West Somerset Railway General Discussion

4936 must be approaching a decade under overhaul during which time its owner has bought 2 pannier tanks, one of which is now for sale again because of resource issues. Go figure ....

 

Anybody know what's happened today? The sets seem to be in all in the right place at the right time but D7018 and 7812 are on different trains, although everything will end up at the booked place.

 

Dragging brakes on the set hauled by the Hymeks according to a post on wnxxforum.co.uk.

 

I noticed the BG was removed from the rake from earlier in the day so that would make sense, thanks.

 

Went along to the Diesels at 65 event on Sunday, so glad this event took place as I was disappointed to miss the Hymek celebration last year due to other commitments. The railway was busy for not quite a full gala event and lots of families around with the kids free offer probably helping that. The Hymek trains had a decent following all day and the steam service behind 7812 was well loaded throughout. The weather got worse as the day wore on but a fantastic day was had and hopefully this is the start of something regular for the diesel fleet as it was basically extra diesel services around a brown timetable day.

The flower displays at Blue Anchor and Bishops Lydeard are really wonderful, great job considering the lack of rain.

The railway's Christmas leaflet suggests the railway will be running Twixmas trains on 27/28 Dec & 1st/2nd Jan, which would be the first post Christmas 'regular' services since 2019.

 

Echoing the praise for the Diesels at 65 event, would love to see a regular diesel home fleet mini-gala on the calendar as the size of the fleet is just right for this sort of 'mid-scale' event. The double-headers looked great, but the best entertainment for me came from the top and tail 33s with the dead weight of the rear engine from Norton to Crowcombe in particular, and the Manor - the noise from any Manor through the woods from Stogumber to Crowcombe in particular just never disappoints. Having 9351 out on the Quantock Belle was a nice little extra element to photograph too.

Also wanted to praise Washford station and the team there. I don't think there's an 'unfriendly' or unloved station on the WSR by a long, long way, but I'd always thought of Crowcombe and Stogumber as the particularly friendly ones (maybe Dunster too, though I've started/broken fewer journeys there). I often start/end my WSR days at Washford so I can end on a high with my final run being uphill and this year every time I've either begun my day at Washford or broken a journey for a while there the station team have gone out of their way to be friendly, welcoming and chatty. They're fantastic ambassadors for the railway. Good place to have such a welcoming team too given the station's location right next to the main road making it something of a billboard for the line.