WEST Somerset Railway has paid off "the last piece of the puzzle" freeing itself from a costly locomotive hire contract to secure its long-term future, its chairman said.

The heritage railway based in Minehead recently published its full accounts for the financial year, reporting a £210,000 payout for an "exceptional item"; This was the railway buying itself out an obligation to maintain locomotive 53808 which it has used for six years without hire fees.

West Somerset Railway’s losses for the year amounted to £422,690, jumping from £216,300 the previous year and reducing cash reserves by £77,413, which chairman Jonathan Jones-Pratt attributed to the locomotive 53808 buyout and other "strategic solutions".

Mr Jones-Pratt said: "[Locomotive 53808] was always a liability that needed to be dealt with, and the management team since 2018 have been cleansing all the risk in the business. This should be celebrated because it was the last nasty bit we needed to deal with on the balance sheet. Now the railway is operating with no loans, no debts, no adverse liabilities, no exposure. It’s cleaned itself out."

General Manager Kerry Noble said: "The headline figure is a £422,690 loss, but the actual operating profit was £14,000, so it’s the impairments and the depreciation - the on-paper figures - that are the issue, not necessarily the operating business.

"We are not for profit, so we’re not there to make a massive profit but there was a small operating profit and our turnover for the year was £3,090,962, compared with £2,726,000 the year before. You can see a significant increase in our turnover. Capital expenditure was £121,730, compared with £29,306 the year before.

"So you can see the growth in the business, the turnover’s improving and we’re able to invest in more things."

Investments into infrastructure included looking after the railway’s 23 miles of line, and finalising the purchase of a car park and toilet block near Bishops Lydeard Station for £45,400.

Mr Jones-Pratt added: "I’m very pleased with where the business is because it's showing that it's alive because it's traded itself out of all the problems we've had since 2018.

"It's been through a pandemic, and the growth post that in terms of 23/24 and our projections for 2025 are extremely positive. The management team has been responsible and dealt with the liabilities.

"We’re now managing strategic solutions to make the railway better, that’s why you’ll see a really positive winter with an exciting portfolio of events."

He added: "It is probably the strongest it has been since [2013] even the five years pre-2018."