West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Not really. In both cases you have paid for a train ride, probably quite a lot more if it is public transport, and so feel cheated if you end up on a bus.

 

'Cheated'' is far too strong. 'Disappointed'' or Frustrated'' is more the case.

 

I suggest that depends on whether one is using a season ticket for an extra weekend jaunt, or one has forked out for a ticket costing substantially more than bus ticket, only to end up on a bus anyway. In the former case, mild disappointment is reasonable, in the latter, a distinct feeling of being ripped of is quite understandable IMO.

 

Has there been an outbreak of diarrhoea?

‘Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it’

George Santanaya

 

Yes, but also "The only thing we learn from history is that people don't learn from history".

 

So the answer you are trying to say is "Yes, I argue for the sake of arguing" ?

The WSR has many good points. It's a shame there are a few people like you who try to rave about a good point, but yet have this great skill of picking that good point that straight away leads into a bad point. Its almost like this is being done on purpose.

 

Interesting use of the future tense there Martin!

 

The finest branch line in the UK, more stations, more variety, superb scenery, it survives, get over it !

 

I do sometimes wonder what your on now and again Garth, is there any chance you could let me know what it is and where I could get some please? Thanks in advance, Matt

 

That may be superficially correct but the underlying earth tremors and tsunamis of vindictiveness and resentment may yet cause a cataclysmic ending ......

 

We are all perfectly well aware (and glad!) that the line survives at present but many of us are very doubtful as to how long it will continue to survive. Time will tell.
I do agree that continual rehashing of the same arguments by any of us here serves little purpose on the whole, but there are one or two exceptions. I think it is useful to be reminded occasionally of the PLC's continuing silence in response to some important questions and that, in the absence of reassuring answers, there will be very few of us willing to donate a single penny.

 

Just a thought. Has the WSR turnover for 2021 been disclosed yet?

 

There are many groups and projects that need and ask for support and so many of them have been successful in persuading and convincing people that they are worth supporting. If we go back to the early days of the Talyllyn Railway preservation story and the meeting at the Imperial Hotel the idea that the preservation of a railway might be possible had to be sold to those that might be interested. People needed convincing that it could be done and those doing the selling were anxious not to appear like "unscrupulous company promoters". People were persuaded that the project was worth supporting for what we might call the right reasons.

Now decades later there have been many other projects which have been successful because people were convinced that they were worthy of support , that there were good reasons to support them. We might call them standout reasons, reasons which convince people that the project is appealing enough to be viable.

Those involved in the WSR might see it as attractive, view it as worthy of support, of having its fund raising activities contributed to however we now have some 2,100 pages on this forum devoted to this line and the railway had better find a way of supporting itself from within the membership of its own groups because many will not contribute from outside of these because those within the WSR umbrella have convinced people by their actions and attitudes that the railway stands out for very wrong reasons.

 

The latest accounts on the Companies House website cover up to 31 March 2021 - so the plc is still in its current financial year. If last year is a guide, the results for April 21 - March 22 would not appear until about October 22.

Tom

 

Thanks for that. It seems hellishly late for establishing how well ( or badly)
you have done the previous year and to take decisions for the current one.

 

I'd have thought those making the decisions would have access to information like that to help them decide considerably earlier than us plebs, even if it's not fully made up accounts you don't necessarily need them to decide what's profitable and what's not.