West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Nice to see the Chairman breaking the merry-go-round of well-intentioned but ineffective amateurs of recent years, bringing in some heavyweight railway professionals on to the board at long last, let’s just hope it doesn’t come with a hefty price tag! What has happened to Frank Courtney?

 

I am astonished by this news. Who will pay? What will it cost? What will happen to the existing shop and cafe? Who will run it. Why was there no mention about it at the recent meeting or on the PLC website?

 

Thank you for asking! I'm still here, and was at Minehead this afternoon. I fully support the work Jon and colleagues on the Board are doing, and we just need to get on with it. There is still a great deal to do.
Frank

 

West Somerset Railway - Then and Now

Minehead 1922 / 2018

Post WW1 vehicles waiting for an incoming train, once again viewed from the Beach Hotel.

 

Robin, now I see its your car parked in front of the Beach Hotel................

 

‘Iris’ is a real star. You have to bring a little colour to the scene occasionally!

Robin

 

The two inspectorates have only been combined for the last 3 years, prior to that they were always separate. I don't know enough about the decisions to say why this happened.

 

The shop and cafe are run by the WSRA so presumably they will pay for it and continue running it. This is not PLC news, so no reason for it to have been mentioned at the meeting or on the PLC website.

 

Ian I thought the WSRA were getting out of Commercial Activities and concentrating on Fund Raising?

 

I think you may be right, although I'm not aware of any definite plans yet. I expect someone out there will know!

 

If so this is welcome to the railway as a whole, but worrying as it could be seen as empire building by the Association at BL leading to longer term consequences.

Just a 2c observation.

 

My thoughts exactly.

I think there was a clue contained in the minutes of the WSRA Board Meeting held on 18th December 2018. (These are available for anyone to view on their website under the heading 'documents').

 

Has the world got any better? Look how peopled the 20's scene is? OK the presence of the charabance suggest a train has just arrived but look at the goods yard, servicing the town. Now there is Morrisons, Tesco and Lidl serviced by trucks. OK this is 100 years on but big business has sucked the soul out of our towns.

 

Thanks Frank. I await a statement before long!

 

It certainly IS news. Never assume anything. The application was made by the PLC.

 

You can see why the old station building was considered too small.

I love the old charabancs.
'Right, we've got the engine, now how many rows of seats can we attach to the rear of it?'

 

Sorry Peter, have just checked it was made by WSRA. they had plans to use the office suite as a cafe some years ago but the idea never got of the ground then. Hopefully it will go ahead this time. As to withdrawing from commercial activities, who knows, perhaps a franchise.

 

The application was signed by Paul Conibere.

 

The only name I can find on TDBC planning site is Ric Auger! Yes that,s the plc involvement.

 

Many statements here, about the WSR, never seem straightforward and they wonder why conjecture is prevalent.