The West Somerset Railway’s (WSR) Coronavirus emergency funding appeals have now hit a joint total of £110,958 for both the WSR plc and the West Somerset Railway Association (WSRA) – an increase of £10,000 in a week.
The WSR plc appeal total is £91,653.26 and comprises: website donations – £39,115.00; cheque donations – £3,388.26; share purchases – £17,200; station donations – £31,950.00.
The WSRA Rail Renewal 2020 donations total now stands at £19,305, comprising: Rail Renewal off-line of £16,541.00, and JustGiving of £2.764.00.
A WSR spokesman said: “It seems that a lot of loyal WSR volunteers are donating money to the appeals which they would have normally spent on fuel travelling to and from the railway which is remarkable in such difficult times, and one generous volunteer — who is a supermarket delivery driver — is doing overtime on the days he would have been volunteering and then donating all his wages from those overtime days to the railway!
“And regular and loyal WSR visitors are also sending in donations for the same amount they would have paid to travel on our trains too had they been able to ride on the WSR and telling us how much they miss seeing the steam trains.
“The WSR is also doing an updated donations video for social media which should be out in the next couple of days, and it is trying to keep interest from followers in all of the WSR’s social media too, so don’t forget to look at those pages and the various WSR websites.”
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