West Somerset Railway General Discussion

What word do I use instead of of "banning"? Coach 1 was labeled for use of shareholders but I was prevented from taking up a seat in that particular coach.

 

It was probably to permit fare paying passengers to board and alight from the shorter platforms at Stogumber and Williton,front coaches being off platform. The shareholders had no such need for platform access.as they were.traveling to Minehead.

 

Even more likely is that it was 9380, the BSO which has a buffet counter fitted, so would be used for storage and prep of the food and drink for the shareholders. It only has about 20 seats anyway.

 

It was the context in which you used the word. The coach was reserved for shareholders who had pre-booked, not shareholders in general. AFAIK shareholders who pre-booked had a ticket but you did not. This is no different from other reserved carriages where parties advance book.

 

How dare you make that claim.

I was a pre-booked shareholder and had a ticket but was not allowed to travel in the leading coach even though it was marked for shareholders and not some other purpose.

 

You did not say before that you had a ticket. Any other facts you have omitted? Just curious. Have you considered that the first coach was reserved for the board and/or those who had ordered lunch? It seems very odd that there should not be a good reason.

 

As a regular train crew member perhaps I can offer a few thoughts.

Parties are very important to the Railway's continuing well being, as are Shareholders. Parties represent a very effective utilisation of seats eg you can allocate a party the appropriate number of seats eg a party of sixty would be given a whole TSO ie c 95% seat occupancy. Even better a party of 16 can be allocated two bays ie 100% occupancy.

When a train is reportedly 'full', in practice, because naturally passengers wish to sit with their friends, seat occupancy may be only 80 % with groups standing in vestibules, the brake van etc. (The figure is lower for SKs, typically 4-5 per compartment ie 50-66%)

Large parties are entitled to not being continually disturbed, by passengers and on train staff walking through their carriage, so positioning at the ends of the consist IMHO make sense. Certain patterns evolve. We are fortunate to have a large pre booked party every Thursday afternoon. We allocate them the first (or two, depending on numbers) carriage, it makes boarding easier when there is a potentially full train ie "all ...... passengers in the front coach please, other passengers any where else". Last Thursday there was also a 60 strong primary school party, the sensible position for them was the rear coach. (Not all our passengers enjoy school parties !) There was also a smaller school party to join us at Blue Anchor; the logical place for them was the rear section of the penultimate coach (again minimum disturbance to other passengers and a simple delineation of available space when originally leaving Minehead ie "the rear coach and a half are reserved".)

At enthusiast events eg SSG, ASG etc it is sensible to not accept party bookings, (other than the occasional one specifically related to the event.) Many enthusiasts wish to be as close to the motive power as possible. (Personally I am always surprised that it is more so with diesel aficionados than the steam cognoscenti)

'ihtm' I am sorry you appear to be unhappy wrt available 'positioning' last Saturday. As I live west of Minehead I was not on the trains so am unable to comment specifically. A word with the train crew (Guard or TTI) and they may well have helped.

Michael Rowe

 

My point was that no passengers were allowed seats in the leading coach on Saturday which was labeled for shareholders. The leading coach is the prized coach for passengers who want to hear the engine. The fact that this was Western haulage made the situation worse as this was its first outing of the season, Sunday's outing was canceled, and it's only rostered once more this year.

It was foreseeable that banning all passengers from the leading coach on Saturday would cause upsets. In my opinion the leading coach should never be reserved for a party on a normal service train for this very reason. If the shareholders coaches were on the back of the consist I would have traveled in the leading coach with no harm done.

When I used to TTI I was always very selective where I checked the leading coach and avoided rising gradients. My preferred option was prior to departure.

 

This is not intended as a criticism of you, or of the WSR, but I am not convinced this is the right balance between these conflicting imperatives.

As a gross generalisation, I suspect the majority of preserved railway passengers are not particularly bothered about being near the locomotive - and that group bookings will conform to that pattern. For those to whom it matters (including me, though less militantly so!), the use of the front coach for booked parties is particularly frustrating because it means our enjoyment is impaired, without appreciably benefiting that of those who have the reserved accommodation.

What is interesting is that the specific examples you give were of parties of primary school children, which you placed in the rear coaches. Very clear delineation maintained, without impairing the experience for any who wanted the front coach experience.

PS - on most preserved lines, I find that being near the locomotive is equally essential to hearing it work, whether steam or diesel, because of the low speeds. The exception is where you have the combination of gradients and locomotives having to work hard to meet the schedule. Venturing away from the WSR for a moment, I think the single class 20 on the climb from Grosmont to Goathland could be heard from Pickering!

 

Thanks for a very helpful post. I still think the appropriate first action would be for the OP to write a polite message to the General Manager asking for an explanation. Complaining on a public forum should be a last resort.

 

Maybe s/he has but this is still an interesting discussion for which of course there is no correct answer

 

In view of the fact that Yorkshireman has had another go at me I have decided to leave National Preservation as I do not appreciate his idea of amusement. Thank you to everyone else for the interesting and informative debate.

 

Can you not just click 'ignore'?

 

Hi ihtm, sorry you feel like that. I am sure Yorkshireman was not having a go at you personally but being a Yorkshireman from God's own country he can be a bit blunt at times, particularly when he joins the debate. Eventually I am sure you would get to like him...

Dave (another Yorkshireman in exile)

 

I am rather baffled that suggesting ihtm write a polite letter etc. is regarded by him as having a go at him. It was certainly not "amusement", or blunt, but in fact was a genuine attempt to help him get an official answer to his problem. Please reconsider.

 

I suggest it may have been posting 1860 or 1864 rather than 1870 which has annoyed ihtm


Keith

 

The first coach of the 11:05 BL-KD on Sat 25 June was reserved for serving food and refreshments to shareholders who were all sitting in the 2nd and 3rd coaches. In fact the share holder's reserved coaches should apparently have been the last 3 coaches in the train, but it appears that this changed due to a "last minute" shunting issue.

 

Well there was nothing in those posts that really could really be considered as having a go at him particularly considering his own somewhat aggressive stance Myself and several others pointed out that there probably was a good reason and this has proved to be correct. The reality is that operational factors do sometimes alter the consist.

 

Just trying to help...


Keith

 

During this weekend's thomas event will the other locos have faces on from BL to MD services?