A HERITAGE railway in East Cornwall has launched a fundraising campaign to help it get back on the tracks, after announcing it will not be running a service this summer.
Bodmin and Wenford Railway (B&WR) have made the difficult decision after assessing various options to factor in social distancing and the Covid-19 hygiene requirements. All options would have resulted in services running at a loss, and there was no guarantee that there would be enough volunteers.
A spokesman for the railway said: ‘We haven’t turned a revenue earing wheel since February half term, and like many businesses locally we are faced with the "Three Winters Syndrome" - winter 2019/20, summer 2020, winter 2020/2021. That’s 18 months without any real revenue, and a very precarious situation to have to face.
‘Talk across the Southwest is of survival, and the heritage railways are no exception. The B&WR has an appeal in place, paid staff are still furloughed. Other than some shunting at General, the only train to run the full length of the line since February has been the weed-killing train. Grass has been kept cut at our four stations.’
However, the first volunteers were allowed back at the beginning of the month and have carried out some work along the track and arrangements have been made for the workshop to open this week. The closedown period will provide an opportunity for projects in the workshops and out of the track to resume without the interruption of service trains.
If the situation changes the B&WR will consider opening for autumn half term and/or Christmas.