West Somerset Railway General Discussion

What???? Is this the Peter we all know and... (fill in blank as appropriate)

Nurse - Please reattach the electrodes to the comfy chair - I think we need a re-charge...

 

The SVR often gets mentioned in these discussions as a railway which employs a relatively high number of paid staff - and one which runs 7 days a week for over half the year - but the key operating roles mentioned above are covered virtually entirely by volunteer staff. The largest cohort of paid staff, I believe, are in the catering teams; most of the remainder are in engineering or maintenance of one kind or another. It makes sense: if a signalman's car breaks down the DO has a good list of local short-notice signalmen to work through; but you can't phone round to sort out a pway fault.

 

Having paid staff you can call on in an emergency is useful and could cover driver and guard. As for PW most small problems could be covered by a TSR but the likes of broken rails would probably curtail running anyway, paid staff or no

 

We certainly have access to a greater population for volunteers, and I might put forward the proposition that it's a more skilled population too? South Birmingham is very much in our catchment area for volunteers as well. And absolutely we run fewer days which helps. We basically run as many days as we think we can reliably staff, how many passengers we think might turn up on a given day doesn't come into it as much any more, as usually they do!

It must have been so hard inheriting all that life-expired track

(Couldn't resist!)

I agree with some of the gist of this, but not all. I've been at the railway roughly 4 days a week since June (heaven!) and we've never come that close to not running trains due to shortage of staff to my knowledge. I know you're more familiar with the signalling department than I, but I was given to understand that the department was actually quite pleased with how it was doing and was feeling quite optimistic for next year? I've never noticed any gaps on the roster for train crew either, and certainly none for guards, TTIs are only just about managing though (there are reasons understood...). The only operational department I'm aware of that have real shortages are catering, and that doesn't stop trains running, unless crews go on strike from lack of tea!

I absolutely agree with you on Duty officer though, I can see us having to employ one more person to overlap with our current Ops manager. I wouldn't want to see too many more paid staff in operations though, we seem to be managing ok at the moment, and from what I hear about next year it shouldn't change too much next year in terms of volunteer requirement.

 

We are fortunate in having one or two guards/signalmen/drivers retired and very local to the line which helps, along with many people on the railway having more than one role which increases flexibility in emergencies. As you say PW isn't as much of an issue, either a TSR or trains stop regardless.

 

Pleased to read on WSR.org that our friends at the Bluebell are lending us 73082 'Camelot' for our Autumn Steam Gala.
I was very disappointed when a previous planned visit had to be cancelled at the last minute.

Stef.

 

Sorry I assumed that all railways had started in the same way.

 

Summer in the Mendips?

 

I agree with much of your post, but on this point, these things can happen to paid staff as well as volunteers (although perhaps volunteers are less likely to make a huge effort to get around them).

Noel

 

6960 piloted 7820 on 1420 MD-BL as a positioning move today.

Revised afternoon timetable for Saturday allowing for the incoming charter,

https://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/timetables/view/61

 

I wouldn't think that, volunteers are there because they choose to be I can remember driving through very bad weather to attend a firing turn, as a rule paid staff also do far more than their booked hours or duties also,

 

Back in December 2010 we were expecting a stone train to Minehead from Westbury for sea defence works. All 4 WSR boxes were open on time at 09:00 (by volunteers) to receive the train but the Westbury crew (probably sensibly) left the train at Taunton Fairwater Yard and headed home.

Why? The photo below (of BA Up Home at 09:15) might explain.

A more normal view of the same location is provided for comparison...

Robin

 

Which photo is the normal one?

 

It depends on the time of year.

 

Some wishful thinking from WSR? Of course they mean 7822.


West Somerset Railway
3 hrs ·
Due to a mechanical issue, the 10.15 Minehead to Bishops Lydeard service will now be diesel hauled.

D6575 10.15 MD to BL
7828 + D6575 12.15 BL to MD
7828 14.15 MD to BL
7828 16.15 BL to MD

 

I assume this means 53808 was failed yesterday afternoon or this morning. She was misbehaving a little yesterday, it seemed to be a developing issue but we were able to keep running, albeit a little late. We also provided a little impromptu entertainment for alighting passengers as we managed the issue.

 

I'm sitting here on the comfort of my sofa watching the WSR webcams and trying to follow the cricket at the same time. 53808 seems OK to me - it has worked the charter in both directions. 7822 seems to have an unusually long train (looks like 8 or 9 on to me) and left BL on the 16:15 with a Class 33 on the back. As D6575 is parked at Minehead I assume it is D6566 - thought that one was broken.

Oh well back to the cricket!

 

Failure at Minehead was 7820.

 

Nice one!

 

Ah i remember Chris from way back!!!