to passengers in 1960. The station was built of red and blue brick and very similar to Toddington although very slightly larger. The station site is divided by the Evesham road and its bridge; the goods shed and signal box site being to the south of the bridge and the station to the north. The Broadway group is rebuilding the station on the original site and the down platform is currently under construction. The "new" station building will be very similar to the original but 21st Century requirements will mean that there may be some minor alterations. See the Broadway Blog site for more information on this. The goods shed stands on what was the goods yard, now a caravan park. The goods yard was on a slope and great care was necessary to avoid wagon runaways. However, I'm told that the occasional wagon did end up on the Evesham Road! The GWSR would probably use very little of the original yard (especially as it has been landscaped for other purposes) but the goods shed itself could be rail connected again.

 

Not sure I follow you there, as with restricted convernants will masively reduce it sale value, and restrict its market, where as a mortgage wouldn't, and because it generates an income, that would help to get a greater % of its unrestricted value.

 

Fair point, but as any commercial mortgage would be at a maximum, say, 80% loan to valuation the point I was trying to make is that selling, at the full valuation, will generate most cash now.

Not being GWSR member I'll butt out at this point

Patrick

 

I sincerely hope that everyone who is bemoaning the sale has donated to the landslip appeal. Personally I feel that one Goods Shed is far less important than the entire railway.

 

I,m sure the directors of the railway have thought of the for and against selling the goods shed.Personally I would like to see it reconnected to the running line in the future(who knows how long that could be) and turned into a learning centre about local goods traffic as it use to be.I believe the ultimate goal is to get to honeybourne and a main line connection.Whenever that happens what sort of stop off point will Broadway become,not for railway enthusiasts thats for sure.How many people even know or care that it exists.
The railway is desperate for money now, how long to try to sell,negotiations, lawyers etc.
How do we know that as soon as we it sell it (proberbly to the caravan club) that they won't sell the site not as a going concern but for development pupurses.Bye bye goods shed.Being a member and having already donated to both slips surely some interest free loans by some of the more wealthy members would assist this dilema, but I'm sure this has already been mooted by the board.

 

As has been previously discussed on this forum collet1930, provisions for the protection of the goods shed could be worked into a contract selling it to whosoever chooses to purchase it. If that is the Caravan Club, bear in mind that the Goods Shed serves a very useful purpose for them, so they would be unlikely to sell it on or demolish it.

Unfortunately, I imagine that if wealthy members of the board have dug deep, they have already done so. There aren't that many millionaires in this game.

I question your assumption that Broadway will not become a stopping off point for the enthusiast in the future. Cheltenham Racecourse has no particular features such as a Goods Shed, nor, to name a couple on my local railway, do Arley and Hampton Loade. Yet enthusiasts still stop off at these stations for photo opportunities, etc.

Well if you mean the Goods Shed, fair enough not that many. But if you mean Broadway - where do I begin? Broadway is a notable Cotswold town, in the same vein as Moreton-in-Marsh and Stow-on-the-Wold. It attracts tourists - lots of 'em, and at a guess, they will be in a reasonably high earning bracket. Broadway will be a very important station in the future. Whether it has a Goods Shed or not is largely irrelevant to that importance.

 

Couldn't Pete Waterman buy it? He has plenty of money and I'm sure he could find a use for it...

 

That was a joke by the way....before anyone has a good old moan.

At the end of the day, as RASDV said, I'd rather have a railway then a goods shed. Then again, goods sheds are handy things and when they reach Broadway it will be useful! Lesser of two weavels?

 

http://www.rharchive.info/Issue258.pdf has a report on the problems facing the railway and the financial effects.

Regards

Patrick

 

This a full page in this weeks Railway Herald about the railways financial situation http://www.rharchive.info/Issue258HIGH.pdf - page 12. No mention about the goods shed.