West Somerset Railway General Discussion

It is a shame about the modern 10 SW sign in the pictures of Watchet. Could it not be a more traditional sign?

 

The whole railway could do with an audit of the signs in place and a policy of heritage suitable replacements. At the west end of Crowcombe station for example both old and horrible modern signs protect the foot crossing there. Totally unnecessary overkill which devalues the station in a way not found on lines which give more weight to attention to detail.

 

What crowds? I spent Monday afternoon at Watchet and all day Tuesday at Stogumber and was surprised at how very few people there were at both locations.

 

Thoughtless installation of largely unnecessary modern signs along the whole Railway was a feature of Flying Scotsman preparation that did nothing to endear the process to intermediate stations.

A few risk assessments conducted would have saved significant costs and avoided the heritage offence caused. The answer given to objection from the stations was 'the RSSB standards require them'. That's only true if you follow national standards blindly.

That the installation was done with inadequate thought was amply demonstrated at Stogumber where the down side sign was so positioned to obscure visibility of a coming train and had to be rapidly moved after objections from the Station (who had not been consulted before installation). See photo below.

Strangely, virtually every other heritage railway manages a much more intelligent approach.

Robin

 

West Somerset Railway - Then and Now #68

Watchet from the Pleasure Gardens 1983 / 2017

Hard to believe now that Watchet was a busy commercial port as recently as the mid 80's. Here the trade is cork from Portugal and waste paper, as a Park Royal DMU rattles by.

Now the greenery has grown up so that the passing train is hard to spot and the sea containers on the Quay side house art exhibitions.

1983


2017

 

So now that FS has gone do you think they will come down?

What a waste of precious ££££s

 

I think it will be, for me, a very visible litmus test of whether recent changes to the Board are making a difference.

Financial control, common sense, commitment to heritage.....

It is easy to waste precious financial resources, as the X6 WSRA Trustees demonstrated.

Robin

 

Ouch

 

I spent Saturday and Sunday at the lineside and only saw other photographers on one occasion at Nornvis Bridge.

 

So was that sign put in specifically for Flying Scotsman? I'm struggling to think of the operational difference between one large heavy solid green loco, and other large heavy solid green locos the railway is already familiar with? If instead it is a loco-specific limit, surely that could have been handled in the operating notices for the loco?

Tom

 

A (non confrontational) role for the WSRA to offer to assist in a programme of moving to appropriate GW heritage signing? - accepting that the open level crossings have to remain 21st century in that respect.

 

Could I ask for some help from folk familiar with other Railways with board crossings used by the public. Could you please post to this thread the relevant platform end signs you use?

One of the IMHO daftest that appeared on the WSR was this one for (one side only) of the signalman's walkway at Minehead.

Now, given that 95% of the use it gets it to deliver or collect a token, we are well aware a train is coming. The remainder of the use is to access the platform to speak to a crew. Given the simplicity of train movements at Minehead - the single line serves as the heads hunt, so it is virtually impossible to be doing more than one thing at once near the signal box, I have to question what risk the sign is to mitigate.

Our acting signalling Inspector was not consulted before it was installed.

Do other Railways feel the need to sign signalman's' walkways?

Robin

 

Don't hold back!

 

Clearly I am under a mis-apprehension or have missed something.

I didn't think that Railway Group Standards apply to non-Network operations. OK, they may be seen as useful 'best practice' but are most definitely not mandatory.

So....

EITHER

When did this change?

OR

When did the West Somerset Railway become part of the National Network?

(Legally, I presume that the West Somerset isn't officially 'a railway' as its maximum speed does not exceed 40kph - again, has this changed?)

Steven

 

Quite.

 

I am not a fan of the new signs, some of which seem badly-positioned and some seem not necessary. However, the reason I was given in writing by the Plc a few weeks ago for the appearance of these signs does not mention RSSB, but it does mention safety concerns, recent inspections, risk assessments and recommendations. We surely accept the Plc is responsible for the safe running of the Railway. I'd have thought a grown-up discussion with the Plc on these matters would be the right, and only, way forward?

Steve

 

Is Mr.deMendoza getting a bit ahead of himself ??

 

I agree that a calm and sensible discussion is needed. Many of the signs put up in advance of FS have provided warning where none existed or where those that had existed had become damaged. However We surely need an element of common sense and modern signage where a period correct sign was already in place seem a little like overkill to me.
I also note Robins point about signs on a crossing used only by staff.
We have managed to have period correct signs for the turntable and for entry to MD loco sidings. I note that these are instructional signs not warning signs so are "higher up" in the safety hierarchy or at least that was how it was taught to me when I was a safety representative on a nuclear site.

 

Health & Safety applies equally to staff as it does to Joe Public, sometimes more-so.

DJB.

 

No but staff (I assume) will be PTS trained and aware of what could happen such that signs are unnecessary. You wouldn't expect "beware of trains" signs every 10 yards along the line for the track walker would you - yet he has to be more aware than anyone!

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