The future of the site of Washford station on the West Somerset Railway seems secure after prolonged negotiations between West Somerset Railway (WSR) PLC and the Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust ended satisfactorily.

The Trust has relinquished ownership of the station and signal box but will continue to occupy the rest of the site, including the buildings and yard, until 23 November 2023.

WSR Plc chairman Jon Jones-Pratt commented: “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 19 March.

“Volunteers to work on the station will always be welcome, and anyone interested is invited to contact our volunteer co-ordinator at [email protected]”

The Trust took over Washford Station in 1976 when it was a derelict site. Since then, they have transformed it with a railway museum housing a large number of artefacts saved from the old Somerset & Dorset Railway, nearly all restored to pristine condition.

The station is situated at the second-highest summit of the line between Watchet and Blue Anchor, at a point where there is a gap in the hills that stretch from coastal cliffs to the Brendon Hills inland.

The climb to Washford in either direction is fairly stiff for steam locomotives – coming up from Blue Anchor there is a one-mile section at 1 in 65, the steepest on the line.

The station building is the original, built when the line opened in 1874. Next to it is a small wooden structure that was the signal box and now houses a lever frame forming part of the Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust exhibits.