West Somerset Railway General Discussion

One pretty obvious thing to most observers here is that the WSR did not slide to the edge of the precipice overnight. It must have been seen coming by those close to the hub and it was not until the whistle was blown that anything seems to have been done about it.

 

Clearly not, but the question is why wasn't there a system of management and directorial oversight that would have resulted in action sooner. "Frog in gently warming water" and group think may have contributed.

 

Ditto, but actually quite rarely when the comment has been at the heart of the subject under debate.

 

Not so with those I attended - particularly in the public sector part of my working life , where FoI was also a consideration - those comments were usually at the absolute heart of the (controversial or sensitive) subject under debate.

 

6233 is taking over from diesel on May 4th railtour to Kingswear and return to London.

Is it coming from the WSR?

Wasn’t this supposed to be Mayflower and would have been already at the WSR from last Tuesdays cancellation rail tour

 

And then it takes hours...

Robin

 

Only if there were lawyers present.

 

Then they, or a summary, should have been minuted to show that potential issues had been addressed, thus protecting the participants from accusations of incompetence or mismanagement.

 

From the accounts, I seem to recall that for several years, the WSR plc was absorbing considerable money from its reserves. That wouldn’t necessarily have been problematic had it been accompanied by really substantial work improving the condition of assets - for example, annual large scale infrastructure renewal projects - but seemingly it wasn’t, at least not to the level of cash being absorbed. So the signs were there, but aren’t necessarily easy to interpret. As has often been remarked on here, unless you really have a detailed view of the condition of your infrastructure and rolling stock (something the directors should have had, but not necessarily something ordinary shareholders would have access to) then the difference between stability and managed decline in an environment where assets are expensive to renew but have very long renewal periods is not necessarily easy to see.

I think it is also undeniable that the pan-railway governance issues of the last few years have set the railway back. It is really welcome that the WSRA and Plc (and also the WSSRT) seem to all be working towards shared objectives in funding and carrying out the necessary renewal work, but I’d estimate that the WSR is probably at least ten years behind comparable railways in getting to that point.

Tom

 

At the expense of repeating a point I have made in the past, the WSR is my 'most visited' heritage railway & it always seems to me when I go elsewhere - the Bluebell, K&ERS & Severn Valley in recent years seem to be much more - whats a good word, better capitalised with things like carriage sidings, condition of the stock, etc.................

 

Thanks for your reply Robin, time does fly ! The only pictures I have found of said crane are one in a WSR stockbook of the time and one of it languishing in a former quarry near Shepton Mallet where it sits to this day I believe under the ownership of the gentleman who bought it a few years after the gantry was erected.

 

I know what you mean but remember that the Bluebell and Severn Valley have been able to build excellent facilities for keeping stock under cover in recent years. As far as I know most of the WSR stock lives in the open air.

 

What is also pertinent is that between a half and a mile of track has been relaid on the SVR each year for the last few years. Bewdley side of Bewdley tunnel, Arley platforms (new drains), just north of Arley, County Boundary slip (embankment rock bolted to bedrock) Borle viaduct, Waterworks Straight and Eardington bank. Other than Arley the cheaper option of flat bottom has beeen used

 

In the televised show trial of Nicolae Ceaușescu in 1989, before he was taken off and shot, there was an exchange between Ceaușescu and one of the prosecutors from the new government. (I can't remember it exactly but it goes something like this).

Prosecutor: Did you decide to do x,y and z at this meeting?

Ceauseșcu: Yes, and you should know because you were at the meeting.

It is very easy to blame the old guard for everything and for the 'new regime' to airbrush their pasts and their own involvement.

 

It is very easy as you say, the old "look how bad the previous lot were" is still trotted out by the Tories 9 years after Labour lost power. The chairman can't be accused of that if my understanding that he was not in a position of power andd/or influnce until recently. However, the WSR was clearly in a state of (un?) managed decline and there are lessons for other railways who may find themselves in such a situation. I know of at least one other and I wouldn't be surprised if there was more than a handful.

There are also some frequent posters on this thread who kept telling us nothing was wrong with the railway when it now transpires there clearly was and remains so (£0.5m a year for 10 years is a lot of money to find) , and not all of them were saying so from a position well away from the seats of power.

 

The SVR routinely spends £600k each year on the infrastructure - including rail replacement. Major projects such as Falling Sands Viaduct (c£1.3m) are additional to this.

 

Building storage for stock seems to be pretty widely recognized now as a worthwhile investment (the savings on refurbishment outweighing the cost of the building), and so it's also happening at other lines too (the GCR and NYMR spring to mind, and the GWSR is also moving in that direction). My memory is failing me in recalling if the WSR has been investigating doing the same - I have vague memories of it being mooted as part of the planning for the upgrades one of the stations, but don't recall any details. Anyone know?

The obvious question, of course, is 'if not, why not'?

Noel

 

WSRA and WSSRT are presently considering the acquisition of a redundant wagon repair shed at Peterborough. Whether this would prove more economical/practical than a new build is no doubt being actively debated.

 

The former long-serving Taunton Cider buffet car (Mk1 3058), now heavily disguised as a First Open (having reverted to its original guise), is due to return to Minehead tomorrow evening. It is within the consist of the 'Great Britain XII' railtour and now named 'Florence'.

I can't remember if it has already returned to the WSR on a previous railtour. The first time it was expected to return the coach had to be removed at Reading due to a fault developing.

http://www.cs.rhrp.org.uk/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=1206