West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I really hope that the WSR doesn't lose the services of 4160. The WSR is where she belongs to be.

I'm a very small shareholder in 4160 Ltd, from being one of the many who paid in £4 every month back in the 1980s, but I never seem to get any communications from the company these days. I used to.

John

 

Jeff,

Quite right. 4160 is a very special engine and it has already spent 1/5 of its lifetime mileage working on the WSR in an arrangement that has been working harmoniously for both parties for the last 20+ years.

It is apparent that the 3 very long standing directors, who have managed Four One Six O Ltd continuously for 25 years along with the late Chris Dowrick, have every intention of 4160 returning to the WSR for a further stint of work if it is wanted.

it would be a great shame if outside forces were successful in upsetting the applecart and 4160 were to be lost to the WSR.

Andy.

 

Hardly the result of outside forces! The majority shareholders have brought the problem on their own heads.

 

Tom

Just catching up on some blog reading and I don't think anybody answered the above for you: On the WSR we man an Autotrain with 3 crew, I was lucky enough to have a firing turn on 1450 during the Gala so can speak from first hand experience. Its a lovely engine, get the fire right and it just sits on the mark very easily up the hills, it was my first time and I loved it.

Andy

 

Err. Four, and most often five.

Frank
(Guard, TTI supporter, and also pedant)

 

What i find interesting is how two members of the same class of loco , an early and late ( under br) build can be so different, different superheaders, boilers that have differing amounts of superheat, maybe other modifications, was this just in the case of the GWR, or would say an LMS black 5 have similar differences, for instance 5000 being an early built compared to one of the last built?

 

Stanier 5MT 4-6-0s. Offer much variation, for instance: What sort of valve gear would you like ? Walschaerts, Caprotti, Stephenson Link etc. ?

Almost any Class of Locomotive with a relatively long production life would have witnessed variations, whether it be boiler, valve gear, etc. Even a small Class of Locos such as the LBSC/SR I3 4-4-2 tanks, had differing cylinder sizes, coupled wheel diameters etc. let alone that as built some carried saturated steam boilers, others were built with superheaters and ultimately all ended up with boilers complete with superheaters.

Even something as Standard as the BR Class 5MT 4-6-0s had a sub group built new with Caprotti Valve Gear.

One could go on and on.

Michael Rowe.

ps as another pedant : The first Stanier 5 4-6-0 in service I think was built by Vulcan, No.502o. Number 5000 was the first ex Crewe sometime later.

 

As an ex BR driver with a lifetimes experience once said to me , 'you've got to walk before you run' !
Also you're second point in the ps. this is the great imponderable , some drivers will get a loco along far better with less water & coal(good for the fireman!) than others with the same engine . ie on consecutive days say.

 

There are extremes of drivers. I once fired Met 1 on a test run on the Mad Hants. My driver was one I'd fired to before, both at Quainton and for Steam on the Met. Great, no problem.

Trouble was the conductor driver drove for the climb out of Alton, hardly pulled her up at all, drove on the regulator.

Trying to match steam production to that demand, I struggled to keep her quiet once over the top.

 

Mad Hants? LOL

 

What are you trying to say ?
its not the first time i have heard it called that, some drivers are easier to fire to than others and you get both extremes, Mad mick, and one puff ,

 

Black fives; it's highly likely that no two of the existing ones are the same, Some minor differences, some major. Boilers, wheelbase, slidebars, ashpans and injectors are just a few, not to mention the air brake arrangements on those so fitted.

 

News item on wsr.org.uk:

At the end of the 50th year since the closure of the Somerset and Dorset Railway, the Winter Steam Festival will have an appropriate line up of locomotives with nos 44422, 53808 and 53809 in action with 'Raveningham Hall' holding up the Swindon flag.


The first trains will leave Minehead and Bishops Lydeard at 10.00 with subsequent departures at 10.45, 11.45, 12.45, 13.45, 14.45 and 15.45. The Museums at Bishops Lydeard Station and Washford Station should be open, along with the Williton base of the DEPG, and the Taunton Model Railway Group's club room at Bishops Lydeard Station.


Normal fares and discounts apply including the combined package with GWR and Buses of Somerset. WSR Rover tickets can be bought at 10% discount via 01643 704996 or www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk

Thanks to "local correspondent" for the item.

Can I ask someone on Nat Pres to provide a scan of the leaflet?

Steve

 

Why does the West Somerset Railway keep pretending that it is the Somerset & Dorset Railway? Does it have no confidence in it's own identity?

 

I don't see a problem in giving the punters what they want.

 

Could it be something to do with the fact that three of the four operational steam locomotives on the WSR this winter are ex S & D locos? The Winter Steam Festival always uses locos from the "home" fleet.

Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70F using Tapatalk

 

Wishing to avoid us finger-pointing in the wrong direction, I should say the news item did not come from the WSR Plc - although some of the detail was gleaned from their event leaflet (which I haven't seen). Hope that helps. Personally, I think its fair play in 2016 to use the S&D 50th anniversary to encourage visitors to the event.

Steve

 

During the most of this year we have had the 2 7F's and the 4F running alongside the 2 Halls & Manor. Often we have had one shed as GWR and one shed as S&D so two railways in one, now that's value for money for one ticket !!!!!

Dare I say many of the WSR footplate people, especially the Firemen really like 44422 and some of us (say it quietly) also love the challenge of a 7F.

 

You can't please everyone, so maybe the WSR will have to try and please as many as possible.

There was a time in recent years when all of this was a dream, luckily we can now "Live the Dream" if we so wish (Thanks Buzz the Minehead welder for the strap line)

Jeff Price

PS Buzz is not his real name!!