West Somerset Railway General Discussion

This is news to me, and perhaps, to redress the balance, which seems to see JJP in a not too flattering light, you might be able to expand a little on this.

He clearly has not been blowing his own trumpet as to how his expertise and contacts have done so much good, and evidence available publicly does not enable anyone to see how he and his contacts have done more than rejig some numbers on the balance sheet and flog off or hock a few assets.

I'd love to be able to revise my views in the light of some new evidence.

 

As discussions between the Trust and the PLC are still continuing I’m constrained from replying in a way that would set the record straight. All I can say is that, not for the first time, wrong assumptions have been made on here and then represented as fact.

 

But you would not be "banned from the hobby", only from this particular line. If it were me I'd give a quick two-finger salute and transfer to somewhere I'd be more welcome. There's no shortage in the area.

 

I look forward to being proved wrong, genuinely.

 

The post by Rodders (31134) earlier today may sum up much of how a great number of those who actually volunteer on the WSR and do not post on NP, rather than those of us looking in, feel about the present situation.
There are questions which are not raised despite the large number of posts on this thread. One is why is the PLC and JJP in particular acting in the way they are? I suspect JJP knows the the WSR history and remembers that it has form with a support group trying to pull the rug from under the PLC's feet. Accepting the need for reform, on the basis of John Bailey's report, I am sure the PLC has strong reservations.
I am not sure why there is such a need for the WSSRT to be part of any new set up. Some Station Groups are also good fund raisers in their own right, the Minehead one particularly, as far as I know no one is suggesting they must fall inline.
The other question is whilst this merging it is given as beneficial for the WSR I do wonder if some folk have further ambitions hence PLC reluctance on some matters. There is always someone prepared to make the bullets and there are always those willing to fire them!
Maybe its time to take our fingers off the 'attack button' and look at both sides of this situation. It may not change some views here but it is worth considering.

 

The role of the WSSRT is intimately tied to its shareholding. For reasons already discussed, an approximately 10% shareholding is plenty to decide the outcome of such decisions as go to shareholders.

The WSSRT is in play because of that and, through it's leaders' choice to align themselves with the current plc leadership made itself a player in a battle it might well have been better not engaged in.

 

This is a carefully nurtured myth. Almost anyone with a modicum of business sense could have done what he did, bring in money by hocking everyone in site, although I do appreciate it that not everyone would be prepared to divest the railway of its greatest liabilities quite so ruthlessly.

 

Odd comments from somebody who regularly posts on this thread.
Many, many questions have been raised, including a large number of genuine requests for the Plc Board and Chairman to explain some of their actions and policies. No answers have been forthcoming and this has given rise to frustration and annoyance amongst those of us who care about the line but are unable to understand what is going on.
All we do know is that the line is not operational, is bleeding profusely and those in charge appear to have only the vaguest of plans to do anything about it.

 

This is interesting news. Please can you enlarge on what Mr Jones-Pratt and his contacts have done? I am sure many of us would welcome some positive news, and I am quite certain that the WSR as a whole would be delighted if there were some positive publicity to counter the views expressed in these pages.
This is your opportunity to redress the balance of opinion

 

Yes but you can’t ask questions can you? Otherwise you get thrown off the railway or banned from the Facebook groups. If George Orwell were alive today Animal Farm and 1984 could well be based on events going on in Minehead. Very much a cross between the thought police and the pigs.

 

But the questions have been asked, and many of us are supporters but not working members, so we can't be thrown off ! As for being banned from a facebook page - really, does anybody care ?
I won't go over all the ground again, but it is better to listen to your critics and work with them rather than retreat into the Bunker, which never ends well.

 

Has Minehead been taken over by some cult , because all that appears to be missing is pictures along Minehead platform of a smiling dear leader, reminding everyone to dig deep, to save the railway i wonder what the fortunes will be of the S&DJRT and the WSR come this time next year? hopefully the S&D will be looking back on a year that in the end, ended positively with a future road map becoming clear, on the other hand I dread to think what sort of future the WSR would be looking at should nothing change.

 

Nope, just join again under a different name, carry on as before!

Given the anonymity that is possible on this forum and the notoriety of our discussions, I am surprised we haven't had a few more WSR volunteers speaking out under the cover of an anonymous forum name. There's no doubt that there's disquiet about things among volunteers, I expect there's plenty of quiet moans in the mess rooms, but there seems little appetite to go beyond that, even anonymously, which suggests more than just a fear of ID card withdrawal. Not that they don't care, just that people would rather not get involved, which seems a shame.

 

From a comment made personally to me, I also suspect fear is involved - specifically fear of adverse consequences if someone were believed to be speaking out of turn.

It doesn't matter to me whether or not that fear is well founded, or which individual or group are associated with that fear, as the simple fact that such fears exist under current management is in and of itself deeply concerning.

 

I completely agree.

 

I have very mixed reactions to that. On the one hand, 'good ', because as @John Palmer has so very eloquently laid out, for the SDRT, any move will be a damaging nightmare. On the other, 'meh', because I think the SDRT would be a lot better off somewhere else, where they were quietly allowed to simply get on with their utterly harmless and praise-worthy work, saving artifacts from the SDR's wonderful (and much-missed) history.

A very hard choice, but on balance I'd have to go with 'stay', because i) the downside of moving is so severe (as laid out previously); but equally importantly ii) after the enormous uproar and horrible PR caused by this action, it's very unlikely that they would be the target of a similar move in the future; and iii) a move elsewhere would still remain as a contingency, if future circumstances demand it.

And the bottom line is, most unfortunately, that the SDRT cannot have a high confidence in a successful outcome to those talks - as evidenced by the announcement of a move of much of their collection to the MHR. That planned move is a fact, not an "assumption". But good luck on the discussions anyway (because of the downside for the SDRT of failure).

Noel

 

Perhaps they merely don't wish to add to miasma of negativity which envelops the line; hard to blame them for that.

Noel

 

Well quite. There are so many appeals at the moment appealing for money, can some of the supporters of the current PLC give me a reason why I should give my cash to these people?

 

Hang on Andy, I think there is going to be a big explosion soon & you will be welcomed back with open arms.

DJB.