West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Fair enough, but my intention in posting it was to draw attention to the WSR's appearance in the article, not its subject.

 

It's not only on the Severn Valley Railway, CO2 emissions for 2020 have been significantly cut on the WSR. <BJ>

 

Ah they must have sourced some of that low-carbon foreign coal as well.

 

To my mind, there is a subtle - but important - difference between saying that you do, or may, not have sufficient funds for the overhaul and stating that you have no intention of honouring the overhaul agreement. To the best of my recollection the latter was reported, but I can't recall now exactly where or by whom. Whatever the actual situation, IMHO it is very clear that (a) the Plc went through a period of poor communications leading to bad PR and (b) failed to deal with that situation sufficiently quickly or effectively.

 

To be fair, in Wiltshire twice a year you go and look at the sun coming up over some rocks someone left lying in a field. So I am not surprised about this news.

You should do what the Moldovans and Ukrainians do and celebrate all the calendars. Of course, having two xmas and new year's parties leads to not much being done.

 

To be fair, that is my end of Wiltshire. In @FrankC end of the county, they are more attuned to getting wet evading questions from the exciseman by claiming they are trying to rescue a large piece of cheese from a pond ...

Tom

 

Indeed today is Orthodox Christmas day which predates the upstart Gregorian date adopted by the Western Church.

Over the past years more religious PHs have indeed come into the calendar since retreat of Communism. My inlaws now have 25th Dec, 1st Jan and today as PHs whereas it used to be only 1st Jan. The weather plays more of a work role this time of year, I got married on 6th Jan many years ago and had a lot of problems getting to the palace of culture due to deep snow and temps -10C and more. Work officially stops or used to in Ukraine at -25C but the trains diesel and electric still run, but you have to steam heat the coal and ore wagons in a shed to allow them to be emptied.

 

The other concept I liked was the 'bridging day' in Austria (third most public holidays in Europe) if the closure falls on a tuesday or thursday then they don't open on the monday or friday because 'it isn't worth it'. You have to keep your eyes on the calendar and make sure you don't fall short of food.

 

And in past history those days when they watched the sun rise through some old stones, they also talked to the dead, and probably did a bit of human sacrifice, but there appears to be no proof for it found at Stonehenge ( the sacrificial bit) even though druids are known for sacrificing the odd virgin, or two,

 

The same in Italy, I make good use of the when they come around. The downside of celebrating the actual date is that if it falls in a weekend you lose it.

 

If they can overcome the lack of supplies (of virgins)!☺
Pat

 

The plc know that 53808 is a suitable locomotive for the WSR, but gave a strong impression that they coulldn't be bothered to secure the funds foreseeably necessary for overhaul. Unreliable partners, and you need decent partners in this game.

 

an idyllic scene.

 

My late mother was terribly superstitious but the one thing that got a free pass was leaving the Christmas tree up past Twelfth Night; when my schoolfriends asked why we left it up beyond then (it was visible from the path as we walked home from school) I had to explain the calendar differences and it was for the benefit of my father.

 

A look back at 2007 with our old PW volunteer gang's annual Christmas BBQ at Orchard Junction building the Norton triangles........should have over there today .......but ?

 

I'm suprised @DutyDruid hasn't had something to say in this thread
Too busy winning a bronze medal in the World Cup of Skiing??

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-sports/55611141

 

Didcot on the mail demonstrations, the locos are hammered to get them up to drop speed from a standing start at the East end of the main demo line.

 

Is that why he likes the MHR so much, if Medstead ever gets very heavy snow, they can turn the line into one long down hill ski run .

 

Typically this is done by a large loco with just a couple of coaches, so yes rapid acceleration (albeit only to a relatively slow speed) but hardly thrashed. They do sound good though.

 

Many year ago a KESR Yank tank was used on the Didcot mail trains, resulting in much slipping and a tyre moving on one wheel.