West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Nor do I believe that, at least not the "hell bent on the destruction of the WSR" bit. The board of the directors dearly want the railway to survive. After all, at least one of them thinks of it as "my railway". The point is that doesn't mean that they are competent at managing the railway in a way that would ensure its survival.
The rest of that post is entirely correct, but in a very narrow point of view. As a limited company, the WSR Plc has directors who are mandated to run the company, however they are also supposed to do this in the best interest of the company's owners, the shareholders, not their own interests. Unlike most limited companies, the WSR has three sets of customers: those who give it money in return for a service (the passengers), those who give it their time in return for an experience they find enjoyable (the volunteers) and those who give it money in return for the pleasure of enabling some of its activities, either to happen at all or continue to happen (the supporters). The directors of a limited company may have a mandate to run that company how they see fit, but it is a very foolish board of directors who run it in a way that ignores the wishes of a large slice of its customers and one that is not running it in the best interest of their employers, the company's owners.

 

If I were cynical I might think that WSR PLC board seem to be making **** up as they go along and then claiming that it is all part of a grand masterplan. Obviously the board need Washford to keep their collection of unicorns.

That is really brutal. They didn't even match the average weekly figure.

If the WSR PLC board aren't incompetent then I am really not sure what you have to do in order to be considered incompetent in the world of heritage railway management

 

You have that assurance, assuming the Trust also behave in a responsible and legal way, which I am sure they will.
Frank

 

...but at the end of the day, who will win the 'penalty shoot-out' at the MD Corral ?

 

I agree with @Lineisclear - if Administration looms then maybe it isn’t a going concern and any potential White Knights would know this. We’ve all heard of company failures where a White Knight is hoped to be riding in - and promptly rides out again after a good look around.

 

As I said a while back:

Jay Gould, then in charge of the Erie, was having trouble raising funds needed for capital works (in part because of his previous shenanigans to retain control of the Erie; even though, under his guidance, the Erie had finally turned a profit recently). He asked the prominent broker William Butler Duncan what to do; Duncan's advice was pithy: "Change the Board of Directors, and put in some strong names that people have confidence in!"

Noel

 

Thank you. I stand corrected, if indeed there was such a need all along, but subsequent posts have disputed that.

 

What happened to the Erie?

 

Thank you, Frank, for that assurance. I too am sure that the Trust will behave in a responsible and lawful away, which, after all, has been characteristic of its behaviour throughout this sorry affair.

 

It didn't go well. Almost sparked a war between the US & Canada after Jay Gould, fighting for control of the Erie, was swindled by a character who called himself Lord Gordon-Gordon.

 

The Erie Railroad went into bankruptcy in 1859 (before Gould's arrival, BTW), 1878 (after Gould lost control of it), 1893, and 1938; after a major decline, in 1960 the failing Erie merged with former rival Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad to form the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. After further vicissitudes, in 1976 the remains of the Erie Lackawanna became part of Conrail.

Noel

 

but how can you prove the 4f had issues before coming to stay?
wouldn't poor pway bring these kind of issues on ?

 

Would make a brilliant museum, surprised thats never been tried at Washford..

 

In my experience, the obvious issues caused to locomotives by poor permanent way include enhanced tyre wear and greater than normal rate of spring failures. Anecdotally people sometimes also mention certain boiler problems, such as stay failures and leaking tubes, but I think it is much harder to make the direct causal relationship, and there are plenty of other causes of those.

I think it is improbable that you could take a loco the best part of a century old and wholly attribute wheel cracks after a season or two of running that hadn't materialised in the hundreds of thousands of miles run previously.

Tom

 

IIRC, the issues were shrinkage cracks that were likely to have dated back to the original casting. The saga of the varying cost estimates to repair them is another long and sorry tale. With the WSR now circling the drain, I suggest we revert to more immediate matters.

 

Thing is we can pick over everything since someone took the top job.
but as with all enquires after something fails we know the response.
lessons must be learnt


Does all seem like a ploy this appeal
that the end game is for some is to pick over the charred remains cheap and set up again

 

As discussed before, that is simply not a viable option.
On the competency displayed thus far though, that doesn't preclude that being the plan nevertheless.