West Somerset Railway General Discussion

We do know what's running, the list was announced a while back, what we don't at present know is what loco is on which working. If you order the WTT from the WSR website they'll happily post you one, I don't do this because I travel down on Wednesday and if it gets delivered on Wednesday I'll have departed before the postie comes along.

It does seem to me that not being able to get to BL in time for the QBB departure is a odd reason for deciding not to attend the gala and you no doubt have good reasons for this decision. Personally I wouldn't find getting to BL for an 09:05 too difficult, I'd have to leave home at 05:30 at the latest and it's something I've done in the past, but not something I'd do if I can avoid it so I travel down on the Wednesday.

 

I think these 2 posts are both rude and pointless. Anne has made her point, and she may not be alone in this. It is always useful to know why people are not attending, The idea that it's possible for all to leave at stupid o'clock to be there for 9 misses the fact that people have caring and other commitments that make it impossible. I'm with Anne and think a breakfast available at BL would be a popular idea. I've often used the cafe at Llangollen for a welcome breakfast after driving up from Wiltshire. I think that the concept of charging for the WTT is a bit dubious too. A brief resume of what and when on the website would not preclude selling a souvenir booklet.
Rob

 

The earliest we can arrive at Taunton station is 0825 on the days we can attend so the chances of reaching Bishops Lydeard before breakfast departs is zero. Regulars here already know my feelings regarding catering in general and on the railway so those who were rude to me must be newcomers.

Whilst we know which locos are running during the gala the only way of being sure which are scheduled for a particular day is from the working timetable which is not published on the web. However this is academic as the lack of breakfast is the showstopper.

 

Can you not get breakfast en-route? Or pack yourself up with something to eat on the train? If you know you're not going to be able to eat at BL/on the WSR surely that means you can plan ahead well in advance? Avoiding a particular event because you can't eat at BL seems quite silly to me.

 

While I ask the same questions, I observe that this is a potential customer giving very clear feedback on what matters to their decisions about whether or not to visit. I suggest that "our's not to reason why" is the appropriate response, to be considered in terms of how the WSR operates and responds to customer demand. The answer may well be "because it's not viable", but that can be done without belittling the customer's views.

 

I know where there is one and it is not fussy as to what it is paired with.

 

The only meals I really like is hot eaten with a fork and knife or fork and spoon which I cannot get on my journey to Bishops Lydeard or pack to eat on the train. Why shouldn't I avoid a particular event if the catering is what I consider to be sub-standard and spoil my day?

 

I prefer the ones with the old aircraft jet engine on a dolly with the exhaust shifting the snow.

Blows it all away, melts the ice off the points, and will even re-regulate the ballast if you set the throttle too high!

 

I totally agree with you having personal preferences, our party stopped using the turntable cafe when they no longer served breakfast after 11.00am nearly 3 years ago & one of the staff was not very user-friendly. We now use the Jubilee cafe over the road & the food is varied & excellent.

 

Minehead?
11PM?
Breakfast?
Probably not much call for it.

(Sorry, Dennis).

We've had pages & pages of this discussion going back several years. It all boils down to viability.
At BL, right now, it simply isn't practical to serve 'full breakfasts'. Most passengers arrive just before the train & go.
At MD the Turntable Cafe is new, large, right next to a town car park, open more or less year round & has the equipment & staff to serve the local community as well as the WSR - a very different scenario.
A survey of other heritage lines shows that very few have a suitable location to provide the level of catering that some of us might wish for. There are exceptions.

(PS - Kate, save me a pasty for Thursday, please).

 

Yes, we all have our reasons for visiting or not visiting a gala and our own views on what constitutes a "deal breaker". For myself I go to see, ride behind and photograph the trains. The catering, or lack of it, matters not a bit and in 20+ years of visiting steam galas I've learnt to be self-sufficient but that doesn't mean I don't avail myself of the catering offered.

On a slight tangent... the one thing that does rather annoy me is that the 09:05 doesn't stop at Crowcombe Heathfield. It's annoying because if it did stop there I could get out to watch & photograph the military train go through and then get the 10:15 on to Minehead.
Although I suppose I could start the day at CH and leave the car there all day, hmm, worth thinking about.

 

Then, perhaps it should be!
On second thoughts, the streamlined front might enable it to reach 100 mph.

 

The no.28 bus doesn't need 5 signalmen to run, some of whom may be travelling some distance to get there early on a Sunday morning.

 

I am with Ann C B on this one. I will be spending 4 days at the WSR ASG, having spent the last 2 at the SVR SSG (at which the Sunday still went ahead despite 5 inches of snow). I have been going regularly to both steam galas on both railways for 20+ years. One of the main differences between the 2 railways is catering.
On the SVR, there are 4 places where a good breakfast can be obtained, not including walk on breakfast services. Other hot meals are also available throughout the day and there are also kiosks on 3 stations for snacks. On the WSR, the best I can get is sandwiches, a hot pasty, sausage roll or a jacket potato at the turntable cafe. When you are out all day, either on the trains or linesiding, you need food. Why should we not be able to buy a decent meal or breakfast?

 

... plus 2 good pubs - King and Castle and Railwayman's Arms.
... and the full wtt was on the website.

 

We've been all over this before. Several members recommended a variety of establishments that offered a range of sit-down, knife & fork type breakfast menus within easy reach of the railway but Anne neither acknowledged these suggestions nor explained why they were not suitable. Again, she says she cannot get a hot meal on the journey. Why not?
The way I see it the Railway puts on an event for the benefit of rail enthusiasts and has no particular obligation to provide catering apart from its usual facilities, including, of course, the team on the QB. . If these are not considered suitable (sub-standard??) by individual punters surely it is up to them to make their own arrangements to eat away from the railway ?
There are many day-long events one can go to where there is some form of catering laid on, often of an easy-to-produce-and-serve variety. Most visitors accept this and are either happy to partake or make alternative arrangements (and I have done that on several occasions, needing more or better than what was available onsite). In this case WSR is a railway operator not a catering company and is run largely by volunteers. To expect them to lay on the equivalent of a silver service breakfast just to meet the needs of a very small group of people at a particular place and time is totally unreasonable. And, no, the customer is not always right !

 

Are there not a number of pubs and cafes within easy walking distance of most of the stations to ease your problem ?

 

While I have bought fish and chips at Minehead, hot meals in a cafe in Dunster (having walked there), hot meals in the Driftwood Cafe in Blue Anchor, chips in Williton and Bishop's Lydeard, I prefer to support the railway and buy from stations or the QB. I always find the QB pretty busy so there must be a demand. I can manage on snacks but a railway this size should have at least one decent catering outlet. Most railways I have been to recently have at least one cafe. The WSR lags behind in this respect and could be making money from this.

 

(I choose to put this here)

 

You make some good points there. Minehead already has a cafe, and quite a good one too I've had some nice meals there, but not on gala days because there's more important things to do at a gala than spend time in a cafe.
As I see it the problem on the WSR is space, where on any of the WSR's 10 stations is there room to put a cafe or restaurant similar to the ones at the GWSR, SDR, SVR & Bluebell. Then there's the matter of staffing the place.