If you register, you can do a lot more. And become an active part of our growing community. You'll have access to hidden forums, and enjoy the ability of replying and starting conversations.

West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by gwr4090, Nov 15, 2007.

  1. Lenny

    Lenny New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 7, 2014
    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    72
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Finance Manager
    Location:
    Croydon
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Easy. When the duty roster for Dunster arrives in my in box.
    Plus it will be publicised on wsr.org.
     
    malcolm imps and Steve Edge like this.
  2. granmaree

    granmaree Member

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2015
    Messages:
    541
    Likes Received:
    497
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    You can see the progress that is visible on the crossing in this video, about 13 minutes in (and at 23 minutes in the sign outside the station that said Readers Halt was closed ... it was in fact open but not surprisingly bereft of customers)
     
    Monkey Magic likes this.
  3. The Dainton Banker

    The Dainton Banker Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 20, 2014
    Messages:
    1,720
    Likes Received:
    3,186
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Over the hills and far away
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Thanks for posting this. It gives those of us from out of area some idea of what is happening at present.
    By the way, I think the larger bird you filmed is a moorhen not a coot, the red bill is the "tell". Great shot of the ducklings !
     
    Monkey Magic likes this.
  4. WSR_6960

    WSR_6960 New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2018
    Messages:
    30
    Likes Received:
    212
    Location:
    Somerset
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    That's excellent - you've really made my day with that post (from a humorous point of view that is).

    I wouldn't be so quick to take shots like that if I were you. People in glasses houses and all that. The last god knows how many pages of this thread are just an absolute embarrassment.

    You're very clearly 'that' person.

    You know what I'm talking about... the one that has a brilliant day out at an attraction but found the toilets only had limited amounts of paper remaining so you take to TripAdvisor to let the world know what a dissapointment the whole affair had been and as a result you will never return (1 star).

    I still cannot for the life of me understand why you feel the need to come here day after day just to cook up pointless conjecture in the absence of any news or actual evidence.

    Just grow up and find a hobby that doesn't involve slandering someone else to get your kicks. You've done the WSR to death now.
     
  5. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2011
    Messages:
    25,490
    Likes Received:
    23,720
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grantham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    With friends posting like this, the WSR hardly needs enemies.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
     
  6. WSR_6960

    WSR_6960 New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2018
    Messages:
    30
    Likes Received:
    212
    Location:
    Somerset
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Your post sums the WSR up nicely at the moment ... Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

    What very sad times we live in.
     
    GWCBC78, Ian Monkton, unslet and 2 others like this.
  7. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2011
    Messages:
    25,490
    Likes Received:
    23,720
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grantham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Perhaps. But my comment is not about those who would defend the current management and what it does, but about the manner of that defence. If all that emerges in connection with an organisation are attacks on posters and their motives, then that sends me a powerful message. And that's not just - or even particularly - about the WSR.
     
    MellishR, jnc and The Dainton Banker like this.
  8. Monkey Magic

    Monkey Magic Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2018
    Messages:
    3,498
    Likes Received:
    6,845
    Location:
    Here, there, everywhere
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    We could always talk about a couple of other issues if you'd like to move on from crossing gate gate, maybe you'd like to talk about

    1) How the WSR will survive without the £400,000 plus applied for in round 2 of the CHRF process that wasn't given?

    and

    2) What has become of the Bailey reform process and how this relates to Mike Thompson’s resignation as a WSR plc Director?

    (Or have I got this wrong - more than happy to be corrected. Maybe the finances are nice and healthy and maybe Bailey reform is all on track, and Seaward Way is ahead of schedule and passenger trains will be running into Minehead in the next few days)
     
  9. phil_o99

    phil_o99 New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 16, 2011
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    52
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Tech Support for Railcam
    Location:
    Congleton, Cheshire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    The width of the field of view for both cameras at Williton has been adjusted to eliminate coverage of neighbouring properties and to enable Railcam to remove the intrusive electronic mask which was shielding the livestock in the adjacent pasture.

    Unfortunately the broadcast stream from the south facing camera must remain disabled until agreement has been reached regarding the privacy of individuals using the level crossing.

    Williton will be the northern terminus when services resume next month and Railcam is currently negotiating permission to restore the southerly view to provide enthusiasts with a complete overview of activities at that location.
     
  10. Dan Taylor

    Dan Taylor New Member Account Suspended

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2019
    Messages:
    159
    Likes Received:
    142
    Occupation:
    Fireman
    Location:
    Titfield
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer

    All criticism should be taken on board, Constructive or not.

    Only way to improve how a place is viewed.
     
  11. gwilialan

    gwilialan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2012
    Messages:
    1,658
    Likes Received:
    3,891
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Out there somewhere
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Not niggling, just a genuine request for clarification.

    Do you know how NR deal with their CCTV equipped level crossing images? I know they are not routinely broadcast but they don't seem to have a problem making those "Don't be so stupid" types of compilations showing the idiots and the dangers.

    Also, how does the south facing camera image differ from that of the camera on the L/C at Seaward Way that makes it unusable?

    Regarding the Seaward Way L/C camera "...disabled until the works are completed". Apart from making no sense as anyone can take a video from the public areas in much greater detail than the Railcam view and post it on YouTube as shown in the video above. I do find it disappointing (and this is only my opinion, if you don't agree just ignore me and move on..) that the camera has been completely disabled, even when nothing is happening, rather than, if the PLC is so concerned about what might be seen, simply being inhibited when work is actually taking place. :rolleyes:
     
    jnc and Monkey Magic like this.
  12. RailWest

    RailWest Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2011
    Messages:
    3,803
    Likes Received:
    7,439
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    West Country
    IIRC it was reported earlier that the webcam has been turned off because its power supply would be affected by the re-wiring work being done in MD signal-box. But I stand to be corrected if necessary....
     
    jnc likes this.
  13. torgormaig

    torgormaig Part of the furniture Friend

    Joined:
    Jul 17, 2007
    Messages:
    4,440
    Likes Received:
    6,546
    I think you are being unduely harsh to @WSR_6960 here. Why not look at the context of his post to try to understand where he is coming from. I do not know him but he appears to be a genuine grass roots WSR volunteer, committed to a railway that he clearly loves and I suspect devotes a lot of his time to. In other words he is just like so many of us on this forum - a dedicated hands on volunteer who is passionate about "his" railway. Just think how soul destroying it must be for him and for his fellow WSR volunteers to read hundreds of pages of utterly relentless and repetative criticism about the railway that he identifies with. I doubt that he is responsible for the management decisions and if he is anything like most heritage railway volunteers that I know he probably disagrees with some if not a lot of them. But he still identifies with the railway and feels that criticism of the railway as being criticism of the collective volunteer effort. Please, why not cut the guys on the coal face a bit of slack here and allow them to get on with doing the best that they can for a struggling railway.

    Peter
     
  14. Robin Moira White

    Robin Moira White Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2014
    Messages:
    11,247
    Likes Received:
    17,947
    Gender:
    Female
    Occupation:
    Barrister
    Location:
    Stogumber
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Minehead Level Crossing seems to be generating more heat than light, and I am sure that the chaps ‘at the coal face’ have more than enough to do, so here are 4 ‘baseline’ photos taken today, Sunday 18 April, from the public footpath / verge, with no-one working (which I will also avoid in future).

    I’m often in Minehead for one reason or another and can easily identify the spot I took the photos from so later snaps should offer an easy comparison as work progresses.

    Hope that helps.

    61E249B4-D718-42DA-8F4D-4BD22462BE32.jpeg B59E2DCA-D5F9-4C69-9FEB-6EC17050B700.jpeg 874FFB87-30B8-4104-BD24-8A0E968FF867.jpeg 2C29C02C-5D8C-4571-99EB-0396F5DDD00F.jpeg
     
  15. WSR_6960

    WSR_6960 New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2018
    Messages:
    30
    Likes Received:
    212
    Location:
    Somerset
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    You have hit the nail on the head and worded it better than I possibly could have. For that, I and no doubt many others no are extremely grateful for your comments.

    We put everything we have in to 'our' railway despite the associated politics and online rantings from people we have largely never even heard of.

    Having said that, I would like to state that the defensive tone of my post does not mean that I am declaring my support of any particular organisation or individual but rather the railway itself. For a number of reasons it has been brought in to disrepute over the years but right now there is progress to see and be seen when passenger services recommence.

    In the last few weeks alone we have repaired, completely stripped and repainting the Bishops Lydeard Water Tower including the crane (no small job, let me tell you !). We've also completed groundworks and installation of concrete bases to house two new engineering containers and prepared our locomotives to an extremely high standard prior to commencement of necessary staff training. That's just a little flavour of what we get up to when we haven't got an engine to play with ...

    After spending most weekends and many weekday evenings after working hours at the railway to ensure everything is ready for the public to return I would say that "soul destroying" is a very accurate description after digesting some of the nonsense that can be posted here sometimes.

    We don't ask for much recognition, but frankly it's a bit of a kick in the teeth for many people to see this forum.

    Thank you again Peter for your comments and understanding.

    (Sorry for the long one, didn't realise until I pressed post !)
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2021
  16. jnc

    jnc Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 3, 2012
    Messages:
    1,511
    Likes Received:
    2,706
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Western Atlantic
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    That's the ironic part; that anyone can take images from a publicly-accessible spot, and then post them. Although maybe there's some regulation about not showing individuals (as there seems to be with Web-cams)?
    Yes; very much; thanks!

    Noel
     
  17. Robin Moira White

    Robin Moira White Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2014
    Messages:
    11,247
    Likes Received:
    17,947
    Gender:
    Female
    Occupation:
    Barrister
    Location:
    Stogumber
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    No relevant regulations, but the need to exercise a degree of sense and humanity. Not everyone likes to be photographed - the very act of photographing someone can be seen as aggressive. And photographs that show vulnerable or valuable materials or equipment can attract the wrong sort of attention. Yes, anyone can take pictures from a public place, but putting them on a website might be an attraction for the wrong sort. Would we all post pictures of our personal valuables and notice of when we are away from home?

    Hopefully those INVOLVED in the work will exercise some judgment and provide interesting snaps of relevant events during the works.

    A bit of common sense goes a long way, in all directions.

    Robin
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2021
  18. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2011
    Messages:
    25,490
    Likes Received:
    23,720
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grantham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Thank you for a fair and honest response and clarification, and also statement of work that's happened. I apologise for giving offence in my post; my own frustrations relate to the difference between the good work you describe and the poverty of what is being communicated more widely, especially when (as with Seaward Way) information in the public domain reinforces historic and concerning patterns.
     
  19. Bayard

    Bayard Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2015
    Messages:
    1,826
    Likes Received:
    3,871
    Gender:
    Male
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    This, is, luckily, a complete myth. A good 50% of the pages on Crossinggate are people complaining about people complaining about the WSR. Of the remaining 50% at least 50% are people replaying to the other 50% of posts and contain criticism of the complainers about complaining, rather than criticism of the WSR. Finally, of those posts that were critical of the WSR, 100% were critical of the WSR Plc and its PR skills or lack therof. Absolutely none of these posts, 0%, have been critical of the "railway that he identifies with". When I volunteered for the WSR, my fellow volunteers were always criticising the management and I'd be very surprised if anything has changed.
    I suggest that everyone head back to page 1833 and see how it all kicked off and see how, by only the second reply to Roger Thompson's post, the basher-bashing was already beginning. Someone asked why something had happened, someone replied by speculating a perfectly innocuous reason and the next post was someone casting aspersions on the motives of the first person for asking the question in the first place. Note that the immediate assumption from the basher-bashers was malice on behalf of the person making the criticism. Throughout the following pages, this idea is constantly being reinforced, that the only reason anyone might have for criticising any part of the WSR, however small a part that might be, is because they hate the WSR and want to see it fail. The corollary to this is the demonisation of the "WSR-bashers", so that any of their attempts to point out either that not everything everyone does on the WSR is perfect or that they are not motivated by malice, can be ignored. Unfortunately, this has the side effect of making it look like there are lots of people who hate the WSR, which impression, if you are volunteer and love your railway, must, indeed be soul destroying.
     
  20. gwilialan

    gwilialan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2012
    Messages:
    1,658
    Likes Received:
    3,891
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Out there somewhere
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Thanks for this. Not heard that before. If it is so then why oh why couldn't someone with some sort of 'official' position regarding the Works have come out and simply said so?
    If that is the case it just reinforces what has been said so many times before - that when it comes to PR the WSR management is it's own worst enemy
     
    MellishR likes this.

Share This Page