West Somerset Railway General Discussion

When I opened my local paper Friday am I was appalled to read “run away train”. On reading on I
found it refered to an incident within the Williton yard, a diesel loco under Test.

Continuing on I read the Jubilee had been trapped at Minehead. As the Jubilee was due to be
taken off the train at Bishops Lydeard and I knew from National Preservation that the
two Manors had left tender first from MD with the return this was clearly nonsense.

Then I noted the damage at Minehead was £100K, but the turnout had obviously been
repaired as the Saturday (today) 11.00 ex BL was shown on the Ops Notices as running to the
Bay at MD.

Not surprisingly as a volunteer I was very upset.

Aside from a loco not being a train the use of “run away” on the front page of a local
newspaper is alarmist.

Having the loco that publicly had been seen leaving the train at BL identified as
involved, the points failure said to be £100K of damage ( when actually repaired
within a week ) and the incidents linked to the flood damage last December suggests
the reporter was badly briefed and presumably failed to check his sources.

The West Somerset Railway is a major part of the local Tourist Industry. The
West Somerset Free Press usually recognises the importance of Tourism to
the area. Whatever the merits or not of the WSR response I find myself
feeling that the article, or whoever briefed the journalist, was malevolent.

Michael Rowe.

 

I know nothing of the West Somerset Free Press. But as I'm generally reluctant to ascribe to conspiracy what can be attributed to cock-up, so I'm not inclined to assume malevolence where it can be explained by tabloid reporting.

My observations about the public response to the paper's reporting remain and, on reflection, are amplified - far better (if only on the basis of keeping your friends close and enemies closer) to invite the editor to visit and learn about the railway.

 

Just a technical question, if anyone can help. The points incident at Minehead mentioned above was put down to human error. Are there not mechanical protections in place to prevent such an error?

From my distant memories of Rolt's 'Red For Danger' I seem to recall a head on crash at Hull Paragon caused by a set of points being moved under a train, and the introduction of fouling or locking bars to prevent a recurrance.

Are things such as facing point locks, fouling bars and interlocking in general not designed to prevent such an incident?

 

I find it hard to believe any WSR working ( paid or volunteer ) member briefed the journalist. The
suggestion that the Jubilee was involved when we all know that the incoming charter loco does
not work through to Minehead, they did in the past but not now; Operators like the extra time
for servicing prior to the return run.

Do you think the person ( assuming only one) is going to put their hands up and say “It was me,”

I can well imagine how the Chairman and GM felt when they read the article. This is not a remote
national newspaper picking up material from Facebook this is a local newspaper that reports
local events, usually relying on material offered by the event organisers personally.

Michael Rowe

 

The paper specifically quotes Frank Courtenay. Re-reading it, I'm entirely prepared to believe that the reporter misunderstood what had been said, and the published report is correspondingly defective. That does not leave me any more convinced that there was malicious intent.

I also note that the report is no longer available on the paper's website, which suggests that it was able to be dealt with.

 

I know nothing about the incident other than what I have read on here. However ,to answer your question, locking bars, now largely superseded by track circuits, are rarely found on turnouts outside running lines on which passenger trains operate. Even then human error can come into it. I well remember in BR days being sat in the front of a dmu where the Bobby couldn’t pull the board off, presumably because he couldn’t get the FPL in, so he gave him a green flag. The driver duly set off only to make an emergency application a few yards further on, having fortunately spotted that the point blades weren’t properly across. There was also a well known incident on the GCR resulting in an earth fault.

 

Taking something down is a start, but surely that is not “dealt with” ? The implication of “runaway”
trains for a Heritage Railway is appalling. I quote “Hymek diesel which was at the centre of a
runaway train incident on the West Somerset Railway” in bold underneath the photo.

Whether malicious or not, ( whether by informant or journalist ) a strong retraction is very necessary ?

Michael Rowe

 

A quiet word in the ear of the editor would have been far more dignified and effective.

 

Strong, possibly. But strong bearing in mind that less is more - not the full green ink rant, which is what I read there.

 

Can anyone say please precisely which set of points were damaged? If they were in one of the passenger running lines, then the track-circuit interlocking ought to have prevented them being moved under an engine - if that is what happened. If not in one of the running lines, then why was the Bay line then put out of action? Does anyone have more specific details please about what exactly happened?

 

No. 12 points - the one which gives access to the bay from the main. I don't know any details about exactly what happened.

 

Welcome to the slipshod, infantile , sensationalist, unresearched , immature and uneducated world of local journalism . The "journalists" are usually low-cost students or trainees who have attended , or are attending, a media studies course at the local tech. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story and never leave the office ( bedroom?) to do any research. All local news is now complete dross and must be taken with a very large pinch of salt. If you believe any of it you must also subscribe to theory that the moon is made of cream cheese!

A relatively minor incident. Luckily nobody was standing in the way as it could have been a show-stopper.

 

Thanks. Is it known in which direction the engine was moving please?

 

I have not heard which direction it was moving.

 

This is the WSR, no adverse publicity is allowed, , only articles praising the railway, Isn't it far better to be honest, precise and factual, If there was an issue just state what happened, and the steps taken to remedy it, why should the GM and chair be made to feel concerned about incorrect press reporting, just deal with it in an honest factual way, but oh no, once again we get the " Everyone's trying to bring us down " response. when no one as far as i can see is, Accidents happen, but i don't see this paranoid thinking anywhere else, if you are operating correctly, and safely, and I have no reason to believe you are not, the stock responses from active WSR members make it sound like you have got something to hide. you can sometimes be your own worse enemy,

 

Well maybe or maybe be not. But I am sure for example if Richard Branson had not used the media in addition to the courts over the first VWC renewal the outcome my well have been different. I do not believe silence is always the best option.

 

It sometimes isn't. But - and I prefer the recent example of Dan Kaszeta on government blacklisting - it relies on there being absolute clarity over what should have happened; besides whihc both related not to (mis-)reporting but government misconduct. As is apparent from the questions asked by @RailWest, the publicly available information is not necessarily of this standard.

 

I know Nigel Farage in not the no. 1 on NP, with some folk, but he never keeps quiet and is always heard with his latest viewpoints.

 

So if the points were on the main then that's passenger carrying track and I'd assume that interlocking had to be fitted.. Or am I wrong?
Reading between the lines (no pun intended) it sounds to me as though this was a trailing movement?