West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Poor Management is Poor Management - it will be interesting to see if the lack thereof has consequences?

I do find it interesting, however, that action had to be taken Outside with possibly very unfortunate consequences!

 

I will be visiting for both days of the winter steam Gala, does anyone if there will be a booking signing of vol 3 Taunton to Barnstaple book as in previous years. Thxs

 

Likewise. Support is what is needed not sabre rattling.

 

Discussion over this sort of thing is inevitable and as @Sidmouth pointed out, there's not really been anything that contentious posted.

 

From the lips of HMRI today. The WSR have a problem. They have recognised it and have identified a way forward. I am happy with what they are going to do. (Not the exact words as I didn't write them down.)

 

It sounds akin to an alcoholic admitting to having problem with drinking.

Often the hard part is not recognising that there is a problem but actually making the deep and necessary changes to not fall off the wagon time and time again.

 

Just wait for the bleats from the B & B fraternity who live off the West Somerset Railway

In the Early Days the people of Minehead could not give a stuff about the WSR - Steve Martin was the only Volunteer who actually lived there - the rest of us travelled to work there, in my case 187 miles!!

 

Anthony, I believe that Volume 3 is not due to be published until late next year. (I was of the opinion that it was due this year - apparently not).

 

Yes and in my case from Cornwall in the late 80s. Ive just dropped into this thread after a month or so & i see its all full of speculation etc i wonder what the working volunteers really think?

 

IS this the first time a preseved railway being closed by office rail and road
West Somerset Railway to close from January to April after safety inspection

https://www.somersetcountygazette.c...rom-january-to-april-after-safety-inspection/

 

1. As Santa as Christmas week services will still run before the 'enhanced hiatus' in services, the West Somerset appears not to have been actually shut down, certainly with immediate effect.
2. No - but I won't drag up who and when.

Steven

 

First the railway hasn't been closed by the ORR but, decided to close to give time to put everything right before the main season started. The peak railway had to close during the main operating season a few years ago to do work on a level crossing, or the ORR would have closed the line down.

 

As a 'For Example' the ESR used to run most weekends over the winter but no longer does so, so clearly there may well be a 'commercial' calculation

But clearly the management team feel that a time away from having to run trains is needed

 

It's rare for the ORR to issue an outright Prohibition Notice that does shut a railway down with immediate effect. Looking at the website, there were none at all for any part of the rail industry last year; it's a number of years since any heritage railways were hit with one. Improvement Notices - "do this by X date or we will shut you down" - are a little bit more common, but still rare. Assuming that the WSR have been given one (if they have it has not yet been published) it will be the first to be given to a heritage railway (that operates trains on its own infrastructure) since several were issued in summer 2017, one of those being connected with the well-known toilet floor incident on the South Devon Railway.

 

My impression is that it’s something a bit less formal than an improvement notice, but obviously serious enough to still require action within a specified timeframe. The Chairman’s latest statement makes reference to the ORR making their own public statement in due course so we’ll see what that says when it comes out.

It seems unprecedented, but an extended period where there are no trains running makes a lot of sense and gives everybody involved time to catch up and put the house in order. The organisation of a Spring Gala, which is normally seen as the ‘opener’ to the season, strikes me as quite a Herculean effort for a time of year when the railway is just coming out of hibernation. So not surprised they’ve pulled it for 2019 given what’s happened with the ORR. A sensible decision overall, I think.

 

Reading between the lines, it strikes me that you would rather the messenger have been shot, than the message itself have been delivered to the ORR. A concerning mindset, and I wonder if it’s one shared by others on the railway.

 

I read it that the poster you quoted was disturbed by the fact these individuals were ignored by the Plc, not that they then went to ORR themselves. But that's the angle I approached it with so I may have projected it onto that post.

 

Clearly whatever the ORR said the WSR management team have taken it very seriously, it may of course be that taking it very seriously could have seen something that the ORR took into account in its decision making

 

And that, ultimately, is what matters, not how come ORR were involved in the first place.


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There are plenty of other ways in which this could be achieved not just running to the Headmaster, surely?

The WSR doesn't need any further notoriety does it?

I wonder whether our New Chairman Jonathan Jones Pratt wonders what the hell he has become involved with?