S&D Railway Trust

We wish, add a zero and in some quotes double it. Steam locos are not a cheap business these days

 

Not sure if this is the best place to post (there doesn't seem to be a Shillingstone thread), but progress at Shillingstone is being made - News | North Dorset Railway, Shillingstone, Blandford Forum, Dorset, DT11 0SA

 

There is a news item on the S&DRT web-site, reporting further moves of vehicles to the North Dorset Rly at Shillingstone:

https://www.sdrt.org/announcement-of-loan-agreement-between-sdrt-and-ndr/

Some vehicles still at Washford, as shown by picture on Steve Edge's site:

http://cgibin.wsr.org.uk/cgi-bin/snap.cgi?h=Snapshot&p=2023/03/043

I don't recall seeing anything about where the restored S&D 4-wheel coach will go. It's presumably still in Washford shed. And then there is the small diesel shunter (or were there two of them?), which will likely be the last to leave.

And after that - what will the future hold for the Washford site? Still no definite news on what plans the WSR might have.

 

I hope that is the shot in the arm that the NDR needs, and that it can expand into a railway worthy of being the eventual long term home of 53808 and more. It ought to be a good alternative, and much needed, location for the Washford shed if there is room for it there.

 

Might that be because the WSR plc still haven't worked out what the urgent need is that caused them to rescind their agreement with the S&DRT?

 

If the WSR have a firm plan on what to do at Washford, they've certainly done a good job of keeping it secret. So we can only guess. I seem to recall suggestions from some of either a museum or a carriage works, but both those options would require investment and would overlap with facilities elsewhere on the WSR. I fear that the likely options are to become a dump for either trackwork materials or unserviceable vehicles. Given that Washford station, unlike Dunster, is adjacent to its village, locals might be displeased if it ceases to be the neatly maintained site that it has been under the S&DRT.

It will be interesting to see if an arrangement is made for WSR to purchase the Washford shed and yard trackwork from the S&DRT.

 

There has never been a firm plan though has there?

 

It has been suggested to me that plans are already well-advanced for the S&DRT to remove their trackwork from the site (including the delightful 3-way point from Radstock). I have certainly passed on two serious enquiries to purchase it. But I haven't heard any conclusion about the shed.

Can someone please remind when 53808's current 'ticket' runs out?

Robin

 

Robin, 53808's current ticket runs out in November 2023, As what the plan is after that, nothings been announced yet, Given that the MHR has very good facilities to do the overhaul, I'm hoping there is some agreement for the engine to be overhauled,

 

Last night at Ropley.
53808 was on the RAT.
Ropley is looking particularly full...

Kilmersdon & 53808 on shed at Ropley by Tim White, on Flickr

 

Thank you. I first volunteered on the WSR at Washford over the Easter weekend of 1979 needle-gunning and rust-priming the underside of the left-hand running plate of 88. I was 15. It still feels very odd to see her based elsewhere. I'm ashamed that the WSRA Trustees (I was one at the time) did not do more to challenge the actions that led to her departure. I will be writing about those events publicly shortly.

 

I will look forward to what you have to say

 

Robin’s post highlights how volunteering on heritage railways has changed. Many of todays stalwarts would have started in a similar fashion…… just turn up, be given something worthwhile and challenging to do and they’d be hooked. Today a 15 year old needle gunning would be technically illegal. Even if the railway ignored that constraint there would need to be an Induction Course beforehand, a check on the wearing of PPE and quite likely the need for documented evidence of training and competence. I doubt that in 1979 any of that would have been thought necessary.
Ever more intrusive regulation has taken the spontaneity out of such volunteering and not just for 15 year olds. Perhaps regulation that blunts the appeal of volunteering is a major contributor to todays challenge of attracting enough volunteers?

 

Actually, it was technically illegal even then but no-one had worked it out and no-one was going to enforce the relevant regulations that far into rural Somerset unless some form of serious accident materialised.

We certainly need to consider the options for getting 'youth' involved (within the law) these days.

Even more remarkable was the confidence placed in me by my parents to look after myself for several days away with just a daily phone call from the local phone box to assure them that I was still alive.

Robin

 

+1

 

That middle line is the most important one, I feel. I well remember , as a youthful and wholly unskilled volunteer in the mid-70s, being given a chipping hammer and a wirebrush and pointed in the direction of a tender coal space. I didn't mind the graft, but everyone around me on the loco, who were older and had engineering knowledge, were absorbed by what they were doing and there was no-one remotely interested in trying to teach me anything new to move on to. I stuck with the loco group till I finished university and left the area, and when I came back to the railway it was as a carriage restorer where my colleagues were equally youthful and we learned together. Which is a long winded background to saying that the best way to encourage the young volunteers who are the future lifeblood of our movement is to engage with them and try to teach them new skills and not simply use them as a source of free labour.

 

from what I have read from The WSR PDG meting on 10/11/22 the yard is to be vacated by Nov 2023. S&DR had offered £200K for the shed and track to be left in place. The PLC declined the offer.

 

To clarify: do you mean "offered" or "asked for"? That is, were the S&DR offering to give the WSR £200k so that they didn't have to clear the site, or were that asking for it as the price of the track and shed?

 

I would imagine that's the price the S&D trust wanted from the WSR, for the track and shed to remain on the site, rather than leave the site completely cleared, I would assume the PLC, were hoping that the trust would be unable to clear the site, and so acquire, the track and building for nothing.

 

There were some posts on here some time ago from someone at the WSR that implied that was the case . They seemed to assume it would be too much hassle for the SDRT to remove the track and shed. If so I think they’ll be disappointed.