SOMERSET and Dorset Railway Trust (SDRT) this week finally moved out of its Washford station headquarters which it has rented from West Somerset Railway (WSR) for the past 50 years and from where it ran an award-winning museum and displays of classic rolling-stock.

The trust was first given notice to quit two years ago - a decision which the SDRT described as ’a complete bolt from the blue’ - after the trust claimed the WSR had signed an extension for a new 50-year tenancy in 2018.

The trust was formed in 1966 after the closure of the Somerset and Dorset Railway and took over the then-derelict Washford Station, sidings and buildings.

After prolonged negotiations, the trust has now given up the station and the signal box but will continue to occupy the rest of the site, including the buildings and yard, until November 2023.

WSR Plc chairman Jon Jones-Pratt said this week: "We are pleased and hugely relieved that the negotiations regarding the immediate future of the Washford site have been concluded.

"We are now recruiting a team for the WSR Plc to manage the station, and hope it will be up and running again as soon as possible, but certainly by the start of the coming season and first public trains on Saturday, March 19.

"We have not yet made a final decision regarding future use of the whole site but there is a range of important demands on future accommodation which will now be reviewed in detail to allow the best use of the site in the best interests of the WSR. 

"We will also discuss the asset removal with the trust, such as track, buildings and so on, and will explore if there are any purchase opportunities."

In a letter to trust members, chairman Ian Young said: "On January 20, solicitors acting for respectively, the West Somerset Railway Plc and the Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust Ltd, concluded negotiations which had been in progress for well over a year.

"On Thursday, we officially relinquished our occupation of the station building and signal box at Washford. A new arrangement for the yard at Washford came into play which means that we will continue using the site up until November 2023.

"This is in order to completely evacuate the site, removing the remainder of any museum items, track, the shed and all that is within it."

When the decision was first made by WSR to take back Washford station, a trust spokesman said the notice to quit had come without warning or prior discussion.

"The site has been transformed by SDRT and we have expended huge amounts on creating the works areas and covered accommodation, as well as the extensive track layout and restoring the station," he said. "This is very disappointing news."