West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Good to hear the work is in hand....

 

Christmas Cards!

Plenty of Christmas card photos on Steve's site........

http://cgibin.wsr.org.uk/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?h=Latest+pictures&t=pics

 

As the council own it at the moment I would guess their permission would be needed .

 

I'm sure a fluffy cover could be found for you .

 

Above reported a couple of pages back. Let us see what the response is.

Keep in mind that if the PLC is able to purchase the car park & toilet block in the future there will be non-trivial on-going costs for cleaning, maintenance (& upgrades & snow-ploughing).
I believe these costs are currently born by TDBC.
It may not be possible to spend just a penny any more.

Come to think of it, installing penny-in-the-slot locks would be a nice 'heritage' touch - where can we get some old pennies?

 

A huge number in our local junk shop, mainly badly worn Victorian including 'bun' pennies, on sale 10p each!

 

Ooooh nasty. But it might explain the current restrictions on funding things... definitely "frozen assets" ...

 

I hate to sit on one in any weather.

 

Even more reason for a loco shed,carriage sheds and a wagon shed.

 

Wookey Hole used to (still do I think) have a penny arcade where you would buy your pennies to play on the amusements.

Maybe you could go the whole hog and make the punters change up their money at the ticket office and force them to pay for everything in L.S.D . (The national archives has a nifty currency converter) - https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency/default0.asp

The ultimate heritage experience, from heritage currency to heritage toilets and services.

 

Crich tramway museum had a procedure when you paid entry you received an old penny. This penny was presented when making your initial tram ride. Maybe they still do that.

 

Yes they still use old penies

 

YES - very cool. Presumably, they get (most of) the pennies back.
I was last there maybe 20 years ago. I don't remember if there was a 'What the Travelling Ticket Inspector Saw' movie viewer.
They also make very neat paper; I have a few sheets left from that trip.

 

Wookey Hole used to have a rather hardcore 'what the butler saw'.

 

I think you might find that the plc already contribute a considerable amount towards the cleaning etc after Council threatened to close the toilets

 

Auction of Dunster Name Board postponed.

In the light of the extraordinary weather conditions, Great Central Railwayana auctions have taken the sensible decision to postpone the auction today which included the ‘Dunster’ name board which the West Somerset Steam Railway Trust is hoping to acquire with the assistance of a number of sponsors.

The auction is to be run as a telephone / internet auction next Saturday, 10 March and the auctioneers have the Trust’s commission bid.

Turks Castle - photo by Martin Southwood

 

Let's think about this.

So families park their car and rush to the toilets only to find they have to go to the station to join the queue to buy some old pennies. So they cross the car park and queue for their pennies. Then they cross the car park again to spend their pennies. Then they cross the car park yet again to join the queue to buy their tickets. I think the railway will get some pretty dire reviews if this ever happens.

Hopefully you've now dismissed this idea.

If we're going to have to pay to use the wash rooms on the WSR this is one area where we should join the 21st century and install "wave and pay" turnstiles.

 

On the subject of spending a penny, I was pleasantly surprised on my last visit to London Victoria to find that the station loo is now free.

 

A reminder of snow on the WSR in 2010. Showing Santa Special at Crowcombe Heathfield being passed by incoming stone train (and later the empties). "Snow is silly soft stuff - it won't stop me!" said Thomas.


(Pic by Peter Darke under Creative Commons licence)

http://cgibin.wsr.org.uk/cgi-bin/snap.cgi?h=Snapshot&p=2010/12/221210_7_pda


Steve

 

Some public loos have change machines. It would be possible in principle to have a machine that takes in modern coins (say from 20p to £1) and delivers one old penny for 20p plus any change in modern coins, thus effectively charging 20p but preserving (note the word!) the "spend a penny" experience.

Whether this is a good idea is a different matter.