Talyllyn Railway donations reach nearly £67,000

The Covid-19 pandemic has meant that Talyllyn Railway in Tywyn, Mid Wales, is unable to run trains until further notice. The narrow gauge railway, which closed on March 20, has already missed the traditionally busy Easter period, and is set to miss the first bank holiday weekend in May at a minimum.

An appeal was launched to cover fixed costs of £25,000 a month for three months. On Friday afternoon, the fundraising appeal stood at £66,726. The response from generous supporters has boosted the railway and general manager Stuart Williams is now confident the original £75,000 target will be surpassed.

Contributions have included two £5,000 donations, one of £2,000 and several each totalling £1,000. One donation came from an elderly member of the railway who gave £10 for every year he has been associated with it – 62 years in total.

Most of the donations received by the railway, which has 4,500 members, have been of amounts between £20 and £50. Online donations through Just Giving and Donr have come from donors across the country and abroad.

“Donations tend to increase when we have certain social media pushes, such the recent ‘Watch Party’ for The Titfield Thunderbolt film and the Weekly Walkabout updates that engineering manager Chris Smith and I do every Wednesday,” said Mr Williams.

“A lot of these donations are anonymous, but most come with extremely supportive comments. We have been overwhelmed by the response to our appeal and I would like to say a big thank you to everybody who has donated.

“We are now very close to our original target of £75,000. Exceeding the target would help cover costs for longer, as we now fully expect the virus to have an effect much further into the peak summer period than we had first thought.

“Although the railway is closed to visitors, our fixed costs continue and we need £25,000 a month just to stand still, but our income has dried up. If we miss running until June, the revenue loss, based on last year, will be £250,000, which will impact the railway greatly.”

The railway is celebrating its 155th year of operation and in October will be celebrating the 70th anniversary of the formation of the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society.

“Our supporters are helping to rescue the railway that started the heritage movement back in 1950,” added Mr Williams, who is applying for support from the Government’s Economic Resilience Fund. “My immediate aim is to get through this crisis and be able to keep all our staff.”

The seven-mile long railway has furloughed all but a skeleton team under the Government’s scheme to support retained employees through the coronavirus crisis.

Talyllyn Railway is a member of MWT Cymru, an independent organisation that represents more than 600 tourism and hospitality businesses across Powys, Ceredigion and Meirionnydd.

Online donations can be made at www.justgiving.com/campaign/talyllyn-appeal2020