West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I paid a flying visit last Saturday on the way back up from holiday with a quick return from Dunster to Minehead behind Ravenington Hall prior to visiting the Castle.

http://preservedrailway.weebly.com/west-somerset2/halls-and-diesels-july-2015

 

Yesterday, Saturday 25th July, was another busy day on the WSR. Besides running the full summer (yellow) timetable, we also had a mainline excursion from Paddington, which arrived at Bishops Lydeard behind 70000 'Britannia' and was replaced by GWR 3850 taking 10 coaches through to Minehead with ease. This also involved converting the stock from air-brake to vacuum-brake at Bishops Lydeard and back to air-brake in the evening. 4 out of the 5 steam engines currently running on the WSR were needed - the one not used was 6960 'Raveningham Hall' which is presently undergoing a wash-out and maintenance at Minehead. There was also class 33 D6575 on the diesel diagram, which meant that every available coach except the BG 80736 was in use also. There were delays of 15 - 20 minutes experienced in the middle of the afternoon when the token system between Minehead and Blue Anchor went down and Pilotman working had to be introduced between those two points, but by the end of the day the trains ended up on time, so the evening internal charter from Bishops Lydeard to Minehead and back ran as scheduled. I was WSR Conductor Guard on the mainline charter, and I'm pleased to say we got the train to Norton Fitzwarren early, and had to wait for our path into Taunton. Any delays back to Paddington were nothing to do with us!

 

Hi Ian
What are the duties of a conductor guard on the special to Paddington? And did you get off at Norton Fitzwarren or ride to Taunton, and if the latter how did you get home?

Cheers

Dave

 

The duties of a Conductor Guard are to provide knowledge of route and operating procedure on the WSR to the guard on the mainline train, whose knowledge obviously stops at the WSR boundary! In theory, the mainline guard remains in overall control but more often than not, they are quite happy for the WSR guard to perform all the regular duties, eg station dispatch, rather than have the procedures explained to them. Sometimes the mainline guard stays with the train all day, yesterday he left at Bishops Lydeard as he needed to get back to London, as he had been on duty since 0500 in the morning. A second guard arrived at Bishops Lydeard in the evening to take the train back, so I had sole charge of the train from Bishops Lydeard to Minehead and back and treated it like any normal WSR train, except this one was 10 coaches, which was longer than we normally run.

Usually, the Conductor Guard and Conductor Driver, who has to take the Norton Fitzwarren token with him, will arrange whether to travel in to Taunton together or separately - yesterday the driver's partner took us in and collected us - otherwise we park at the station and collect our cars later.

I hope that explains it for you, Dave!

Ian.

 

We will be visiting the WSR on Friday and I'm aware that it's the yellow timetable. I just wondered whether there are any allocations available (there is nothing on the website for July) and also of the three steam turns which departures are which loco (A, B or C). Thanks.

 

Look back to the previous page and my message #549 which will give you a better link for loco allocations, and you should be able to work out what is working what on Friday. If you are still not sure, please ask!

 

Thanks, very useful.

 

Hello,
I will be at the rally on Saturday.
Wondering if anyone would know if Ryan Pope of WS Restoration will be about?
This is in regards to the GWR 813 Fund Mink that is being restored!


NICK
GWR 813 Fund

 

I see there is no mention of this event on WSR PLC website.
So no surprise there then.

 

So who were the two - er - portly gentlemen, last 2 off the DMU shuttle & waving at the BL webcam at 15:34 this afternoon?
I have to say they & all the other passengers seemed to be in a particularly good mood.

 

Is there any news on guest loco for oct steam gala yet

 

There are five on the list that Andy Forster (WSR's CME) is working through. Target is to get four of them. But so many variables to consider before able to confirm.

The last SEPT (Special Events Planning Team) meeting was on 16 July so should get more news soon.

Steve
(on behalf of SEPT)

 

Hope there's a few big locos. My first all weekend steam gala so looking forward to hear the news

 

Hoping for 3205 from SDR

 

Good news from the 2015 Steam Rally as posted by Wendy of the Rally Committee on the Rally's Facebook page:

"A big Thank You to everyone who came to the Rally. We have had an amazing weekend. Still counting up the final numbers but looks like a record breaking year. An enormous Thank You goes to all the volunteers how help to make the event happen and run smoothly. You should all be very proud. See you all next year [6-7 August 2016]."

Steve

 

Hello,
I seem to have been photographed at the Rally and put on Mr Steve Edge WSR.org web site. Oh dear!

Nick

 

Good to see the Norton Triangle in such demand.

Friday, an incoming HOBC:

Link

Saturday and Sunday, the Steam Rally:

Link

On Monday, a stone train from Bath:

Link

Thanks to Ron Lindley, Tim Stanger and Robin White for the images.

Steve

 

The WSR has announced a plan to repaint one set of Mark 1 coaches into crimson and cream instead of the standard chocolate and cream. The set to be repainted will be the dual air/vacuum braked set. The increased variety of liveries is to be welcomed, while the two liveries will still go together quite well when this is necessary. Pity about the pseudo-Pullman livery of the QB stock.

David

 

Back to 1976!

Actually, I reckon SDJR Prussian Blue is the way to go, Just imagine the WSR locos and coaching stock all painted like this:



S&D revenge

Thanks Bev for the pic.

Steve