West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Que?

 

I wonder what ratio the paid staff costs vs turnover is at P&DSR?

 

Interesting to note the 9351 page on the WSRA site has already disappeared!

anyone know why @Robin Moira White ?

 

No it hasn’t.

Robin

 

Could be at your end as I found these pages with no difficulty on a iPad:-

https://www.wsra.org.uk/category/9351-blog/

https://www.wsra.org.uk/assembling9351/


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

The earlier posted URL for the blog either got changed or was wrong in the first place. The earlier post had 'assembling-9351' and it is 'assembling9351' as shown above.

Regards,
Marcus Slade

 

I was using the link https://www.wsra.org.uk/category/assembling-9351/ which no longer works

Robin you could have given me one that does work - thank you Marcus

 

Excellent achievement - but, you've only got BR Mk1's rather that much older wooden vehicles from (for example) the GWR and LNER and you don't do restorations of vehicles that were gutted by BR for departmental use etc

 

Agree regarding wooden vehicles, but we have restored a couple of Mk1s with not a lot inside, although again, because it's all Mk1s, it was a case of going through the spares collection for most of it.

 

There are quite a lot of lines that have Mark 1 only operating fleets, and generally anything pre-Mark 1 is more likely to have been restored by volunteers, even if later maintained by staff (or, indeed, not). IoSWR and Bluebell are exceptions but most lines are too young to have been able to buy large numbers of complete vehicles like those 2 and the SVR were and set off with Mark 1s. By the time the likes of GWSR were set up, even decent departmental coaches were thin on the ground.

To bring it back to the West Somerset, the WSSRT has of course gathered a number of coaches for long term formation of pre-Mark 1 sets - but this initiative seems to lack universal support on the West Somerset Railway, so perhaps it is not surprising if others aren't trying to follow suit.

Steven

 

I don’t use links, I went to the website and looked under projects, which is where it was before. And it worked fine. No ‘link’ involved.

This is going to be a time to pull together. Richard, a few less posts suggesting something malign is going on, especially before the facts have been checked would help.

Robin

 

Negative and inaccurate speculation such as this contribute nothing except lowering the already poor reputation of this thread for such things. You already know that there is a meeting on the 2nd February for volunteers and shareholders at which things can hopefully be properly explained in the right context and questions asked and answered, which cannot be done by press releases or emails. I'm sure that is part of a plan to engage and share with stakeholders when there is a recovery plan together. I certainly would not expect any communication prior to that meeting in today's social media driven environment, we know what would happen - yet more behind the keyboard speculation from those determined to spread gloom and doom. Not least because it is quite clear that staff are involved so things need to be managed properly. The quote above is a classic - how do you know there hasn't' been a 'careful analysis of the situation and possible answers' You don't! The new chairman and Board addressed the well attended staff meeting on 24th November - that's 2 months ago now. How hard is it to wait another week?

 

Well, apart from anything else, it has been publicly stated that the PLC is in a "dire" financial crisis. That sounds pretty "negative" to me, if not to you? If, as you maintain, "things cannot be done by press releases", then why did the PLC issue the somewhat confusing "press release" (if that is what it was, it did not say)?

"long serving officers dumped, assets fire-saled". What is "speculative" or "negative" about that, those are the facts from the "press release", and from news of 4110.

Why do you think more than a tiny handful on here are are "determined to spread doom and gloom"? Far more, I would suggest, care a lot about the line but find recent developments very worrying.

 

More to the point will there be a public statement after the meeting on the 2nd of February?

 

The majority use the unoffical website for thier information on the WSR. Can you tell us all where the running total for donations to 4110 is on the website because some of use think that the lack of comment by @aldfort is very telling. #nomoneycomingin

 

It’s a little depressing that a lot of the talk on this thread is along the lines of “what are they doing to solve the problem?” rather than “what can I do to help?”

All railways have a “they” department but it does seem especially large on the WSR.

Tom

 

The link to the blog that I posted initially did work, but the URL has changed subsequently. I've now edited that post to get it up to date.

I note that the blog hasn't been updated since it was first posted, but that may be simply because access hasn't been made available to do so yet.

 

My hope is that we may seen some kind of statement about 4110 today or over the weekend...

Steve

 

The other thing about 'they' is that they are always incompetent, but no-one ever seems able to recite their names! 'They' are accused of 'taking away our Railway' but those who make this complaint are not the ones working into the small hours to solve problems when they arise - they are however always on hand to say what a terrible response 'they' have come up with!

I also continue to get the impression, with 4110, that there are at least some West Somerset Railway 'supporters' who would rather see the loco leave the line because the WSRA Appeal has failed because of their dislike of the WSRA and/or some of its Trustees. There seems to be a will for the WSRA Appeal to fail, presumably that because 'that will show them'!?!

Very much with 4110 (because of WSRplc's decision as to who they will sell to) but in the end more importantly generally the WSRA is 'the only show in town' that gives people a chance to put 'their money where their mouth is' and provide simple and tax effective support to the West Somerset Railway family in its hour of need.

To us outsiders, is that the impression this thread gives that this has been grasped or, as Tom says, people appreciate their potential part in solving these problems? (And I accept that this thread may not be representative of the West Somerset Railway generally but it is a very public face that informs wider opinion).

Steven

 

I refer you to your post re armchair critics and non volunteers....