S&D Railway Trust

If I suggested this I be branded and idiot. I like your positive ideas though some people think life can just go on as it is forever and others will feed them and I don’t think the SAndD fit in that catalogue as they are better than that. I’m just being used as an escape goat here avoid the real issues

 

No, your incoherent, ill thought through and impractical ideas are being dismissed for what they are.

 

Oh, for heavens sake.. this is NOT the St Trinians Train Robbery or similar 'farce' - working a heritage railway is a serious, professional task. Suggestions like yours beggar belief and strip you of any credit that you might have a serious correspondent.

 

Clearly you've never been to what is left of Kelston station? It was only ever two basic platforms, one each side of the line, up on an embankment - no other land. Best thing about it was/would be that the line passes the back of the local pub, an ideal place to sit and watch trains go by (if only)

 

Do you have to be such a bully?

If you don’t like what our friend, or anybody else posts, just ignore them.

 

I have been there, but a few years ago now ! I should have said "at the Kelston end" as the old line runs on the level across several fields before reaching the second bridge. It might be possible to purchase some ground here but, again, finance and man-power may be a problem . Best we hope it won't be necessary for the Trust to leave Washford.

 

I was going to say that! You beat me to it!

 

Knowing the area well, I don't think it would be possible for the AVR to buy up land and build any sort of railway facility there. It would be hugely controversial that close to Saltford - indeed, any extension of the AVR will be controversial locally - and land prices in the area are not exactly cheap. There may well be seasonal flooding risks too.

 

As a number of people have said here and on the other thread that the S&DRT and PLC should be talking about a solution rather than continuing toward legal action regarding the eviction notice, I have been asked to make clear that the S&DRT agree and have tried to reach out and take that route.

However, the response to date has shall we say been forthright and blunt, to be polite. The S&DRT does live in hope that the current direction can be avoided as it wishes to continue to be a part of and support the WSR family going forward if at all possible.

 

I would like to endorse Andy's above post. I am not able to add details because of professional privilege, and correspondence marked 'Without prejudice' which must, of course, remain confidential.

Setting that aside, which it must be, it is disappointing to note that the WSSRT in it's board minutes of 19th March (point 414) does not state support for the SDRT.

http://www.wssrt.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Minutes-of-Board-meeting-of-19-March-2020.pdf

Bearing in mind that the longest serving WSSRT trustee is the same Ian Coleby who signed the new lease for 50 years for the SDRT for Washford in 2018 as WSR PLC Chairman, and was part of the above board meeting, I am staggered beyond belief as to what is going on.

We have yet to see published the WSRA board minutes of March 2020.

Cheers,

Julian

 

Whilst I appreciate that many of us would like to see the members of the family calling out the PLC management on their actions I can also see why the trustees of a charity might quite properly take a view that their formal meetings should be limited to discussions directly relevant to their charity. As such a dispute between the PLC and a separate charity would not perhaps be something for the minutes beyond perhaps the sort of minute which says something along the lines of "the trustees note..." In the current climate and with all of the comments on here about the PLC and its Chairman's future intentions discretion in the minutes and confidentiality of trustee discussions when considering informally their next steps and survival strategies would seem prudent and wise.

 

The flip side to that argument is, that if you don't stand up to be counted when another group is attacked, then there'll be no one left to stand up for you when your time comes to be attacked...

It's a bit cowardly to say 'we've noted this terrible thing that's happening to another group on our railway, but we're not going to do or say anything about it'.

Keith

 

My understanding of the situation is that given the nature of the situation keeping your powder dry is the best that many of those on the sidelines can do

 

As I read the Minutes, they may be taken to say the first part, but there there is nothing to suggest their stance for the second part. I feel that we just have to 'wait and see'.

 

There goods train would look good at midomer norton where it looks like double track and a jinty coming the other way. They could go there for a gala and might find they can stay there a bit longer if everyone likes them. The wagons are Restored good and a shame to be wasted somewhere they’re not wanted and kilmerson will need a short line to go on to

 

Unfortunately as @RailWest has pointed out before, there is considerable doubt as to whether there would physically be enough room at Midsomer Norton to house the S&D Trust's collection.

Much has been made of the legal costs of all this, but would anyone care to hazard a guess, as a comparison, for how much it would cost to dismantle the Washford site and move it to wherever the Trust could potentially end up? If the costs are the same order of magnitude and the legal case looks good, then of course they're going to go for the legal option, and the WSR should have seen it coming.

 

If they just went there for a Gala, where would they go afterwards if Washford was no longer available to them?

As a longer term solution then you may well be right. Currently however there is barely enough siding space at MSN for the S&DRHT's own purposes, which is why (a) they often stable stock in the Up platform and (b) they are trying to build more sidings. However much they may wish to help the S&DRT, pragmatically they would have to look after their own interests first.

At the moment of course, with the COVID-19 'lockdown' no-one is going anywhere. Even if the Plc persists in the eviction, the least that they could do would be to delay it until 12 months after whatever date life gets back to normal.

 

If you look at the most recent bank balances for the Plc & the S&DRT, I don't think either one can afford the expense - no matter which way any court case goes.

 

I am not sure that it is. When you are dealing with salami tactics like this, you need to take a stand early because otherwise now is never the right time. The problem is this, by the time the tipping point comes often irreversible damage has been done that can't be fixed.

 

From the S&DRT's perspective, it would be not just the cost of dismantling and removing everything from Washford, but also the subsequent cost (and sheer amount of effort and time) to build an equivalent new set-up elsewhere. I wonder how many of their 'senior' members will have the enthusiasm or stamina to start all over again?