West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Please read the first sentence of my second paragraph again.

With regard to your definition of mythology I have been donating (modest) funding to the WSR since circa 1979. Whether that qualifies as "fungible" or gives me the right to express an opinion I'll let others decide.

 

I did say 'hard' not 'impossible' to fake, but I am also satisfied as to the provenance of the plate.

You give sage advice about clocks - I helped a friend spot a fake a while ago. I don't think it was intended to deceive - someone had (very competently) lettered up a 'school' block as a Railway example and then (it seems) died and the dealer who dealt with the house clearance thought he had something better than he really did.

I suppose it's partly having been around thus stuff for a long while that makes spotting a 'wrong 'un' easier.

Robin

 

I can't speak absolutely for those who have donated so far, but given the WSR posts I have held over my 39 years' volunteering, I know folk fairly well and I would be fairly certain that the folk who have supported the appeal to get the plate bought so far would not have been donating to a locomotive fund, for example.

As I said earlier, locomotives don't 'do it' for me and I can be certain I'm in that category.

It is certainly a truism that heritage railways need a variety of opportunities for folk to contribute, both financially and via their labour. There will be a reason a volunteer chooses the S&T gang over the loco cleaning gang and vice versa.

Some railways are better than others at making opportunities for contributing.....in all sorts of ways.

Robin

 

I presume you won't refuse a bucket of loco coal for the signal box stove this winter.

Out of curiosity, why the "urgency" over the purchase of the name plate ? If the purchaser bought it with the intention of it ending up on the WSR, why is it not just lent to the Gauge Museum ?

 

Another very fair comment Robin. In many ways you sum up my position most accurately, steam locos are fundamental but preservation should be about the wider railway experience.

As I hope I made clear in my post a couple of days ago for me heritage signage is very much part of that experience, and of course the Minehead SB plate is part of that heritage. The only difference in our points of view would seem to be that I would place the emphasis more on the historic railway environment, though of course the contents of a museum tell part of that story too.

 

Without a bucket of coal the signals can get pulled awfully slowly........!

Attention at the back of the class, Brian! The purchaser did not buy it with the intention of offering it to the WSR and was offering it on e-bay. After I contacted him he kindly ended the auction to give us a chance to buy it for the Railway at an agreed price. But if we don't raise the funds.... That is why we have asked for pledges, which will be called on when / if the necessary funds are raised.

Robin

 

Haven't we all "but". A T.V. antiques presenter of vast experience in the trade brought along a supposed Irish silver caddy spoon to his show as an awful warning. The faker had not quite got the hallmarks right but sufficiently well to deceive the purchaser.

The group which I belong to took a calculated risk recently in acquiring an item unseen (apart from photographs) abroad. The vendor proved a man of his word so we acquired that rarity amongst railwayana, a high end general antique, at a fair price. The need to be cautious is obvious!

Paul H

 

No need, I was replying to your last sentence.

The Myth is that all funding is fungible.

 

Do you mean like this?

Robin

 

I assume this is the Stogumber slush fund!

 

It's not fairies at the bottom of MY garden.

This is the view, this morning, from the end of what will be my vegetable patch.

What a great Railway

Robin

 

The water tower looks like something out of H G Wells War of the Worlds. None too stable either.

 

Must be a generational thing, 'cos I thought it looked like an Imperial Walker from Star Wars....

Robin

 

Well, don't pull those signals off slowly otherwise the drivers will be waiting at Stogumber so the passengers can pinch your strawberries!

 

Or gricers certain cast iron signs?

PH

 

Nice collection of trains, but I'm missing the HST I was on yesterday :-(

 

'Barbie' did get in on the act, of course, yesterday, as below. But this shot only really works well in the morning when the sun is on the upside of the line.

Robin

 

I see what you mean when you said the footbridge moved around a bit.

 

Now that's what I call a fabulous view from the back garden.
Me, I've just got a view of the backs of the houses in the next street.

 

How about a dmu rare track bash soon with tickets sales going towards Minehead signage