West Somerset Railway General Discussion

“Final Tablet
Constantly guard against a Board where good people are leaving, power is concentrated and exercised by the chair; and key appointments go to a select few. Be aware of the risk created by telling rather than consulting; key decisions being made by small select groups; and popular projects winning over essential projects.”

A bitter pill to swallow at the WSR?

 

Do any of the 12 Tablets deal with what I deem, “accumulated executive authority” ?

 

No. 12 deals with that - which is basic good business practice and given some current threads, relevant to Minehead, Loughborough, Pickering and Didcot alike, to name but 4

 

I wonder if had dealings with any particular railway who became the role model for this?
(I guess he's also had his ID badge withdrawn now... )

 

Sadly I think you could also add quite a few of the smaller railways and narrow gage ones as well.

 

Not just smaller ones

 

WSR 2022 Autumn Gala CANCELLED.

See https://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/news/detail/west-somerset-railway-cancels-autumn-gala .

 

Hmm, Let the froth begin, but surely a favour from somewhere like the SVR, LSL or SDR can’t be called in?

 

Really feel for @SebWelsh and his team, must be very disappointing, no doubt a lot of hard work had gone into that.

 

Had any guests been announced?
Oh well, this solves the issue of what I'm going to do that weekend with it also being the SVR diesel gala. Sad situation though.

 

80078 was announced a few weeks ago

 

I think you would find that no stones were left unturned.

But perhaps folk need to adjust to a new reality of higher costs pretty well all round affecting transport, coal, energy at least. It is also pretty clear that discretionary spend is understandably well down for many. Add in a growing shortage of available steam motive power and the decision is understandable.

 

Sounds as if some thought is actually manifesting. Good! It is disappointing for those who have put effort in though.

 

I’m not trying to be sarky or negative, but for example 9351’s heading up to Kidderminster, could there not be a reciprocal arrangement that might have helped?
I totally get that with how things are going cloth is going to be cut very much accordingly, and I really don’t want to knock anyone trying to organise a special event at the moment, as I’m currently liaising regarding an event next May.
As I say I really don’t mean to knock anyone involved because I know how thankless putting on events like this can be.

 

I have just received a copy of the 2022 report and financial statements for the WSR. The trading loss for the year ended 31/03/22 is £316,442. Perhaps this may be a reason for caution on the part of the board.

 

2857 and 75069 were both down at the WSR in May, so I guess 9351 is the reciprocal arrangement for one or both of those.

 

This. The new reality is huge cost increases all round coupled with a parallel reduction in discretionary spend affecting revenue and galas will be the first casualty given their high cost base. The increases in energy costs will be crippling for many railways this winter and most will be in a fight for survival. A very sensible decision IMO.

 

One of the reasons cited is poor advanced ticket sales. I would more than likely gone to this gala but I certainly wouldn’t have bought a ticket yet, just in case something prevented me from going. If this is going to be one the norm then my gala visits may be numbered.

 

For the WSR spring steam and diesel galas this year, I brought online the day before as I wasn't sure I would be able to go much in advance, plus this summer/autumn there is the spectre of rail strikes (though it appears that the WSR would have escaped that with the ASG unlike the SVR).

 

A very interesting set of numbers. Page 53 records that in the last 2 years, some £105k has been spent on legal and professional fees. That will not have helped. A further £96k was spent on coach hire, presumably to connect Dunster to Minehead.

Page 7 is encouraging in that a use for the Washford yard is expected to be decided by the end of the 2023 financial year i.e. March 2024.