West Somerset Railway General Discussion

No you're not, 22 years as a military policeman has taught me to be suspicious of everthing...

 

Regardless of colour scheme this station is an object lesson, being tidy, free from barrows cluttered with obviously empty baggage, "ye olde lampes" and so on. The Washford people ought to do a tutorial.

PH

 

I'm guessing in days of yore, t'would have been the junior porter's job to hoik trolleys and barrows hither and thither.

 

The people to which you refer who are standing by the sidings would appear to be members of staff..!!

Andy

 

Does not look like that to me. Those you are referring to seem to me to be volunteers working on site. And the fact that someone is alighting from the shunting loco suggests that it is stationary. Photographs can be deceiving but on the face of it this does not look too unsafe to me. As for the gricers on the platform, they seem to be very well organised and are far further from the platform edge than many that I see and worry about. Apart from them the platform is not at all crowded.

Peter

 

I can only assume that the barrow, with luggage and the crassly placed churn on the platform, in Post 8648, were done for photographic purposes only. I guess a photo taken today would find those objects placed in a less hazardous and inconvenient, to passengers, location. It does seem that much of the zeal by some 'heritageers' on many heritage lines has probably resulted in the need by those who actually run and are accountable for the railways operation have resorted to new restrictions and signage. Re-creating a yesteryear environment sadly does not include a yesteryear way of life.
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Many thanks for that, I guess it's the S&D link then. I suppose all the S&D items there might eventually relocate to Midsomer Norton or similar sometime, I presume it depends on agreements, physical space etc. Thankfully people did at least try to save some items and artefacts.

 

I'm not sure if there is a tradition of avoiding controversy with your maiden post but here goes -

Is there anyone else out there who thinks that a bright uncompromisingly modern DMU on our railway would be a superb addition to our heritage offering and very popular with our passengers?

I write as a devoted steam fan who is totally in favour of the infrastructure presenting an accurate recreation of a bygone era.

Richard

 

I suspect you may be in a minority on here...

 

In which case why are they not wearing hi-viz clothing!

 

Well, some might already have guessed I'd put my hand up in favour of moving people and goods along our railway regardless of what vehicle is being used. Moving people and goods is what the railway was built for and we should embrace/ensure the continuation of that purpose.

That said, you haven't made it clear exactly where that modern DMU would come from or who might own/operate it or when. Can you elaborate?

Steve

 

They are standing in an area fenced off from the main running line, so in all probability are not required to wear hi-viz clothing.

 

Not having heard tales of train capacity issues, my own view of the bottom line is that the WSR 'brand' is a heritage look and to many folks, even MKI's and diesels are a step too far. None too sure where any panoramic unit workings would fit into schedules either.

I've often wondered about short workings, Minehead to Blue Anchor / Watchet, but if there really was a demand to be met, I my guess is such services would already feature in timetables, in which case an authentic GW P-P "autotrain" would likely be preferred to anything modern.

 

In view of the anticipated adverse reaction to the very suggestion I have not gone deeply into these matters.

My thoughts are that pressure is growing and will continue to grow for the railway to operate 'ordinary' services. The superb offer of a £5,00 return ticket from BL to MD for the Christmas Market looks brilliant and an imaginative way of separating tourist and 'everyday' usage of the railway could be out there somewhere. I get the impression that we may need to increase line capacity in the foreseeable future (I'll volunteer to man Kentsford). I believe that one way or another, as envisaged by those who first saved the railway from oblivion, there will be a link to Taunton. I don't subscribe to the commuter service idea (although if Norton Manor gets developed and Cotford St Luke continues to expand there could be a BL - TA service in years to come}. I think the Chamber of Commerce is looking down the wrong end of the telescope. There is a population of approx. 12,000 who might travel from MD to TA whereas there are 53 million who might travel from TA to MD. Taunton has direct services from all over the country and Minehead is crying out for their custom.
As for where it will come from, there is the Titfield Thunderbolt solution using the points at NF .......

Richard

 

Ah the old public service idea. As one who worked hard to make it work back in the days when the WSR "had a go" at this, it is not something I'd want the current Plc to attempt (not that they have any desire to do so). Travelling downby road from home at Lydeard to Minehead to work the 0730 to Williton (without a single passenger) and then back to Minehead with at most a dozen passengers was pretty much pointless. There is a market but not with the current limitations. Without a way to work to/from Taunton, any notion of a public service is a non-starter.

Steve

 

Ironically I do actually agree with the Mk1 and diesel comment but think the modern stock would be aimed at a different market.

We do have the Doniford Flyer in the D timetable

 

& also in range of the many photographers trying to take 'period' pictures.
It amazes me how much hi-viz I still see on the station platforms.

 

Safety does not only apply to the main running line. The line IS in use for running as Kilmersdon is invloved in shunting operations.

 

I answered the phone in Minehead station for 13 years; when asking about train times etc, the overwhelming number of callers wanted to know which trains were steam hauled and which were diesels so that they could avoid the diesels.

 

My own view is that if there's a market ... do it. Without cash coming in from happy happy punters, there's nowt with which to keep a line maintained, let alone restore more stock. That said, many lines are built around a long serving core membership, whose views have to be taken into account. I'm not a WSR/A member or shareholder, so I'm acutely aware mine are merely the subjective views of an interested outsider.

One consideration with lines in the situation of the WSR (or Swanage) is that there's a fine line to be drawn between 'heritage' and 'commercial' services. Were a successful service to be developed using modern panoramic stock that line becomes blurred, perhaps in a manner perilous to heritage interests. Where then is the difference between the heritage WSR/SR type operation and a community branch line, such as Newquay or Looe?

Much vaunted early ideas were of steam services operating onto a station on the big railway and in the case of Swanage, this is now acheived. Full-on commercial local transport services have eluded the heritage sector, but ask yourself what the result of successful services closer to that model than to heritage operations might mean. There was a brief kerfuffle last week when a dastardly* scheme to fully reopen the WSR as part of the national network was aired. How much traction such ideas might get is largely down to how the customer base is perceived. If the 'powers that be' come to the conclusion that the market is commercially viable and would become moreso by raising speed limits to (at least) those of BR days and that as they'll have to fork out for appropriate signalling [you don't really need me to finish that sentence].

*in this context 'dastardly' can safely be translated as "half-baked and ill-conceived" .... fortunately!