West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Agreed! It is also good to have some more positive information from/about the WSR.

 

Thank you. I will pass on those thanks. It is a group effort by several folks.

Robin
WSRA Trustee.

 

If SCC keep putting it off, maybe the ORR could close the road due to an unsafe crossing ???

 

In theory they could but it is more likely for them to give a deadline.

 

Here`s a link to the document authorising the works on the Seaward's Way crossing. Yorkshireman and Kengo are both right - there are issues here that will interest the ORR. What may be the issue from SCC`s point of view is that the funds that have been authorised have been based upon a hypothetical average cost for similar works carried out by National Rail. I had a brief conversation with Paul Conibeare about this over a year ago. His description of the work to be carried made it sound like a very complex job indeed.

http://democracy.somerset.gov.uk/documents/s5628/Decision Report WSR Seaward Way Crossing.docx.pdf

 

Not WSR related but may be of interest to some, the billion dollar Helge Ingstad is finally being lifted from the rocky perch where she was gounded.

As the saying goes offshore, "If you can see it move, it's too fast"

https://www.bt.no/nyheter/lokalt/i/...idet---folg-hevingen-av-Helge-Ingstad-direkte

 

We have been in the position of long-term crossing failure once before when a component failed and a replacement took a while to be sourced. SCC then had to pay the Railway to provide staff to work the crossing locally to keep both road and railway open.

Robin

 

What about a proper BL type crossing?

That would address the pedestrian issues & stop drivers zig-zagging through the gates

 

The 2018 40's weekend was very much an Andy Norman idea with considerable help. It proved to be a great success, both financially and as a major crowd puller.
With Andy's decision to walk away from The WSR, which I suppose will include his vehicle and practical & intellectual input, the 2019 40's weekend will possibly lesser happening.
His decision to walk away from the WSR, will the WSR be poorer?
Can The Railway afford to loose such a dynamic, enthusiastic and practical individual person? I guess it can.
Such optimistic people as Andy are few and far between.





As an individual, who has recently rejoined The WSRA.

Looking forward to Saturday 2 March PLC meeting.

I think I will probably leave the meeting feeling the same as I arrive.

 

Swanage have carried over 200,000 passengers a year for a number of years now. I think numbers were down by about 5% last year to 208.000 for a £3.1 ish million turnover. Swanage (certainly in my experience) do not count life members journeys.

 

Well, not really. They can email you the pictures and then speak to you on the phone. That saves them the bother of getting to a computer and composing a piece of English, as the whole operation can be done from a smartphone from site. Doing it from site also allows the blog writer to check things - e.g. "What about the horn guides? Have they been finished yet?" "Oh yes, I forgot about that, I'll ask Bob" pause "Bob says they'll be refitted next week".

 

I just asked the wife what the difference was between the locos, she said that the top ones didn't have numbers on the front. She thought they were all the same!

 

Depending on what format and how big your blog is you can do it all from your phone anyway. Personally, I'm still not convinced that it'll really do much to help, but happy to be proved wrong.

 

Transport to Stakeholdwrs meeting on 2 March.

I have one request for a lift from Weston-super-Mare that I have not been able to match up with an offer of a lift. If anyone can help, could they PM me, please.

TIA

Robin

 

There's an obvious difference, the top 3 are green the bottom 3 are black.

 

It's still a damn sight quicker, and thus more likely to be done, if someone else can do the composing, the formatting, the resizing and insertion of the pictures, the top 'n' tailing etc etc. and all you have to do as the person on the sharp end is send off a few photos and have a none-too-lengthy chat with someone else. It also means that there is someone else whose head is not full of the minutiae of the project who can remember to ring up and get the update at regular intervals.

 

The 9351 Blog has been updated.

Robin

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

 

Hi Nick

Thank you for your kind words, I really enjoyed my time developing the Community Engagement and Fund Raising Projects for the WSR part of which the 1940’s Weekend was a great example of a Community Event organised by the Community for the Community.

Just to correct you about me walking away. I had my Community Engagement remit removed from me which included this event. This happened to coincide with me raising some concerns with the PLC Chairman and General Manager about the Community Engagement Project overall being curtailed and visits/events for 2019 being scaled back where as we had just gained funding to expand it. This meant I was not able to continue in this and other things so it was not my choice.

The 1940’s Weekend was something that a number of external and internal parties have wanted to do for years but had been blocked by some individuals at Minehead in positions of power so it was not exclusively my idea. A local historian and all round nice guy Robin Wichard had eventually gained PLC Commercial Department permission to run the event in early 2017 but had it cancelled by a current PLC Board member who didn’t like the idea and pulled the plug stating it was a Board decision. I got involved when I heard, made a formal complaint and after a fight got the decision reversed.

That then only gave Robin and I about 6 months to organise the event but it was the ideal and perfect example of the WSR and the Community working together turned it into a great event. I organised the WSR stuff including the military train and kept the PLC Board on side ensuring that we did what we had promised to do supporting Robin and the Community which by that time included local town councils and other local groups. Robin worked tirelessly with me and Mark Hill (now gone) of the Commercial team. Both Robin and I are military vehicle owners/enthusiasts and are involved heavily in that environment, so pooling our resources and contacts worked very well.

The good news is that I have been assured by the PLC that the 2019 will go ahead despite other things being scaled back and Robin has agreed to organise and run it and he and I remain firm friends. Additionally an internal WSR stalwart and very knowledgeable/capable/great guy (you know who you are SN!) will be arranging the military train, he helped me organise it in 2018 so he knows the drill. I also won’t abandon either of them as they deserve support so I’m sure it will be a great event as long as the PLC leave it alone and let Robin and the Community organise it as that is the key to its success. The previous restrictions people tried to impose would have killed it but I’m confident that won’t happen this time, it’s just far too popular with all internally and externally so it now has a life of its own.

I’m disappointed to hear that a close supporter of the current PLC Chairman has been on to you regarding your post above saying that the 1940’s Weekend should not be accredited to me. Unfortunately that’s the way of things at the moment if you don’t agree in all things with the current regime in Minehead so I hope this clarifies my involvement. I’ll let the people working on the WSR who were there judge my involvement and if I should be accredited with it or not, but ultimately it was the Community who wanted it and they made It happen, I only gave them a way to do it.

Also thanks for your support and allowing us to use some of your wagons in the train and for being there over the event in 2018, I hope you enjoy 2019 more.

 

Prior to retiring I thought that becoming involved with the WSR would be idyllic. How wrong that notion appears to be. <BJ>

 

Déjà vu?