A SECOND lockdown could spell the end of the line for a heritage railway that has been running in Swindon for more than 40 years.

Volunteers in charge of the Swindon and Cricklade Railway say the attraction has lost £100,000 in 2020 after the pandemic forced it to close during the spring and summer.

It reopened at the start of the month but a call has been issued for the people of the town to show some support and ensure the railway survives into the new year.

Volunteer Allan Bott says a donation of £1 for every person living in the town would be enough.

He said: “At the moment out turnover is £100,000 down from last year because we’ve been closed due to Covid. We’re hoping to get some donations from the public to boost our coffers and hope we’re here in 2021.

“It’s not quite at that stage yet but if things carry on and if we were to go into a second lockdown we could be closed for a year, that would be the end of us.”

As well as the Covid crisis, volunteers have battled trespassers and vandals over the past few months.

A number of trespassers were spotted on the lines during lockdown, while separately signage was daubed with graffiti and fencing broken at the Taw Valley Holt station.

Allan added: “I sound like a broken record, the vandalism is still apparent and we keep telling people we’re an active line so please don’t trespass, it’s a criminal offence.

“We will prosecute, we don’t want to be it seems to be the only deterrent.

“We can’t afford to keep repairing broken fences and damaged stations because it’s not feasible. You wouldn’t run a business that way and it’s even worse for a charity.

“We don’t like asking the public for money because it’s tough for everybody.

“People aren’t working, they’ve lost their jobs and they have to look after themselves. We don’t want to ask for money in this environment but we have to.”

The Swindon & Cricklade Railway Preservation Society was formed by a group of enthusiasts in November 1978. They reconstructed a section of the Midland & South Western Junction Railway that ran from Andover, Hampshire, to Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

To donate visit swindon-cricklade-railway.org