West Somerset Railway General Discussion

To be fair, if he started discussing things that were going on on the railway, he would be invalidating his statement that "no one discusses anything that is taking place on the railway".

 

Clearly then the K&ESR seems to have been turned around.

How did they do it?

 

To change the conversation to current events!!
Today whilst visiting Bridgwater we saw an Express Parcels wagon (Very large) on a low loader heading towards Williton? Any information available would be appreciated. Also when visiting the well known farm shop at Bishops Lydeard we noted that the water tower is surroinded by scaffolding, can anyone tell us why?
keith & joyce

 

In preparation for (unspecified) repair work, according to the latest Notice.

 

Well . judging from when i worked there, the board seemed to be old , and stale, unable to make decisions, then they got an general manager, who was very unpopular, and that galvanised people, it brought people together because they did not like where their railway was going, So new people stood for the board, got voted in, and there began to be some push back, and accountability, holding the GM to account, clipping his wings, he decided to retire, some older members who had been board members for far to long, also fell by the wayside, and as i understand it a new GM, listened to people, took their concern seriously , this was of course after i had left, as people i knew there said its now far better place to be. it took new blood new people to effect change, and i would bet, the very same could be said of the WSR family

 

Well, it is good to hear that it was turned round and how.

 

For those of us involved in SDRT affairs, the cost of the impending overhaul of 53808 and where it will take place and whether the WSR plc will honour it's contractual agreement is a matter of concern.

They have used the loco intensively since it's last overhaul free of charge due to the end of agreement weighting.

These are matters of considerable current concern, and have been for over 14 months for the SDRT board.

It cannot be right on any view of this matter that the WSR plc has had free use of the loco and 2 seasons ago racking up a huge mileage with 53808, and avoid it's end of contract substantial commitments.

It is easily going to be £250,000 plus.

 

OH, I agree, but then can you believe that the WSR plc will honour its contractual obligations?
Such will be the dis trust that the only longer term solution i can see is that a sum be offered in leu of the use the railway had of the loco its not just the way the trust was treated, the untrue statements, its the silence of all the other organisations who didn't say no that's a step to far, a clean break, and then time to heal is the only way.

 

But is there anything the Trust can do now to enforce this or would they have to wait until the end of the contract period?

 

I would imagine nothing can be done until it reaches the point that the WSR have actually broken the agreement, rather than just hinting they might.

If the WSR expected any sympathy and understanding from the SDRT, rather than the full costs being legally pursued, then the Washford eviction was rather foolish.

 

What remains unexplained is why the detailed redesign of the crossing apparently started only recently, rather than several years ago.

 

Well, you can use the 'Edit' option to at least blank out your comments.

 

Report it and ask for it to be deleted.

 

Try writing to the Office or Road and Rail, the department for transport and Somerset County Council for an answer and good luck if they bother to reply!

 

There's a fairly easy explanation for that, which is somebody cocked up. Knowing whom it was isn't really going to help get the railway running any faster and no doubt any compensation that is due to the Plc will be much easier to obtain if the whole sorry saga is not dragged out into the light for all to see and moan about.

 

Regarding a certain recently-retired television presenter mentioned in the last few pages, I had understood that he was, by virtue of upbringing, a Bluebell man rather than a WSR man, although his 'my way or the high way' attitude could be said to resemble that of a certain jumped-up ex bus driver...

 

Are you guessing or is it a fact someone cocked up? Just curious and not wanting any explanation as to how and why.

 

Kilmersdon reportedly on the move via low loader today, destination unknown. To be used for the new MHR extension built on grass cuttings?