S&D Railway Trust

And do we represent any part of whatever remaining adjudication is needed to finalise a seriously unedifying chapter in heritage rail? All I'm seeing now are continual reruns of previous slanging matches. What does anyone suppose megaphone diplomacy is likely to achieve?

Previous posts have made my own views pretty clear. The behaviour of branches of the WSR 'family' (not including volunteers) has been revealing and not in a good way. For the record, I actually agree with much which has been written, but the horrible truth is that if, given the number of times we've gone round the same loop, nothing has sunk in where it needs to, the only result is no-one associated with the decisions in question is listening (a matter for the membership), merely leaving every vaguely associated thread descending into the same endless bickering. To what end, precisely? Name me one single point resolved by regurgitating the same points over and again.

The "gentlemens' agreements" of yore are stone dead. Ditto agreements taken from the "Ladybird Book of ProForma Contracts". We know that. In the eyes of many, possibly most, there's clear blame for a hideous situation. We know that. It's cost the S&DRT dearly in time and money. We know that. It's likely cost the WSR (certainly the board) even more dearly in terms of reputation and goodwill. We know that. If an equitable financial outcome isn't achieved (note, I don't say 'successful', as we were way past that some time ago), matters will end up in the hands of lawyers. We can be pretty damned certain of that too.

The S&DRT is in the final throes of getting completely clear of the historic baggage associated with this sorry episode. I just wish we were too.

 

Skipping the above, can I please ask all those who have an interest in the S&D, and those who may feel the SDRT could do with some help - which is needed, to sign up for membership of the SDRT.

 

Here here,, the trust needs everyone's help, what is done is done, time to move forward, to new possibilities, new challenges , first has to be to clear the site, dismantle everything, move everything out and then draw breath, and plan the next stage, The majority of the collection seems to be headed Hampshire bound , and lets hope this new tie up with the MHR, works out to be a good move , the shed though might be a problem, but not one that can't be sorted out with a bit of thought,

 

I have to agree with you with on the points you make @30854, my own opinion for what it’s worth is that for sometime the WSR and those in charge at this time will suffer from ‘Steve Smith/David Warner Syndrome’ in that anything that’s done in the future will still be tarnished by the damage that has been done in the past.

So whilst I agree a line has to drawn (and I have to say the S&D trust have been very decent about what’s happening) I have a feeling there will still be those who really are annoyed (and not necessarily connected with either side) wanting to turn their 88mm guns on the railway that called them ‘a cuckoo in the nest’ for some time to come.

 

Courtesy of @Steve Edge at http://www.wsr.org.uk/news.htm#2464

My eye is drawn to the quotes from the Trust

and PLC

Also to the comment by the PLC that it has no immediate and firm plans for use of the site

Talking of moving on, I think this was unnecessary

 

Why am I not surprised by any of this?

 

Is anyone surprised? through out this whole what is a very sad and difficult time for the Trust, the PLC has been ever changing with its version of the truth, as the board see it, IMHO, Best action the trust can take is to clear the site, leaving nothing and to not look back, leave the WSR to it's deserved fate, what ever that may be, the future now is away from the toxic environment that is the WSR.

 

It is noteworthy that the latest agreement has been made not between the PLC and the Trust but between lawyers acting for each party. On the one hand that represents money that might have had better uses. On the other hand, it should at least prevent anyone from breaking the agreement except, possibly, by mutual consent on sale of some of the contents of the site.

 

More to the point, it says something about the need to make sure that things are watertight - and by implication, about the level of trust involved.

 

It's the business only of the two parties, but presumably that will also go for the 7F (and any variations on both sides top the agreement, such as the Trust contributing to the water tank).

 

I would go as far as to say, that having been so badly treated by the management of the PLC, the trust, has no trust whatsoever in any guarantees that may have been implied, or given by the WSR PLC. Hence the need to have legal representation

 

Not the whole of my point - what @MellishR quotes is it just about legal representation (which would only be reasonable) but that it’s only the lawyers who were cutting the deal.


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OK, I'm going to admit I'm biased, in favour of a tie in with the MHR, Mostly because I think there is the potential for the trust to grow and flourish, whilst being part of a major attraction in the South East, The MHR have welcomed the S&D , And i would hope its a genuinely fealt desire for both to do well from it,
If hopefully the signal box and other artefacts can be displayed in the Ropley picnic area, its another attraction, and one that adds to reasons to visit the railway, next year, will see the pecket overhauled, could that have been done in the same time span, at Washford? plus having a boiler shop on site must be a plus. this is another sign of both organisations working together for boths benifit,

 

It seems a good fit, though and with a distinct dollop of WIBN, I do wish they'd been able to set up shop at Itchen Abbas!

 

What did they bring to the WSR? They wouldn't help in the hour of need. A museum doesn't help run the 23 miles of the railway.

53808 contract hasn't been terminated. It is due to return to the railway. MHR are paying fees which by the looks of the WSR 2022 timetable, it will get more turns and hence funds from Ropley.

 

53808 is due to return. It's not been lost.

 

I suspect simply keeping the station buildings in good order was worth thousands per year to the WSR plc, a cost the plc will now need to pick up (or more likely, see the fabric deteriorate).

As was rehearsed many times, a charity can’t simply dip into its pockets to pay for things not covered by its own charitable articles.

Tom

 

You can change a charities articles. Many have and many continue to do so.

Washford station has stood for 150 years, and was abandoned by British Railways. I don't think it costs thousands to maintain per year. Happy to be corrected here though. Looking forward to seeing it in GWR or BR(W) colours.

 

Which one? WSR has swung from crisis to crisis for years.