West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I saw 53808 arrive at Minehead with today's 'Minehead Express' just after 1pm today and it was very well patronised.
I'm happy that my original pessimism seems to have been ill-founded.

Stef.

 

The problem always lies with dishonest people.

 

So it is not in the public domain. No system will ever be proof against every fraudster. All that can be done is to minimise the risk to a level that can be managed,

 

It's to charge your phone so that you can display your e-ticket when the need arises.

 

Here's a link to the picture



Steve

 

A three digit voltmeter? Can you select 110V for a really fast charge or 415V for those "Take that you useless piece of junk" moments?

 

What a pleasure to witness today a pair of Hymeks on a loaded test run from Bishops Lydeard to Minehead with a rake of Mk 1 coaches.

I think it's about 23 years since this was last seen. Images on Steve Edge's site, WSR.org.

Stef.

 

I was wine waiting aboard the QB on the night '18 went 'pop' so dramatically and vividly recall the smoke, smell and subsequent silence. It was some time before D4018 set off from Williton thunderbirding for D7018 and we had served a considerable number of free drinks in the interim.

I too have waited a long time for this day and keenly look forward to riding behind the locomotive on a passenger train before long. Congratulations to the D&EPG engineers for achieving today's landmark working. I hope it went well.

 

Has anybody else (WSRA members) received the email, message from the PLC Chairman, that just popped into my inbox?

It’s a bit of a long-winded letter but it seems that the WSR had a visitation from the ORR last week and whilst they apparently got through a ‘successful audit’, they’ve been told to put in place a ‘recovery plan’, which appears to be slightly contradictory?

Anyone know what the gist of the recovery plan is? What are we recovering from?

At risk of starting off another NatPres war of words, I know, but this is all quite intriguing and seems quite a serious thing to have happened?

 

Deleted

 

Yes you do risk setting off another useless war of negative words. Perhaps you should have read the letter in full as it contains much which is positive. As anybody will be aware the ORR regulate all railways so a visit is nothing that unusual, they have to by law. As for a recovery plan, any visit will and should throw up things which can be better, it’s no more or no less.

Jon is going out of his way to communicate to members of the WSR in detail so saying its ‘long-winded’ is a bit unfair as previously people on the Board have been critised for not saying enough. Jon has got stuck into his new role and has spent much time beginning to work with people and talking which is a very welcome direction to take and something I will personally support him in as much as I can.

Whilst like any railway especially a 23 mile long one we have to work hard to keep what we have in good running order into the future, we also we have a number of good things on the horizon and all need to help turn a great railway into a better great railway.

How do I know all this ? I asked a member of senior management about the visit and have had a full explanation and I spend time on the WSR getting involved, nothing about the visit particularly worries me so please lets keep it in context.

Can I respectfully suggest that you take Jon up on his offer which he gives at the end of his letter and email him directly and ask, I have no-doubt he will give you the information you seek. It’s much better than starting yet another 100 pages of uninformed and incorrect speculation which seems to be generated here mainly by people with no direct knowledge of the WSR, which usually ends with “it must be something in the water in Somerset”.

 

Ok, nuff said!

 

I've not received it, and I'm a WSRA member and a shareholder.

 

Admin, please remove my original post. Let’s pretend nothing happened.

 

The new initiative for New Volunteers 'I am a Volunteer Ask Me Why?' badge.
A purple badge given out to existing Volunteers so a ' conversation' can develop.
I look forward to the results of this and the hundreds of new volunteers.
Do the new volunteers get a badge or do badges get given out for staring a 'Conversation'?
If the latter is the case I hope to have lots of badges by the end of this year!
I hope other heritage railways are keeping a close eye on this initiative!

 

I'm a shareholder and not received anything.

 

I've received it, and I hope the new chairman is the right person for the job and I sincerly hope he succeeds.

 

Ditto.

Stef.

 

I received it but found it in the spam folder!

 

If you are a WSR Staff ID holder and can access the staff website, you can read it there. I imagine only those WSRA members with email addresses in the membership database would have received the WSRA version (if that's you but no email received then email the WSRA). I'm not aware Plc shareholders have been sent a copy by any means at this stage. I'm hopeful of a public statement soonish...

Steve