If you register, you can do a lot more. And become an active part of our growing community. You'll have access to hidden forums, and enjoy the ability of replying and starting conversations.

West Somerset Railway General Discussion

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

  1. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2011
    Messages:
    25,485
    Likes Received:
    23,718
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grantham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    It would be interesting to know what involvement the Acting Chairman of the WSHRT had in the review process, given his obvious conflict of interest and the risk of both perceived and actual prejudice that would be associated.
     
    ghost likes this.
  2. Sidmouth

    Sidmouth Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Moderator

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2005
    Messages:
    9,634
    Likes Received:
    8,303
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Alderan !
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    alleged .......Said individual started it with a formal complaint
     
  3. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2011
    Messages:
    25,485
    Likes Received:
    23,718
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grantham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Precisely why I ask the question. Fairness matters; when a director of the company that is responsible for addressing the complaint is also the complainant, acting in his capacity as Acting Chair of another organisation, questions of fairness become paramount.

    I prefer my kangaroo rare, as steak; not as a court.
     
    MellishR and jnc like this.
  4. staffordian

    staffordian Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2012
    Messages:
    1,501
    Likes Received:
    2,134
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    The Potteries
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Playing Devil's Advocate here...

    As you say, none of the above constitutes anything other than democracy at work.

    It might therefore reasonably be assumed by some that the parties involved also engaged in some extremely dubious practices in connection with the electioneering.

    Maybe bribing or threatening potential voters?

    Now let me be clear. I don't for one moment think any of the above is even remotely likely. What troubles me is that the actions instigated by the Trust or taken by the plc leave questions like this open and many folk will add two and two and arrive at five. Yet another example of what is wrong in deepest Somerset.
     
  5. Robin Moira White

    Robin Moira White Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2014
    Messages:
    11,246
    Likes Received:
    17,946
    Gender:
    Female
    Occupation:
    Barrister
    Location:
    Stogumber
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Strangely enough, RSP Rail have left the 'leave it in our yard for two plus years for no very good reason' stage out of their account...

    Can't imagine why.

    Robin
     
    Roger Thompson likes this.
  6. JBTEvans

    JBTEvans Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2008
    Messages:
    2,344
    Likes Received:
    673
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Casnewydd, De Cymru
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Everybody can see the post. Just cause it's on facebook doesn't mean those without an account cannot see it.
     
  7. JBTEvans

    JBTEvans Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2008
    Messages:
    2,344
    Likes Received:
    673
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Casnewydd, De Cymru
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Who cares if 53808 can do it on it's own or not. So could 6960 or 3850. That was not the point of the post. The point was some people thought no way could the WSR have 100% loco availability. Proved the doubters wrong yet again.
     
  8. Big Al

    Big Al Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Moderator

    Joined:
    May 30, 2009
    Messages:
    21,064
    Likes Received:
    20,773
    Location:
    1016
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Best to stop digging. Isn't 6960 too heavy, 3850 N/A and the Prairie not a 'home' loco? As for four locos on a 20+ mile line, that feels like a decent minimum assuming that the railway wants to run more than a handful of journeys each day in the high season.
     
    35B likes this.
  9. ghost

    ghost Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    May 29, 2006
    Messages:
    3,967
    Likes Received:
    5,064
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    N.Ireland
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Well the PLC should care. Why steam 2 locos when you could steam one? Especially when you have the begging bowl out, looking for £1m+
    It makes no sense to get rid of your most useful loco and have to pay for 2 to replace it.
     
    35B and staffordian like this.
  10. Mike Birch

    Mike Birch New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 15, 2018
    Messages:
    63
    Likes Received:
    82
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Oxfordshire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    What I am struggling to understand at the moment is how the wider preservation movement view the WSR. If certain contributers on NP are to be believed then they are certainly persona non grata but then I see details of an incoming special this weekend - although I don't know how well the tickets have sold - and plenty of contract work (from e.g. Pontypool and Blaenarven, Bodmin and Wenford and the Great Western Society) - even Tornado was briefly in the platform at Bishops Lydeard last week.

    I guess that all of this is contributing much needed revenue to the WSR funds and presumably all of the above could have chosen to take their business elsewhere - but they didn't. Hence my confusion.
     
    jnc likes this.
  11. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2013
    Messages:
    10,440
    Likes Received:
    17,937
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Cheltenham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    The two states of affairs aren't mutually incompatible. Virtually everyone in the movement knows that the WSR is in a bit of a mess. Most people can work out that it's mired in internal politics, even if they don't have the first idea what the issues are, who the personalities are, or what side they might support. But equally, there's not a huge choice in contractors for that kind of thing, and if those railways reckoned they got a good deal, can they really afford to "take the moral high ground" even if they know what it is? You'd have to be a lot closer to what was going on, following this thread for example, to be outraged enough such that you'd consider taking your business elsewhere I'd suggest. But that doesn't mean the WSR doesn't have a poor reputation right now.

    And for what it's worth, everyone I've spoken to who is vaguely aware thinks it's a crying shame that it's going the way it is, and often remark that volunteers on the ground were still perfectly friendly etc. if they visited recently.
     
    jnc and Monkey Magic like this.
  12. Monkey Magic

    Monkey Magic Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2018
    Messages:
    3,498
    Likes Received:
    6,845
    Location:
    Here, there, everywhere
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    In some ways this is one of the ironies. Whereas LLR got in trouble because of the quality of the work done by the engineering side, the WSR is well known for the quality of its engineering work, however, there are major doubts about the quality of the railway's senior management.

    And so it goes, just as I wouldn't have sent an engine to LLR engineering under the old management because I wouldn't trust they will do a good job, I wouldn't give the current WSR management a donation because I don't trust they will do a good job with the money. Not donating money to be spent on using HR consultants to harass volunteers etc
     
    nanstallon, jnc and MellishR like this.
  13. Keith_Gold

    Keith_Gold Guest


    More efficient for a railway struggling for funds.
    To use one loco not two, you would have thought.
     
    35B and ghost like this.
  14. Dunfanaghy Road

    Dunfanaghy Road Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 9, 2019
    Messages:
    1,252
    Likes Received:
    1,566
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Alton, Hants
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Which reminds me of the late (unlamented?) Dan Air. Rubbish airline, but a first rate workshop at Lasham, which outlasted its parent by several years. Indeed, I once knew an apprentice there, who got an interview at Hurn (and the job) purely because he served his time there.
    Pat
     
  15. 1472

    1472 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2008
    Messages:
    1,898
    Likes Received:
    2,517
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    For clarity tomorrows through working requires two locos for operational reasons. Double headed 78xx locos might be attractive to some?
     
    ross likes this.
  16. MellishR

    MellishR Resident of Nat Pres Friend

    Joined:
    Apr 16, 2009
    Messages:
    8,068
    Likes Received:
    5,164
    What, worse than the present chaos?
     
    jnc likes this.
  17. Keith_Gold

    Keith_Gold Guest


    You mean like the operational reasons that forced an S&D 2-8-0 off the railway that could have handled it easily.

    Operational reasons....
    Mean there's two manors let's show off....
     
  18. Steve Edge

    Steve Edge Member

    Joined:
    Mar 10, 2020
    Messages:
    262
    Likes Received:
    799
    Location:
    Somerset
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    May I recommend wsr.org.uk - over 2000 people open its home page each day. They will have seen on 7 July a news item covering the RSP online article complete with link. If folks here are desperate for "actual news about the crossing works", or a ton of other stuff about the WSR, just add wsr.org.uk to their bookmarks. Just do it. Hope this helps.

    Steve
    wsr.org.uk
     
  19. gwilialan

    gwilialan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2012
    Messages:
    1,658
    Likes Received:
    3,891
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Out there somewhere
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Perhaps they wanted to wait until it had that special 'heritage' weathered look? :)

    And something for all the S&T world out there. Re-signalling Dartford to 3/4 aspect coloured light signals in 1970. It's a fraction under an hour long but worth the effort I think for all the horrendous manual handling, navvies with what looks like 2nd degree sunburn on their backs and much much more! :eek: If you can spare the time have a look and try not to cringe or say Whaaat???? too often. :)
     
    Last edited: Jul 23, 2021
  20. gwilialan

    gwilialan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2012
    Messages:
    1,658
    Likes Received:
    3,891
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Out there somewhere
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Apologies Steve, didn't realise you already had this.
    Must try to do better. :(
     

Share This Page