West Somerset Railway General Discussion

The Western Roman empire did, but the Eastern, also known as the Byzantine empire, continued until 1453 when conquered by the Ottomans.

 

I stand corrected.

 

Very droll!

 

The Railhub timetables do not suggest any paths for the QB operation. Perhaps the writer has never heard of this. Pity - I enjoyed an excellent breakfast at the ASG this year.

 

Its no disrespect to the person who wrote it as clearly he has put a lot of work into it. However he also doesn't cover Gala timetables, SEC's, QB's, Light engine moves, specials ECS's, stock coming off the mainline for work at williton, mainline specials, photo charters, pway trains, ballast trains to NF, murder mysteries, dunster by candle light, santa's, etc. etc. Having been around the WSR for a couple of years I have been very surprised as to how many trains run in addition to just the normal services. It is however a good article as it focuses on the mainline issues as well.

So perhaps all could have a win here as clearly to run any form of commuter trains its going to need a dedicated line on the up side of the mainlines into the Taunton bay, a loop at Leigh Woods & Kentsford as well most likely re-doubling the line between Dunster and Minehead in order to give the necessary line capacity. So turning that round the other way once the Minehead CoC have funded the £50 million or so that would cost the WSR could run its steam services into Taunton bay as its not on the mainline and have plenty of capacity for intense gala timetables. Just a thought.

 

Only after getting all the motive power mainline certified.

 

That would depend on whether you called it extending Network Rail metals or extending WSR metals into Taunton ? Afterall you would not need to touch NR on the up side with a run round in the bay

 

Sadly the NR metals start at the boundary of the NF site. Shame really!

 

Surely it would still have to cross the NR tracks. However the whole scheme is clearly fantasy so we can forget it.

 

No, the up side would not have to touch NR mainlines into Taunton station and the Bay on that side also has the width and length for a run round all without touching the rest of the station. But as you say perhaps a fantasy as others have said it would need realignment of the current mainlines and moving lots of wiring and cabinets, however if Minehead CoC have the funding when why not. Much more viable would be a new station at NF on the mainline to act as an interchange station especially given the house building in the area thats planned.

 

I have spoken personally to the manager of the Pink Porcines Aerobatic Display team, currently at their winter quarters in the Bahamas, and he says that MCOC cannot afford their fees, and in any case it is too damn cold!.

 

The old Minehead/Barnstaple arrival bay lacks the length to run around the train unless the train is about one to two coaches long (the platform will take about 6 coaches and the engine) due to the shape of the bay and Railway Street the other side of the fence. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.0235954,-3.1055076,129m/data=!3m1!1e3 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.0...4!1sbQg7wT29fPsObhpjd6HPAg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.0...4!1sUkNb9KOkMbxl39Nn7F2zbA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 So the train will have to be a DMU or a Auto train. With the old carriage sidings area blocked by the new 40 steps ramps etc https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.0239091,-3.1100242,129m/data=!3m1!1e3 the best place for the WSR platform has gone for a 8 carriage train to be run around. Yes in the old days when there was a station pilot to move the carriages out of the bay platform to release the engine the lack of the run around wasn't a problem.

 

The Railnews article was interesting but it will go nowhere and rightly so. One other aspect is that there is an assumption every train runs to time. That is both on the 09.03 arrival from Paddington connecting to the 09.10 to Minehead and also within the WSR. Let’s be honest, perfection is some way off and so the compromise timetables “lack resilience”.

Let’s see how the West Mids franchise to Bewdley works out. If it foes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

A couple of things I have not seen mentioned regarding the MCOC proposals and that is whether there is a need for a bay for Minehead - Taunton trains. The MCOC website has it in mind, it seems, for trains to call at Taunton to and from Bridgewater, Bristol and Cardiff.
Another matter is that I do not believe the MCOC believe they, or any organization in Minehead would foot the bill, that would be down to County and national Government.
I doubt present government thinking would be too interested in this but a change of government and political views......now, there a different ball game.

 

Don't forget the cost of installing the water crane(s) at Taunton should we wish to run steam services. They would be a great advert to the passing public.

 

And useful for refilling the overhead tanks on the new 802 units used to provide free showers for seated business class customers.

Robin

 

This comment shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the application that Andy is spearheading for our Railway.

It is much more than fundraising. It is a bid for support for a specific project of great assistance to our Railway from the resources set aside for our area as part of the amazing engineering project that is Hinkley C.

It may be known that I am honoured to have been appointed one of the two independent members on the Award Panel that will consider such applications and which is determined to ensure that the resource is made the the best possible use of for our communities. As such, under the Nolan principles, I will not have a say on any award to the WSR.

But supporters can be assured that Andy has in spades the skills to make an effective bid / run an effective project.

The fund will have of the order of £20M to award over the next decade or so.

Robin

 

Is this still happening?

Patrick