The Great Western Society's 16-acre museum of working steam locomotives at Didcot could be forced to close and its priceless collection of vintage rolling stock broken up - unless more volunteer staff can be recruited.

GWS marketing executive Jeanette Howse said: "This would be a worst-case scenario which we will do all we can to resist along with another option which could be to wind-up the society as a registered charity staffed by volunteers and turn it into a public limited company with paid staff."

Society volunteer Peter Daly, 58, said: "It would be tragic if the collection was dispersed and I hope it won't happen." The possibilities will come as bombshell, not least to the preservation society's 4,500 members, many of whom work unpaid in their spare time in a host of different jobs at the centre.

Didcot Railway Centre draws 150,000 visitors a year from all over the world.

But the critical shortage of people to keep it open had been looming for several years, said founder chairman Graham Perry.

He hinted at a major shake-up in how the society was run a bid "to ensure the future protection of the society's collection".

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