West Somerset Autumn Steam Gala - 5th to 8th October 2017

Where there any lorries on display at washford?

 

7 shots from my rather frustrating visit on Thursday... frustrating because despite a promising weather forecast, whenever the Standard 4 turned up, the sun went in behind the only cloud in the sky and then reappeared as the last coach passed. Out of 7 locations I got to for the Standard, 5 of them had this exact thing happen.

Never mind, the light at Castle Hill at the end of the day more than made up for it!



James

 

Please note that the workshops at Williton are not open as was previously advertised, though the diesel and electric group shed is if that's your thing

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

 

My video of the Autumn Gala filmed on the first two days:

 

Well, it was nice to meat @QBSteward - and be impressed by the hard work he puts in - and now I know why WSR Catering shuts at 16.30

We got the penultimate train back from MD by now an hour late good job I decided not to stick with the original plan & go for the last

But a good day

 

Very good thanks! For my ears, a Manor produces some sweet, sweet music!

 

Almost like being there , thank you very much . I did see some locations I hadn't seen before along with old favourites , great photograpy thanks again .

 

Would that be any heavier than its sister 6024 that is as I understand it in Minehead shed ?

 

I maybe considered a bit strange but I do like to see Western locos in lined green .

 

Yes I ended up missing the planned bus back to Taunton and therefore my planned train to start the journey home. There were a number of causes of the late running but primarily the over ambitious timetable plus running times too tight. It needs a rethink for future Galas. The only loco which came anywhere near keeping time was 53809 as it was driven hard up hill. It went wrong almost from the start when the 0945 train was held for the 0946 bus arrival from Taunton from which a number of people transferred. This has happened before so why not plan for a 0955 departure and then ease the timetable out from there, maybe missing a trip out to leave a recovery gap. 7822 then lost time throughout and from this the day never recovered. It was though a good day and no other heritage line has the long climbs and atmosphere of the WSRly which is why I go at least once a year every year. The on train staff were brilliant as usual

 

I think that if there were no PW speed restrictions, the timetable would have held up better. The main culprit at present is the long 10 mph alongside Minehead sewerage works which means a couple of minutes is added to the time between there and Dunster. Maybe this will demonstrate to those who say the hourly timetable is too slack that changing it to a 55 minute one makes a world of difference!

 

I agree they don't help though 7822 on the 0945 was late long before that and lost time the whole way. The tsr over the bridge near Milepost 183 is a real killer as it was taken very steadily yesterday and is at the foot of the 1 in 65 up to Washford. 44422 nearly didn't make it on the 1135 as it was slipping on the damp rails not having had a chance for a run at it. In the interests of some certainty especially for those of us who prefer to use train/bus to get there and thus avoid a long drive, I think a more robust timetable would be a good idea. Neverthless thanks to all at the WSRly for a good day and the sun finally came out.

 

Delays had already occurred before that, the problem seeming to be the lack of time between the freight arriving at Minehead and the first passenger service departing.

 

Agree with Don on this. While late running doesn't exactly ruin the day for me (especially as I drive to these events) I am a bit of a stickler for timekeeping and much prefer things to run as planned! It's a bit frustrating really - I thought they'd sorted out the timetabling issues on the WSR some years ago by creating the hourly timetable. I know some people said it was boring, but on the whole it worked. It allowed for a bit of recovery time and was also easy to remember when things were going to happen. I don't know why they have dropped it. I was also on the 0945 yesterday and can't say I was too impressed with 7822's performance - it seemed to be struggling at times. In comparison 7820 seemed to be in really good form later in the day.

 

On balance I think a standard clock face timetable would be better. If a non stop is run to add some variety then maybe the first train of the day in either direction, and not in the middle of the day. An added complication now is Norton Fitzwarren which wasn't there a few years ago.

 

Couldn't understand the point of running the Goods BL-MD at such an early time anyway to just sit in the siding all day, surely a MD-BL goods would have been a better idea?

 

Perhaps, but once it gets to BL, what should it do then? Sit there all day and work back to MD at the end of the day when everyone has gone home and its getting dark? Or wait till the next day and work BL - MD early in the morning? With hindsight, Saturday night's goods should not have been in the timetable, it could have worked to BL first thing Sunday before the first departure from MD at 1030.

 

Had a decent day yesterday, the timetable was over ambitious really with the Goods running so early in the morning and needing to go the full line with so little room for error.

The amount of TSR/PSRs between Blue Anchor and Williton didn't help and I can't believe a more ambitious timetable was approved with these factors alone.

I do not see the point of dispatching trains from Minehead ASAP when a late arrival has occurred. The train just then waits at Blue Anchor for a long time. The 1600 departed within 10mins of arriving and I nearly missed it as a result. It seemed the train crew were caught out a little too. Yes I understand the railway wants to minimise delays but that is silly, especially not being in communication with the station announcements. The train arrived more minutes later at BL than it did leaving MD, and just missed the last 1804 bus back to Taunton.

The non stop runs as pointed out should probably be at different times as well. Could we have more services to Norton, even if it is a 'local'/DMU centre car and brakevan?

 

Well seeing as most people start their day, if coming for the day at BL, more people would see the Goods train running! Also gives a chance to catch the first train and get off and see it coming the other way (although it was a limited stop, with the first being Williton yesterday), also means less is put on the Goods running to time and not throwing the whole day out! It could have done what it did at the Spring Gala, be taken to Norton and a run up to Crowcombe.. but what do I know.

 

[QUOTE="gricerdon, post: 1947813, member: 20534"It went wrong almost from the start when the 0945 train was held for the 0946 bus arrival from Taunton from which a number of people transferred.[/QUOTE]

Wow, I didn't realise that and was on the train. It was tight enough, but I guess we were still held at Williton so it didn't mean anything ultimately, but if it is advertised as a 0945 departure people should not be expecting to arrive on a bus at 0946 and catch the train.