Wensleydale Railway Matters

I think that one very important thing has now changed, if I have read everything correctly. The railway now acknowledges that the 'community railway' ideal isn't as easily achieved as hoped, and it's now more of a 'heritage railway'. That's accepting reality, and has to be applauded, but one does have to wonder what would have happened had there not been infrastructure damage between Leeming and Northallerton, & then the enforced and expensive modifications to automatic crossings, thanks to idiots who couldn't follow the Highway Code.

 

Interesting imponderables, but IMHO the changes to crossing standards were just a matter of timing given a number of incidents and RAIB reports - that for an incident near Finningley a few years ago in particular.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Agreed - but the timing was very unfortunate for the WR.

 

Accepted entirely


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

<Devil's Advocate again> What if it's someone famous, say one of the many high profile musicians known to be railway enthusiasts? (Not everyone is as publicity-hungry as Waterman)
Or perhaps a Lottery winner? (who wants to avoid the inevitable avalanche of begging letters if their identity and property becomes public knowledge)

I'm just saying that as a private individual they may have any number of perfectly valid reasons to remain exactly that - private. There is no law saying that they should be public about their identity and, whatever the perceived rights and wrongs of the situation, that should be respected.

It's rather a shame that it took them so long to realise that the word 'community railway' is so often bandied about, but so far not one railway has succeeded in being one.

 

Whilst from the viewpoint of the buyer he may have every desire and right to remain private, I suggest from the perspective of the railway's shareholders and supporters, without whom the railway would not exist, the situation is morally somewhat different!

 

Say you did find out who it was, what difference would it actually make? It was railway scrap dealers who ensured that many steam locos and 20189 survived... yet it was a bloke who ran a corner shop that allegedly ruined the Teifi Valley and a railway fan who initially bought a number of ex-BR diesels, many of which seem to have subsequently spent years turning to piles of brown oxidisation around the country.

The fact is you can't have one rule for one and one for another. They have a right to have their privacy respected if it's what they want. And until such time as they are prepared to identify themselves any amount of complaining and attempts to nag, cajole and bully them into doing so is only going to pi** them off and be likely to build barriers, not bridges.

 

The difference, in the context of this transaction, is that the shareholders would have had a more informed basis on which to judge the balance of risk in the transaction. "Trust me, we know what the right thing to do is" as the response to reasonable questions from those with a genuine interest tends to have the opposite effect to that intended.

I am a very minor shareholder in an organisation that sold a locomotive some years ago. The open way in which the transaction was addressed with shareholders (including the identity of the buyer and their plans), and the willingness to take feedback, were important parts of ensuring that the sale went smoothly and with a minimum of disruption.

 

Having followed this thread, why was Aysgarth sold below market value? Unless there was a covenant put on it....

 

It would seem from the thread that the seller needed the cash sufficiently urgently that cash in the hand now is worth more than a market price at an unknown time in the future.

 

Other railway Fora, that have threads about Aysgarth, make no mention of selling 'below market value'. In fact the news reports, quoted on this Forum suggest £400.000 as near the market price. However. given the unknown buyer is interested in purchasing the place and suggestions on other fora concerning a group, with connections to the railway, actively trying to raise funds also for purchase of Aysgarth, suggests that the place is not being undersold.

 

Make your own mind up about value.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/Aysgarth.html

Sawdust.

 

I take the point, but not everyone is a crook and there is a tendency amongst railway enthusiasts to regard everyone who they have no proof share their precise, narrow view of things as either an idiot or a villain, in this case casting them to the pits of Hades before this person has even had a chance to actually do anything.

Can you imagine if Barry happened now? I bet Dai Woodham would be be castigated to hell and back for being a dastardly scrap dealer... yet if it hadn't been for him railway preservation would be far worse off than it is now.

Whatever happened to the benefit of the doubt?

Just as well it's not here in Scotlandshire, where the housing market works on the 'offers above' principle!

 

From the outside, it's hard to know - but trust is hard to win and easy to lose. And as property has been involved in the odd high profile dispute around preserved railways (I seem to remember a couple of quite, erm, interesting threads here that related to an alleged property transaction), I think it would be harsh to critcise the doubters too strongly.

 

Shareholders voted to sell Aysgarth:

http://www.richmondshiretoday.co.uk...ers-vote-favour-selling-off-aysgarth-station/

David R

 

Struggling to understand the prices quoted. £600,000. Is that for the whole of the oop north or just civilised areas of it?

 

If you think that's pricey, try looking at Harrogate and York.

Sawdust.

 

And there's me thinking the two were the same...............

 

The latest round of photos of general goings on from September are up, nice to see a concerted effort to tackle linespeed restrictions that have plagued the railway are still being seen to. Going to pre-judge here but I notice no photos of aysgarth this month, I I,aging the recent announcement has rather taken the wind out of the sails of the station group, without steady upkeep the site will quickly start looking bad.

https://photos.wr-rail-link.co.uk/2017/2017-09.php?id=1507084822#nogo"

 

Good News!
The Wensleydale Railway has received initial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund in order to restore Leeming Bar Station.
Source:
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/ne...ser_to_restoration_thanks_to_Lottery_support/