S&D Railway Trust

Press Release from the S&DRT courtesy of Steve Edge's wsr.org.uk web-site: http://www.wsr.org.uk/sdrt24feb2020.pdf

 

Given that the DEPG is in effect the de-facto diesel restoration and maintenance facility for the WSR, I’m amazed the PLC charges any rent more than a peppercorn at all.

Tom

 

thankst

A very respectful and carefully considered response, in direct contrast to the WSR statement.

They state 53808 is under a separate agreement and have no further comment on this at the present time. Sounds ominous.

 

Oh dear, as confrontational as it had appeared.

 

Agreed, it is not the greatest communication. They need to put in place some sort of corp comms function.

 

I’ve been told what a “certain” person wants to use the said shed for and tbh I can quite believe it!
But I best bite my tongue for now

 

Doesn't that rather assume that when the S&D trust up sticks they don't take their shed with them, I thought it was all theirs?

 

But will there be a shed left to use? If the S&D Trust are forced to leave I would imagine that they'll take it with them or re-use at whatever new location they settle on, and I equally cannot see the WSR Plc offering to pay a fair price for it.

 

Are you suggesting it would be good to store steam engines perhaps?

 

I believe it is and I hope they do and it doesn’t cost them too much in dismantling, moving and re-erecting

 

Probably wise. I'm sure we've all wondered about hidden motives, but let's stick to what's visible, rather than reaching into wild surmise and providing a defence for the indefensible.

 

AFAIK with the probable exception of the point in the main line leading into the yard, everything on the north (yard) side of the running line was installed by the S&DRT in what had previously been an empty 'brownfield' site. Some items (eg the 3-way point and parts of the shed) are of genuine S&DJR origin and therefore have 'historic value' to the Trust. The rest will have been acquired/purchased by them and/or various members.

In theory therefore I would assume (not being a legal expert) that they would be entitled to take it all up and take it away with them. Whether in practice they would want to, if they could get a good price for it from the PLC, or even be able to afford the considerable costs of removing and re-erecting, remain to be seen.

It should be remembered also that circa-2011 the Trust paid (rather a lot!) for the whole site to be electrically re-wired, including the station building. So that has saved the PLC many £K for a start.....

 

"Our only agenda has always been to promote the memory of the old S&D through our museum at Washford Station and our exhibits which include a fully restored S&D carriage, Coach No. 4, and numerous wagons with an S&D history"

And the relevance of that to the WSR is what?

 

The WSR won’t have many steam engines left to store at this rate.

 

Maybe none at face value, but that was their position when they first arrived there - having been offered a home there by the WSR - and it never seems to have caused a problem until now. Many people only became WSR volunteers after having first come to West Somerset to work at Washford. One might ask equally what relevance to the WSR exists in locos such as 53808, 44422, Braunton, the S160 and the other miscellaneous visitors who have worked on the line over the years without apparently causing any concern to the PLC?

 

Not to mention maintaining and restoring Washford station for 40 years, saving the WSR the cost and responsibility of doing so.

 

What seems likely is that at a time when the WSR needs donations it is likely to have the SDJR Trust appealing to the local community for funds to help finance its relocation in the face of eviction by its overbearing landlord.

I have no idea what has gone on between the two organisations, but unless clear fault is shown by the Trust I suspect that the underdog is likely to get quite a bit of sympathy.

I wonder if the HRA will get involved in this action by one of its members on another?

Bizarre timing.

Jon

 

Wait till you read the SDRT's statement; you'll need a steam crane to retrieve your mandible from the sub-sub-sub-basement!

"The WSR have made no contact with us prior to their letter of 7th February ... We were surprised that no formal discussions had been offered prior to this process." I've been racking my brains, trying to work out why a business would act in such a manner, and the most charitable reason I can come up with was that someone was so short of time they just told the lawyer 'just go deal with it'. The others, including a likely one based on the PLC's own statement, are even worse.

All those who care about the WSR must be concerned about what this episode says.

Noel