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. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2015
    Messages:
    6,075
    Likes Received:
    4,889
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Swanage
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    It would have been without the "or if not interested don’t comment ." remark at the end.
     
    alexl102, Andy Moody and free2grice like this.
  2. Bayard

    Bayard Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2015
    Messages:
    1,826
    Likes Received:
    3,871
    Gender:
    Male
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    That was @D7076 . I was referring to @1472 's comment, "Perhaps it is time to update your first hand knowledge?".
     
  3. Gunz412

    Gunz412 New Member Loco Owner

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2013
    Messages:
    79
    Likes Received:
    113
    Hi all,

    Is anyone aware of any preliminary dates for the Spring Gala?

    Thx
     
    1472 likes this.
  4. WesternRegionHampshireman

    WesternRegionHampshireman Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2021
    Messages:
    1,079
    Likes Received:
    198
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Hampshire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I'm afraid not, if I did, it would be in the 2023 events page. :(
     
  5. Hirn

    Hirn Member

    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2015
    Messages:
    462
    Likes Received:
    295
    Gender:
    Male
    I do concur. It had occurred to me that this was so when the Hymeks ran both on the on the West Somerset and in Cardiganshire. However to be fair to the Hymeks they didn't and they don't have axle hung traction motors: these are an appreciable weight, at best semi sprung vertically on the rails and, to keep the gearing in mesh, unsprung across them. Inherently hard on the track they caused major problems when the US railroads dieselised, really knocked the SR permanent way about as well as giving such a rough ride in the Brighton Belle and were one of one of the reasons there were so many batches of different AC locomotives when the West Coast mainline was electrified. So some slight extra axle load may have been quite admissible.

    It would be ironical if someone waved them through thinking they would strengthen the case to close the line by creating a big maintenance/renewals bill when in fact practically all the other likely alternative locomotives would have done it quicker.
     
  6. SebWelsh

    SebWelsh New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 15, 2014
    Messages:
    171
    Likes Received:
    987
    Gender:
    Male
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Hi,

    We are finalising Gala Dates 2023 at this evenings Gala Planning Team meeting. Expect to see something online fairly soon.

    Best wishes,
    Seb Welsh

    WSR Steam Gala Planning Team Chairman
     
    Gunz412, Crawley Ben, 1472 and 5 others like this.
  7. 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
    Two aspects make that clear.

    (1) The weight of rail used was clearly lighter.

    (2) The line to Watchet was laid out with the option for doubling firmly in mind. Watchet to Minehead shows no sign of anything but single track.

    Robin
     
  8. ikcdab

    ikcdab Member Friend

    Joined:
    Dec 12, 2006
    Messages:
    610
    Likes Received:
    1,849
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    WSRHT Trustee, Journal editor
    Location:
    Taunton
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    I now can't find the line you quote about cheapness in my book. But it is worth examining it. The WSR was 14.5 miles with an estimated cost of £160k, giving approx £11k per mile. The Minehead railway was 8 miles at £45k, thus £5600 per mile. I don't think intrinsically that one line was much different than the other in engineering difficulties. Both had cuttings and embankments and both had easy and difficult stretches. In fact Bilbrook cutting is the heaviest on the branch. So looking at the barest figures, the Minehead was cheaper than the WSR. Luttrell did gift some land to the Minehead company, but they still had to purchase 18 acres of land.
    I don't think we should confuse cheapness with slipshoddery. The minehead railway was well built, but they saved money by employing a low cost surveyor, tighter curves, steeper gradients and smaller stations. They paid the contractor in shares and screwed him down in cost to the extent that he went bankrupt.

    You are not right about rail weight, in fact you can't make a comparison. The WSR was laid with baulk road and bridge rail 62lb per yard. The Minehead line was laid with cross sleepers track and vignoles rail at 71lbs per yard. So you can't make an "apples and pears" comparison.

    So yes, the Minehead line was more cheaply laid out than the WSR, but not lacking in build quality.

    Ian Coleby
     
    Maunsell907, Aberdare, Steve and 3 others like this.
  9. 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
    I haven’t quoted your book.

    The build quality difference is obvious if you look at photos of the permanent way as built. The substantial baulk road is, overall, considerably more substantial than the extension to Minehead.
     
  10. ikcdab

    ikcdab Member Friend

    Joined:
    Dec 12, 2006
    Messages:
    610
    Likes Received:
    1,849
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    WSRHT Trustee, Journal editor
    Location:
    Taunton
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    I was referring back to the quote you have from @Paul42 ..... Nested quotes!
    I guess the point you make is indisputable, baulk road is more substantial which is why Brunel designed it. Nevertheless, 71lbs rail is only marginally lighter than standard 85lbs bullhead rail used latterly by the GWR and was normal for its time.
    Ian C
     
  11. 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
    I like your use of the word 'marginally'. 16% lighter is what we are talking about. That's about the same as the difference in weight between a King and a Hall!
     
    Sunnieboy and Spitfire like this.
  12. ikcdab

    ikcdab Member Friend

    Joined:
    Dec 12, 2006
    Messages:
    610
    Likes Received:
    1,849
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    WSRHT Trustee, Journal editor
    Location:
    Taunton
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    good challenge! But aren't a hall and a king basically the same thing anyway?
    Ian
     
  13. johnofwessex

    johnofwessex Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2015
    Messages:
    9,185
    Likes Received:
    7,226
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Thorn in my managers side
    Location:
    72
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    What the 1.3L V XR3i?
     
  14. 21B

    21B Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2009
    Messages:
    2,944
    Likes Received:
    6,303
    More like XR3i v RS Turbo. And the non turbo would do 90% or more of what the RS Turbo could do, in the real world.
     
  15. Chris86

    Chris86 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 31, 2011
    Messages:
    1,328
    Likes Received:
    1,315
    Occupation:
    Safety, Technical and Offroad Driver Trainer
    Location:
    South Yorkshore
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I'd have gone with Sierra XR4i vs Granada Scorpio Cosworth.....
     
  16. johnofwessex

    johnofwessex Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2015
    Messages:
    9,185
    Likes Received:
    7,226
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Thorn in my managers side
    Location:
    72
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I have been told that if a GWR driver wanted speed the loco of choice was a Hall
     
  17. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2008
    Messages:
    26,100
    Likes Received:
    57,416
    Location:
    LBSC 215
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Oh, I thought they just shortened the distance between mileposts and contracted a friendly Kiwi journalist with a dodgy stopwatch ...

    Tom
     
    242A1, Steve, 35B and 4 others like this.
  18. 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
    Please......don't go there. Near the end of steam on the Southern there was an enthusiast who always seemed to create logs of loco performances that bore no relationship with reality. Fortunately the world was full of others with a more accurate interpretation of what was going on. But it did help him enhance his stories to his followers at Waterloo.
     
  19. Paulthehitch

    Paulthehitch Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 2020
    Messages:
    1,090
    Likes Received:
    1,093
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Hayling Island
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    The stopwatch school of railway enthusiasm needs a degree of caution!
     
    The Dainton Banker likes this.
  20. MellishR

    MellishR Resident of Nat Pres Friend

    Joined:
    Apr 16, 2009
    Messages:
    8,068
    Likes Received:
    5,164
    Isn't the received wisdom that the 2-cylinder locos with Stephenson's gear were better than the 4-cylinder ones for low-speed slogging? For speed, the Castles' larger driving wheels and better balancing should make them better. Why might drivers' perceptions have been different?
    BTW what has this to do with a 25 mph heritage railway where the track is at present not considered good enough for either of those classes?
     
    Paulthehitch likes this.

Share This Page