West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Fridays are notoriously quiet on heritage railways in holiday areas as people are either getting ready to go home on Saturday or are travelling to/from their holiday. If you are going to cut one day, Friday is the one to drop.

 

From several angles, obviously not what anyone would've wanted, but I'll give credit to the WSR Management for biting the bullet and making a clear, concise statement. I'd sooner see two dozen such announcements than see one line go down due to a refusal to take a realistic approach to a difficult situation.

 

I saw a green DMU on the webcam at Williton this afternoon. I’m guessing it’s the same one that I saw in the station sidings at Minehead when I came down for the gala earlier this year.

I’m guessing that said DMU is/has been out & about on some sort of test run after repairs/refurbishment?

Cheers

Ben

 

Dmu was out on a test run yesterday , its been in repair for a while , to my knowledge one of the power cars is still @ Minehead , I don't know if there is problem with it , The one in stone siding;s 51887 a cross from the Minehead signal box is to be Repaired at some point .

 

Am sure others have Noticed the amount of foliage in stone sidings Opposite the signal box Minehead that's really shot up the stock there will be soon be camouflage .

 

I would have thought Monday would have been the quieter day, Friday's for many would be the last chance to do something before packing up and leaving on the Saturday, personally, I would have dropped the Monday , or the Wednesday, or even both days, in low season, and ran an DMU, during peak, it depends on how much you need to earn on the quiet days, compared to not running and saving on fuel and running costs if you are going to open up at all.

 

Fridays have become changeover day for most self catering lets as none of the cleaners really want to work on Saturdays any more down here in Dorset. I doubt if Somerset is any different. Hence Monday's will be slightly busier, but the long weekend people may be going home that day.
I think they have made exactly the right cal if Somerset is the same as Purbeck.

 

Absolutely - getting a Saturday let is getting harder and harder nowadays, which is a pain with school terms to consider.

 

You never know Martin, maybe those making the decision had access to the data as to which days were quietest!

Tom

 

Friday also has the advantage for the owners of the accommodation that their guests are less likely to arrive early. Plenty of people have Friday as the changeover day here in West Wales.

 

Unfortunately, the scarcity of cleaners is a more pressing matter in the minds of the owners.

 

It's also the case that Friday comes at the end of the week and people staying a week may have reached the bottom of their pockets by then!

 

SebWelsh, I know I am going to sound rather pushy and I do apologise for this, but, I have read somewhere that the GCR have their autumn gala sorted, so I was just wondering if that you knew anything (visitor wise) about your gala.

If it's home fleet, I do understand with all these expenses going on etc... but if there are any visitors, do you know at least one of them?

 

Your patience will be rewarded!

 

SebWelsh, cool.
I'm guessing 9466 and 6024 "King Edward I" have something to do with it?

 

First visiting engine confirmed for our Autumn Steam Gala - BR Standard Tank no.80078.

 

For those of you who remember a while back there is some interesting news in the Kent & East Sussex thread (page 22) as they have just appointed Robin Coombes as their full time general manager.

Worth noting in his bio about what he has done since you know when is:- "A full time PhD into governance and sustainability from 2016-2021 saw him assisting the Rail Regulator (ORR) to develop the heritage section of new industry standards. ORR subsequently adopted his ‘12 Tablets for Good Governance’ and the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) are set to roll this out to the wider rail industry."

Should be interesting to see what they are specifying for "good governance". I wonder if there will be mandatory requirements?

 

I wonder if they will fit a Tyer's No 6 machine ?

 

The 12 tablets are to be found here on pages 42 and 43.

RM3 2019 - The Risk Management Maturity Model - Topic set 1 - Heritage Railways - Version 1 2021 (orr.gov.uk) The final tablet is of particular importance.