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West Somerset Railway General Discussion

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

  1. DragonHandler

    DragonHandler Well-Known Member

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    Ask anyone who edits or publishes a newsletter for a club, society, church etc and most will tell you that it is staggeringly easy to miss simple mistakes, especially days & dates.
     
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  2. Piggy

    Piggy Member

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    The simple rule is to ask someone else to check your draft ....... you will only see what you think you have typed !
     
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  3. Pete Thornhill

    Pete Thornhill Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Administrator Moderator Friend

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    Well yes that is a fair comment and does seem to be a particular weak spot of the WSR compared to other lines.

    Certainly as examples the SVR and GWSR have been very good over the years at telling you what the issue is (such as the flood damage at the SVR & Falling Sands etc, and the GWSR with their embankments), and what needs to be done to resolve them, people like to be kept informed.

    However, I’ll comment that the WSR hasn’t been particularly strong in public relations and promotion for a long time and somewhat behind a lot of other railways so it’s not a total surprise it’s lacking in detail. They really need someone who understands these things and also how to target the social media, the average member of the public would rather see via their Facebook feed the attractions and events on offer, not posts about evicting a group or the latest disagreements which have all appeared on there in the last few months. Maybe it’s a lack of understanding but definitely a weak spot.
     
  4. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    I suggest it's a sign of an organisation and leadership that have looked inwards for a long time, and lost the knack of looking out. The exchange between (I think) @Matt37401 & @FrankC over the track repairs was a really good example - whatever the rights and wrongs on the facts, the initial impression looked closed even if the information was being teed up for sharing.
     
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  5. nine elms fan

    nine elms fan Part of the furniture

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    Probably silly i know, but i cant help thinking that through this merger of the two societys it will be the WSRA who stand to gain from it, from past events the WSRA has tried to pull the rug and get control of the WSR and as has been mentioned a few times on this and other threads there will be no peace on the WSR while the WSRA exists. Just my thinking. :rolleyes:
     
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  6. echap

    echap New Member

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    So what happens to the Santa trains now that there is another national lockdown? Training was due to be in November?
     
  7. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    I would suggest general chatter about this is best had elsewhere as it's relevant to all railways, other than to note it shows how important it was to get some money coming in over the summer while we could, and not rely on the Christmas season.
     
  8. Pete Thornhill

    Pete Thornhill Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Administrator Moderator Friend

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    Most railways aren’t preparing for training runs in November though, it could have an additional impact on the WSR operation compared to others.
     
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  9. gwilialan

    gwilialan Well-Known Member

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    Serious thought... This lockdown finishes 2nd Dec. Will that be enough time to get all rolling stock in place, loco's prepped and staff currency refresher training completed? Can it all be completed in the first week of December to try and save a few weeks Santa operations?

    Hopefully someone will be on the case Monday morning...
     
  10. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Depending on the specifics of the rules, the WSR's November plans *may* be relatively unaffected as they don't involve the public.
     
  11. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Reading between the lines, if a solid case can be made that a situation involves safety or security considerations, these seem likely to be viewed under the "essential " banner.
     
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  12. ghost

    ghost Part of the furniture

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    But surely the safety or security considerations would be for activities that are currently in place, not something that you intend to do in the future. Otherwise lockdown would become meaningless as everyone would be in meetings for future projects

    Keith
     
  13. DragonHandler

    DragonHandler Well-Known Member

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    And that is what is wrong with the WSR. As long as people continue to hold grudges against groups within the railway for things that happened in the past that were done by people who are no longer leaders of those groups then the WSR is never going to move forward.
     
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  14. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    You’ve said what I’ve avoided saying but long thought. This antagonism is not new. A long time ago I had a footplate trip on the line and I was surprised at the anti WSRA comments made by the crew.
     
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  15. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    And as @DragonHandler comments, the focus on individual organisations being “bad” is what will condemn the WSR to failure if those from across the railway cannot transcend those perceptions.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
     
  16. martin1656

    martin1656 Nat Pres stalwart Friend

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    At times its almost as if to some people, past grudges are more important than finding a solution, We hear, such rubbish that for the railway to be saved, all it needs is X, or Y to leave, or be thrown out, but in that case, X, or Y must be all powerful, because you can bet removing them won't suddenly see a change, the problem lies far deeper than that, its policy, its how you move foreward, nothing can change unless the policy changes, and unless that person is the one making decisions, ( often they are not) then their removal isn't going to effect change , it only serves to satisfy someone's hatred of that person.
     
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  17. JBTEvans

    JBTEvans Well-Known Member

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    It's a business though, not somebody going to the gym or going to Next to buy a suit for a wedding. Railways, by their very nature, are socially distanced operations.
     
  18. Bayard

    Bayard Well-Known Member

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    I was once told of a town in Russia, where, in the 70s, the inhabitants still regularly blamed their problems on the town's Jewish population, despite the fact that the last Jews had been evicted before the First World War. Habits of hate and blaming, once got into, are hard to lose ands it's always much easier to blame someone else than go to the effort of finding out the exact causes of a problem. After all, one of them may turn out to be uncomfortably close to home.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 1, 2020
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  19. MellishR

    MellishR Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    This seems to me to be equating "the WSRA" as an entity with the individuals who have been the WSRA's trustees at one time or another; just as some posters on here have equated "the PLC" with the individuals who are currently sitting on its board.

    The end-point to which all parties seem to have agreed is to have a charity controlling a (new or old) operating company. The charity could be a completely new one or it could be the one resulting from a merger of the WSRA and the WSSRT. Which of the assets (such as museums, rolling stock and PLC shares), responsibilities and memberships the new charity inherits from the present charities is important. Is its name important? If it is also the membership body (rather than that being separate from the charity as in the Bluebell model), isn't "West Somerset Railway Association" the most appropriate name? Would some people hold grudges against the new controlling charity if it retains the name of the one that was a party to various squabbles in the past, but not if it has a new name?
     
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  20. martin1656

    martin1656 Nat Pres stalwart Friend

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    Unfortunately for some, the name won't matter, they will say its the same old faces, and they will be right, across all the organisations, the same faces, seem to be prevalent, Now, I'm not saying these people have done a bad job, but some will be associated with whats gone on in the past, and for some, that will be enough to condemn them.
     
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