West Somerset Railway General Discussion

The latest from WSR-TV

 

Fascinating film.
When did the turntable go in, and how much did the project cost at the time? What was the cost of the refurbishment / lengthening?

 

If you go right back to the very first post on this thread, you will find that the turntable was just being installed!

 

I should live that long

 

In the talk Andy gives the date it was transported and then it was craned in the next day - 11 February 2008.

I don't have the figures immediately to hand.

Robin

 

As someone who's interested in railways started at Sea Mills station in the mid 60's, we must have been near neighbours.

Severn Beach signal box closed in 1969:
http://bristol-rail.co.uk/wiki/Severn_Beach_Signal_Box

Not my picture.

Hallen Marsh Junction signal exchange:

http://bristol-rail.co.uk/wiki/File:Hallen_Marsh_Junction21.jpg

My picture

 

Is anyone aware how successful the WSR appeal is at present? The SVR is certainly heading in the right direction.

''Thanks to an astounding response to our Emergency Appeal, the short-term future of the Severn Valley Railway has been secured. We’ve received £416,193 in donations and share purchases, enough to keep us going on a ‘care and maintenance’ basis. We are deeply grateful to every single person who has come to the rescue, to take away the immediate threat to the Railway’s future''.

<BJ>

 

Does this not show the advantage of having a railway where everybody sings from the same "hymnsheet". No more "egos"!
Get together and put the differences to one side and pull together, S&D should be included as part of the family.
One united appeal has shown its advantages on GWSR as well as SVR.
Keith & Joyce

 

And I recall it being pointed out here that half of that £30k was cash reserves donated by WSR support groups (stations etc.)
I agree it does seem bizarre that there seems so little cohesion on the fundraising with so many different appeals. Not only are the Plc and WSRA running separate appeals but the WSRA directs you to choose between 1 of 4 separate appeals within them. GWSR is funelling all donations through through the trust, gift aided or not, so there's just one destination regardless. But it's very much a "GWSR appeal" not just "The Trust".

 

Everything is done different in Somerset, must be the Scrumpy!

 

I hope not, but I think we are deluding ourselves in thinking that heritage railways will be operating public services by August. The more you read up on any potential exit strategy, the more you realise that it may well be 2021 before trains run again.

 

I must agree.

As an aside, I am getting increasingly concerned that the growing drive to end lock-down to get the economy going again, however important that may be, will be done at the risk to those of us in the vulnerable groups. Until there is a vaccination process well underway, the more people that you let out to go back to work and circulate will merely increase the risk to those of us who have to remain shut away. You may get some volunteers and some visitors and passengers, but at nothing like the pre-virus levels. Frankly, I think 2020 will be a year just to stay at home, read (or write!) books and maybe raise some money in the hope that the WSR will survive.

That's my doom&gloom for today, folks

 

However much we'd like the lockdown to end, we need to be careful not to end it too soon. Hokkaido, Japan, lifted their lockdown too soon and is now facing a second wave of infections. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52305055

Like you I think if any heritage railways do start running again this year the passenger numbers will be well down because until there's a vaccine older people are going to be wary of going anywhere they don't need to.

 

We also need testing for antibodies. The US Navy has had a shock: https://gcaptain.com/aircraft-carrier-outbreak-could-hold-clue-to-coronavirus-spread/ and found that 60% of the sailors who tested positive had no symptoms. Who knows who has had it, who carries it, who is immune (if anyone)?
Pat

 

I believe that there will be no let up until a vaccine is available and distributed in large numbers. I don't think it will be in 2020. I also believe that the need for a solution will lead to shortcuts being taken in which manufactures and governments will move to human testing far earlier than would normally happen.


Sent from my SM-T550 using Tapatalk

 

It is quite bizarre but so many people simply don't (appear to) trust or like so many other people or organisations in this dysfunctional WSR family - including, it seems, many (but not all) ex-directors/trustees of the various organisations who sometimes politely slag each other off on here - that it is perhaps understandable why it's happened this way.

The plc (presumably in the form of the Chairman) appears not to trust the WSRA, hence the plc running its appeal. Others don't want to donate to the plc while it has its finger firmly on the self-destruct button. The WSRA has (quite reasonably) said it's stupid to donate without attracting gift aid. Others don't trust the WSRA for whatever reason so need the reassurance that their money will definitely go to a specific project, hence the multiple appeals.

Yes, of course it's barking mad but short of a comprehensive and decisive banging of heads in deepest Somerset - something that has been needed for many years - I can't see it changing any time soon.

The upshot of course is that many will simply donate elsewhere. It's not as though there's any shortage of opportunity.

 

Absolutely, the whole thing has arisen out of a deep mistrust that simply doesn't exist elsewhere, how you go about solving that is one of life's great mysteries. Suffice to say, I don't think JJP has the answer to that.

 

The trust or lack of it with the WSRA goes back a long long way, at one point it tried to buy the freehold of the railway, now they try to wash all this under the carpet, but a lot of people have got long memories, and a lot of volunteers left the WSR because of the way the WSRA was run at the time and never returned.