West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Was just about to make the same point regarding intended use on the WSR. JJP is associated with more than one railway, he just happens to be chairman of the WSR. The only worry is have is if his engine was taking up badly needed siding space without him paying for it and it was unsuitable for use on the WSR, but we don't know whether any of those things are the case.

As for "owner" I'm sure @nick813 has made his own point in his own way...

 

Somerset County Council, and they lease it to the WSR plc which is a company owned by its shareholders. No change as far as I know.

 

I suppose the cost of installing a watering facility at Williton is loose change compared with raising a 23-mile line's weight limit from blue to red.

 

A really good news update from the 9351 blog:

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

Thanks to Steve Edge at wsr.org for the link. <BJ>

 

Absolutely, it's a system. To break it down the parts and the places which matter:

Rail - top, the bottom over the sleepers and the ends

Joints - fish plates and bolts or welds

Under the rail - chairs and keys or plates and clips, the bolts or spikes into the sleepers and any pads

The Sleepers - sound, not rotten, cracked or broken and holding anything that secures the rails above, either directly as with spikes or indirectly as with chairs.

Top Ballast - as packed and tamped between and beneath the sleepers to keep them in position needs to be clean - not to have become largely sand or mud -
and to have the angles from crushing.

Bottom Ballast - needs to be free draining, often identical with top ballast but old fashioned largish bottoming can work well.

Drains - below the ballast in a trench to ensure the ballast does on sit in water especially on soil that may work up as fines or mud
- there may well be some sort of membrane to guard against the last especially to clay. There should be catch pits,
regularly inspected so it can be known the drains work.

Embankments, Cuttings, and Bridges all need to be checked for soil movements/landslips. Trees that might fall over and destabilise a slope.
Embankments - for cross flows of water under them, culverts. Any extensive burrowing: rabbits, foxes, etc.
Cuttings - for top drains to intercept superficial water flowing down that would wash over lip of the cutting side and cause a slip - wash soil into the ballast too.
Bridges - paint, corrosion, cracks, structural strength.

It all needs to work together: good new rails or sleepers will make things better but will certainly not last as they should on poor ballast etc underneath.
Huge benefits in welded rail - which can really last with minimal attention - but the sleepers do need to be in good ballast.

 

I have previously suggested that a 1000L (200 gallon} IBC at each end of the platform at Williton (Watchet?) would be more than enough to ensure that a small tank engine would have enough water to complete the journey & it should not take too long to fill the loco

 

Not seen one of those locos before in so looking forward to a ride behind it.

Anyone tell me please if the Manor class used to go on the Taunton to Barnstaple line

 

That's an almost impossible question to answer.
As far as I know there was never a Manor assigned to Taunton Shed either in it's TN days or it's 83B days.
Loads of Hall and Castles seen at 83B back in the day but never a mention of a Manor in any of the books.
When the class was first built at least one Manor was allocated to Bristol, possibly more. They all pretty much wound up doing Cambrian Coast duties as far as I can tell. I seem to recall an old Neath man talking about some allocated there?
The reason the question is so difficult is you could see almost anything, anywhere on a summer Saturday back in the day pulling the specials.

 

As we found out during it's previous spell in service it's going to be a very useful loco. <BJ> ​

 

Indeed, but my point is that using a small prairie seemingly involves solving one of those issues, whereas using a 94xx involves solving both!

Tom

 

Indeed.

 

Indeed; so good to see the work on this completed in what seems to be fairly timely order. And hopefully it will be very helpful to have this engine available for use on the line.

Noel

 

No slip of the keyboard.........
I am sure in time every item of the WSR will be stamped 10/10/16.

 

We've been through this before and agreed such facilities were not needed in normal circumstances. However an emergency supply is available if needed. There's more pressing things to spend money on.

 

So it would seem but what is wrong with that?

 

Nothing, just an observation.

 

Personally I'd love to see water at Williton. If nothing else it would return a missing facility to the station. It would also permit a small tank engine working MD - WN or BL - WN and then laying over. What nobody factors in is the disruption to schedule if a small tank engine runs short of water.
While you are right that we have aired this topic before (I recall Mike Rowe and I debating it), what's possible in theory is often not possible in practice and I've arrived MD far too many times with the water too low in the tanks for comfort.

 

Does anybody know why all the blood/custard coaches seem to be mixed up?

I thought they were all dual braked and so repainted to help make them easy to identify and have a complete rake in another colour?

 

Not sure if it's my mind playing tricks on me, but I am sure 9466 ran out of water at Crowcombe at one ASG, maybe 2008 or 2010?

 

This seems the obvious thing to do.
A water crane has been sitting in the 6-foot for years.
There must be some reason why it wasn't done years ago - anybody know?

PS - Chairman JJP owns a number of vintage buses; that doesn't mean he intends to use them on the WSR as a bus replacement service - does it?