West Somerset Railway General Discussion

You can tell a Yorkshireman, but you can't tell him much.

 

West Somerset Railway - Then and Now

1976 - 2017

Blue Anchor, the signalman’s view. Contrasting views of opening day 1976 and a quiet day in November 2017 when I opened the box for a tamper.

Chris Osment / Robin White

 

Oops, I got the letters round the wrong way! Well spotted!

 

As a purely detached observation, what would the loco staying on the WSR achieve? The railway clearly will not have either the finance or capacity to restore it to operating condition for many years to come, if ever. By selling it the loco looks set to have an operational future sooner rather than later. There is also the prospect of a return to the WSR as a visitor. Surely a good outcome for the loco and the railway.

Peter

 

Ploughmans, they only work up to the footpath crossing area near milepost 166 & reverse back onto triangle to unload & normally 2 x class 66 top & tail or when doing a turning a whole train, goes up the Barnstable section to the stop block then reverses back along the west chord to our running line at Allerford Jcn & back out onto NR to Fairwater....

Correct.......

 

Correct......

 

Seems quite apt for this thread..

 

Just read this months copy of Heritage Railway, and where there is a 2+ article on the woes of the WSR and how it came so close to voluntary liquidation but for the actions of Jonathan Jones-Pratt. I have been reading the WSR saga on NP for the last couple of years and would agree with his assessment that the recent “infighting between the WSR plc and WSRA meant the eye was taken off the ball on finances and safety”. I would also include some posts made by others on NP which I consider have also not helped, and am made to think of the that phrase “whilst Nero burnt”. Reading the article I can also totally understand the need to split the engineering and safety functions particularly given the pointed ORR comments following and at their recent visit.

Now is the time to get behind JJP, and stop quibbling and challenging the minutiae of details particularly if you love the WSR.

Ps I have recently retired and hope to move closer to a preserved railway and volunteer some 3 days a week, but not the WSR purely because of comments posted here on NP. Nevertheless I will be visiting in April as a holiday maker, and am thinking of buying some £1,000 shares to show my support. I do wish the WSR well but the HR article does show it was a close call whilst people were arguing on the detail.

 

When you do visit, please make sure you chat to as many volunteers as possible, and you will find that we are a very friendly and cheerful bunch who, despite comments on here, do not spend all their time arguing with one another. Most of the bad impressions of the WSR are from people who maybe visit once or twice a year, and get all their information from NP!

 

If that's a reference to my post #17515 I protest most vociferously! If I get most of my info from NP then it is that info that reflects badly, not my comments in response!

 

Yes, that's what I meant, I didn't phrase it particularly well. I had to go back to your quoted post to see what you said, your comments there are what I had in mind really.

 

In which case... How do I reflect badly on the WSR? You say it's because I get a lot of my info on NP which doesn't accurately reflect the real situation. Fair enough, that may be the case, I have often said that - see any post where I mention the word "perception". But surely it is that very info that I read on NP posted by others that reflects badly on the WSR, not my (and plenty of others') comments thereafter.

 

I'm sorry if you think that I am attacking you personally. I don't think you are reflecting badly on the WSR. I agree with your last sentence. I do not think I am expressing myself quite how I would like, so I will not be continuing this particular conversation in case I am misunderstood any more.

 

Ok.

 

I've just read my way through the blog , very good blog and very good to see progress on my favourite loco . Well done everyone .

 

Really ? It was all over some 3 years ago and the plc kept their distance as they could not intervene in what was an internal issue.

 

You're disregarding the Association/PLC fight last summer that led to the chairman's post becoming vacant, then?

 

This is simply untrue. Relations between the WSR PLC and the WSRA are at an all time high. Of course there are problems at the PLC and have been for some time but to attribute these to the WSRA really is nonsense. It sadly just shows what a malign influence this forum has had over the last few years. Those in theknow are utterly fed up with these faslehoods.

 

You quoted Big Al. Perhaps you could point out where he attributed any problems to the WSRA?
If you care to read his post properly (instead of what you want to read), you'll see that he spoke of 'many' making the problems worse. He did not state who the many are or whether they even belong to the PLC or WSRA.


Keith