West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Gosh, I never knew HST's had a bath in them!

 

I acknowledge the resemblance. But his car was yellow...

Robin

 

hhe he he, Photoshop is your friend , Strange isn't it we normally try to prevent stangers gaining access to our property but on Christmas eve we actually hope a stranger does enter our homes and we entice him , or her, in with sherry and a mince pie And yes i know i'm going to get not just one lump of coal but a whole tender full .

 

Is this the steady hand on the tiller, more of the same, or brave new world team?

 

OMG. Are we now going to have a livery debate about the color of Robin's car?

Peter

 

BLIMEY the WSRA have achieved something the 6 +1 dreamed of but never managed, they have taken over the WSR, I Wonder if a bed room in minehead has an opinion on it ?

 

A updated view from 4160 Ltd can found on their web site https://www.4160ltd.com/news/

Some people seem to be unable to read the text on the wall!!

Maybe its not just Christmas Cards dropping through the 4160 Ltd letter box.

The comment on the value of shares transferred when available "from a deceased shareholders estate" is of interest.

I wonder how much effort is put in to "find the market" and therefore possible value??

I look forward to the WSRA 4160Ltd shareholding being returned, when that happens, I will be happy to purchase 4160 Ltd shares as I am sure will others to ensure the locomotive will make a swift return to the WSR

Happy Christmas All

Jeff

 

In a very positive sense it's all of those three!
A steady hand in the sense that both Frank and I have been on the railway for many years, I started in 1983. And steady in the sense that I am not known to be a volatile firework!
More of the same? Yes probably in that we want to continue a vibrant heritage railway run by a committed core of motivated paid staff and a large cohort of volunteers. I fully support Robins words about finding new volunteers: if we are short its because we need to look even harder.
Brave New world? Probably in that we need to modernise our business systems and ensure we operate more efficiently in an increasingly competitive world. And a brave new world in that I am determined to bring the WSR family closer together and all aiming at the same target!
And the railway needs your support, we can't do it alone.
Ian Coleby

 

A most interesting read on the 4160 website Jeff. Where do you start, eh ? I think it is best summed up by the comments bemoaning the plc involvement in the QB. The reality is that where there were once cancellations due to lack of bookings, the service has been transformed and the staff are happily working their socks off.

As for an over-valuation of the shares, if a company has £1 in the bank then the value of that £1 is strangely....... £1.

Someone appears to have started on the Christmas sherry rather early in the day.

 

some people just cant accept they were defeated, and that they were yesterdays men, they all resigned, or had their memberships terminated, so what happens over the Quantock Belle is nothing to do wit them, have Mr Cress and Johnson had their WSR passes revolked yet?

 

Why give them the oxygen of publicity? Were it not for the fact that people keep referring to updates on those sites, no doubt leading to a surge in readership, the vast majority of readers here would soon forget about them.

Tom

 

If, as I understand, litigation is ongoing, then it is somewhat rash of the 4160 people to be making further public claims on their website about what did or didn't happen; but equally we should be circumspect about what we say here.

 

Well 4160 would be a handy loco to have on the WSR, when the WSRA shares are returned that will be possible subject to funding to complete the current overhaul.

Letting the matter slip away from the public gaze is allowing some people to maybe think that it has all been forgotten about.

It has not.

Jeff

 

It clearly hasn't been forgotten about - if the authors of the 4160 website hoped that it slipped from consciousness, they would hardly continue to write provocative pieces on their website. So clearly they wish to keep the supposed injustice (as they perceive it) a live issue: on that basis, I can't see why people keep playing into their hands by publicising their claims. By all means pursue matters behind closed doors, but I can't see what is gained by doing their work for them.

Tom

 

Just a point of trivia on the valuation of assets. The Auditors would have been concerned to make sure that the valuations were shown correctly according to accounting conventions, which for 'difficult to value' or historic assets is often either their historic or nominal face value. However, there is a very different concern when it comes to the sale of an asset (which a physical object or shares in such) by a charity where the requirements of the Charities Act come into play and the trustees must obtain the best value they can for their asset. This will often be significantly higher than the (correct) book value. As a non-railway example, a charity of which I am a trustee was recently involved in the sale of an asset that was correctly accounted with a book value in the hundreds, but realised a value in the tens of thousands when sold at present market value prices. It would seem that there is some confusion on the external site (whether wilfully or through ignorance) as to which value should have been used in the sale of the shares...

 

More to the point, I thought the Moderators had asked us not to comment on 4160 Ltd matters within this thread.

 

As the late, great Linda Smith once said (about Jeffrey Archer) "Never mind the oxygen of publicity. I'm not keen on him having the oxygen of oxygen"

 

As others have said there isn't any need for anything about 4160 to come up on this site, as the ones who will need to know when things come about will soon find out themselves quickly, or pointed out by someone else so if you find out something just PM the person/people who should be told about this new information.

 

I think it was 2012 or 2013 during a Winter Steam Festival the Plc advertised FP trips and I wasn't slow on the uptake , rat and drain pipe come to mind . I reported to the office at MH and got my FP pass and met the driver and fireman , 6960 was the loco , a favourite of mine . The driver told me what good nick the loco was in having had a recent no expense spared overhaul recently courtesy of Jeremy Hoskins . Both driver and fireman appeared to this novice to be completely on top of their jobs . At the bottom of Washford Bank the driver made adjustments to the reverser , looked across at the water level , looked steam pressure , just off the red and put the regulator into the roof of the cab , bliss . I saw them both working as a team , it was truly a pleasure . Pulling away from Williton the fireman was busy preparing for the long climb , he threw a shovel load of coal on and then shut the fire hole door to keep the cold air out and then repeat . I asked if I could open and close the door , he replied in the affirmative and I was part of the team , yippee ! We roared into Stogumber, a brief stop and the driver was able to pull away without opening the drain cocks , so full gear drain cocks shut and 6960 barked away the way only a Swindon loco can so much so that a lady standing in the garden firmly shoved her fingers in her ears . It was the last trip of the day and as far as the fireman was concerned the loco was going to be turned at the NF triangle so he put on sufficient coal to complete the day , when we got to BL he was told they wouldn't be going to the triangle he was somewhat annoyed because of the waste of the coal , I was also because it would be my first trip past BL since steam days on BR . I tried to book a FP trip this December but none being offered . Shame .

Paul.K.

 

And I'd say that being elected to your new post is a complete vindication of your honesty and integrity and the final nail in those completely unfounded allegations that an unscrupulous few tried to use in their mad schemes to hang on in power.

Congratulations.

Now, about those signs.....