West Somerset Railway General Discussion

This might be a silly question but I have seen a number of photos of Clan Line where steam seems to be leaking from the top on the tender.Is this just steam rising from the connection on the buffer beam of something else? TIA

 

Not a long tenure it seems, just around eighteen months. However, he obviously has his reasons.

 

deleted

 

No problem. I say many things but I really couldn’t remember saying that and worried I was losing my memory.

You said that there is little/no anthropology on Britain. I beg to differ, historically one of the longest running anthropological studies was Mass Observation which Tom Harrisson was instrumental in setting up.

With regard to Fox, many anthropologists argue that ethnographic fieldwork represents only the here and now of the fieldwork. It’s findings can not be generalised, nor can they be taken to extend back or forwards in time. Anthropology done before the 1950s might have made such claims but because of the fact that this kind of anthropology became associated with eugenics and genocide during WW2 is why people shy away from sweeping generalisations such as ‘the x are y and do z’.

Since the 1950s no one has really gone in for such claims.

Now there are arguments about group behaviour and norms and values but I think most people would argue that they are socially constructed rather than inherent to the group.

Anyway, if you want to read anthropology that has something to do with the wsr then the stuff on the minehead hobby horse is about as close as you can get. Although I think someone wrote a PhD up at Bangor a few years back about the Ffestiniog but I forget the exact topic.

 

Probably the air pump.

 

The back of the tender was modified to house an air pump, so you see the exhaust from that emerging from the tender.

See photos and description here: https://clan-line.org.uk/air-brakes/

Tom

 

I wasn't disputing that. The WSR is in England. The majority of people who visit will be from England, therefore they will will have the group behaviour and norms and values that being part of English society has instilled in them, even if they were born in, say, Argentina.

I would have thought that the railway enthusiast tribe is long overdue for a serious anthropological study.

 

But are we ready for that study, or what it might find?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

A group of grumpy and mainly male and ageing people hankering for times long gone, unable to see we are now in 2018?

NEXT


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Not necessarily - this assumes homogeneous behaviour and ignores class, region, gender, a whole host of structural factors that shape the behaviour of a person. The point is there is no such thing as a monolithic society. This ironically is why anthropologists tend to study small groups precisely because you can’t generalise upwards to larger populations.

You claimed ‘the english’ don’t complain as if this was specific to English people. There is little or no evidence of universal behavioural norms about complaining within ‘English society’ (whatever you may consider that to be). There is little evidence that even if there were that this is unique.

Broad generalisations that are simply not based on evidence.

Enthography involving railway enthusiasts - https://aesengagement.wordpress.com/2016/04/06/on-rust/

There is also a panel at a conference later this year should you be interested in anthropological analyses of railways https://nomadit.co.uk/easa/easa2018/conferencesuite.php/panels/6595

There is also ethnographic fieldwork carries out on trains or at stations. For example I know someone whose field of study is male sex workers at a particular terminus. (Female sex workers were reluctant to talk to the person involved and the pimps considered it a waste of time, and kept on trying to charge the person doing the fieldwork).

As for uk rail enthusiasts - I am not sure that is a good idea.

 

This thread is ridiculous. Admin please take some action! Or better still - Nurse!

 

TBH you don’t need to go much further than this thread to see that.

 

I believe an anthropologist would be confident in their findings that evolution is holding up very well in the West of the county.
I'm somewhat unclear however on what constitutes being English? Country of residence, birth, colour of passport or having pure, unadulterated DNA?

 

Quite.... WSR Operations?? Something of a steam motive power crisis going on at the moment (only one serviceable loco yesterday), resignation of the department head etc etc and we get discussions on anthropological studies and whether the WSR is in England.................................!

 

I have been to Somerset many times - have to go through it to get to other parts of the country - and it is in England, however there are some here that believe Somerset is a place on its own where things are done differently.

 

And now for something completely different ......
I saw this on a U=Tube video and wondered if there would - a) be any interest on the WSR? - b) would it be legal?
Full video here :

Any observations anyone?

 

Provided all the usual safety requirements are met, such as continuous brakes, emergency communication, high enough sides, suitable door locks, seats and/or handrails, Passengers have been carried in open vehicles ever since railways started carrying them and still are. I've not been in one for the last six weeks, though. The biggest potential danger is from sparks and ash on clothes and in the eyes.

 

No one is stopping you from discussing those things. The discussion of anthropology is an off-shoot of a discussion about CWR on the WSR and claims about that passengers don't like it.

Given that most discussions on the WSR resemble two bald men fighting over a comb, a little bit of variety is no bad thing.

 

Same today.

 

Unable to edit while forum is still playing up.

7822 repaired and working on 1615 from Minehead.