West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I think it's horses for courses, with some people genuinely preferring the up close and personal that lineside access gives. As for whether the results are better or worse than those from other viewpoints, perhaps that's a question of beauty being in the eye of the beholder!

 

Some years ago I used to do a reasonable amount of railway photography at various railways. After a while, I came to the conclusion that I could have more fun, and get more up close and personal to the objects I was interested in, if I volunteered. I haven't looked back since. (*)

(*) Well, except when exiting stations, when you always look back...

Tom

 

Sure, a WSR LSP allowed the photographer almost the full range of location options within the fence, plus all the locations outside. I've certainly made the most of such access since 1976 on the WSR. But all is not lost.

Without a LSP, the WSR still offers:

• over 60 public crossings (road/footpath) - where "close up and personal" is quite possible, safely.
  
• many stretches of line with nearby semi-parallel public footpath (a few examples are Blue Anchor Beach, Watchet, Stogumber, Mineral Line footpath)
• around half of the Railway is visible for those adventurers willing to choose a location a field or two (or more) from the line (edit: but on public land of course!)
  
• ten stations

so I do hope folks can come to see that sans-LSP is not a complete disaster. In fact, some of those locations from outside the fence will now be improved by the lack of orange blobs in the picture

Steve

 

I don't think so either.
His profile shows location as BZ which I'm presuming is St. Blazey so guess he is based west of the Tamar.
Whereas I think 34098 (Templecombe) hails from near the Somerset/Dorset border.

Ian R.

 

Back to the subject of the Southern Gateway Consultation I’ve submitted my reply this evening, I was going to post it on here but at 5800 words it’s likely be too much for many. I’m happy to PM it to anybody who wants to see it, all criticism and comments welcome.

Aldfort I’ll PM you a copy directly FYI.

 

This is the nub of the problem, the "ambulance chasers" who have stretched the concept of "duty of care" to absurd lengths in order to make money from suing on behalf of the careless. As an example, I once asked a farmer if I could cut up for logs some ash branchwood he had left at the edge of a field by a footpath . He said he was fine about me taking the wood, but he couldn't let me onto his land as, if he did, he could be held responsible if I injured myself. The obvious solution to the withdrawal of LSPs is for access to be negotiated with lineside landowners to photographic positions outside the fence, but this solution isn't available, because the landowners would then find themselves in the same position of liability to be sued as the Railway.

 

An LSP is not essential as there are many points along the line that photos can be taken. I take videos as well as photos. An advantage of the LSP is that I can get away from the crowds to take videos and avoid the general noise that comes from being amongst other people and trafic and also noise from other photographers that like to have their cameras set to multiple exposures.
I will be disappointed if the LSP ends but accept the WSR board has made the decision for the right reasons.

 

Do you reallly think the WSR management is so out of touch with what is happening on the ground?

 

LSP are the responsibility of the safety director who is a member of this forum.

 

Yes, lawyers can be a nuisance. When conveyancing ceased to be the reliable bread and butter of the trade, and legal aid was cut back, lawyers took the American road and encouraged people to sue each other with 'no win, no fee'. Less a profession, more a trade.

John

 

Surely more relevant is what rules documentation / testing is made available as part of the LSPs. The WSR fee includes a Safety Course and Examination whilst the KWVR squires a test of its lineside Rule Book; I don't know the documentary requirements of other lines.

 

Perhaps a map of the line could be created for the benefit of intending photographers, showing legally-accessible photographic viewpoints from public roads, footpaths, beaches and any common land, which might help to spread the numbers of photographers more widely along the route?

I have in mind an excellent hand-drawn map of the Bluebell Railway, created by Robin White in 1994 and still available on the Bluebell website. This could be adapted to photograpers' needs with symbols for good locations, 'bull in fields', severe brambles, deep marshes, and village inns.

See http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/map_grad.html

Jim O'Brien

 

This one is quite good on the WSR org site : http://www.wsr.org.uk/r-spots.htm

 

Although Robin's map may be useful to photographers, I'd just note that its primary purpose is as a guide for operational staff to show the official names and distances of key features on the line, and (along with the gradient diagram) it forms part of the sectional appendix issued to operations staff. The fact that others may find it useful is a nice bonus, but it wouldn't be ideal to clutter it with additional information not of direct operational benefit, i.e stuff outside the railway boundary.

As for photography guides - there is this thread:

https://www.national-preservation.com/threads/photography-guide-for-the-west-somerset-railway.2205/

Don't know if the links contained are still up-to-date.

Tom

 

But a variant could be created for photographers, using Robin's excellent work as it's base.

 

http://www.wsr.org.uk/r-maps.htm

As in post 4194, the 'photo spots ' are excellent

 

Andy, Your paper is excellent. Would you like it to be published on the WSRA site?

 

Could somebody point me to "Robin's map", please?

I can't imagine anything better than this: on the WSR org site : http://www.wsr.org.uk/r-spots.htm

 

I agree, this is an excellent guide for photographers at the WSR.

 

Yes, indeed, but I think you have to consider a couple of issues:

Firstly, probably the best people to do so would be photographers themselves. You also have to think about how (or who) is going to keep it up-to-date, especially with transient information. "Bull in field" may be true this month, but not next month.

Secondly, and more seriously - a railway can only be responsible for what happens within its own boundary, but no doubt wishes to remain on good terms with the adjacent land owners. I think you are opening a can of worms if you start having a map in which there are annotations relating to someone else's land outside the boundary fence, but hosting that map on an officially sanctioned railway website, since this would appear to give the railway's seal of approval on any notes made.

I think the interactive version shown on Steve's website is an excellent resource, indicating what sort of photo could be obtained at various points, and is probably far more useful than a paper map. Where I would draw the line would be were one to start annotating that map with additional information such as "bull in field", "brambles" etc; or were it to include photographs from locations that could not be reached via publicly accessible vantage points (or with a valid permit). In that respect, I'd suggest that Steve's map is pretty much an object model in how it can be done well and responsibly.

Tom