West Somerset Railway General Discussion

One of the signal boxes at Didcot has one which on certain days the public are allowed a go on - as someone else said, you need to have had a good breakfast before giving it a go - power assisted they are not!

 

Perhaps not a good advertisement for the railway or for the signalman in question.

 

Has it occurred to anyone that it might be a joke?

 

Really? I had assumed it was a posed "joke" picture, after all there was someone else in the 'box to take the photo.

 

Surely the fact that people can and do act out "joke" photos when on duty is itself not exactly good for the railway's reputation; never mind all the people who might see it and not realise.

 

One of the greatest features of main line or heritage Railways (and one that we lose at our peril) is the ability to laugh at ourselves. The photo was staged (on the spur of the moment) while a train waited at the up home for a down train to arrive. I personally think it is hilarious, however, I was asked to remove it from Nat Pres, which I have done.

I have no further comment.

Robin

 

I would have thought that anyone who recognised Robin would know it was a joke and for anyone who didn't recognise her, it's just a picture of someone asleep in a signal box, not necessarily the signalman. After all, as Wenlock points out, there had to be someone else in the box to take the photo.

 

Presumably whoever asked for the photo to be removed from NP didn't share the joke.

 

There are quite a few people on this forum who are humour-less so that doesn't narrow the number of suspects much.

 

Quite possibly nowt to do with this forum per se.

It might simply be that the WSR felt it didn't show them in a good light, or breached their social media code and expressed their concerns in some way. No big deal IMHO .

Some may feel it a little heavy handed - I do - but it is possible to understand potential concerns.

Surely time to put it to bed (rather than an armchair!?) and move on.

 

It beggars belief that it should be removed from this site that is much more a minority interest than Steve Edge’s site that has a much larger potential audience. A sense of humour implant required.

 

Could’ve have at least the Deltic or vac in the picture, than the peak.

 

A few people on this thread need putting to bed, its way past their bedtime judging by some of the comments.

 

Oh dear, How sad !

 

Anyone who has seen the Bash Mash on Facebook will know that there is a level of hi-jinks, tomfoolery and mickey-taking associated with preserved railways; had the photo in question been posted there where the humorous intent would have been clear, it would probably have attracted little further comment. Posting it in a series amongst ostensibly "serious" photos on this site (and even worse, on wsr.org.uk, which many people will, rightly or wrongly, see as an officially endorsed outlet for WSR material) seems rather less wise. Context is key.

I don't suppose too many people genuinely feel that WSR signalmen are being discovered asleep on the job. However, what it has done, yet again, is demonstrate the unerring potential that seems to exist in certain quarters of the WSR to argue about trivialities while ignoring worthy information. Just before the photo went up, there was notice of a fund-raising appeal for a brake van restoration: while everyone is distracted, discussion of that worthy project has died a death.

Probably easy to see why those in positions of authority on railways tear their hair out at the somewhat double-edge benefit of social media. Still, maybe they are different in Somerset.

Tom

 

If I can add a modicum of common sense.

The approach to the signal at Blue Anchor in the up direction means that the signal can be seen for over a mile. The footplate crews know that signalmen have all sorts of tasks and distractions such as phones to answer, logs to write up etc. etc. That doesn't stop them making tongue in cheek comments when approaching a signal that is on such as "are they busy feeding the cat ?" or "are they stuck on the crossword ?". If the photo was taken on Sunday then the relief signalman started duty at around midday (IIRC) giving the perfectly safe opportunity for the photo which was clearly staged. It's a very small storm in a very small teacup.

 

Tom, I am surprised that, as an old inhabitant of Nat Pres, you have not noticed its denizens' ability to discuss two things at the same time. It is true for me, and I am pretty sure it is true for the others that commented on "Napgate", that we did not feel in the slightest bit inhibited in commenting on the brake van restoration by our interest in the removal of the offending photograph of someone "asleep" in a signalbox.

 

I've just had a look at the brake van restoration fund page and it's up to 57% of its target.
Which I think is good news for the project.

 

& here's the link:

https://www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/westsomersetrailwayassociation/goodsbrakevan