West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Some railways have reciprocal arrangements so that working volunteers on one line get a free ride on the others. WSR do not do this . There is also 'Heritage Rail Pass' which can be obtained for a one off payment by anyone who is a working volunteer. The WSR accepts these and holders can purchase a Rover Ticket for £ 10, i.e. half price. I am not privvy to the thinking behind not having a reciprocal arrangement with other railways but suspect that it might involve making a whole host of individual agreements, and there could also be a view that WSR volunteers riding on some other lines would get a very short round trip compared with volunteers from elsewhere coming to WSR.

 

Paul - the oldest teak is pre big 4. It is a GNR composite

 

Hi Dave

What is a "departmental privelige card", please? I have a WSR photoID card but nothing else.

Steve

 

Steve - the photo card is perpetual, unless you get fed up with the phot. To ensure working members priveliges are only available to genuine working members your head of department will issue a new card to accompany the phot each year. The card, together with car park pass, is sent out from Comberton place in Feb ish of each year. As well as stating the year the colour changes. Last years was a pinky colour

Dave

 

Ah, OK. Thanks for that. There's a different system on the WSR. The Staff ID photocard is issued by departmental head and lasts for three years. It entitles the cardholder to free travel on the WSR's scheduled trains.

Steve

 

On the other hand you could go up and down another line several times in the same time and still get the mileage in were you so minded So I’m not sure I see the rationale.

Personally, I very rarely use my volunteer privilege on other railways, as I figure that I’m well enough off to pay the fare when I visit elsewhere, and the railway I’m visiting probably needs the income more than I do. But I like the concept that railways offer a small reciprocal perk to other colleagues, since it helps show that a strong overall heritage sector is far more important than specific competition between individual railways. (And of course, the existence of such reciprocal arrangements may well be beneficial in attracting a volunteer to work on one railway rather than another).

Tom

 

There's been several threads on this site that I've meant to answer but I've always been too slow and the conversation has moved on so I'll try to combine them.
Anyway, last July I stayed for a few days with friends at The Mason's Arms in Williton. I can thoroughly recommend this as a comfortable and reasonably price place to stay. It was very welcoming, had good beer and good food. They also have rooms that are fully disabled compliant - which was necessary as one of our party was in a wheelchair. Google tells me it is 0.7 miles to Williton station, an easy walk for us although it was a bit far to push a wheelchair so our friends drove to the station. My wife and I however walked there and found it very simple although it is along a busy road - and we had a stop-off at the Railway Inn on the way back!

It is true though that apart from the railway there's not much to keep you occupied in Williton itself, although we did visit the Bakelite Museum and thoroughly enjoyed it (I have a Bakelite fire surround) and revelled in the whole quirky ambiance.

So, in short, Williton does have a few things going for it; in the Mason's Arms it has a Cask Marque pub with rooms a stroll from the station; it has an intriguingly quirky museum; there's good quality food at the Mason's Arms with two other pubs available in the village serving more normal pub grub and there are the usual Chinese, Indian and Italian places.
The station is a great halfway point and a good place to watch the trains go by, however creating a museum at the station - or even just providing a viewing platform so the public could see the workshop and watch maintenance going on - would make it a much more attractive destination.

 

Steve - The big difference between our railways is that at the SVR you need to be a member to work on the railway. before issuing the annual card I believe there is a cross check with the membership database

Dave

 

Including IOMSR pre-WW1 coaches .

 

The Reciprocal Travel Scheme for Volunteers gives volunteers free travel on lines which are signed up for it - most heritage railways in the UK are signed up - but not the WSR. They do things differently in Somerset.

 

Thank you Dave , it wouldn't of applied to me as I don't volunteer for the railway .

 

Does it apply to staff, too? Where can I find out more? (forget last question - I've found the webpage)

Steve

 

Ahem, there's a rather fine railway, which you should be familiar with , that runs from A to A with a rather fine freight rake - see the current issue of the Steam Beano ..... that also has a rather good, and evolving display in the Goods Shed at M, telling the story of goods on the railways from the early days through to the 60's.

 

Back to the porcine theme! Perky as well.

 

Trundling the very fine wagons from point A to point A four or five times a year, and the display at M4M is a start, but only a start.

 

(Pic kindly provided by Tim Edmonds. Licenced under Creative Commons.)


(Pic kindly provided by Mark Ireland. Licenced under Creative Commons.)

Relay work under way at Marsh Common, Minehead on 9, 10 Jan 2018.

Steve

 

Its good to see relaying work underway.

How much of the line has been relaid in the last 5 years?

 

Also, how are the repairs to "dropped joints" going?

 

There have been running-line relays in last 5 years at Blue Anchor, Doniford, Minehead, Watchet, Stogumber, Bishops Lydeard, Waterdene, Crowcombe, Williton. I don't know the distances but looking at the pictures I guess at least a couple of miles worth in total ? There's probably more to add to the list...

Steve

 

Has the footpath at Watchet been closed because of erosion and how close it it to the line?
Does anyone have any infornation?