West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I must have passed this crane hundreds of times when I was there, & I always thought wonder when that'll be done , if at all. Nice to hear its being restored now. I bet there's not many hand left now ,possibly unique? As said above , typical of a country station in a time that was talked about a few pages back in that we need to do more about the heritage aspect.

 

Nick 813 - PM sent

Preserve, Conserve, Restore, Present.

I think the 813 Fund is to be given credit for at the very least saving these historic goods vehicles.
I suspect many would otherwise have gone for scrap & then they simply would not exist for later generations.
The same goes for those who saved, for example, the Sleeping Car & assembled the Heritage fleet of carriages.
Having said that, I realise they are not of great commercial use in the day-to-day operation, but they are all of historic & especially educational significance.

What would it take to build a simple storage-only shed at Williton? On the face of it, Sherrings yard might accommodate a pretty good size building that could house the Heritage fleet & many of the goods vehicles. The tight-radius curves needed would be less of a concern to the 4-wheelers.

As many have said, Dunster would be an ideal spot to re-create a typical goods yard.

For the critical permanent-way crews, is there any possibility of an acre or so of land being acquired down in the valley at the Watchet paper mill site? Is reinstating the rail connection there out of the question?

Just some thoughts..............

 

There are a few around - a restored SR six wheel crane on the Bluebell (that was restored by a very young group several of whom went on to further restoration projects); a six wheel GWR crane at Didcot and - probably rarest of all - a six wheel crane purchased second hand by the IWCR from the Midland Railway now preserved at Haven Street - well over 150 years old that one. There may be a few others: I don't think the VCT database is complete, or at least if it is, it is hard to search definitively.

Once they are gone, they are gone...

Tom

 

Well the I.O.W.S.R. has the former I.W.C.Rly, ex M.R. six wheeled hand crane, currently on display under cover in "Train Story" It awaits restoration but the match wagon has been rebuilt. Currently the latter is a display venue for the large 1898 vee fronted clock from Portsmouth Harbour which has been restored to working order.

PH

 

A new interesting experience at MD booking office today.
A well turned out nicely spoken boy, age approx 11, came to the window.
"Please could I have two vanilla cones with flakes?"
Looks through the window.
"Oh, b-----, I've come to the wrong place."

Its all helps to make the WSR experience so much fun.
There is of course an ice cream van 20 yards away.

 

Sounds like a public schoolboy!

 

This is a specific instance of a general point that has been discussed before, which is the tussle between economics and heritage/enthusiasm. Nobody buys shares of, say, the GWSR, because they expect a good return on their money; they do it to support a heritage railway.

So I wouldn't judge the wagons solely on the economics. Yes, one has to make sure the expense doesn't harm the railway, but past that, if there are a group of people who think they are important and are willing to restore/care for them, more power to them, is my attitude.

Noel

 

Where are they? This is ther crucial question. In the last ten years the size of the linear scrapyard has not noticably reduced.

 

If it is any consolation (I don't suppose it is) this is a real endemic problem among tourist railways and by no means confined to the W.S.R. So many just don't seem to get it.

Paul H

 

How much effort has been made to find them? I reckon if an advert was put out, that also said the money was in place specifically for the wagons and couldn't be spent on other things (813 wagons) you'd have a few folk interested. Wagons are satisfying to restore as they're relatively quick wins in the grand scheme of things, and they can be much more personal than a coach where it might require a large team of differently skilled people to restore one, you only need one or two skilled people and a few folk willing to help.

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Lets see what has changed in say a year's time, no need to send the scrap man round just yet!

Jeff

 

I am not a liberty to reply as I would like.

 

At least two on the Isle of Man One at Union Mills on the Manx Steam Railway and the other was rescued from Ramsey Docks and now lives at Jurby Transport Museum .

Paul . K

 

Hasn't Diddycot got a broad gauge one?......

 

I'm surprised that wagon restorers can't be found at the WSR. At most railways there seem to be loads of them, because wagons don't take long to do (you don't have to wait years to have a brake van ride behind them) and they are a lot easier and cheaper than locos or carriages. Sadly, this is mainly true of 1950s era wagons, so most demonstration freights all look much the same. It would be good if wagon restorers generally would go that bit further back in time and do more pre-BR stuff.

 

I agree on all points raised!

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Really?......

Just how long do you think a 'wagon' takes to do?.........

OK, they may not take as long as a loco or a coach, BUT it depends on its size & condition - we Wangonista's on the MHR have all sorts on our hands - for instance, a lot are privately owned & if the owner doesn't stump up the cash, we aren't going to do it.... then you have the likes of the BY van C that was planned to be in traffic years ago,5 years or so later it still ain;t finished, next year, maybe...... a recent out shop was a BR Brake that took almost 2 years & that was a refurb - you do the math........

 

Absolutely, but it assumes that the 'pre-BR' stuff still exists.
That's exactly why the efforts of the 813 Fund & others, to at the very least have saved & conserved their vehicles is so laudable.

 

Wagons.

Over the years it has been possible to rationalise the wagon fleet of the WSR and part with those which do not have a place or future on the railway. Most are owned privately or by independent groups, the 813 Fund being the owner of the largest group with 17 on the railway. Nearly all of those that remain do have a role to play either as part of the PW fleet (dogfish/catfish/ELK's/turbots), as part of the operational heritage goods train (vans/opens/GP van/ Rectanks etc), or as historical static vehicles in their own right (5 plank open at Minehead by the turntable). Of those that are unrestored only a couple of ex PBA flats (tank wagons) are out of place and need to go. The present operational fleet does indirectly earn the railway more money that might be expected, without them footplate experience courses (steam and diesel) would not be possible, gala goods trains, photographic charters as well.

The basic problem that the WSR has is that although funds exist or would be forthcoming to cover most of the work, and the small group of existing volunteers would likely expand, at present there is no suitable site for a wagon group to move into as a base. The reason for this is that all existing sites are normally fully committed to other work. Wagon restoration and overhaul does happen but it is usually squeezed in between other projects at sites along the railway, BL RAMS group, BL Loco, DEPG at WN, WS Restorations at WN, S&D Trust at WD, MD loco, MD C&W have all done their bit on occasions but until a permanent home and building on a suitable site can be identified the work will continue to be ad hoc.

Sites that may seem suitable can be ruled out for a variety of reasons, Norton for example may seem ok but it has a vandalism/theft problem and building on site will not be permitted due to it forming part of the flood prevention arrangements for the river Tone upstream of Taunton. Although the WSR is long it has never had sufficient land for peripheral activities. A local farm has been suggested but the topography of the region also presents problems as Robin White found years ago when trying to find a suitable site to store the Toplight vehicles he had acquired for the heritage carriages project.

Storage under cover would be an ideal but at present there is not even sufficient siding space to keep all the existing vehicles at one site to display.

One day all this could change, given the will power to do it.

Andy.

PS. The suggestion that Minehead's proximity to the sea causes increased corrosion is not borne out in practice due to the prevailing winds being overland from the South West, unprotected material stored at BL corrodes just as rapidly as at MD.

 

What the WSR needs is a short rake of MGR's as they don't need to be undercover which of course would mean then they would have to get a nice 56