West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Hello,
Good to see on the WSR that wagons are now being restored and added!

Nick

 

A trip down to BL yesterday, to see a very much in need of an overhaul 4160 - crew doing a good job, but her paint work is fading fast. Good job that the much debated mogul is coming back, or WSR could be heading towards an SVR-like steam calamity. What is the overhaul or more importantly out-shop schedule for the various loco's under over haul on the WSR at present, over the next few years?

Also saw the long over due roof developments at Westridge. If 4160 is an example of what external storage is, then the carriages (externally, especially the roofs) are even worse - and possibly visually poorer through contrast with their sparking interiors. When is the WSR going to invest and develop some carriage storage facilities? This aspect will be made even more critical as the heritage carriage set emerges from the paint shop.

 

S&DJR no. 88 should be the next loco to be completed, in time for next spring's S&D gala. LMS 4F 44422 should be on the line by then as well. Then work can be concentrated on getting 9351 back. I don't think any date has been quoted for its return yet. 4110 will be the next to enter the workshops. 6024 is also at Minehead, but it is being worked on by 6024 society volunteers only, and will take a year or two to complete. Where 4160 will be overhauled has either not been decided or announced, but the owners intend to bring it back to the WSR after overhaul.

As to the question of carriage facilities, they are on the list of 'something nice to have' but not considered desperately essential at the moment. When you consider that most of the fleet will have been in almost daily use since the beginning of the season in March, would putting them under cover every night been very beneficial, only to have to get them out again the next day? There are a few weeks now when they are not being used, but there will be need for frequent shunting at Minehead while they are undergoing routine maintenance.

 

I believe that 4561 owned by the WSRA is at Williton but work has ceased due to lack of funds. Request for comments on this are met with the usual "It is confidential" reply.

 

It will be good to see - even ride behind - 88 and the 44422 next year. I wonder, with the current uncertainty and friction that surrounds 4160, whether the WSR Plc. would hope to get 4110 into the frame sooner rather than later. Maybe a fund raising scheme to get her into running order could be on the cards.

 

Excuse the question, but I thought WSR had turning facilities at both ends nowadays? No need any more to run backwards, I innocently thought?

 

We've been over this before - see message #738 on page 37 and the messages which follow - on normal timetable days, the loco runs round and takes the train back, there simply isn't time allowed in the timetable to turn unless another loco is in steam to take over, which would not make sense commercially.

 

Do you know when they are planning to restart the work on the Williton loop to make it longer as the main running season is now over.

 

Work started today - Monday 2nd - getting materials into place, and will be continuing until service trains run again at the end of this month, then resuming in the new year.

The work on Williton loop is not the only work in the next few weeks. There is also drainage, track relaying and replacement of a signal post at Crowcombe, and construction of the covered facilities over the loco compound at Bishops Lydeard. So the 'closed season' is anything but!

 

I am often asked why trains, on my local steam railway, do not run all year. I tell folks that part of November, and December (outside the Santa and shoppers train schedules) plus January are the only time larger maintenance works are possible.
The disadvantage of this, of course, is people have to do these kind of jobs in the colder and ofter wetter months of the year.

 

I have my fingers firmly crossed that we'll see 4160 back on the WSR in regular traffic one day.

 

Work starts this week. The new loop point has already been delivered to Williton. It will be installed in the next week or so on the Stogumber side of the road bridge but clipped out of use. Track will also be laid for the up loop extension under the road bridge and over the new stream bridge as far as the level crossing. Then in Phase 2 of the program in January/February 2016, the level crossing will be rebuilt and the track for the up loop will be connected up over the level crossing on the new alignment. The new point will then be commissioned ready for the restart of services in February/March and the existing point will be taken out of use.

There is also an extensive program of resignalling works and other alterations to be carried out at Williton. These involve quite a few new signals. Under current plans, most of these will be installed in Phase 3 (Nov 2016) and Phase 4 (Feb 2017) when the full benefits of the new layout will be realised.

David

 

It'll be good to see the 7F return to it's original livery and numbered 53808. <BJ>

 

Correct livery for its rebuilt state, but not original livery.

 

I took the kids on the 10th of October

Externally the stock was quiet tired - I think a carriage shed would help the situation

 

About thirteen years ago, when the Bluebell was fundraising for what became the Sheffield Park Carriage shed, they estimated a saving of £150 per carriage per month by keeping carriages under cover - about £1800 per carriage per year, or getting on for £15,000 per year for each 8 coach rake in WSR terms. At 2015 prices, that would be about 50% higher.

Admittedly that was for wooden-bodied stock. Mark 1s are a bit more robust provided you keep them watertight, but they are prone to corrosion around the corner pillars and windows, and once they start to leak, they can go downhill fast: on the WSR there is also sea air to contend with. Even if the carriages are not put away during the season, being able to store them during the winter months and possibly mid-week outside the daily running season would surely pay financial dividends in reduced maintenance and painting / revarnishing. If the heritage carriages project ever comes to fruition, I'd suggest under-cover storage is nigh-on essential.

Tom

 

Hello,
WSR have 35/40 Mk1s so 15,000 x 40 = £ lot of money!
600,000??????

I am not great at arithmetic!
Nick

 

Not £15,000 per coach, but £15,000 per 8 coach rake, plus whatever you would add for inflation over the last 15 years (those figures are based on 2002 prices).

Tom

 

So that will be £75,000 then per year for the 5 sets of 8 coaches. There has been talk about a carriage shed on the station farm site at BL but other than some buffer stops been dumped nothing has happened yet and a lot of ground raising needs to be done before the sidings are laid down.