West Somerset Railway General Discussion

What though is clear is that we have a way ahead (Bailey) that work has been done on implementation, conformed by both @Lineisclear & @Robin Moira White.

The WSRA has indicated that it wishes to be a part of the process, and indeed had its own restructuring.

It seems that the WSSRT, a major shareholder has no objection to the implementation of Bailey, even if it wishes to remain outside the new structure.

Shareholders remain a potential stumbling block, BUT have not been asked and we dont seem to know how many shareholders are 'active' anyway.

So why wont the PLC agree to change?

 

No, it’s worse than that.

WSR plc Shareholders WERE asked and those who responded were heavily in favour of the change.

And then we had the change of position by the WSR plc Board, justified by suggesting that it was significant that only a small proportion of shareholders had responded.

The statement contained the significant - err, err - ‘misstatement’ of the proportion because the figure quoted was significantly less than the WSRA shareholding. And the WSRA had made its support clear.

When one party cannot reflect matters accurately in public statements, a discussion is rather difficult.

 

The problem is though, those who need to take a good look at their selves will only see what? what they want to see, they have convinced themselves, and their sycophants that they are right, and everyone else is wrong,
How will things end up, well, the board won't budge, they will continue to ignore the warning signs, until, one day its announced that the board has resigned en mass and an receiver has been appointed, only then, will the true failing's come to light, by then,of course it will be very hard, if not impossible to save what s left.

 

One of the questions asked in the HRA InterRail survey in 2018 was ' Would you still have made your visit without InterRail use?'. 54% said they would not.

 

I am having some difficulty in finding the corporate expertise that you are referring to. The present line-up have managed to fail spectacularly in every area and one individual in particular has demonstrated elsewhere that he cannot operate in a regulated environment. The officer responsible for finance does as they are told and whoever has been tasked with finding a business use for Washford appears to now be scraping the bottom of the barrel. Replacing one special interest group with another does not comply with the relevant legislation when it comes to issuing an eviction notice.

Has anyone seen an update on the appeal fund ? The website has not been updated since the second week of July and given that we were told that this is a mission critical area, the current corporate expertise can't seem to grasp the concept of stakeholder management.

 

Two thoughts:-

1. They are all on holiday and have turned off their phones to avoid roaming charges....
2. They are all too busy being "all hands to the pump" doing fire-fighting to save the railway, whilst struggling with the fact that (a) there is an ever-decreasing number of hands and (b) the pump is leaking....

 

I wonder do you really need so many trustees? The F&WHR has 5 (since that is a model that has been discussed)

SCC - 1
WSST - 1
WSRA - 1
Other groups (combined) ie - DEPG - 1 (?)
Elected by new membership body - 3

This would make it less unwieldy.

While there has a lot of discussion about shareholders and membership representation, there is one group that seems to have been completely forgotten - namely the paid staff. If the PLC goes under then jobs will be under threat. Somewhere in any new structures there needs to be improved staff representation/voice. (This is a good check on preventing management cultures becoming too top down).

I can not see how the WSR can function without paid staff given - esp as restoration work is a useful revenue stream and something that ought to be protected (unlike LLR where the engineering business was in large part the cause of the problems).

 

As an outsider who (very) occasionally drops in to see how things are progressing in the trenches of the western front, i couldn't help noticing that this thread has now generated more pages than there are of years Anno Domini.
I then went back and looked at the first few posts from 2007, which were filled with optimism and hope.
There is a lesson here for absolutely everyone involved in this movement and far beyond, to never take anything for granted.
The WSR has become a Greek tragedy, and I truely feel for everyone trying to square the circle, and somehow keep this wonderful railway alive. God speed.

 

"Let's not use those numbers...." - if the statistics don't agree with you, change the statistics. I believe the Plc were using "one shareholder one vote", so the WSRA counted as one vote. Of course, when you have such a large number of shareholders no longer engaging with the railway, quite a few because they have died, then the number responding to any survey is going to be fairly small. So the Plc statement was accurate, but still a lie, as it was intended to mislead.

 

Because the current board members appear subservient to the present Chairman when, constitutionally, they should have the authority to remove him and the moral courage to do so.

 

Perhaps someone should offer to have a ‘roll around’ on the platform with him? Get Eddie Hearn to promote it, could be be a nice little earner.

 

The WSR has been operating this summer. I have enjoyed a couple of trips to Blue Anchor on well turned-out trains, headed by gleaming locomotives that ran to time. So clearly the WSR has the services of people who are competently managing the engineering and operational functions. That is expertise that you would want to keep.

But as has been extensively discussed, there are serious questions concerning the leadership in other critical fields, including commercial, marketing, fund-raising and business ethics. As I see it, the solution is not so much to turf-out existing players but for the WSR to acquire some new blood that is able to address its deficiencies.

 

They acquired the services of Bob Meanly who, as a well respected member of the Heritage scene, would, I hope, be able to supply a meaningful input to the Railway and its problems.

 

According to the Companies House record, Robert Meanley first accepted appointment as a director of the West Somerset Railway plc on 14 December 2019 and held that office until he resigned on 30 July 2020. It was during this period that the plc gave the S&DRT notice to quit the Washford site, an action with which, on the basis of the plc board's collective responsibility, he was presumably content.

 

maybe he resigned because of this action?

 

He rejoined the Board in 2021.

 

FWIW there was no suggestion or hint to that effect in the press release issued at the time: http://www.wsr.org.uk/plc-board-31-jul-2020.pdf.

He did indeed rejoin the plc board, on 30 March 2021*.

*Again, I'm going by the Companies House record.

 

In that case, i just hope Bob Meanley doesn't lose his previous good reputation, and high standing with in the preservation world, by re joining the board, and in effect throwing his weight behind the current board of the plc. because if things do go belly up, he will have to share collective responsibility , along with the rest of the board, for what has happened , whilst he may, or may not agree with actions taken by the PLC, He as a director, will be just as liable as the others.

 

And where is Kinlet Hall, the loco?

 

84E