S&D Railway Trust

It seems a speciality on the WSR to venture into expensive litigation which is why I have never donated to any part of it. Throwing good money after bad is how I see it.
However, I have been mulling over a donation the Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust for a week or so. (https://www.sdrt.org/).
The previous post by Nanstallon has tipped the scales.
Most heritage style lines will have to cut their cloth very carefully this year and abandon some projects. Some lines may well fail, the WSR is a contender.

 

I'd be very sad to see the WSR fail, but getting into a legal fight over Washford would be a self-inflicted, and possibly fatal, injury. Will the WSR Board please think again, before it is too late?

 

Same here, I'm a Southern man, but totally admire the WSR and visit more times a year than say Mid Hants or Bluebell. It would be a crying shame that for all the good and hard work that has been carried out over the years, and is still being carried out, just to be frittered away on a couple of individuals vanity project.
I do however trust Robin, she has the best interest of the railway at heart and I am sure that if something untoward was being conjured up, corporate responsibility or not, she would be jumping up and down to ensure the longevity of her railway.

 

Um no, certainly no more than any other organisation. In its 40+ years I can think of only 3 such cases. One by the plc and two from the WSRA....
Unless I've forgotten some, we need to avoid talking such things up.
Ian Coleby

 

And how does that number compare to any other heritage railway?
Three seems three too many to me.
Sorry to be negative.

 

It's hardly something to brag about - "we've only been taken to court 3 times in the last 40 years!"

 

Surely though, the question must be what the case was about, who brought it and its merits

 

Hi Frank,

You don't need to know. You can tell the WSR PLC board that the SDRT are not going to be bullied by them over Washford or anything else. In the nicest way possible, might I refer to 'Mr Balfour's poodle'?

The SDRT is ready for whatever may happen or required to be done. You can tell the WSR PLC board this!

These amateurish machinations by those of advancing years, hoping to cling onto some vestige of influence with the WSR PLC board, are quite frankly absurd and ridiculous. Michael Rowe and others also take note, and get a reality check.

Cheers,

Julian

 

I'm relaxed about not knowing because I can then discount your comments and assume you have some familiarity with the proverbial top deck of the Williton omnibus. But perhaps you do the readers of this thread a disservice, because they do need to know where you are coming from if they are to make any judgment about the points you keep repeating. You might also realise that you don't actually help the case of the S&D group very much.

Fortunately Julian, I'm not easily upset (q.v. your earlier comment - I have actually found it very upsetting, personally.). If you had been around the railway for a while you would be extremely clear that it is not in my nature to be anybody's poodle, and neither is Michael Rowe. As for your ageist comment, if that's the best you can do, you need to try harder.

 

If I had ever entertained thoughts of supporting the WSR, this exchange has convinced me otherwise

Noel

 

Steady ladies it will soon be handbags at ten paces.

 

Gosh! I blushed a bit when I read this. Thank you, kind Sir.

The S&D position is very unfortunate, to say the least, and I would ask readers to trust that the WSRA is acting as you would expect us to on this (which does not necessarily involve lighting the hill top beacons ATM).

It was the S&DRT who brought me to the WSR over 40 years ago, so I have much personal feeling for them. NOT supporting the WSR is counter-intuitive because if you want the S&DRT to stay where it is, it needs an operating Railway running by.

Please, also, don’t be influenced by one individual taking a swipe at another on social media. The railway has over 1,000 volunteers and if they all got on with each other, it would be a miracle.

It is obvious that recent events have reduced the standing of the WSR plc senior management in the eyes of some here. You are entitled to your view. And to choose how you spend your money. The WSRA’s ‘track’ record this winter passed is to have put, through money raised and donations received, £187,000 into infrastructure improvements, every penny of which can be tracked to a rail, an item, a particular piece of work.

our current approach is to suggest that donations can be focussed in this way and we will ensure that such donations (including 25% gift aid if applicable) are spent to better the West Somerset Railway, and in carrying out that work, to keep the Railway in being for now and to improve it for when the trains start running again and into the future.

The same is true for donations towards 4561 now being restored at Williton.

we have asked the WSR plc to identify other specific project which might be supported in the same way.

Be assured, every penny donated will be carefully spent.

If you do not have confidence in the WSRA Trustees, then find another means to donate or support the Railway’s activities in this difficult time.

Robin

 

Is it your intention to make those associated with the WSR look bad?

If it is your intention to help the WSR, please stop. You aren't helping.

You'll see that the post after yours is asking people to support the WSR. I find myself asking the question, why would anyone want to support an organisation such as the WSR when those involved in it behave in public the way you and others do.

One minute you are rattling around the begging bowl, pleading for money in order to survive, the next you are embarrassing yourself in public again.

The WSR is like the village drunk, stumbling down the street, demanding money for one more drink while shouting at the local pigeons for their refusal to help.

 

A helpful statement, thank you

 

I think these comments are a bit unfair. Frank holds no office at the moment (other than his normal position as a volunteer guard).

Julian, by contrast, has no WSR position at all and posts with a combination of fact (perhaps useful) and goady swipes at people. It is sometimes hard to resist responding to such.

Robin

 

Do you remember a few days ago you were talking about collective responsibility? This is where volunteers are still representatives of their line. This matters. Let me give you an example, I might have footplate experience but if I knew person X was a driver on the line and they behaved like an arse on here, I would think twice about volunteering because on my days off I wouldn't want to have to spend all day with someone who is an arse.

Supporters of the WSR often complain about the negative perception of the line, but much of that is created by those supporters and their behaviour here.

People might not have an official role but they do have an unofficial role in shaping perceptions of the line.

 

I quite agree.

I have a somewhat unusual position with warm relations with Network Rail and the train operating companies which occasionally puts me in a position to promote / represent the heritage moment to the national network - some may have seen a tentative first visit this winter from NR staff using paid volunteering time to help the WSR with winter works, for example. Promoting those links depends on how the heritage movement is perceived.

I think we all have a responsibility to act in a way that reflects well on ourselves, any organisations we are members (or especially) officers of and the movement in general.

That final ‘obligation’ applies, IMHO, to all those part of the movement.

These considerations are always in the forefront of my thinking.

Robin

 

I think a more accurate assessment of the situation is "It is obvious that recent events have reduced the standing of the WSR plc senior management in the eyes of most here". I have been following this affair since the start and I have been struck by two things, firstly the number of people who appear on Nat Pres as new members who are unhappy about the way the S&DRT have been treated and seem to have been posting simply for that reason and the secondly, the lack of any animus against the Railway itself as distinct from the actions of a few people in the Railway's management.

There have also been a lot of posts suggesting that such complaints are doing nobody any good and that the complainers should shut up "for the good of the railway". Beware of what you wish for. This is precisely why the British are the worst restaurant customers in the world. Nobody wants to complain and they think that if they do, they will be castigated for it and their complaint ignored or belittled and they have good reason for thinking that. The British response is silently to walk away and never come back, sometimes even having thanked the restauranteur for an excellent meal, so the proprietor has no idea where they went wrong. Look at what happened with 4110. How much money was raised by 4110 Ltd and how much of that then found its way into the WSRA's appeal coffers, when 4110 Ltd were told they couldn't have the loco? How many donors silently walked away?

In any case, why should everyone shut up "for the good of the Railway"? Why should they not air their dissatisfactions on Nat Pres? It's not as if it is diminishing some valuable resource that would otherwise be available to the WSR. There is a strong implication that, if everyone doesn't stop going on about the WSR Plc's PR blunder over the S&DRT, this will impact the ability of the railway to attract donations and volunteers. That looks like fraud to me. I doubt I'm the only one, by a long, long, way. It's no good taking the attitude "no, you've got it all wrong, it's not like that, there's more than meets the eye" and then not explaining why. People draw the obvious conclusions, the less obvious ones need to be explained to them. In the absence of such explanations, they fall back on what appears to be obvious, in this case that there is something rotten in the state of the WSR. Keeping quiet about it isn't going to make it go away. A problem ignored is not a problem solved.

 

Peak Rail make the WSR look amateurs in this respect

 

I don’t disagree with a single word.

If you are passionate about something that is tremendously valuable. Find a way to roll your sleeves up and help. I’ve been doing that for 40 plus years in heritage and it gives me tremendous satisfaction to see a few things achieved and the smile on a visitor’s face who hadn’t the faintest idea who I am.

One view of life is dealing with the biggest crocodile in turn in the most effective way. At the moment the biggest crocodile is undoubtedly Covid-19. So that has my, and the other WSRA Officers’ focus.

It is also a truism that frontal assaults on an objective are not always the most successful.

Robin