West Somerset Railway General Discussion

A machine-gun nest of the front lawn at Station House perhaps ?

 

As Robin said earlier, don't expect security arrangements to be made public.

 

Part of the track for the out of use section between Claydon and Swanbourne on the Bicester to Bletchley section of the varsity line was reportedly stolen (you can see the missing section on Google satellite view, I think this is it).

 

I look forward to visiting again. (Any excuse to go to BC as far as I am concerned.)

BTW what is the status of the Colonist Car because that I felt could be a really good exhibit for attracting non-railway visitors given its social history. (Maybe we should adjourn to the international heritage thread).

 

See new thread in the International section as per your request

 

I have been invited to be interviewed on BBC Radio Somerset this (Sunday 29th March) afternoon between 15:45 and 16:00 about the ‘WSR-TV’ initiative and the effect of Covid-19 on the West Somerset Railway.

BBC Somerset can be listened to conventionally or over the web and there is a catch-up facility on BBC I-player.

Check out the latest WSR-TV content here:

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCZFaYG5_kwQ4rKuSovan9_w

 

You all (along with those who 'liked' your posts) might wish to ponder my observation here, on the other thread.

Noel

 

A few recent pics...




The new livery of the Quantock Belle stock at Williton on 21 March 2020.
© Mike Dan
This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence. Any re-use of the above image must conform to the requirements of the Creative Commons Licence.



B&R Track Services tamper no DR73309 at Williton on 21 March 2020.
© Mike Dan
This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence. Any re-use of the above image must conform to the requirements of the Creative Commons Licence.



At Williton Station on 21 March 2020 we see a horseless carriage, a real horse or two, but sadly no iron horse.
© Robin Moira White
This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence. Any re-use of the above image must conform to the requirements of the Creative Commons Licence.



Visit wsr.org.uk for all the latest pictures




Steve

 

Without wishing to start another debate about the pros and cons of various liveries, I would like to know the rationale for the choice of (what I presume to be) BR maroon for the Quantock Belle rather than chocolate and cream, which I believe would be authentic for BR MkIs.

 

I think the idea is to have it in a different livery to make it stand out from the rest; given that the WSR's "standard" carriage livery is chocolate and cream, with some in crimson and cream, maroon is the only authentic steam era MK1 livery left, apart from Southern green. And very smart it looks too.

 

That used to be the rationale but now some of the standard WSR stock is in BR maroon. At least it's authentic, as opposed to the previous ex-6 inspired pseudo-Pullman unlined/unfinished effort. I'm delighted the unauthentic carriage names have been dispensed with, something I've been campaigning for for yonks. If only the BR 'RESTAURANT CAR' lettering could have been applied to W1909. 'BUFFET CAR' on W1804 would probably have been unhelpful given the vehicle's current use, but we might have got away with 'BAR CAR' using a bit of licence. Just in case the brilliant Williton craftsmen crew are reading this, the aforementioned lettering should be applied exactly 7" below bottom of the window frames (worth a try), but then you probably know that. See page 13 of the latest WSR Journal for an authentic example of the applied lettering on an RU. The yellow cant rail line could be usefully applied to W3108 in the event commercial department ever capitulate to my oft expressed suggestion to charge a small premium for 1st class dining seats, a no-brainer revenue generator much like the premium for a guaranteed table for two, inexplicably dropped for 2020! This year's prices represent a reduction of £495 net revenue per dining train. A rather strange commercial decision in my view, given that zero effort and expense was involved, although sadly rather academic in the present circumstances. I digress. The yellow cant rail was introduced by BR in 1962, the same year W3108 was released to traffic, so could be considered authentic.

The exterior of the QB set is indeed very smart, and it's good to finally see a shot of the reformed rake on wsr.org.uk. Now, what about the interior refurb? A fresh coat of varnish would go a long way in the interim......

 

In the BR Era, the WR had a number of 'Chocolate and Cream; sets for use on 'Important' services. Clearly there were 'spares' which ended up on other trains but the liklehood of a Chocolate and Cream' set venturing onto the Minehead branch is to say the least remote

 

Didn't know there was some standard stock in maroon as well now. Completely agree about the old Pullman livery though, it was awful, glad to see the back of that!

 

The BSK and a buffet were in maroon last year. A TSO, or two, have been done over the winter.
The QB this year is meant to run as an add on to the MD set, so presumably the idea is to have a full maroon rake.

 

Maybe as the train is not running as it's own diagram anymore, it isn't losing that £495.. but you'd think they want to make as much cash out of it as possible! Strange they've dropped the guaranteed table for two option. Nothing surprises me though with the plc.

 

It all depends which set is split at Minehead to form the 4-car rake QB will attach to when it arrives at BL. Operationally I suspect it most unlikely that the short set will habitually be all-maroon. More important will be the need for that short consist to include a brake, accessible carriage and a buffet.

 

I tried Barry but the varnishing had been done.
Re the cant rail- much debate about WR authenticity and some suggestions it was a SR idea, later more widely adopted by other regions.
WSRA put £33k into the set over the winter. Had I known that we had more time then maybe we could have found a bit more in the piggy bank and looked at the interior.

 

I think we've probably been here before, but just to clarify... Prior to 1956, all Mark 1 (and older corridor stock) were turned out in "blood and custard". Post 1956 the regions were, to a degree, allowed to go their own way. The WR was allowed to use chocolate and cream for some specific named trains. Thus chocolate and cream rakes found their way onto the Kingswear branch in the Torbay Express, but not onto the Minehead branch because there was no main line named train. From time to time the sets got split and odd chocolate and cream coaches sometimes found themselves in odd places. The bulk of mainline Mark 1s in all regions, except the Southern, were painted lined maroon from 1956 onwards. The date of the livery change co-incided with the introduction of the later BR steam loco tender emblem. Of course the livery change was not instant, and in the late 1950s all three liveries co-existed.

So, all three liveries are, to an extent, prototypical. However, to be nit-picking, the mid-coach emblem ("ferret and dartboard") also only came in in 1956, so it was never found on "blood and custard" stock. Although it was present on chocolate and cream sets it was originally applied to maroon stock only on named trains in the LMR and ER (and NER and ScR). Again these coaches eventually found themselves on some other trains, but I am not aware that any WR maroon Mk1s ever carried a central emblem. But it does look good.

I would not presume to say in detail what the Southern did, but broadly for them 1956 was also a watershed with coaching stock being turned out in green. Again for named trains Mk 1s carried the central BR emblem. (I appreciate that many members of this forum will know all this already, but I guess not all.)

 

>>>....the premium for a guaranteed table for two, inexplicably dropped for 2020! ......A rather strange commercial decision in my view, given that zero effort and expense was involved....

While I am happy to defer to Barrie's knowledge on such things, I would have thought that - as a minimum - there would have been the 'effort' required to record the request, account for the payment of the premium, and make sure that the table was allocated accordingly on the day. Just the sort of trivial thing IMHO to which some office 'bean counter' would allocate a theoretical 'cost' and then someone else would decide that the return did not justify the cost and so scrap the idea.

[ As an aside... years ago my office generated so much mail that every day it was all franked in our post room, put in a large sack, and collected by a Royal Mail van at the end of the day. In due course Royal Mail brought forward their collection to mid-afternoon, with the result that any late urgent mail might well miss the post for the day. In theory our post clerk could just drop it in post-box on his way home, but the RM would not allow that for franked mail. The alternative - that the post clerk held a stock of stamps and just stuck one on each letter before posting it - was not allowed by our 'rules' 'cos the bean-counters had determined that the (theoretical) cost of all the admin to record the number of stamps purchased, used, unused etc each quarter outweighed any perceived benefit in getting our mail out on time. We lost far more ££££ in missed business opportunities as a result of missed deadlines :-( Another example of not seeing the 'wider picture'. ]

 

Yes, the old 'Pullman' livery wasn't good, it would perhaps have looked a little better if the cream had extended along the top and bottom of the windows.