West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Well done by the PLC for including Spring Steam Gala flyers with the subscriber copies of Railway Magazine. I wonder if that is nationwide or area-specific?

 

They're also being circulated with the new Heritage Railway

 

And just to totally confuse the issue, in Naval terminology a sheet is a rope. Specifically to adjust the 'lie' of a sail. Hence when all is in disarray one is said to be 'three sheets to the wind'.

 

Mark Hill, now in charge of Marketing, has brought a breath of fresh air to the job.


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WSR say "Doniford Station will be closed this weekend and trains will not be stopping. We are sorry for any inconvenience."



( sorry for thread drift )

Steve

 

Dunster Station Sign

Regrettably, this will not be coming home to Somerset. It sold at the GCR auction today for £1550 to a private collector.

The West Somerset Steam Railway Trust is very grateful to WSR supporters who made pledges to allow the Trust to attempt to acquire the sign and hopes that those individuals will drop by soon to see the work of the Trust, particularly at its Museums at Blue Anchor and Bishops Lydeard stations and with GWR Brake Composite Corridor Coach 6705 at Williton, which, it is hoped, will be in traffic later this year.

Robin White

 

Maybe this is the 'interlude' before the next series of 'Crisis Street' starts.

 

What’s the blue coach in the ash pit at BL please.

 

IN the ash pit??????

 

Isn't that whats called? Oh well, In the area that is covered where the locos sleep

 

.... they do say 'you learn something new every day'.

 

I received a WSR SSG flyer with my postal copy of Railway Magazine in the far North of Scotland. Doesn't sound like targetted marketing to me.

 

Certainly disappointing. Three times the estimate? I suppose that's the way of auctions.
But who knows, some day it may end up back home............

 

Why was sign removed from the railway first? Wasn’t it needed??

 

So much was removed when lines closed Tony, in many cases so that the buildings could be sold, let or demolished. A line in South Devon had signage removed, even though the line was never closed. However a few years ago the owner of a former station sign presented it to the volunteer group who made minor repairs and fixed it up again in a well protected - from weather - place. I believe it was made in the early 20th. century.

 

When I moved to the US in the 70's there was a chain of steak-house restaurants called "Victoria Station". The format was a handful of boxcars with dining seating, a caboose & a red phone box. All the internal decor was from Beeching-era closed UK railway stations. The walls were literally plastered with them! The story was that the company had bought the entire street furniture of many closed stations - mostly signage & posters - in the late 60's/early 70's.
Even back then I realised the value of those signs in the UK. The entire chain folded in the late 80's & I've often wondered where all the signs went.
There were 99 locations & if each one had 50 to 100 signs & posters of all sorts, that's 5 or 6 or 7,000 or more. I suppose they'd have sold in the US, but for a fraction of their UK worth.
I never did find out their fate! Somebody knows.
Somewhere I have a handful of their menus, styled broadly after Pullman/Brighton Belle ones. I should have a few interior photos somewhere too - maybe I can identify some signs & see if they can be traced.
There's a little on Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Station_(restaurant)

Edit - found PETTS WOOD, GROVE PARK, KIRKBY STATION JUNCTION & ....iNGS NORTH as Vic St signs in a few photos. First 2 look like SR green running-in boards, the last 2 in brown(?) may be signal boxes. Anybody recognise them?
Apparently, the signage was sold as a lot to a single contractor, not individually.

 

I have no criticism of the private collector. This was a public auction at which he was entitled to bid as he thought fit with his own money.

And the disappointment has given rise to a plan...more of which later today...

Robin

 

Dare it be said but"you should be so lucky!" At the same sale, a distinctly tatty "target" sign from Brading reached £3,500. With values like this it is at least arguable that a good quality replica, acknowledged as such, would be a more satisfactory use of resources.

In general I suspect the future prospects for railway museums in acquiring new exhibits lie with donations or negotiated sales at favourable prices if these can be secured. Not likely to be very frequent happenings I accept but both means have benefitted a railway museum I help with in the recent past. There would have been no way these high grade items could have been afforded if they had been auctioned.

PH

 

It is of course entirely possible that the purchaser is unaware of the desire to return this item to the WSR & might be open to discussing that? - unless you know more............?