South Devon Railway buys freehold..... for £1!Monday, 8th February was a real ‘Red Letter’ day for the South Devon Railway when it finally ‘bought’ the freehold title of the Buckfastleigh to Totnes line for just £1 from the previous owners, the Dart Valley Railway, operators of the Paignton & Dartmouth Railway. The day also saw formal confirmation of the acquisition of the SDR’s own Transport and Works Order (TWO) from the Secretary of State for Transport. The TWO is effectively a railway operating licence which now allows the SDR to run trains in its own right independently of the Dart Valley Railway which, as owners, held the previous operating licence for the line. A ceremonial handover of an extra large £1 coin -- as well as the real thing—was made by SDR Trust chairman Alan Taylor to Paignton & Dartmouth Railway general manager Andrew Pooley in front of working GWR steam loco No. 1369. Other volunteers and staff, some of whom have been involved with the railway over the last 40 years, were there to witness the handover, including long-serving former SDR general manager Richard Elliott and current GM Dick Wood. The South Devon Railway is the oldest heritage railway line in the West Country. It gained celebrity status as the line that the infamous railway ‘axe- wielding’ Dr Beeching re-opened in 1969, and was operated then by the Dart Valley Railway. Last year it celebrated its 40th anniversary since re-opening. After a good initial start after the re-opening, the heritage line struggled to maintain the numbers of visitors seen in the 1970s. By 1990, the Dart Valley Railway finally pulled out to concentrate instead on its Paignton to Kingswear rail operation and then offered the Buckfastleigh line on a 25-year lease back to the volunteers, who promptly set about saving the branch once again! Since 1991, the South Devon Railway line has been run as a charitable trust. It has grown steadily from having virtually no locos or rolling stock to become one of the West Country’s top visitor attractions. It now carries over 100,000 passengers a year and a massive 1,543,954 visitors have travelled over the line over the last 18 years of Trust operations. Ten years ago, the South Devon Railway began negotiations with the Dart Valley Railway to buy the freehold of the line and, after the sale price was agreed at £1.15 million, the money was raised and paid over by the SDR via a combination of a share issue, loans and donations, plus operating revenues. In 2002, the line was then leased by the DVR to the South Devon Railway for 199 years upon condition of a new Transport & Works Order being subsequently granted to the SDR which would then release the final transfer of the freehold title by the DVR for a nominal £1.00 payment. But both railways knew that the legal niceties of obtaining a Transport & Works Order through parliament would take a considerable time along with the detailed searches of archives, plans and records, plus planning consents and environmental surveys. Furthermore, the new TWO would not only need to provide the South Devon Railway with statutory authority to cover future development plans for extra sidings at Totnes and Buckfastleigh, plus new carriage and loco restoration facilities and installing a loco turntable, but also to regularise some of the changes carried out in the Dart Valley Railway’s ownership. Specialist lawyers Winckworth Sherwood were brought in to manage the TWO process and the draft South Devon Railway Order went for public consultation in 2008 with the Order finally being made effective on 30th December 2009. As a result, Monday 8th February was a very special day for all of the people involved with the SDR who have worked incredibly hard in the background to complete the transfer of the line’s ownership and achieve the granting of the Transport & Works Order. It will certainly be one of the highlights of the railway’s 138-year history since it was first opened in May 1872.
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Alan Taylor (top right) hands the ceremonial £1 coin to Andrew Pooley with, in the foreground, Richard Elliott (left), former general manager of the SDR, and current general manager, Dick Wood.
South Devon Railway Trust chairman, Alan Taylor, said: “The granting of the Transport & Works Order and the associated conversion of our current lease so that we now own the freehold of the railway is one which gives me much personal satisfaction. “It’s been a long and involved legal process at times but we can now move forward with our ambitious plans to further develop the railway’s facilities, such as covered accommodation for our coaches, more siding space at stations on the line and the installation of a loco turntable at Buckfastleigh. The SDR has much to look forward to.” Andrew Pooley, general manager of the Dart Valley Railway owned Paignton & Dartmouth Railway commented: “This is a significant day for both of the two major steam railways in Devon whose combined histories over the last 40 years are quite remarkable success stories. In accepting the £1 final payment from the South Devon Railway today, they have become the freehold owners of the line and so I wish them all the very best for the future.” Media enquiries: SDR general manager, Dick Wood, 01364 643536. 8th February 2010 |
