West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Worth paying crew for this , financial benefits very clear.

 

ESR do still have steamraisers, allows one crew to cover a whole day per engine and is a good introduction to footplate work.

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It may be. But freebies can also be an incentive to joining - my family membership of one railway is solely the result of being able to buy membership and obtain discounts on spec. They benefit from armchair membership 11 years later and have gained in terms of fares and support far in excess of the value of the discounts.

 

Given the Railway Mag report WSR should immediately rescind member benefits, 25% is ridiculous given parlous stake, no member would argue with this with drawl, no one ever joined a railway to get reductions, support yes but the concession was a unrequested bonus.

 

Do you mean the 2 March meeting? If so, there is a very full write up in the latest WSR Journal.
Ian Coleby

 

Not quite.

I see from Mr Edge's excellent web-site that the Class 33 D6566 has been in regular WSR use during the past week. Based on the published weight for this class of 78 tons, its axle-loading will be 19½ tons, similar to a Castle Class and very much in the GWR Red-route category. So axle-loading is clearly not the only criterion of what can or cannot work on WSR.

Steam locos 7828 & 53808 have also been in use. These have lighter axle-loading, but in combination with total weights of slightly under 110 tons with fully-loaded tenders. It was stated in another post that a Class 37 diesel, which is of similar overall weight, will be spending time on the railway during this year. That might be a rough indication of where the new limit is placed. Steam loco overall weights may of course be reduced by placing restrictions on the amount of coal and water loaded into the tender (4000 gallons of water weighs 18 tons).

It can of course be assumed that the WSR engineers' route-restriction assessments will be based on a range of considerations, including both total weights and axle-loadings as well as many other factors.

The Railway Magazine article says that "embankments are beginning to crumble at Stogumber and further back along the line". Is there any history of crumbling embankments and other subsidence issues on the WSR route - or is this purely a recent development? Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer this question.

 

I was about to ask about this possibility. It seems to make sense particularly where there is more than one loco to prepare. The "lighting-up" crew (two people?) come in at 3 or 4 am, do a four to five hour shift (as required) and hand over the engines to the driving crews in time for them to make their own checks and preparations. The lighting crew are then free to go - back to sleep or work - whilst the engine crews are fresh and can cover most of the day's running, thus reducing the need for replacement crews. Is this not practical ?

 

The K&ESR normally roster a "steam raiser" to start about 06:00. This would be a cleaner progressing towards fireman, who would first have to be examined and proved safe and competent to check and light-up locos, before having on-road tests to become a full fireman.
The train crew would then book on at 07:40, giving time to oil and examine before coming off shed by 09:30. The train crew's day is still over 8 hours though, and on a "three tripper" is over ten hours.
The steam raiser also supervises the cleaners, checks and re-orders the consumable stores, and after loco(s) depart tidies yard, gets the ashpit emptied and cleaned etc.
If there are several locos to light, such as at a gala, the steam raiser may be rostered from about 05:00, but the train crews may not need to book on much earlier than a normal day.

 

I think there's quite a few people who join railway societies, and other organisations, because they get something in return in the form of free or reduced admission/travel.
The 25% discount is I suspect given as an incentive to join the WSRA and travel on the railway more often.
At the end of the day no one is compelling WSRA members to claim their 25% discount, if members decide they want to help the railway's finances they can opt to pay the full fare.

 

Pretty similar on the NYMR. Steam raiser at 05.00. Crews sign on 2¼ hours before train time and are allowed 1 hour for disposal. Days can be anything up to 12 hours.

 

The figure quoted refers to a push-pull fitted Class 33/1 which is some 4 tons heavier than an unmodified Class 33/0 as per D6566(33048) and D6575(33057). In fact the WR route availability information that we have shows that locomotives D6500 - D6597 (prior to any modifications) are suitable for unrestricted operation over blue routes. We have already been around this one!

Ian Robins
DEPG Ltd

 

One would imagine that the sections of line with the biggest axle load problems are also the ones most likely to receive attention in the form of relaying/embankment rebuilding/ballast bed increasing etc.

Hiring in the pannier is an interesting development. There have been suggestions that 4561 is no longer suitable for today's traffic requirements due to its water capacity and limited watering opportunities, so how does a pannier tank compare in this respect? Particularly as it isn't superheated where the 45xx is.

 

Whoa, I've been 'put in the frame'.........and I accept,...........I'm a natural for the part. Of course there's the small matter of payment and expenses (a modest stipend PLUS 1st class return rail fare, hotel suite, ALL drinks, etc etc) to be agreed in advance.

 

It is certainly possible and during the Santa period where we also steam heat some crews do indeed work all night.
Consider the practicalities though of have a crew of 2 book on at (say) 04.30 to prep two locos at BL and a crew on 2 to book on at 05.30 to prep a loco at MD. That's 3 crews who are going to book on that day to do grunt work. In the height of the season that's 14 crews to do lighting up (28 volunteers) to find every week.
Cleaners cannot work unsupervised on locomotives on the WSR, we use the traditional cleaner, passed cleaner, firemen, passed fireman and driver grading system.
I would personally be quite happy to attend at 04.30 to dispose and light up two loco's and be relieved by 09.00 to go and have breakfast but I think I am probably in a small minority judging by the number of morning turns for which I get rostered. But let me ask you, would you get up at 03.00 to go and do a lighting up turn?

I will not comment on the safety aspects of extended working days and break periods mentioned by others. Suffice to say that there is a H&S dimension to this and the WSR is determined to be fully compliant and mindful of the fact that for such safety critical roles then travel time to the workplace should really be taken account of.

 

The fire-throwing propensities of Panniers will encourage pax to keep their heads in.

 

The Swanage carries more passengers per year than the West Somerset, using 5-coach trains. But then it is a shorter line. So the service frequency must be higher.

 

The Swanage can also maintain a good service frequency using only one engine in steam

 

A hot dry summer could be a problem then?

 

We had one of those last year so we shouldn't have to worry about that again for about 10 years!

 

Tell that to anyone who was there in 1975/6 ..... Sod's Law always applies.