West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I think we all need to listen to Mike S (aldfort) Robin and Tim (sappertim). between them they have held and in some cases still hold senior director positions on the Railway, WSRA mostly.
First lets debunk this dreadful perception that the WSRA is incapable of restoring anything. In fact the WSRA has a great track record with loco restoration. Is it so long ago that you have forgotten the Iffy Rivet Company? 4561, 4160 and Braunton were all restored at Williton successfully. A small paid group at WN are just finishing a 0-6-0 ex NCB tank for a customer which has included a full boiler overall, something never having been done before at WN. Also that small group in their own time with some other volunteers recently fully restored Caledonia an 0-4-0 industrial tank which has been in demand for galas away from home. The engineers in this group were apprentices and now qualified engineers at Williton. This apprenticeship was set up and managed by the WSRA. The WSRA had some problems that have been fixed, it is back up on its legs and starting to fund raise. Before Christmas I had an exciting conversation with someone involved in fund raising with the WSRA and came away full of joy and pleasure as the plans were extremely good. I leave it there as I have no wish to breach confidentiality. I will just say as far as I am concerned the WSRA is well, alive and kicking and as far as locos are concerned it is worth remembering that the Manor is tucked up nicely at Swindon. 4561 was going well until it was realised that some of the dimensions were found to be incorrect and work stopped, but is about to restart. The debacle with the Ex 6 diverted all thinking away from the main thrust and time and impetus was lost. However the WSRA is back on track now and catching up quickly.
The 4110 efforts are brilliant, circa £120K in less that 3 weeks. What we do not know is the state of the loco. I know there are many parts for it locked away in containers and have heard estimates to restore it but the point that seams to be missing is many of the pledges are from full time and volunteer steam locomotive engineers. If they stuck their hands in their pockets to better than £1000 each to buy the loco you can guarantee that they will be about at weekends and evenings scrambling around 4110 to restore her.
That only leaves the PLC and I know JJP really wants to keep this loco on the railway. Ownership is the big problem and I have written to the WSRA with some suggestions on how to put that right. But my main call is for all 3 boards to meet, focus on keeping the loco on the WSR and FIND A WAY. Meanwhile what will we do on Nat Pres? Lets get behind the WSR. It is the longest standard gauge railway in the UK, a complete branch line from where it leaves the mainline to its ultimate terminus. I don't care how you spend your money but buy a few shares, donate to the WSRA, send 50 dirty fivers in a brown envelope but do it. Together we saved wagons together we could help save the PLC, 4110 and 4561, the power is with the people so lets have the Peoples One Railway.
By the way Mike (Aldfort) I am ready to return if you would like me as a Trustee, bad leg and all, lets take the Wagon Group as a template and kick some ass as our US friends would say.
Ken

 

I am a volunteer. I joined the WSRA when I started volunteering. I did not renew last year. Why?
I was happy to support those who wanted rid of the Ex6+1, like many I didn't trust them and was fine with making some small financial contributions to the cause at the time. Only it didn't really end there, did it? There followed a number of board hopping situations , resignations, sackings etc both the Plc and WSRA, most of those involved I had met and some I had worked with, and it frankly made me both annoyed and in despair.
Now it appears that the Plc has decided that it won't sell a loco to one group but will to another. Personally I don't know why this is so, but it makes me question whether anyone on the WSR as a whole has ever heard of joined up thinking. If I had been one of those that had pledged money to 4110 ltd then I would be dubious about transferring this pledge to WSRA just because the Plc thought that was the right answer.
Would I continue volunteering if I had to join the WSRA now? I really don't know.

 

Making volunteers pay to do so in this way seems crazy. Apart from all the other costs of volunteering it serves no useful purpose.

 

And yet it works so well everywhere else. I do accept that it's difficult to introduce something like this where previously it hasn't been necessary, but I do think a lot of problems on the WSR wouldn't have arisen if volunteers had to be members of the WSRA, as they'd never have allowed it to get into the state it's in if they had to be members of it.

 

Sunday 28th April 2019-The Great Britain Tour XII: Day 2

Exeter St. Davids (pu) - Taunton
Taunton - Bishops Lydeard - Minehead
Minehead (pu) - Bishops Lydeard - Taunton

 

One Family Railway they all shout. Reminds me of some book about farm animals.

Asked to attend The Meeting as a stakeholder..... A few wooden body vehicles on wheels.

Cannot not be entertained as I am not a Shareholder, Staff or Volunteer.


Enough said.

 

Well that’s a long day by itself!

 

The "problems" go a lot deeper than whether people who work for the railway are members of the WSRA or not. It is more about structure and how the roles were adopted by the Co and the WSRA. We need to go back nearly fifty years to understand why it was set up like that. It was a very different set up back then with very different roles for the Co and for the WSRA. Sadly the chance to put things right when the nature of the railway changed was lost. As before, a single charity with a commercial operating arm would always have been a better way.

One question for the outsiders - do you force employees to join the supporting organisation?

Steve

 

I agree it's about structure as well Steve, perhaps the two are related - a closer structure means it's more reasonable to be a member and volunteer; being a member and volunteer will naturally bring the two organisations closer together?

As for your question, people directly employed by the railway (as opposed to in one of our cafes which is franchised out) are AFAIK all in addition to their paid roles volunteers as well so the point is moot for us.

 

To help foster a sense of "one railway" - collected purpose, and all that?

I must admit, the thought that someone could be sufficiently emotionally invested in an enterprise to wish to volunteer (with all the attendant explicit and implicit costs), yet at the same time not wish to join the support body for the same railway seems - just odd. Why would you wish to support the railway by offering your labour, yet not support it by joining the named support body?

Tom

 

Perhaps they could see little benefit or relevance in joining that particular support body?

 

Any WSR volunteer who has a pass is automatically covered by insurance.

 

Membership no 189 April 1974 is in a bit of a dither as to whether or not to renew

Reading the WSRA letter at 1st base having been aware that the 411o people had raised the money beforehand makes this now a very difficult decision and it could go either way.

Maybe I should wait until I have attended the shareholder volunteer meeting on February 2nd!

 

Your opinion and you're entitled to it. To me, it is just one of many things that creates division in what should be a cohesive set up. It also seems to me that there are still quite a few people who want to maintain this divisive arrangement. You can't argue that it works because, plainly, it doesn't.

 

Shouldn't they anyway?

 

It's usually a simple matter to include volunteers under the employers liability insurance.

 

Really when was that discussed with we Shareholders? - I have a share certificate to the value of £80 in 4561 but was never even informed when it was originally steamed being totally consumed in my own business so totally out of touch at that time!

 

This discussion on insurance is a bit irrelevant. It is simply that any volunteer or paid member of staff on the railway (WSR), whether or not they work for the PLC or any of the other groups (DEPG, WSSRT, S&DRT, etc.) require a WSR PLC ID Card. It is possession of that ID card which gives the inclusion in the Company insurance.