West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I'd rather be 10 minutes late in this world than 10 minutes early in the next.

 

My thoughts exactly, and the lack of clarity from the plc is so frustrating, but not surprising.

Given (IIRC) that there are colour lights of some sort protecting either side of the crossing, and the plan is to replace existing barriers (not traditional gates) with more barriers, albeit different, any argument that it needs semaphores in order to be more "heritage" holds little water.

I reckon that the work would have been done and dusted well before Covid struck if the plc had not objected to the SCC/Network Rail plan. If it had been the SCC's fault that the work had not been done and hence the railway could not run, I'm pretty sure we would have heard mutterings from the plc about wanting compensation from the Council for lost income.

 

Do not forget that the barriers at Wool are controlled remotely by CCTV and have to be lowered in sufficient time for approaching trains running at a much higher line speed than the WSR. By contract the speed limit at the approach to Seaward Way is only 10MPH IIRC, and the barriers are triggered automatically by the approaching train, so the down time is kept to a minimum.

 

There's only one type of crossing that puts money through the till and that's a working one. Whether the signalling system is lights or semaphore, it will not make any difference to the revenue figures.

 

Who at the WSR is in charge of the Seaward Way crossing project?

 

quite clearly nobody !

 

It does call into question the competence and fitness of those making decisions at the WSR

 

As others have already asked, given the state of many council budgets, will the funding be there to pay for the crossing, as SCC may have not carried over the funding into 2021, as it did, due to the first delay, nothing is set in stone,
Colour lights, or semaphore , who cares? because at the moment nothing can run over the crossing, clearly the project manager, assuming he, or she wasn't amongst those removed by the board when the new chairman took over, has been not keeping abreast of things, what is plan B? Is there a plan B in the case that the crossing can not be done? even if it means terminating at BA and top and tailing, until this matter is solved,

 

Presumably the buses would all have to be painted chocolate & cream to keep with the GWR theme of the line!!

 

Does anyone know of a bus operator interested in taking over the trackbed for a guided busway route? Now that would really bring the punters in.

 

Good afternoon. The crossing was first built in 1992. Since then road and pedestrian traffic has increased considerably, particularly in the summer. After nearly thirty years the equipment is worn out. Technology has developed substantially, and the safety demands of the ORR and the Highways Authority have, rightly, increased substantially. We have a very good working relationship with Somerset County Council and we have been having fortnightly meetings with them and with our professional advisers since May. We have a significant team of professional railway specialists working on this (with the Highways Authority) and the plans are being fine tuned before submission to the ORR, with whom we are also in touch. Signalling will almost certainly be like for like, with the addition of one semaphore signal. We will issue further information in due course, but I am not entering into a detailed dialogue here. If anyone has a detailed question, and a good reason for needing to know then send me a PM.

 

In the Council document it mentions that the work is included in the 2017 - 2018 budget at £850K.
Just wondering how much this figure has gone up in the intervening period of indecision?
And how much more will it increase by before work is actually completed?

 

Well the GWR did at one time operate its own buses linking outlying villages with the stations. as regards a guided bus way, how much was the last such scheme over budget by? only the big boys, first group for example could afford it, and why when there would be no advantage to them.

 

The reason why the crossing needs to be renewed was explained by the document from two years ago. While it is slightly reassuring to know that discussions are proceeding, it remains unexplained why the work was not completed before Spring this year. One or other party's second thoughts about the detailed design would have been irrelevant if the job had been carried out sooner.

 

Oh I don't know. The people who have been agitating for a through service to Taunton might like the idea of a 60 mph guided busway.
Edit: Or make the present road one-way, with the railway trackbed for the other direction.
(My turn to get my coat.)

 

As could a new station, on the other side of the crossing, doing away with the need for a crossing, .

 

I am sure that the WSR has a number of contingency plans to continue limited operations in the event of a section of the line being blocked, in this case the Minehead level crossing (assuming that use of flag-men is unacceptable for routine operation).

The obvious options are for trains from BL to turn back at Blue Anchor, Watchet or Williton. I was interested, however, to see your comment that the ORR will currently only agree BL to Williton on a "one engine in steam" basis. Has the reason for this limitation been given? Is it expected to last into 2021?

With only 4 months remaining until the target date of March 2021 for completion of the level crossing work, there must be concern that the target will slip.