West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I presume that contractors are involved in such major works, even if only for deliveries and waste removal. I know from experience** that some/many working people are reluctant to be photographed whilst at work.

Possibly it is just a matter of being considerate to the feelings of those being pictured, who may not be volunteers/enthusiasts.

(** As a bus driver I welcome being photographed at work, but many drivers do not.)

 

It could boil down to basically trying to protect the equipment. Many a picture has gone into the public domain that shows far too much, eg the sheds or dismantled loco. The wrong people see them and think they've hit the jackpot.

 

Given that both sites are readily viewable from public roads this argument does not really hold water. Any site like these is already an obvious target. Sounds more like a jobsworth decision to me.

 

Putting it on the internet would give it a wider audience though. However, whilst I wouldn't be quite as forthright as Yorkshireman (!) I do agree with him, I don't really see why it's necessary to withhold photos. GWSR is doing a winter track renewal and we get new pictures twice a week or so showing us what's going on on Nigel's excellent Flickr site, and as an interlude on Jo's extension blog. And of course we're always blogging about our various volunteering activities anyway, inside the loco shed, C+W works, S&T, Broadway etc. etc. With no real problems and the public love it, and we suspect it does lead to increased goodwill, patronage and donations!

 

No. Not at all.
If the person in charge decides that there is no site access for photographers then so be it.


If the person who made the decision reads this website then I fully support your decision and don't be influenced by the "experts" on here.

 

Nothing to stop anyone to photograph the site from public land.

 

That is my point. Many of the shots Robin has taken show scenes that could just as well have been made from public places. Having allowed Robin access for two years to the Williton site why should she not be permitted to continue to do so? From what I have heard from my contacts it is an arbitrary decision. If not then let us hear from the decision maker. I don't claim any particular expertise in the field but have just asked reasonable questions so no need for snide remarks Steve 1015. Everyone is entitled to their own point of view. The WSR benefits greatly from the photos provided by Robin and others.

 

Robins posts been fantastic and very informative. I've always enjoyed her posts, but understand the decision. Look forward to seeing completed work later this year.

 

I like to see photos & reports of works going on , on the railway. As an ex volunteer for 23 years I like to keep in touch , but the WSR has been in the past a little weary of people wanting to know things even quite innocently, that overiding attitude was one of the reasons I left ,amongs others. I' afraid I cant see the problem, its just drainage work after all!

 

I hadn't intended to comment further, but given the number of public (and private) comments I have received today, I will make one further comment.

But before I do, I want to make clear that nothing I say should be taken as criticism of the WSR Infrastructure Department who are tackling, for them, very significant projects this winter. They must be allowed to get on with it in their own way. They bear considerable responsibility and must be supported.

I will say that, as a former shift station manager at Waterloo, someone who spent many weekends as Operations supervisor on extensive engineering works in Kent and Sussex, including relays in difficult circumstances such as through the tunnels at Hastings, and projects such as station rebuildings and the Dover train ferry, and who managed safety on 125 mph, 3rd rail and overhead electric lines, I do have a small understanding of railway safety.

On heritage railways it is also particularly important to keep ones stakeholders, including volunteers, shareholders and potential donors connected with the work of the Railway. This is especially true of engineering work or work away from public areas to which folk not appropriately qualified do not normally have access. Many heritage railways could do better at this. I try to do that with my photographs, which are rarely standard locomotive or train photos but rather try to concentrate on our people and significant changes, work or events. They will continue to be found on www.wsr.org.uk and occasionally here.

Kind regards

Robin White

 

Job searching and came across advertisement for dentists in Wellington, which says Wellington was voted 3rd best place to live in the U.K... and also

• Home to the Weston Somerset Railways (Steam and Diesel Trains) and canal barge trips in Tiverton

Didn't know that there was a Weston steam railway?

 

The Ffestiniog Railway has three good webcams, at Harbour Station, Mynffordd and Tan-y-Bwlch.The cams at Harbour and Tan-y-Bwlch have been switched off completely during January because of infrastructure work being ongoing, but as of today (Sun) all are back on again. ( See http://www.festrail.co.uk/webcam.htm ) From previous statements, I gather the volunteers don't appreciate being watched and commented on.

Not that much is going on, no trains until March, but it's good to see the liquid sunshine of North Wales again.

 

For many years I've been working in somewhat dodgy areas of the world where unwanted visitors, bearing machine guns, were a possible threat to rail development sites. Fortunately none of the aforementioned visitor threats ever came close to reality. However, in many instances we worked in security controlled conditions and were prohibited from photographing or writing about our locations and the tasks we were undertaking. This my colleagues and myself accepted in the interests of both staying alive and of receiving a generous pay off at the end of a contract.

Thus I cannot understand the alleged current attitude of the WSR infrastructure managers towards preventing Robin White and others taking and publishing photos and updates of track bed work at Minehead. Is it possible that the work at Minehead is under threat from the Taliban, ISIS, BIFF or even more obscure groups such as the toxic WSRA Freedom Advocates, of whom it is suggested, have headquarters located in a bedroom somewhere in downtown Minehead.

Both the GWSR and the Bluebell Railways are undertaking heavy engineering work during this year's closedown. Pictures of these activities are plastered on their own websites and on the sites of their supporters. What does the WSR do? It prevents one of its most active supporters from promoting developments and encouraging further interest in what is an important part of the heritage rail movement.

I am left asking myself "Do the WSR infrastructure people operate in a parallel world to that occupied by all other WSR stake holders"? I think that an answer is overdue from the appropriate person.

Jamie Glover.

 

Do they mean the Westonzoyland Pumping Station railway?

 

Phew! At last a discussion you can really get your teeth into!

Robin

 

As someone who worked in similar conditions abroad ( Angola, Vietnam, Borneo etc) I fully agree with Jamie's post. The WSR is a preserved railway that needs volunteers. To get the interest to get involved they need to see all work activities and to day this must include off site as well as on site opportunities. The Infrastructure Manager might well be a 'good chap' within his work discipline but he also needs to understand the importance of publicity and interest generation from the public as well. What's he trying to hide for Gods sake?

 

Come to think of it, he hasn't twattered any pictures himself for a while, he did used to and they were re-twattered on wsr.org

 

For those who like that sort of thing, more tosh on the 'WSRA hysteria' site today - both the 'news' section and the 'who's who' part.

Robin

 

RAOTFLOLPMP! How do they think it up?

 

Rather worrying to read that the trustees are wasting their time perusing the X6.

I'd have thought that they would have seen enough of them by now