West Somerset Railway General Discussion

To add to what Tom posted regarding retention of help, I can think of a couple of things that may cause concern.
Many years ago some Fire Service medicals introduced a policy of 'no spectacle wearing'. Spectacles do not give a good facial seal with a breathing apparatus mask. It meant that some retained men (often called volunteers) were suspended. Despite an appeal, which most of them won - many found that they did not wish to return. During their six months absence they had found new pastimes.
Speaking with my priest yesterday he said he was a little concerned that all of his congregation would return when churches were re-opened. Folk can be fickle but hopefully many will be happy to return but sadly there will be some who do not.
The current situation where no one really knows how heritage lines will manage after lockdown is, in my view, another possible reason for hesitation by some people.
The absence of some will mean a loss of practical/local knowledge, in many instances but newcomers will replace them. The fear, I think, might be that people filling those positions that required a fair degree of training could be lost and the subsequent time needed to train others.

 

You'll just have to change your nickname to "King Canute".

 

You could change the board, sack the chairman, yes, but would the problem go away, because its systematic of the fractured nature of the way the WSR operates, for instance, what happens with the trustees who sat on their hands, were to scared to speak out, can they expect not to be held to account by their membership, then theres rebuilding trust, what do you say to the S&D Museum trust, sorry? Sorry i don't think will cut it especially if it said by trustees of other groups who stood by, and did nothing, would they ever trust you , or even want to work with you again ? In his short tenure so far, the chairman, has not saved anything, if anything i suspect he has ensured the railway will fail at some point, but why, what does he get to achieve if his actions have made the future look even more bleak, if its an ego trip, " my Railway" then clearly the people who invited him to the board have a lot of explaining to do.

 

Who are the S&D Musem Trust ? I take you meant S&DRT (Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust).

 

Curiously, on 23rd April a different trustee PM'd me to say 'we all knew about it'.

I guess he must have been referring to the 2020 approach to SCC, although that wasn't the context of the exchange (to my mind).

So, did WSRA and WSSRT know about the 2020 approach before it was made?

I absolutely accept Robin's account of 2018's events but remain unsure about the later approach.

 

What events in 2018? I did a quick search but nothing comes up for the term "freehold" in that year on WSR threads (other than references to the original freehold debate that eventually led to the fall of the X6). id WSR Plc or another body try and buy the freehold in 2018 then, was it through the PDG, and was it before or after JJP took office? As an outsider I found the shenanigans on the WSR post-X6 and pre-JJP rather confusing and difficult to follow.

It's disappointing that clearly not all WSRA trustees are equal, but gives me a small amount of hope that it's not all of the WSRA that has thrown its lot in with the Plc board. I think that might be important further down the line.

 

Tom's post raises an interesting point which I'll illustrate using myself. I am 66 and since I started in the heritage railway industry at 16 I've been doing it for a long time and it has been by and large an enjoyable and rewarding experience. Currently I am a driver at Bo'ness MPD which is 38 miles from my home in Glasgow so a turn at the railway means rising at 5.30 am to leave home at 6.30 to arrive at 7.30 having used the M80 in the rush hours which whilst nothing like the M25 is still the busiest road in Scotland. So prep, do three round trips, dispose and hopefully leave by 4.00pm and if lucky arrive home at 5.00, but more often that not 5.30 or so. An 11 hour day that has required driving 76 miles by road, 30 by rail as well as the vagaries of my fireman or even mine if I'm feeling particularly grumpy. I am aware that some folk do considerably greater journeys than that but in safety critical roles journeying fron home impacts on the length of turn you can undertake. Last year having retired I was finding the road journey far too stressful and I wasn't much enjoying the railway side of it so much so I came to the clear decision that I wanted to largely cease my active involvement which I did but retaining my driving ticket for 2020. This was of course pre Covid and my railway along with every other one in the UK is shut, to reopen in the future one hopes. Since I have an underlying health condition it seems unlikely that I will do a turn this year and it may well prove to be that I have actually done my last driving turn, we shall see. This is a wholly personal set of circumstances and I wouldn't want to judge anyone elses circumstances, but 50 years is for me enough. I can also hope and wish that whatever ails the WSR organisations at management level is resolved because otherwise, Covid apart, it will ultimately fail which would be a shame.
Regards
Martin

 

SCC's FOI response gave details of a recent enquiry regarding the freehold and also referred to an earlier enquiry, making two since the 2017 agreement with PDG. These two events were clarified in the freehold statement. Here is the relevant text:

As part of this restructuring, the Company Chairman discussed with the Chairs of the WSRA and West Somerset Steam Railway Trust (WSSRT) if it was worth a general enquiry to the Council to again understand if they would sell the freehold to the Railway. Owning the freehold would be a tangible asset to be used to secure an overdraft, which at that point seemed likely to be needed. It was agreed that the company should see if SCC was prepared to consider this initially, and the issue, which was also commercially sensitive, was not discussed more widely at that stage. The Council was not however prepared to consider such a transaction. In February 2020, the WSR plc chairman again approached SCC to enquire about the purchase of the Freehold. This was before the Covid-19 challenges began. Again the Council was unwilling to consider such a sale at this time.

Robin's post refers to the 2018 enquiry. There is no suggestion anywhere that any other body was consulted before the 2020 enquiry.

Since my earlier post the advice I received on 23rd April has been retracted. Robin's account is therefore the only (WSRA) version in town. As far as I am concerned that is definitive.

 

So the mechanisms put in place to improve the governance of the railway, I.E. The Partnership Development Group, and any previous agreements regarding the lease and the appropriate route for approaching Somerset County Council regarding purchasing the lease have been disregarded twice now by the WSR PLC chairman and in essence supported by the WSRA and WSSRT? And in the FOI request, SCC didn't say no, but enforced the appropriate route for agreeing purchasing the lease. So that's another false statement made in a PLC issued statement.

 

I trust that you, along with the WSRA board will be urgently seeking the PLC board to issue a retraction of the statement.
If not, why not?

Keith

 

My understanding is that you don't need a Staff ID card to be a volunteer off the line in a non-operational role. So, Andy, there's lots to do away from the line itself. You have a lot of energy and a lot to offer. Go for it.

Steve

 

Ah, apologies, I got confused, I read the statement as saying that the 2020 enquiry was with the agreement of the WSRA and WSSRT chairmen, and that Robin was also referring to that. Having reread it I see I was wrong, and there was no such claim of "collaboration" for the 2020 enquiry, only in 2018. All clear now!

 

The latest announcement by the S&DRT is on the Washford Thread

Not for those of a nervous disposition

 

I fear this is a bit silly. Was it not Andy's off-line non-operational voluntary work that got him kicked off the railway in the first place? The staff ID card wasn't withdrawn for technical reasons, Andy was thrown out. I think that sends a pretty clear message from the management, and it wasn't "We don't want you on the footplate, but carry on with the grant-funding work" was it? How can you usefully achieve anything if the chairman of the railway doesn't want you to have anything to do with the railway? One could spend weeks or months drawing up a plan for something or other, but the management's just going to say "no" isn't it, regardless of the merits.

 

It is not "silly" at all. I suspect your comments are based on a misunderstanding on what you have read here.

The Chairman of the Plc cannot prevent a member of another WSR organisation (or even if not a member) from volunteering "off line" for that organisation. I don't know what happened with Andy - only Andy and the Plc know - but it looks like Andy is keen to help the WSR and so I strongly suggest he gets involved "off line".

Steve

 

Interesting. When I was looking into this about 3 years ago, it was quite clear at the time that 'working at home' for the WSR (or one of its various supporting bodies) meant that you were classified as a 'volunteer' and therefore all the volunteer regulations applied (including Staff ID, even if only a temporary one). It did seem to me to be rather OTT for someone whom might just do one or two 'odd jobs' and that was it. Maybe the rules have changed since then....

 

Why would he want to bother though? I can't speak for Andy but if I'd been treated the way he and Maverick have I'd be flipping the massive bird I could find and thinking 'stuff you'.
I really think that the Plc has sown the wind and will end up reaping a massive whirlwind.

 

Steve,

I think what you are suggesting would cause even more problems.

What you would be doing is creating 2 tiers of volunteer:

Tier 1 You can work from home for the railway and you could also volunteer on the line.

Tier 2 You can work from home for the railway, but you are not welcome on the line as a volunteer.

I think instead of trying to work around the problem, would it not be better to actually address the problem?

Those who keep saying "come and volunteer - it's great and not like Nat-Pres would have you believe", well maybe it is great, but let's take a little scenario. Let's suppose that I take the challenge and I volunteer on the WSR. Everything is great until one day there is a mess room difference of opinion about whether one loco class was better than another. So the opposing side takes offence at my viewpoint, takes a dislike to me and reports me to the management (who he will have known longer than me) on a spurious charge of breaching H&S. Management take his side because he is a long serving volunteer and toes the plc line. My ID card is removed. I can no longer volunteer all because of a silly mess room difference of opinion. There are no HR policies so I cannot appeal or present any defence, and my integrity is damaged.
Now, tell me that this is a railway I would want to be involved with...

Keith

 

Well I can think of one reason why folk "working from home" might need a work permit - rules. Chances are if you're doing some sort of backroom role you might be privy to confidential information, indeed it might be necessary for the role you're undertaking. In that scenario I think you probably ought to come under something that makes you more than just a random bod. And also, and this obviously doesn't apply on the WSR where such things are non-existent, so you can have HR policies apply to you.
Now obviously that's not relevant for everything, but it probably is for the sort of things Andy was doing "off railway".

 

AFAIK though the HR policies are part of the SMS & the board has potentially invalidated the SMS as a result.......................