A “FANTASTIC turnaround” in the latest West Somerset Railway trading results has brought a “stunning” profit of £311,000 for 2019-20 and saved the railway from liquidation, it was claimed this week.

This follows weeks of speculation over the heritage line’s future following news that nearly all permanent staff had been warned of possible redundancy due to the coronavirus and the WSR was unlikely to run any services this year.

A £500,000 emergency appeal fund had also been launched, which currently stands at £124,000.

WSR chairman Jonathan Jones-Pratt hailed the draft results, made public this week, as a complete sea-change for the railway’s financial performance compared to recent years when the WSR was clearly in steep decline, culminating in a near £800,000 loss for the turbulent year of 2018-19.”

He said this week: “This is just the sort of confidence-booster that we and our supporters needed going forward and proves that we are once again on the right track.

“Were it not for last year’s good trading and profits, the railway simply would not have been able to keep going and would have gone into liquidation, but we still need more help, support and cash to survive.”

The railway claimed that the results were all the more remarkable when compared with the anticipated year-to-date forecasts for the end of March this year, which budgeted for a much smaller profit of £83,823, and which showed that the company exceeded the budgeted profit for the last financial year by £227,394.

Similarly, the budget forecast a bank balance of £182,000 at the end of March 2020, but this figure had been exceeded by the actual reconciled balance at that date which was £340,000.

While this figure excluded cash held on behalf of other organisations, together with a sum of £100,000 still being held by the WSR pending the acquisition of the Bishops Lydeard shop and café, the company was still some £258,000 ahead of forecast.

“These hard financial facts really speak for themselves with the company’s summary of trading results derived from the draft final accounts showing a very good profit of some £311,000,” Mr Jones-Pratt said.

"The WSR board understands that there have been concerns over the new direction the railway has taken in the last year or so. We hope the financial results speak for themselves and go some way to reassuring our supporters that the board has the best interests of the future of the railway at heart, and is actively striving to build on this success in these unprecedented times.

"In a normal world, we would now all be busy celebrating this huge achievement and sharing it loudly with our staff but now we find ourselves in the middle of a global pandemic.

“The railway and all its ancillary activities are closed. We have had no option but to place the majority of our staff on furlough and have now also had to issue at risk of redundancy notices to 42 of our 45 staff and we are doing our utmost to reduce other costs.

“Without this action, we would be losing well over £100,000 each month, and the money we have made would be very quickly gone, leaving our coffers bare.

Mr Jones-Pratt added: “Each month that passes sees our cash reserves reducing and we are acutely aware that these are running out. That’s why we have had to issue redundancy notices to our loyal staff sadly; are looking at every item of expenditure, and why the emergency funding appeal is so vital.”