West Somerset Railway General Discussion

The Fench? .... and there was me hoping for a restored QJ or two!

 

Though perhaps not such a good one for constructing nuclear power stations on time and on budget.

 

Name one ..... just one .... anywhere .... which ever has been!

 

Indeed, but that begs a raft of other questions, not least about VAT. Much as I like Gidt Aid as both a charity administrator and higher rate taxpayer, I'm dubious about the advantages justifying the extra costs.


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A snap or two from the Flying Scotsman gauging run this evening..

Robin

 

Just love that last shot. Totally atmospheric!

 

The Talyllyn Railway also does it - and reports a significant income from the scheme.

 

I don't know if it is the angle but she looks very close to the platform in those pictures.
Good luck to the WSR for the Scotsman event. I hope it all goes well for you. If the event brings as much enjoyment to the residents of the West Country as it did to the visitors of the Bluebell event I went to you should have some very happy customers at the end of each day. 60103 has her critics but it was great to see her quite literally bringing smiles to the faces of children and adults alike at the Bluebell.

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I think the point is that if you classify as a railway (part of which involves offering station-to-station fares), the fare becomes eligible for zero rating on VAT. Alternatively, you can effectively become a visit to an attraction run by a charity, and under certain conditions you can reclaim Gift Aid on the "entrance price", but you lose the zero rating for VAT. So it isn't a clear-cut financial decision. Which is why many railways essentially have a commercial operator, running the railway with the fares zero-rated for VAT; but an associated supporting charity that can reclaim Gift Aid on donations that meet the charitable objectives.

(Disclaimer: I am not an accountant...)

Tom

 

I do think at Welshpool it is most unlikely as Tescos have built on the old WLLR route and in all honesty why would Llanfair be a destination that would generate that much traffic ?

 

Sounds far too sensible .

 

I make that 4...........

Anyway, I rather like the last shot, so forgive me for having a little play with it!

 

The current railhead for Hinkley A & B appears to be Bridgwater

 

West Somerset Railway - Then and Now #50

Doniford Halt 1988 / 2017

Yesterday's look at what is now Doniford Halt generated some interest, so here is the Halt on opening day 6th May 1988. The Halt looks very stark in comparison with today.

As was discussed yesterday, the aesthetics would undoubtedly be improved by the removal of the Leylandii.

Copyright: Peter Thompson / Robin White

1988


2017

 

Indeed it is. The problem is that the roads to Hinckley are, despite some improvement paid for by EON, inadequate. Only construction traffic is allowed and ALL personnel, without exception, are transported in by shuttle buses from a huge car park close to M5 J24. A rail link would have been beneficial during construction and later. Many of the heavy materials come by sea. Even that is problematic due to the Bristol Channel having the second highest tides in the world. Given that most of the site is less than 10M above sea level it is not IMHO an ideal site.

 

Two additional points being that bearing VAT means that the same fare is 20% higher to no net gain to the railway, against which you can offset VAT on supplier's costs and reduce the cost base. Again, structural considerations will come into play to do with which organisation does what in the context of the railway.

 

To the best of my knowledge weren't they generating nuclear power at Hinckley Point as far back as the early sixties ?

 

You need to kill the Leylandi asap. If I recall correctly, the plant is a hybrid only a bit over 100 years old, and can grow at 1m per year in height. The tallest example at the moment is 40m high and still growing. No one knows, so far, how high they can get. Can you imagine your picture with the trees twice as big again?

 

Yes you are correct, not only are the roads bad and the railway doesn’t stretch that far it’s also in effect in the middle of a mine field. The materials coming in by sea also have to avoid the WW2 bombs they keep finding near the site due to the fact there was a bombing range near there. They have found 3 in the last couple of weeks which needed blowing up and the area is being swept ongoing with a quote saying “these won’t be the last we find”.


So all in all a really great place to build the largest construction project in Europe and that’s before we move onto it being built by the French and funded by the Chinese to a design nobody has ever got to work yet, you have to love people who like a challenge !!


For those who don’t know the existing flasks go out from a stub of the old docks branch at Bridgwater, this used to go further into Bridgwater docks on what is now roads, across the Black Bridge (an extending bridge driven by a steam boiler) which is still there, through the docks and onto the canal basin. It’s too built up now but had it been kept it could easily have been extended to Hinckley Point. There was of course a plan back in to mists of time to take the line from there past Hinkley, through Kilve joining up with Williton and the WSR but the oil extraction at Kilve never happened and it wasn't built.

 

Paul - you are correct. The correct name for the current build is Hinkley Point C. Hinkley Point A, Magnox, was under construction in 1957 but is now closed.

Hinkley Point B , advanced gas cooled reactor, (AGR) was constructed between 1967 and 1976. It is owned and run by EDF and is not expected to decommision until 2023 acording to the EDF website

https://www.edfenergy.com/energy/power-stations/hinkley-point-b