West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Thanks. The Journal has yet to arrive in the eastern flatlands ( and then due to severe lockdown still in place in this house it won't be opened for two days ) I am particularly pleased with the WSRA's view of the need for change of the WSR organisational structure in (1) above and welcome news indeed. I doubt my bleating over the last few years had any impact but I am pleased as punch with this.

Steve

 

Thanks for correcting me, having rechecked Taunton Deane doesn't quite go to Crowcombe Station, but I'm splitting hairs. I will change my comment to "whose consistency doesn't cover most of the WSR".

 

It seems to me that there are two ways of achieving an increase in support for the WSR.
The first is for the management to reverse the decisions that are causing complaint on this forum and in other places and re-address these matters after the threat posed by the COVID-19 epidemic has passed.
The second is for everyone to pretend that there are no problems with any of the recent management decisions until after the threat posed by the epidemic and re-address their complaints then.
Which seems to you to be the more honest approach?

 

Perhaps it's more of case of which would be the more useful/helpful approach. If the second course were to be followed, then by the time the epidemic threat has passed (who knows when???) and the various matters are re-addressed, in at least one obvious case the damage will have been done already and become irreversible. No doubt there will be some who will consider that to be the Plc's 'game plan' anyway, but I could not possibly comment on that....

 

Nat Pres is already full of ads, we probably don't need another one

 

Very good.

There are those who think lawyers are paid by the word. It may be so. As long as they are the right words there don’t need to be too many of them.

Does that count as an ad?

 

Something to read...

Postie’s just called And now I have some reading material when I have mowed the lawn.

 

here we go again,same old moaners,either donate or keep stum because it would appear that some would like the wsr to fail, i dont and yes i have donated and renewed my wsra with a bit extra, done my bit what about out you?. if you dont like this post heh ho, no i do not live in somerset.

 

I thought lawyers were paid by time, at least that is what Linklaters used to do to us, 15 minute increments. We soon learned not to ask how their weekend went unless we were prepared to pay for the privilege

 

I understand the next PDG meeting has been arranged for later this month.

Steve

 

They'll give you the time of day, but it'll cost you!

 

For the hundredth time, I don't believe any of those same old moaners wish the WSR to fail, rather some are of the belief that the WSR will fail on its current trajectory unless something changes. You may disagree with that, but to ascribe such poor motives on them (us) is mightily unfair.

 

I don't think any of us want the West Somerset to fail, I do however think that there are quite a few of us that are fed up with it managing to keep shooting itself (rather spectacularly) in the foot without pausing to reload.

 

Quite.

As someone who is proud to have been a volunteer on the WSR (albeit intermittently these days) since the days before it ever re-opened (indeed, I sometimes meet staff there who were not even born when I started <gulp>), I would be feel most offended if someone were to suggest that I wanted the railway to fail. The problem is that it would appear - as others have said already - that various parts of the 'railway family' seemed to have developed a tendency to shoot themselves in their organisational feet at the worst possible moments. Are we who support the railway supposed to keep quiet and say nothing, just keep pouring money into the railway coffers, and hope that somehow it will just all magically get better? We are 'moaning' - if you want to use that term - because we care about the railway and want it to succeed - why on earth would we want it to fail after almost 45 years of toil has brought us one of the best heritage lines in the UK ?

 

The WSR exists because people didn't 'keep stum'.


For some reason at the WSR, there seems to be a complete lack of understanding about the real world.
The two support organisations are asking the public for money. They are also registered charities, & so want to take advantage of the gift aid etc.
You don't get to do that & not have to be transparent about how your spending the funds, or how you operate, etc etc

 

Curiously enough, I read mine after a bit of gardening. A good issue with lots of interesting articles.

 

If I could inject a very cautious note of optimism into the discussion (and it is more cautious because of Covid, which puts a very severe strain on the railway in the short and medium term).

Five years ago, I - probably like many people - made a written submission to the Coombes Review. Included within it was the following passage:

A vision for the future

Finally, I would set out my vision of what the future may look like:

• The WSRA transfers its retail, catering and restoration functions to the WSR PLC, as the primary operational body on the railway
• Shorn of commercial distractions, the WSRA then concentrates on maximizing its charitable fundraising, from members and pursuing grants
• The charitable objectives are re-written to demonstrate explicit support for the West Somerset Railway (see Appendix)
• In exchange, the PLC re-calculates the benefits package to members of affiliated support organisations so that those benefits can be provided at no cost to the support organisation (and they are in effect provided at marginal cost by the PLC)
• A mechanism is found whereby the WSRA, as the railway’s primary support organisation, becomes a key contributor to the railway’s strategy, in a way that is binding on the PLC as the executive body responsible for delivering that strategy
• The WSRA Journal is rebranded the WSR Journal, reporting on activities across the railway from all bodies, and with an independent editorial board drawing representation from across the railway.

In the longer-term, I believe the railway should look for further structural rationalization with the objective of creating one primary support charity, and individual groups such as the various Friends groups becoming restricted funds within the overall charity umbrella, rather than administratively separate groups.​

Looking from afar, as far as I can see, the score card looks like:

Point 1 - underway
Point 2 - underway
Point 3 - completed
Point 4 - ??
Point 5 - weak, as far as I can see, in fact the primary weakness on the railway: the members have no say in the strategy
Point 6 - completed
Point 7 (the structural re-organisation) - seemingly being actively considered, though clearly early days.

Of my seven points, two have been achieved; two are underway; one is being considered, two have seemingly little progress. So is it perfect? Well, clearly not, but sometimes if you get too involved in analysing every step forwards and backwards, you miss the bigger picture of which way is the direction of travel. And to me, the direction of travel is, slowly but inexorably, unravelling the flawed duplication of roles that existed in the "old" WSR structure, so that there is a greater clarity of function between commercial operator and support organisation.

My list was compiled with the picture as it was five years ago. Times have moved on; some things have become more clear, notably the worsening financial picture and greater clarity about the condition of the infrastructure. Then there is Covid-19 on top, which provides a severe stress test of the overall resilience of the railway family. Possibly if I wrote a similar list now, it might have some other points, though the over riding one about separating operations from fundraising, with members providing strategic governance, stands. And on that I'd give a somewhat muted two cheers; the third cheer would be a concrete move towards the members being seen as the driving force of governance for the railway's strategy.

Tom

 

At least continuing on that particular trajectory means you end up continually firing an empty gun at the remains of your feet...