WCRC Licence Suspended

I find it staggering that WCR felt able to give that assurance to SD. Given we're now into Easter, and the SD train is on Tuesday, could all those issues be realistically resolved in time ? I guess the fact they told SD this on Thursday evening, the day the decision was made public suggests they may have had a degree of prior warning from NR, so could potentially have already started working on resolving the issues perhaps ? Time will tell as always.

 

At least you are all as puzzled as myself about the 'Tuesday' statement. Its a Bank Holiday weekend, and having witnessed new safety management systems being created first-hand, they don't emerge from the ether overnight during an intense session on wine, pizza and carrot cake and a DVD of 'Where Eagles Dare'. Looks suspiciously like it will be 'business as usual' as soon as they get out of this scrape.

Piecing things together, the timescale is as follows:

7 March- The Wootton Bassett incident.

30 March- meeting between NR and WCRC regarding the incident reveals other issues haven't been addressed.

2 April- Notice given that WCRC have been suspended from NR, and have until 16 May to make the requisite modifications ot SMS and management culture. Suggestion made to Steam Dreams that it may all blow over by the evening of Tuesday 7 April.

7 April- Who knows?

Reminds me a bit of the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail: "'tis but a flesh wound".

 

This statement is carefully worded & does not say "steam" although it does say "as normal" which implies it. As no other operator except DBS has a nationwide safety case for operating steam hauled passenger trains then it could be that WCRC intends to run the "schedule" with diesels operated by those companies that are willing & able to. If those companies' drivers don't have route knowledge then it may still be allowable within the terms of the suspension for WCRC to provide conductors where necessary. Whether the tour operators would accept those terms is their decision but it could be a way of WCRC starting the Jacobite season on time at least.

 

I'm reading this a only those trips promoted directly by WRC will run, which is only a handful of trains.?

 

That's how I read it too.

 

They are all "full drivers" in that they are full-time professional DBS drivers, but are not necessarily qualified to drive steam. Sometimes you do get a fireman who is a passed out steam driver, sometimes not. I guess it just depends who is available.

 

Exactly, very misleading as it implies steam is inherently dangerous and cannot be operated safely on the modern railway - which of course is untrue.

Thank god the SPAD didn't result in a collision, the consequences don't bear thinking about. That would have been headline news.

 

Steam Dreams rang me shortly after 9.00am to inform me and an email arrived before 10.00am I don't think they could have done any more. My wife is especially disappointed not to be visiting Canterbury on Wednesday. I do hope this is resolved as quickly as possible. A lot of jobs are at stake throughout this industry, many not least the Tour Operators will have cash flow issues looming if this crisis deepens.

 

I understand your point about WCRC's mess of their own making.

With ALL of their services suspended until May, WCRC could be at risk. They have to continue to pay network rail access charges, but will be gaining no revenue. There could be massive cash flow problems for them. Can they survive this?

 

I can't see WCRC being up and running again much before the May 16th deadline, if at all. If it were simply a matter of a quick finish NR would not have taken such drastic action in the meantime. I should think that at the moment what will be occupying David Smith's mind as much as anything, is what legal redress the various tour operators have from WCRC. This could be a very expensive lesson for him - although it is said that the lessons learned best are the ones that hurt the most!

 

They are asset rich (although of course we do not know what borrowings they may have) and could probably raise a lot of cash at a stroke by selling "Hogwarts Castle" if push comes to shove.

 

The WCRC suspension from NR access made the BBC Radio 4 lunchtime news today. Accurately reported as far as I could discern.

46118

 

Aren't some of the locomotives tied up in a Trust? Anyway, I agree that at best, this has the potential to cost WCRC dearly (especially if ORR decide to make this a test case and issue a fine as a deterrent), and at worst, create a downward spiral of claims that will sink the ship in its current form. The staggering slice of the steam market is plain to see even just looking at the names of promoters affected:

1. RTC
2. SD
3. VT
4. SRPS
5. WCRC's own tour operations
6. ScotRail
7. Statesman Rail
8. PMR Tours

This is why the apparent 'normal service will be resumed' attitude is actually quite frightening.

All speculation, but the alternative? Off the top of my head, current air-braked locomotives for potential use in a DBS-only market include: 44871, 45212 (when finished and if air-braked), 45407, 60163 (not ready), 34046 (not ready), 35028 (nearly out of ticket), 46100 (not ready, and only if fitted with air brake), 46201 (not ready), 46233 and 70000. Ones for the future will probably come from the Hosking pool. I can't see the air-brake fitted members of the Carnforth pool being used in a hurry, though.

 

WCRC could be a sitting duck for a takeover by an entity with the means and motivation to acquire such a business as a going concern, albeit temporarily limited in its activities.

 

Pretty sure 45212 is to be through piped only but with a drivers valve of some sort. Ie no pump. 46100 is fitted with air brakes i believe as is 34027 but not intended for mainline use. Then there is 34067 which has been operated by DBS under its current ownership has it not?

 

If you want to enter as a TOC using steam, buying WCRC is the cheapest, easiest and fastest way.

 

It would be a pretty ruthless act to exploit the current difficult situation to that extent. But then you don't acquire the means even to consider it by having a faint heart ........

 

Certainly used by DBS (or rather EWS) when it was owned by the late Brian Pickett and did the occasional VSOE, but I don't think it has really been used by any other TOC since entering WCRC's custodianship. What might have confued things was that there was a brief flirtation with WCRC by UKRT a few years ago (2009?- I was on it, but many miles have been travelled since then!) when the locomotive was used on a Shalford run, but nothing subsequently came of it. Mind you, the warning signs of a virtual monopoly were around even then.

 

WCRC is a private company effectively owned by one man, and given his previous much quoted approaches to "doing business" with third parties it seems more likely he would drive the business over the cliff rather than climb down and admit the management faults that have been so fully exposed or sell to a third party. This interim statement suggest quite unbelievably WCRC have still not grasped the seriousness of the situation nor the now snowballing PR damage that is happening to its reputation and damaging effect on other businesses associated with the railtour market. There needs to be a rapid wake up call at Carnforth or the doomsday scenario of virtually no steam on the mainline is rapidly approaching,