West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Guessing by the head code this was the 73s returning lol
0Z73 0800 Bishops Lydeard to Tonbridge West Yard Gbrf

 

Being close to the action can sometimes mean the lack of seeing a wider picture.

 

Possibly because the loco was purchased as a private personal purchase and not one made by, or on behalf of, the WSR.

 

A few years ago Tornado visited and spent a while working trains (and there may have been other large visitors that I don't remember) but I think it has been said (somewhere on this mammoth thread) that the WSR's track was never really suitable for such locos. Some time around the beginning of this year it was announced that there would be work to upgrade the track to allow regular use of large locos. That will of course include certain locos belonging to the chairman but it will also allow various others to run on the WSR.

Such an upgrade will presumably cost even more than just dealing with the arrears of maintenance to allow locos such as Halls. I make no judgement as the desirability of the additional expenditure, nor how easily that cash will be found.

 

I suspect you may be another one in need of a mirror.

 

Didn't think so!

Ah must have missed all those tourists walking up to the station and turning round in disgust when they saw a horrible lightweight Manor at the front as opposed to a nice heavy tank engine...

 

What do you mean by worthwhile?

If you mean 'information necessary for the safe and efficient running of the WSR', then you have a point, but I suggest you may have misunderstood the purpose of this forum. I look at HOPS for that kind of stuff. If you mean 'of interest to those who are interested in the WSR', well I've learnt:

• 9466 has been sold
• The current chairman of the WSR is apparently the purchaser
• She's too heavy to run on the WSR at present,

none of which I knew before, and all of which I find interesting. Worthwhile to me.

 

Presumably though, if the WSR needs major investment in infrastructure

1. Its cheaper to do the upgrade now, as part of the infrastructure work, and
2. Upgrading it to a Red route allows a wider variety of loco's to run, which apart from anything else means that the railway has more options to bring loco's in for simply operational reasons

 

Doesn't that also depend on whether the investment is just in track, or also structures and earthworks, and what the cost is of the extra work to bring it properly up to red standards?

 

So JJP now owns three locos (admittedly one is in bits) that are currently unable to run on the line of which he is chairman?

 

I can understand that the maximum weight/axle load that a railway can take clearly involves

1. Track - rails, sleepers/ballast
2. Bridges/structures

What other factors come into play - I assume that there must be others but I have no idea

 

But he does own some old buses I believe.

 

With some of those the infrastructure should last forever............

 

Just get a few Pacers in - they're basically vintage buses!

Given he named his WSM bus company "Crosville", buying a fleet of Pacers and repainting them say in Mersey Railway livery would seem appropriate

 

Nick813 : "I see the new owner of The WSR has purchased 9466".

Looks like someone was thinking the same thing as me about 9466. A perfect loco for the line when the track problems are eventually sorted.

 

I think it's actually two in bits - 4936 is still under overhaul at Tyseley and 7027 is awaiting overhaul at Tyseley.

Keith

 

While I can understand issues about 9466's axle load a Manor weight 68 tons plus 40 tons for the tender compared with 55 tons for a 94XX, admittedly spread over a shorter bit of track

 

That's the key though, a whole train weighs 2-300 tons but that's not the issue, it's the individual axle weight.

 

One question that slightly perplexes me is that it has often been asserted on this thread that a 45xx small prairie with 1,300 gallon water capacity is a bit marginal for the line given the (non) availability of taking water at intermediate stations, but a 94xx with 1,300 gallon capacity has seemingly just been bought by the Company Chairman! Given the choice, I'd have thought the small prairie would be preferable, on account of having pony trucks either end to guide the loco through curves and thereby help reduce both track and flange wear - not to mention the much reduced axle load.

Tom

 

But, other than the association of it's new owner, is there any connection intended between 9466 and WSR?

Meanwhile, I find the language of some posts (not yours) very interesting in the reference to the "new owner" of the WSR, rather than the chairman. I do so hope that this is a slip of the keyboard, and not a pointer to something further in WSR politics.