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West Somerset Railway General Discussion

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

  1. Dan Taylor

    Dan Taylor New Member Account Suspended

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    Well he's mentioned Wiliton in print interviews before after Washford so he may covet thy tenants shed.

    Who knows...
     
  2. JBTEvans

    JBTEvans Well-Known Member

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    Any 'new' engine will come with a fresh set of terms. The 7F not being there helps them... that's why its gone. There will be many engines requiring steaming next year to try and make up on lost revenue this year.

    It's not like they have no locos at all. They have 2 that are more than capable of everyday services. That is a good start.
     
  3. JBTEvans

    JBTEvans Well-Known Member

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    The WSR PLC have taken on this from the WSRA as far as I'm aware.
     
  4. Dan Taylor

    Dan Taylor New Member Account Suspended

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    Would you trust them though? soon as 44422 was knackered working on the line they kicked that to the curb,They want out of paying for the agreed overhaul of 53808.

    You would be very brave to enter an agreement with them,

    I'd certainly ask for the cash up front if I was you.
     
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  5. Pete Thornhill

    Pete Thornhill Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Administrator Moderator Friend

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    The fact the SVR have so many engines is largely down to the good management of the railway and their relationships with the owning groups.

    A few years ago the railway had a lot of restore and run agreements, this became a burden and created a bit of a queue. Maybe they could of terminated a few agreements but instead worked with the groups, moved with the times and found a new way forward. It’s a policy that has paid off and there is a long term plan in place with a clear vision and is also viable.
     
  6. JBTEvans

    JBTEvans Well-Known Member

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    What on earth are you on about. If a locomotive is in sound condition and it's home line cannot promise the steaming days, the owning group will look to get work elsewhere.

    44422 had a rushed through overhaul not at the WSR did it not?
    The 7F agreement is a long term thing which couldn't have foreseen the poor financial position of the railway coupled with the worst disturbance to general life since WWII.
     
  7. JBTEvans

    JBTEvans Well-Known Member

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    The SVR has always had these locos though. Generally, the majority based there now have never moved to the railway from elsewhere (except in early days the likes of 7812 at Parkend having never ran etc).

    If anything the SVR has lost engines over the years.
     
  8. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    And how many do you need to maintain a two engine timetable, once you’ve allowed for washouts, maintenance, etc? I’m pretty sure that for a season you’d need to get looking at 4 to have any margin, based on what others have posted.

    That then leaves the question of trust, given the self declared crisis situation and recent behaviours. I would certainly be very reluctant to do business with WSR plc based on recent behaviours, and would probably insist on pretty robust payment terms and security in any contract; something that I suspect WSR plc would struggle to grant given how assets are secured.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
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  9. Sidmouth

    Sidmouth Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Moderator

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    just as an attempt to defuse matters ..

    what is to stop a railway with an engine on a run and overhaul agreement taking the view of hiring the engine out for a period of time to earn £££ towards the future overhaul ? I think Butterley did it with 73129 . Clearly it would be with owning groups permission

    with the WSR not running currently and likely to not do so for a number of months and potentially on a smaller scale you could argue that hire out a 7f and hire in a Pannier could be win win
     
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  10. JBTEvans

    JBTEvans Well-Known Member

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    Who says they gonna run 2 steamers each day everday straight away? I doubt it.
     
  11. Pete Thornhill

    Pete Thornhill Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Administrator Moderator Friend

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    So when you have a two train service which I believe was the requirement for a large part of the year, what happens when you have a washout taking place or something like happened to 7802? Then you have one loco to work two services, doesn’t seem to leave any margin for error.
     
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  12. Pete Thornhill

    Pete Thornhill Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Administrator Moderator Friend

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    They may have no choice but not to!
     
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  13. JBTEvans

    JBTEvans Well-Known Member

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    You are looking way too ahead. They will look to hire in locos no doubt when services reach those levels again.
     
  14. Pete Thornhill

    Pete Thornhill Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Administrator Moderator Friend

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    I’m not sure what your point is? Holding onto a majority of engines for many years is an indication of a good set up where all parties are happy. It’s not an accident, just good relations.
     
  15. JBTEvans

    JBTEvans Well-Known Member

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    SVR & Bluebell are possibly unique in the collections of locomotives.

    GWSR ran with 92203, 7903, 3440, 5619 and 5542. Only 7903 remains.
    ESR ran with 5637 and 30075. Neither are there now.
    Engines move railways.
     
  16. Dan Taylor

    Dan Taylor New Member Account Suspended

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    Least Severn Valley can look and go oh X loco is out of ticket in x amount of years, Lets look and see what we have undercover at Highley to be the Y loco to replace it and hopefully be ready for when X is withdrawn.

    But that means having a plan, I highly doubt the WSR have planned what they are doing Monday yet.
     
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  17. Pete Thornhill

    Pete Thornhill Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Administrator Moderator Friend

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    I’ve just removed a few posts as there is no need to start slanging matches. A debate is fine but there is no need to get to playground level.
    Please keep it friendly and we can discuss things but personal attacks on each other are not welcome here and will be dealt with appropriately.
     
  18. 5944

    5944 Resident of Nat Pres

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    MHR and NYMR have been buying their own locos as well. Makes sense to have a few of your own and hire a few in if required. Though if WSR are now down to two steam locos, that's going to make Santa season interesting. Assuming there's actually any track for them to run on!
     
  19. RailWest

    RailWest Part of the furniture

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    Probably counting the income from this 'Living Museum' weekend. But that may not take them long.....every time that I look at the webcam all I see moving are seagulls, weeds and lots of black sheeting blowing in the wind...oh, and rain too :-(
     
  20. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    That's a strange argument for a railway: "the lack of locos isn't a problem because we are not running trains anyway".

    I think you are overestimating the number of currently operational locos available around the country, before you even get to the point of the willingness of owning groups to enter into arrangements with any specific railway. The fact that the 7F, despite having only two years left to run, was snapped up by a railway that on the face of it appears reasonably well off for motive power rather suggests to me that there is a national shortage of motive power, not a surplus. Certainly a shortage of locos of the capability needed to haul trains on the WSR.

    Tom
     

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