West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Chelfam Viaduct, perhaps, but peace on the WSR? For Bob's sake man ..... keep it real .... that looks like an outside possibility on a geological timescale!

 

Chamberlain: Peace in our time, see this piece of paper signed by Herr H himself.

Chairman: Oh, that old lease - rip!

 

Surely, this is how we learn what the problems are ?

 

Why? The rest of us might want to know whats going on!

There are enough bad comments on here from contributors not associated with the railway.

 

And this from a man who, during his time as a PLC director, was opposed to the 1940s weekend - one of the WSR's most successful events of all times. Not only opposed, I should say, but actively engaged in trying to stop it happen. And who was the champion and chief organiser of said event - why, none other than Andy Norman! So Andy, when it comes to understanding the concept of financial benefit, I don't think you need to take lectures from somebody who is so obviously and tragically commercially illiterate.

Frank C - many of us have long memories on this railway. As Andy has said on previous occasions, "you play the man and not the ball". Such tactics are the mark of intellectual weakness.

And THIS from a man whose sole contribution as a PLC Director was to create some lovely badges carrying the somewhat ironic statement, "I'm a volunteer - ask me why?"

I'm sure a lot of volunteers on the WSR will be asking themselves the same question right now, with people like you still hanging around peddling lies and trying to re-writing history.

Well said. We should add to that, in the 18 months or so since JJP came to power, promising a great turnaround and a business recovery plan for the railway - have we seen any evidence of such a plan? Apart from some cost-cutting and a succession of vacuous and quite often mildly nonsensical press statements, no we have not. Coronavirus aside, any 'businessman' worth his or her salt would have had ample chance by now to compile, consult upon and communicate such a plan.

"Where is the plan?" This is the question that everybody ought to be asking; shareholders, volunteers, support charities, stakeholders, the wider community.

 

Hi Big Al,

It isn't that at all.

As I understand it, a lot of the current problems can be attributed to the albeit brief time that Rodney and Frank C were on the WSR PLC board, as during this period JJP was invited to join the WSR PLC board.

I believe that Frank C and Rodney were in favour of JJP becoming a WSR PLC board member.

Now, amongst a number of others, they are attempting the last few days a 'hatchet job' on Andy on here with personal attacks trying to silence him.

Frank C and Rodney still have yet to state their position as to the current small WSR PLC board instructing Solicitors to serve a statutory 'Notice to Quit' on the SDRT in respect of Washford, and all that entails for the WSR PLC and the SDRT.

These are matters relating to the management of the WSR PLC and it's affect on others.

Cheers,

Julian

 

Martin,

The WSRA own 7821, the PLC own 7828

Keith

 

Nope, wrong again. I was opposed to the fact that the Board of the day did not reach a proper conclusion to the discussion, and a series of decisions were taken outside the boardroom against Board policy and without full consideration. For example, no business plan was presented to the board. I entirely acknowledge that, fortunately, it was a successful event, and that Andy played the lead role in it.
Frank

 

How do you know who is "associated with the railway" ? There are volunteers, shareholders, WRSA members, WSSRT members, retired volunteers, and donors who are not members. All of these, and probably some other categories that I've missed, have an interest in the railway. Do you know them all ?

 

Glad all's well.

 

I am glad you are recovering and hope you have a speedy recovery.

 

Currently, the bank own 7828.

Sent from my SM-T590 using Tapatalk

 

Indeed Roger! I did mean that they owned it in principle, in the same way as we 'own' our houses (but really the bank owns them until the mortgage is paid off!)

Keith

 

Julian, if indeed Messrs Courtney and Greenway were instrumental in recruiting Mr
Jones-Pratt to the Plc Board we have much to thank them for.

(I have written in the past extensively of the declining finances during 2018 and the
then Chairman's reluctance to agree to the requisite surgery. I in fact called on him to
resign at the 2018 AGM )

My views wrt Mr Jones-Pratt's record as Chairman were stated in posting 23746.
Whatever else he saved the Railway from becoming the first major Heritage Railway
to call in the Receivers.

Wrt S&D my views are outlined in the aforementioned post.

May I suggest that you desist from posting wrt to the S&D, it is IMHO becoming
counterproductive. Similarly I do hope you are not encouraging the S &D to take
legal action ( a course likely to end up with both the S&D and Plc entering
bankruptcy let alone remembering the Whitehouse vs WSRA outcome )

Andy Norman, please please shut up !

We all need to support the WSR ( and any other Heritage Railway we individually
love ) in these difficult times. The WSR has had enough bad press, particularly
here in West Somerset ( ie the S&D headline and the unfortunate ' cuckoo in
the nest' followed by the open letter addressed to the Plc chair inter alia suggesting the
Plc has misappropriated funds, The WSRA Chair has of course stated there has
been no such occurrence ie all monies have been accounted for and all spending
has been with the knowledge of the funder. )

Please, lets all ( including me ) stop this adversarial, unproductive public quarrelling.
Those likely to benefit I suggest are solely limited to journalists and feature writers.

Michael Rowe.

 

A real tangent this one, but yes you own your house if you paid for it, even if you used a mortgage to fund it. Hence why you, not the mortgage company have to insure it, repair it etc. The bank only own the loco if it has been sold to them.

Sorry for the interruption, go back to tearing chunks out of each over a railway you all profess to love, but have a very odd way of showing it.

 

Jeez, reading through this latest flare up, it’s just like Ground Hog Day. No matter who’s at the helm, the one thing the WSR clearly lack is any notion of the need for an even half-competent PR machine. The pronouncement they made regarding the S&D has merely reaped the whirlwind it deserved.

 

>>>> Maunsell907 wrote: Similarly I do hope you are not encouraging the S &D to take legal action ( a course likely to end up with both the S&D and Plc entering bankruptcy let alone remembering the Whitehouse vs WSRA outcome )

Firstly, IIRC the legal action by Paul Whitehouse against the old WSRA Board failed on a legal technicality, namely that he had not received permission from the Charity Commission to initiate the action; the virtue (or otherwise) of his case was never tested in court. I don't think that case is relevant here.

Secondly, AFAIK the current WSRA is still pursuing the idea of legal action against the relevant former Trustees to recover the 4160 shares, partly at least AIUI on the basis that the Association - as a Charity - has a legal obligation to recover assets which may prove to have been relinquished improperly. Is there not therefore a similarity with the S&DRT, who may well feel - as a Charity - that they are obliged to defend an eviction attempt which has been made on the basis of very vague, and possibly unsubstainable, arguments?

As I read the comments in this thread and the associated 'eviction' thread, no one is encouraging the S&DRT to take legal action, merely recognising that - sadly - it may become necessary. Any encouragement IMHO is directed more at the Plc, to appreciate the problem that they are causing and to try and find a way to extract themselves from it.

 

Some good news at last....

https://www.somersetcountygazette.c...nations-west-somerset-railway-since-shutdown/

 

Michael,

You repeat the mantra that all must support the plc management and that not to do so is somehow to undermine the WSR.

Having just been paid, I'm considering what railway appeals I will try to persuade my wife to let me donate to (the perils of being married to an accountant turned "home maker"). My starting point will be converting money I'd have expected to pay in fares during the lockdown period into donations. On that basis, the WSR is a candidate.

However, what I see is a leadership group that is inward looking, appears to treat contracts with less respect than Donald Trump's lawyers, and has as little regard for due process. It has acted brutally and questionably on a number of matters, culminating in the disgraceful approach taken to the S&DRT. Supporters of that leadership group have a habit of misrepresenting what has been said (and, for the avoidance of doubt, I include your representation of that public letter in that category), yet are far from forthcoming when it comes to presenting a more positive vision - even one limited to KBO.

Whatever my feelings about the Minehead branch, I'm simply not prepared to support a management that behave in such an appalling way. And, unfortunately, "support" means doing anything that will have the effect of diverting focus from the unnecessary extra costs that their actions have imposed on the railway.