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West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by gwr4090, Nov 15, 2007.

  1. Greenway

    Greenway Part of the furniture

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    It is, but as many WSR folk are under a 'D' notice there will be little to debate. :D
     
  2. bob.meanley

    bob.meanley Member

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    So Julian - no reply to my previous comments on your somewhat misguided post above. What is more you don't appear to have posted any further comment about the fact that, despite your comments above, the loco - and tender - were completed and steamed by Ryan Pope's team at Williton little more than two weeks over the original estimated completion date. Given that a number of unforseen tasks arose and they also took in the tender which was not in their original January estimate, I and no doubt many others, would consider that to be an excellent performance.
    Perhaps in future you should not confuse the lack of any desire on our part to share our plans with you as any lack of planning. As for your comments on forward thinking and basic common sense, perhaps you should consider these before launching scathing posts on matters where you might just be woefully uninformed.
    Cheers
    Bob Meanley
     
  3. Big Al

    Big Al Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Moderator

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    Nice to see @bob.meanley bringing pithy and relevant comments that Tyseley have been used to all the way down to Somerset and the WSR thread.

    Let's face it. It's been long overdue, probably since the line ceased to be broad gauge!
     
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  4. baldbof

    baldbof Well-Known Member Friend

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    Stick this lot on a flat wagon, hitch it on the back of yer carriages et voila, job jobbed. Leave the door open and enjoy the passing scenery as you do your own passing. ;)

    Screenshot 2019-07-12 at 16.07.35.png
     
  5. dunghill1

    dunghill1 New Member

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    Wrong colour
     
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  6. Jamie Glover

    Jamie Glover New Member

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    If Mr. Meanley and his engineering team had been a little more open with their progress reports?

    Then there would have been no need for the inept Sage of Ynysddu and Mr. Meanley to have created postings which can only be described as damaging to the WSRA's image as a whole.

    I for one am tired of reading of the internecine warfare that has gone on at the WSR of late and the unsatisfactory outcomes.

    Sadly, the WSR is no longer on my visiting list as a part of my annual UK vacation this coming August.
    Jamie Glover.
     
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  7. bob.meanley

    bob.meanley Member

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    Mr Glover,
    It would be really good if you would explain to everyone on this forum just what you consider requires me and my team to "be a little more open" regarding the internal operation and reporting of that team in the Mechanical Engineering department of the West Somerset Railway PLC,to anyone other other than to the Board of that company. Hopefully you will gain a clue from the company name before further explaining how exactly this damages the WSRA's reputation. Perhaps you could also tell us if you actually understand the company's structure, let alone the realities of the situation it faces?
    Regards
    Bob Meanley
     
  8. 61624

    61624 Part of the furniture

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    ....... and this neatly encapsulates why many people outside the inner WSR circle probably will ignore the likely stream of appeals that will emanate from Minehead, led by the track appeal. You need to learn to be open and polite to people (even if they don't necessarily deserve it) if you want them to open their wallets in your favour - and for all you know the OP was a potential 6-figure donor.
     
  9. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Really? Did you miss the regular blog updates on 9351's overhaul then?

    This seems a bizarre action to take. I can see why you might not wish to donate money to the WSR as it currently is, I can see why you might not want to offer your services as a volunteer, but to not visit at all? As a steam enthusiast, it's still a railway operating steam engines over 22 miles of track between some very attractive stations in Somerset, same as it always was, and I'm sure the staff are just as friendly to the public as they always have been. Certainly when I visited at the height of the WSRA troubles you'd not have known anything was wrong just from visiting. If you're tired of reading about the strife on the WSR, fine, you don't have to follow this thread, and I expect you'll probably have to stop reading the steam magazines too, but I really doubt a visit to the railway will be any different to before.
     
  10. Argus

    Argus New Member

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    And for all you know I might win the Euromillions tonight.
     
  11. 61624

    61624 Part of the furniture

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    Of course you might, but in the absence of that, what's the plan?
     
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  12. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    Not just that, but @Jamie Glover also points towards another key point - that the way to draw interest is to draw people in, not close the door on them. The excellent blog on 9351 (have I got the digits the right way round;)) is a start, but no more than that.
     
  13. 1472

    1472 Well-Known Member

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    Your loss - nothing more, nothing less.
     
  14. jma1009

    jma1009 Well-Known Member

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    Hi Bob,

    I don't know why you have raised this after 7 weeks since my post 19228 in response to Andy (Aberdare's) previous post 19227 on 19th May 2019.

    The 9351 blog had by that stage mentioned nothing of the tender.

    If the 2206 tender described by Andy is now behind 9351, then from his own description, it is not in good condition, and to be "temporarily used".

    I don't know what tender is behind loco 9351 from the blog or your posts today.

    A tender appeal for 9351 should have been/could be started, but I have seen nothing.

    If the 2206 tender has been patched up to run behind 9351, what do you want? An apology, or a pound of flesh?

    Cheers,

    Julian
     
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  15. granmaree

    granmaree Member

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  16. jma1009

    jma1009 Well-Known Member

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    Yes, I most certainly did! (Missed it)

    "However, before she can run, she needs a tender! The original tender is currently running behind another locomotive very comfortably and so the decision has been take to repair and fit a different tender."

    And what is this tender? And why did I not see the appeal for this at the time?

    "She needs a tender"! Which was exactly the tenor of my post of 19th May 2019, that Bob Meanley has not forgotten (my post that is), and why Bob thinks he has to resurrect all this 7 weeks later, because I have caused some presumably great offence that has struck a personal nerve with Bob!

    Cheers,

    Julian
     
    Last edited: Jul 12, 2019
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  17. bob.meanley

    bob.meanley Member

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    Julian,
    What do we want? Well, we have given up eating the flesh of our detractors, so kind as your offer of a pound of flesh is, no thank you. What would be nice would be for you to go somewhere quiet and read your post again, and tell us whether you actually wrote it without being in possession of all the facts, were just a little bit insulting, a tad trite and rather intemperate. Knee pads are not required, just tell us that you are going to ask questions politely in future and not write stuff like this again please.
    Best Regards
    Bob
     
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  18. jma1009

    jma1009 Well-Known Member

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    Bob,

    See my above post 20316, and the quotes from the blog which so far as I can see were after my post of 19th May 2019.
     
  19. Jamie Glover

    Jamie Glover New Member

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    Mr. Meanley,

    I have probably been employed in the rail industry for as many years as you have. After a brief time spent with BR, which mainly involved route dismantlement, I moved on to central Asia and an environment which has ever since involved me in the development of existing rail routes as well as the creation of new ones.

    Every year I award myself a ten day or so break in the UK during which time I visit as many heritage railways as it is humanly possible. Last year I clocked up visits to ten lines which included my spending the final two nights of my vacation at Minehead and then Taunton before heading back to Heathrow. Looking retrospectively at my log book I estimate that in those two days I spent something in the region of three hundred sterling on travel fares, accommodation, food, books purchased at both Bishop's Lydiard and Minehead plus some modest donations left at two museums along the WSR line.

    Before the start of my annual vacations I always draw up a very tight itinerary in which I detail the railway I intend to visit each day and exactly what I wish to especially view on a particular line. My itinerary plans are nearly always based on information that I gain over the preceding year from rail journals, National Preservation and individual heritage railway websites. Last year the best presented lines that I visited were the NYMR and the Ecclestone Valley. Both of which I shall be visiting again this year. The worst was a rather tatty northern heritage line that was not operating on a day its web site said it would be operating.

    From my own experiences both professionally and otherwise. I've learned much about how railways operate and about how important the public dissemination of information / progress can be in generating good will from employers, employees, stake holders and the general public at large. When I worked at BR it was a policy that as much as possible in the way of progress and developmental news should be placed in the public domain. This included putting a positive spin on rationalisation and the policy of singling lines when ever the BR top brass felt they could get away with same. This BR openness policy only fell apart when some idiot on the electrified third rail Southern Region informed the BBC that trains were being delayed by the 'Wrong Kind of Snow'.

    Yes! Mr. Meanley I do understand the company structure of the WSR. I also fully appreciate that this is one of the reasons that the company structure is in the mess it is in today. If the WSR wishes to extract itself from its current series of financial disasters it should consider putting all that is fit to be related into the public domain. If the WSR wishes to gain more public support? Then it needs to have a rethink about its PR policies.

    As a part of the WSR's senior management I would respectfully suggest that you reconsider the damage you may be causing to the WSR image with your sharp and pithy responses to postings from concerned stake holders and others. These are the people the WSR will always need to support the line, travel on the trains and hopefully respond with alacrity to funding appeals. You need to keep the entire group of WSR stake holders on your side and give them a supposed feeling of jointly owning their railway. Premier League football clubs achieve this very successfully by giving their spectators (fans) a feeling of following THEIR team......even in win or lose situations.

    Thus from your postings so far; I gain the impression that politeness is not your strong point and that a course in public relations might greatly serve to increase your overall personal public image as well as that of the WSR.

    Sincere regards,
    Jamie Glover.
     
  20. Robin Moira White

    Robin Moira White Resident of Nat Pres

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    Time to bring a little balance to the force...

    27A6B91D-7D67-4252-BF69-D0978FF3D7CC.jpeg

    ‘The calm of evening’ - Bishops Lydeard up distant.

    There. will be a last update to the 9351 Blog shortly, detailing final stages of the reassembly work up to the handover to Minehead loco.

    Robin
     
    Last edited: Jul 13, 2019

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