West Somerset Railway General Discussion

What was the name of the guy in the glasses & beret? also the guy left wearing the greasetop? They both gave me a lot of help & advice when i first started, along with the others in the photo of course!


19.3.89
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Sort of, the only one I have to hand at the moment on my pad, should have more on my pc if I can get it going

 

I knew I should have looked it up.

What do you call someone who sees conspiracy theorists everywhere? However, it is hardly a conspiracy theory to think that an organisation's website would represent the picture that that organisation wishes to portray.

 

Are you suggesting the financial information such as the council's audited accounts on the website are not accurate? That is what you seemed to be implying. You need to look at the facts rather than your assumtions as the latter are very wide of the reality.

 

Easy.

That’s a conspiracy theorist conspiracy theorist - but they only exist theoretically.

Robin

 

I too don't believe in public bloodletting , I am a member of The WSRA , there must be more remote members , but on this rock in the Irish Sea I do feel remote enough .

Paul . K

 

And then only in the fourth dimension.

 

Interesting to note the following story from today's West Somerset Free Press.

http://www.wsfp.co.uk/article.cfm?i... at risk again&sectionIs=news&searchyear=2017

The fact that two local bus companies have gone bust in the last year, along with the First Bus statement that passenger levels are falling does not bode well for public transport in Somerset.It makes it even more inlikely that SCC would subsidise any public local rail service.

 

It was about as accurate as his other ill-informed comments.

 

Thanks Robin, I am not well read on modern items so missed the humerous bit.

 

May I have a word about demand for a commuter service from MD to TN. In the early days when the branch was being negotiated the bus company staff were in uproar as their jobs were being taken. I was uncomfortably close to this as my father was the depot inspector of the Western National in TN. When the railway stopped trains the bus company had to order 7 new double deckers which operated the TN MD (Butlins) run always 2 round trips and sometimes 3. The staff loved the overtime and this was what was really threatened. The busmen in TN were always NUR members and they won the day and there was no possibility of a rail link being established. A rough estimate would be of 1000 people on a Saturday being move to MD and 1000 being moved back. That was 1970/71 and despite the odd few people using the train in the summer season to access Butlins today's visitor uses the car. With respect to a commuter service for MD to TN and return it is often stated that the traffic is horrendous at Cross Keys Inn (A358 meets B3227). It certainly is but by far the largest number of commuters are from Bishops Lydeard and it would be simple to have the Cardiff TN train service extended to BL and all the necessary signalling is in place.
Personally I think, like Peter and Steven, this is pie in the sky. You could not maintain a train service in the 60s when cars were less popular so what makes people think they could do it now.
Lets spend the money on something important like supporting community nurses and police that have been cut to the bone.

 

Very good Micheal but you have forgotten, or did not know, that the Chairman is also the line manager for the GM so he does have a sort of CEO role.

 

Sadly the WSR plc website has just posted Ben Grellier's resignation from the Board. Speaking personally I found Ben a breath of fresh air when he joined earlier this year. He brought a new vitality among the 'old men'. He chose a very difficult role as well as being a highly respected Guard. As he works in London often throughout the night he must have been burning the candle at both ends. I would like to place on record my sincere thanks for his involvement that was bearing fruit. Fortunately he is remaining as a Guard and will assist the Board in implementing some of the measures being introduced.

 

Is this a third resignation?

Thanks

Steven

 

It is the fourth since October.

 

This reflects exactly what I remember being told in Minehead in 1975 ..... and quite a few folks still had no car in the mid 70's. This was a time when the Isle of Wight line still fielded full 7 car trains (VEC+TIS) and 8 car peak sevices (mostly of 2 car DMMU's) roamed the Cambrian Coast Line. Compare that with today, when anything more that a single 2 car unit being seen at either location is a rarity.

In Somerset, there may be some mileage in the idea of extending Cardiff - Taunton services to BL during the summer, it may even help address pathing issues on the big railway, but reintegrating Minehead services is another question entirely.

Currently, there's a very successful (principally) steam operation on a route requiring zero subsidy, operating alongside a bus service which does. These attract very different markets and I can think of no location where trains cost less to subsidise than buses and as others have pointed out, local authorities have severe problems stretching current funding for buses.

Here's a question .... during the four decades the WSR has operated, has SCC once looked at commissioning rail services, for any period, to relieve road traffic when roadworks or some large event has pushed the road network beyond capacity? I don't recall any examples. Considering the southern end of the line is in an area prone to flooding, this alone should tell us something.

It matters not a jot which third party hatches plans for commercial services, because the local demographic is the local demographic. The horrible truth is, that unless road access to/from Taunton and the M5 becomes so choked with traffic as to require major road improvements, there's simply no need for, or realistic possiblility of regular network services.

Want another example? Take the Isle of Man, where even with roads choked on a predictable annual basis and several closed to traffic by the TT, efforts to cover the period with railway services haven't brought floods of local residents back to the trains. The annual 'Rush Hour' event brings far more frequent trains, but no corresponding increase in local tpassengers. I'm certain @marshall5 could comment far more authoritatively on this example.

So, will those holding the purse strings look seriously at replacing a bus subsidy with a far larger rail subsidy, when a (possibly the) major tourist attraction in the area would be severely curtailed by doing so? Can't see it somehow.

 

Thank you. I was merely reflecting my understanding of the FRC's April 2016 - UK Corporate Governance Code and also, but I appreciate since it is over two decades past it may lack credibility, my personal experience.

I asked a question ? I did not I think indicate, or certainly I did not intend to, either knowledge or ignorance.

Michael Rowe

 

Thats all very well talking about extending Cardiff to BL . But would you really want that to take away badly need car spaces for the current WSR services ??

 

The suggestion that they only exist theoretically is the conspiracy.