West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Getting a grip is not insulting potential volunteers or donors. Getting a grip is admitting that the original post was badly worded. Getting a grip is not an overly defensive reaction to criticism.

If you don’t want me to donate that’s fine by me. Plenty of other groups to support. But don’t start crying when something has to be sold to cover debts or the financial black hole.

Your loss not mine.

 

One very definitive Fact about the Gloucester Warwickshire Railway is that undoubtedly there are disagreements, the Broadway Café being a point in case, BUT the arguments are never allowed to fester or remain and the Railway is always the winner in that Positive Decisions are Made and Everyone Moves onto the next Objective as a Dedicated and Focused Team. You only have to witness what has been achieved from a derelict track bed to Appreciate What has been Achieved under the most Difficult of circumstances particularly landslips which severed the Railway not once but twice!

I look forward to when I can say the same about the West Somerset Railway, but perhaps the fact that we inherited a complete infrastructure and possessed a lack of Incentive and Drive to get back into Taunton may have exacerbated the problems we now face? It all comes down to Leadership and in that regard I Expect Great things of our New Chairman and wish him well as we cannot now be far from the last chance saloon!

 

44422 weighs 48t 15cwt over 3 axles, so should be well within the weight limit on the WSR?

 

You are right 44422 is ok, in weight limit and a great engine, I've fired it many times over the WSR, it handles 6/7 coach trains with ease and is a lovely steaming engine which as a fireman I've never felt was going to let me down. It was dubbed 'the mighty 4F' by many crews. Ken was referring to 7027 & 6695 both of which are Red Route

 

I remember a trip to Minehead behind 44422.

While I was only 4 when it shut, I cant imagine that what I experienced was that different to why I might have experienced on a holiday express on the S&D

I fear that ending the long term hire is simply a wast of money & the loss of a good engine

 

Yes!

 

I can't agree with that - senior managerial roles involve both strategy and operations. By this logic no chief executive could be a board member.

The question - and I've heard it asked of other railways - is over the relationship between board and GM, and how the board hold an appropriate balance between supporting the GM in performing the job, and keeping the GM accountable for delivering against the strategy of the board.

That balance does not lend itself to definitive yes/no answers, though there will undoubtedly be examples where it is wrongly struck in both directions.

 

Quite true but 6695 is a red route loco and so is a castle. As I said 2 of the 3.
Ken

 

Yet at the same time that 6695 is released, a Castle arrives! Which doesn’t seem to make sense if infrastructure is a concern (and I agree it probably should be).

Now of course, maybe the Castle is not intended to be run, but rather a contract overhaul to be done at the owner’s expense. But if the railway is short of operational motive power, I don’t believe using internal resources - even if paid for - to overhaul (or even store) a loco that won’t ultimately be used is a higher priority than using the same resources to overhaul the home fleet. The logic of being a “workshop for hire” at the same time as you are short of rolling stock resources and have to hire in has never seemed sound business sense to me.

Maybe all will become clear, but from this end of the A303 the strategy looks decidedly confusing.

Tom

 

I’m not sure it is. Many organisations have a Managing Director or Chief Executive at board level. No different, in my view, to a GM who has been elevated to the board.

 

Thank you Andy and Ken for a bit of "downright honesty".
Now we know a bit of what the ORR wanted done to ensure the safe running of WSR.
I do hope that Andy does not lose his ID card, I lost my job for having the courage to " stand up" and tell the bosses where there were failings in their organisations. (many others had expressed that opinion privately)! The railway needs men of courage and drive.
Incidentally my wife and I gave up volunteering because letters we sent to "Head Office" at Minehead, concerning what we felt was unfair treatment of a fellow volunteer, were not answered, it seemed no-one wanted to hear about conflict in the organisation.

 

Having a GM on the board should not be a problem, just as having a Managing Director shouldn't be. The Chairman is in charge of the board, who must make collective decisions. Once those decisions are made, the GM/MD has to implement them and the board support him in this process. The only conflict is if there is something of concern about the GM needing discussion and, in that case, the chairman would/should exclude him from the meeting.

 

The same organizations, yes - but the people in charge are almost entirely different.

Noel

 

I feel that the WSRA has commited suicide, which I predicted 3 years ago & the WSR is following close behind. None of that is due to the diligent volunteer's but the poor management at the top & it's gone so far as to be virtually impossible to recover the situation.

DJB.

 

That really is complete and utter ‘nonsense. Three years ago the WSRA had just been rescued from the mess created by the EX6+1. Recovering from that was never expected to be quick or easy but progress has not been quick or easy but progress has been slower than any would like. To suggest that the current problems of the WSR PLC are the fault of the WSRA is frankly ludicrous. They are two rntirely separate organisations under different managements.

 

Do I need to even bother now, especially as I suspect I'm on Yorkshireman's naughty list?...