West Somerset Railway General Discussion

My interest purely lies in whether the strength of feeling expressed by this forum (and others) is seen to be replicated across the membership of the HRA in the way that they vote. As you quite rightly say his suitability for the post will presumably be considered notwithstanding events of the past few days.

Edit - I note that the re-election biography says "In November 2018 the West Somerset Railway was struggling. I joined a "new" board and after a turbulent year the future looks bright as we return to sustainability and prosperity. It will be here for my grandchildren to enjoy"

 

How much track renewal has taken place over the winter?

I know I’ve said it before, but I am sceptical about reading of profit and loss in the absence of understanding whether sufficient investment has been made to at least maintain (and ideally improve) the state of the assets. Reading that article, it seems written in a very gung-ho fashion to imply the previous losses have been recouped; a casual reader could be forgiven for coming away with the impression that it was job done, crisis over, no need for any more remedial work.

Rather than statements like “He said the company was on track to recoup all of its losses by August”, I think it would be more honest - and ultimately more important from the point of view of engagement with key stakeholders, ie the members and shareholders, to say something like “we have taken tough decisions which have stabilised the financial position of the company so we have confidence we can continue to operate a safe and reliable service, but we still have a backlog of renewal of our track and rolling stock to bring the railway back up to the standard we aspire to, and we will be investing every spare penny each year to get on top of that backlog” - and then maybe a plug of the relevant Track appeal to let me know as a reader how I can help support that renewal effort.

Tom

 

If you were cynical, you could see what is happening as a very public 'punishment beating'.

When you look at the MO, we've seen individuals labelled troublemakers and driven off the railway. Now those same practices are being applied to organisations. All of this is going under the cover provided by the existential threat to the WSR of the financial crisis. 'Do as I say and don't ask any questions, and if you do then you are clearly a trouble maker and an enemy within who wants the WSR to fail'.

You'll note the narrative - it is the fault of the S&D, it is the fault of the troublemakers, the WSR doesn't really need 88, we can double head, they never did anything anyway, cuckoo in the nest. Lots of blame assignation. Likewise, plenty of attacks on any critics - whether it is the vehicle (ie this forum) or frequent dismissal of people as keyboard warriors etc etc. And of course lots of distraction - hey look at the daffodils.

So ask yourself this, if you happen to be say a wagon group, or a coach group, or any other organisation, or member, what do you do? Considering the costs of moving or being excluded (it isn't like there are many alternative lines around you could go to).

So of course, many people will sit on their hands, hope that they aren't singled out next, others who hope that by sucking up that they will show that they are good soldiers.

The problem is both the people who have malign intentions but the people who should know better and either say nothing or who go along with it to save themselves.

 

Maybe only maybe with the sudden resignation of its chairman it can see the writing on the wall.

 

As the WSRA (and the WSSRT) are major shareholders in the PLC, I think it would be fitting for them to release statements as to whether they agreed with the moves taking place on their behalf (both regarding volunteers allegedly being 'forced out' and the S&DRT eviction).

Keith

 

Thank you for the clarification.

I suggest that votes held in the immediate aftermath of a major event rarely reflect the severity of that event, and that a decision taken today may not be that which the same people would take in a few weeks time, once the implications of the event become clearer. I'd therefore be reluctant to draw conclusions about HRA members' opinions from the vote today.

 

And that such an approach may sometimes be pursued as a deliberate tactic by one side in a dispute, with oppressive intent.

 

Unfortunately, the way the WSR structure works, anyone who is a member of one of the supporting organisations has no way to express their views of the current situation, and, in any case, their views have no weight whatsoever.

My membership of the WSRA is shortly due for renewal. I'm currently in two minds whether to tell them to tell them to stuff it, or to renew so I can attend the next WSRA AGM and ask questions should the PLC chairman put in an appearance as he did last year. However, the AGM is due to be on a Friday this year (time currently not published), which no doubt will result in reduced numbers amongst those who work for a living.

 

As they used to say in the services, if you can't take a joke then you shouldn't have joined.

 

Far too intelligent to get involved with all this nonsense.

Maybe the forum could be re-named more appropriately ‘National Speculation’.

 

Some of us are very careful to check our facts and verify what we are saying before we comment, I don't see much speculation here recently, I do however see a lot of dawning realisation.

 

Not to hone in too much on specific people, but rather, trying to keep this as a general observation.

If you are a close supporter of the railway, right now, and you have seen first one person ejected for disagreeing with the Chairman, then another, then an entire group of supporters, clearly you are going to want to keep your head down for fear of suffering the same if you put your head above the parapet.

The more closely attached you are to the railway, the more of your life and the more passion and energy you have committed to it, the more you will want, I would have thought, to ensure that does not happen.

 

Is Foxcote Manor returning in time got gala?

 

I really missed catching up with the three or four overnight pages of comments when the WSRA and ex6 situation was resolved. Nothing to read with my morning coffee... But hey-ho, good old WSR, back in the limelight again.

More seriously, perhaps now more of the true supporters of "the railway" will be tempted to stand for positions on the Board at the next AGM. There seems to be plenty of spaces and anyone duly elected could not be rejected by 'others' in order to maintain the status quo. Perhaps if sufficient people were elected there would even be enough to override some of the more dubious decisions. Yes, I know all abut the need for skills etc but there is a lot of free help from other organisations available out there... Besides if the railway is currently being run by 3 or 4 or whatever would it be essential for the newbies to have anything other than basic skills so long as they have a desire to see the railway run 'properly'?

 

Common Sense should be at the top of the list.

 

Apparently so - it's listed as a "home fleet" loco on the WSR's gala page: https://www.west-somerset-railway.c...way-spring-steam-gala-april-23rd-to-26th-2020

 

The gala page also lists a railway museum at Washford as an attraction to visit during the gala.