West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Yesterday was brilliant few hours at Minehead. Got to see Western, both 33s, hall and 7F and S160 And Clanline. Perfect mixed traction day.

 

Maybe the length of the line makes it unsustainable financially

 

Due to the S160 being unavailable, and 53808 undergoing a washout, the following trains are planned to be diesel hauled next week:

Tues 29th May
D6566
1015 MD - BL
1215 BL - MD
1515 MD - BL
1715 BL - MD l/e.

Wed 30th & Thur 31st May, Fri 1st and Sun 3rd June
D6575
1115 BL - MD
1515 MD - BL

 

The figure quoted is correct. However to make such a sweeping statement as the OP has havog admited he has not seen the whole accounts is, to be candid, a bit rich. As an accountant he should be well aware of that. There has been a vert larhe expenditure on infrastructure with ore to come. You really need to study the full report and accounts to get the full picture. From what I can see it is more a case of the previous year being very good more than last year being particularly poor. I also should be remembered that the WSR is essentially non profit making.

 

I suggest @brennan has been a tad selective with his summary and perhaps not entirely accurate either. That said, I quite agree that the Plc management have been open about the issues that need sorting. I note also a call for shareholders to help fund maintenance of the infrastructure. I urge fellow shareholders to read the reports in the Annual Report just delivered and then consider how they might help further. Also not to read too much into the rather uninformed doom-and-gloom postings on this thread - the WSR has seen far, far darker days

Steve

 

There is , and has been for years, a rolling program of repair and replacemnt. A particularly large amount was done last year. It is, of course, akin to painting the Forth Bridge.

 

It is akin to painting the Forth Bridge. My fear, though, is that it has only been the equivalent of patch painted over many years. It is not that many years ago that I was talking to Mark Smith and he told me that the railway was still 99.9% bullhead, the only flat bottom rail being over a bridge. Now you can still buy new bullhead but I suspect that hasn't been happening. I get the vibes that the ongonig repair and replacement has largely been a case of spot re-sleepering and patch repairs rather than wholesale replacement of both track and ballast. You can only do that for so long. Like I said, doing one mile per year still makes it a 20 year project.

 

https://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/shareholders

Become a shareholder and get the info delivered to your door!

 

Very nice pictures!

 

Yes i remember last year on the run up to 4472 new rails were put in between Lyd and Crowcombe and around Wiliton so it isnt all old rail

 

From what I have ACTUALLY seen, and heard directly from the infrastructure staff during the last year quite a lot more than that has been done. Of course patch repairs are always taking place as is re-sleepering, Likewise more can always be done but a clear priroritising has to take place, Much as relaying a mile per year might be desrireable I am not sure it is an economically realistic goal. Perhaps some informed sources rather than armchair snipers in their ivory twers would like to comment. For exmple what do other heritage railways do?

 

Steven,

As I am sure you will have seen, the purveyors of the standard line have been out purveying it!

Paul H

 

Memory suggests between 8-9 miles of trackwork have been totally replaced over the years. More stretches are planned during the closed seasons.

Steve

 

You need to check reality rather than trust your vibes, Steve

Steve

 

This debate really sums up the dilemma faced by most heritage railways - where to spend limited resources and yet keep the show on the road. As Steve is well aware , the NYMR has invested heavily its civil engineering programme in recent years, but to do that meant that other areas were squeezed, most notably C & W, where there is now a crash programme of wheel turning and re-tyring because so many coaches were running on wheels that could not be allowed to carry on. Hopefully, once this crisis has been surmounted budgets will be adjusted accordingly, but it's just another illustration of the fact that most of the ex-BR carriages in use came with a reasonable amount of life left in it. Whilst that life remained, or there was an opportunity of cheaply trading in scrap wheelsets for good ones with helpful scrapyards, they could be kept going cheaply, but those days are gone and the full, new, price has to be paid for most spares. I suspect that the WSR are perhaps a little behind the NYMR in both this area and the extent of their civil engineering, yet with a slightly longer railway and I would expect to see some severe belt-tightening if they are to deal with it. Even the SVR, who are the leaders in so many ways, will have to deal with these issues. I think they have done better than most - e.g. by collecting good wheelsets, but given the size of their fleet it probably only addresses a small proportion of the problem.

 

The problem is that it is difficult to prioritise anything for any length of time - track is needed to run trains, carriages are needed to be able to transport paying passengers and steam locos are needed to pull the trains and attract the passengers - so show a great deal of sympathy and understanding for those folk whose job it is to try to strike this delicate balance!

 

Slightly surprised this has not raised more comment.
On the first point. While the WSR will no doubt make every effort to run the advertised services it covers itself, sensibly, by saying that times and motive power may be altered for operational reasons. Steam is an aspiration, not a promise. But it seems to me that someone booked onto a very expensive Steam Engineman's course would feel that being provided with a diesel instead was not quite the thing. The steam loco is intrinsic to that offering.

On the second point, Greenway seems to think people have been claiming there is no space on the WSR for through running to Taunton because of lack of paths. I don't think they have been claiming anything of the sort. There are plenty of paths between Taunton and Bishops Lydeard. But those who propose regular TOC services all the way to Minehead have the ambition of eight or nine return trips per day, 363 days of the year . I would be interesting to see how those could have been accommodated today, or any day next week, as there was to all intents and purposes a train every hour in each direction for most of the day. That is when lack of paths is really an issue I would imagine. I think inserting charters for much of the year should not create too many problems except on the Yell0w timetable days.

 

Would clanline be viewable at BL this Monday please.

 

The comments made have hardly been from mere "armchair snipers"; I respect both Steves' opinions on heritage railway matters as I know that both of them have been involved for quite some time!

 

Apparently Brian Close of Yorkshire and Somerset, played cricket left handed and golf right handed. No news is available about which hand he ate pasties with or which end he started with