West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I don't think they will, but I'd be miffed if DfT stumped up enhancements money to enhance the layout at Taunton for occasional trains to BL when NR's renewals budget is cut by £1bn, they've descoped East-West Rail, not yet published a cogent enhancements plan for CP6 2019-24, haven't announced any electrification etc. etc.

Patrick

 

Ah but just think of all the money they are spending on that nice new railway line between London and Birmingham.

 

London and Crewe. And hopefully between Birmingham and Leeds too.

Patrick

 

Has any work actually started north of Birmingham yet?

 

I think not. Royal assent was only on 11th February. It's planned for work to be simultaneous with work on Phase 1, as one project.

Patrick

 

HS4, Minehead to Taunton anyone?

 

HS4??? Would that be Highly Strung?

 

No, Heritage Steam, of course.

 

Looking at the Seaward Way Webcam it seems work is starting on the level crossing

 

Excavator and dump truck working the Dunster side of the crossing, I assume they are digging the foundations for the relay room.

 

The Seaward crossing webcam seems to have failed, or has it been disconnected?
Edit: Just found the answer on the WSR website.

" The WSR Plc have switched the webcam covering Seaward Way Level Crossing offline...

...until the crossing upgrade works are complete.

That seems like good news as the start of the works must be imminent. Although nothing is promised, hopefully WSR Plc will provide regular updates and pictures to help keep supporters informed throughout the upgrade."

 

How long now I wonder before we get the conspiracy theory that this is to enable the 'wicked Plc' to cut the line and build a new station east of the road in secret?

 

Don't understand why though, plenty of construction works are viewable on web cams. So long as you cannot identify any specific individuals, which seems very unlikely at that distance, what's the problem? And besides, anyone walking across the crossing would be able to see what's happening.

It's a shame because here is an example of works that people are keenly interested in seeing progressed, where the railway could set an example by openly showing us all what's happening and adding regular update comments. Instead we seem to have gone straight back to the bad old days of secrecy and "we know more than you do..." or "we'll tell you our version if we think you need to know..."

Sorry, this just seems to be typical of the bad old WSR Board behaviour.

 

You may well be right; and it's also not really that big a deal. But... given all the history here, and the likely interest throughout the heritage world in how the replacement is progressing, were there an innocent explanation, such as the one you suggest, a wise and painfully-schooled PLC would have given it up front. But I'm not suggesting the converse of either part of that is true; some low-key variant of Hanlon's Razor may be operating.

Having said all that, I hope the replacement goes well.

Noel

 

There are plenty of SCC projects that have a live webcam, time-lapse, or other similar forms for recording progress to present to the general public, possibly to do with justifying there spending/corporate responsibility or whatever you want to call it.

Just a shame that those who are interested in the works and can't get involved, or visit minehead to see whats taking place, are now reliant on those who share images of the progress, or a WSR Plc infamous press release. Making a point of turning off the webcam has just drawn bad attention the railway which they don't need right now

 

Update: early works, ground investigations and environmental surveys. "We'll go to market later this year for a delivery partner to build the [phase 2 a] route [to Crewe]" - Modern Railways, April

Patrick

 

Minehead SB will require a full rewire as part of the works, so electrical supplies at that end of the SB at least will require disconnection......