jnc's Recent Activity
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jnc liked Jamessquared's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
Yes, but I'd suggest that any railway that had got itself to such an existential cash crisis that the only urgent thing was as you suggest would be unlikely to get very far with an appeal - at least unless it could convince those donating that...
May 14, 2026 at 9:27 PM -
jnc liked flying scotsman123's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
All well and fine, I won't even contest the point that a charity could help with the wage bill if those staff are doing something like working in engineering functions on heritage equipment as Tom outlined. BUT, I go back to what the appeal...
May 14, 2026 at 9:26 PM -
jnc liked Jamessquared's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
I can't help thinking you are seeing problems where none need exist. For example - the railway knows it needs to overhaul a loco, and has the capability to do so in its own workshop, but no budget. Support charity raises money from an appeal and...
May 14, 2026 at 8:23 PM -
jnc liked Robin's post in the thread SVR General Discussion.
Latest Branch Lines https://www.svrlive.com/blmay26 Of particular note, "The Railway is introducing a steam-hauled train on summer Saturdays on the first service out of Bridgnorth. In June, July and August, one of the smaller steam locomotives...
May 14, 2026 at 6:27 PM -
jnc liked Foxontour's post in the thread Strathspey Railway.
92219 hasn't been touched for about 16 months. Stage one, strip the loco has been completed, the boiler has been separated from its ash pan and mountings, it is sitting on small packers ready to lift. When the next stage is started, which is...
May 14, 2026 at 5:01 PM -
jnc replied to the thread Dean Forest Railway.
Good point. Noel
May 14, 2026 at 5:00 PM -
jnc liked ChuffChuff's post in the thread Dean Forest Railway.
Let's pretend that the new owner restores Warrior, runs it at the Dean Forest for - say - 2 years, and then takes it away. I'd argue this is better for the Dean Forest than having it remain in bits in assorted bushes. And it's certainly better...
May 14, 2026 at 4:53 PM -
jnc liked 35B's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
The "oh dear" is that WSR need to run an appeal. The wider discussion is both specific to the organisational structures in West Somerset (relatively unusual in preservation and discussed exhaustively before), and general in respect of the wider...
May 14, 2026 at 4:49 PM -
jnc liked 46229's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
I'm struggling to understand why this is considered another 'oh dear' story specific to the WSR? Anyone who has been paying attention and not living in a parallel universe should surely realise that every heritage railway is engaged in a serious...
May 14, 2026 at 4:48 PM -
jnc liked 35B's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
If they really don't have spending priorities, even for opex on their vehicles, then things are worse than the appeal to shareholders would imply.
May 14, 2026 at 4:47 PM -
jnc liked johnofwessex's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
Hypothetically though The WSR Board identifies the annual loss They then look at what they need to spend money on So having identified a need to spend say £100K on carriage maintenance & improvement they approach the WSRA asking if they can...
May 14, 2026 at 4:46 PM -
jnc liked 35B's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
Agains, there are two separate issues here which should not be conflated. One is about the underlying structure. If you're talking about general funding support, then I agree that this potential exists and is a reason to try to rationalise the...
May 14, 2026 at 4:45 PM -
jnc liked 35B's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
Two separate questions. Gift Aid on fares is a structural question which raises questions about WSR organisational structure. It's not directly relevant to an appeal this year. More broadly, I note that the CC are concerned about charities...
May 14, 2026 at 4:43 PM -
jnc liked 35B's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
Indeed. But, as has been discussed many times before, there are many ways in which a charity may offer support through specific grants, funding activities, etc. That's happened before at the WSR, and there's no structural reason why it...
May 14, 2026 at 3:15 PM -
jnc liked Jamessquared's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
It's a big amount of money without much story or focus. Essentially "give us lots of money to do various things". In four bullet points they have basically listed everything a railway does: locos, carriages, infrastructure, historic artefacts,...
May 14, 2026 at 3:15 PM
