West Somerset Railway General Discussion

So what happens when, say, a mother is changing a baby's nappies and someone else is "caught short"?
I acknowledge that some main line trains have no toilets at all, but to my mind it's asking for trouble.

 

But generally not if the journey is over an hour. 80 minutes end to end on WSR, similar on SVR, nearly 2 hours on NYMR. No toilets on trains is fine on a 5 mile branch line with the main station in the middle, but not on a lot of other lines. Retention tanks should be the way forward, not locking off toilets - especially when the vast majority of your passengers are pensioners.

 

It can be a bit of both though. Whilst I'm convinced that toilets on a train are necessary, I'm less convinced that they're needed in more than two locations on the train, preferably spread fairly evenly. Converting any more than that is just, well I was going to say throwing money down the toilet! M personal preference would for for some to just be locked out and maybe used for storage thus keeping future options open and some to be knocked out and converted for pushchair storage or disabled conversions in the style of the GWSR with integrated seating.

 

EMF:

7802 thread at https://www.national-preservation.com/threads/7802-at-wsr.1411328/

Patrick

 

A former NP Member, and prominent WSRA man, frequently made a case for changing room facilities at heritage line stations. As he is no longer here and I haven't seen any mention of any progress towards changing room facilities, I wonder what activities the WSR has to offer at their stations?

 

I think you may have misunderstood what it was Steve was campaigning for, see here: http://pamis.org.uk/campaigns/changing-places-toilets/

 

I'd challenge the ratio - the mean usage (which would support just a couple) is misleading. I'd say the minimum should be to have loos (if traditional Mk1 TSO size) in every other carriage, and on any end to end journey timetabled at over half an hour.

As a parent, I've had to deal not just with weak bladdered toddlers, but also small children suddenly feeling sick - there needs to be the capacity for genuine and sudden emergencies.

 

No misunderstanding Alex. Just different wording. I used rooms, your link says places. A room suggests indoors, places could be inside or outside. Regular readers will remember what Steve campaigns about.
Either way is there any progress on the WSR and heritage lines?

 

Apologies for presuming otherwise! It was the fact that you quoted a post about baby changing facilities when changing places are for disabled people. As for your last question, not that I know of.

 

There's also the other end of the age spectrum to consider, as a glance down any platform on any heritage line will clearly show.

 

Especially when people of all ages have been encouraged to visit the tea rooms/cafeteria.

 

I don't know that the design has been finalised yet, but I cannot see why a toilet compartment or no longer used for that purpose couldn't be converted to baby changing rooms to reduce unnecessary demand on the toilets.

 

In a Mk1 TSO loo, no - but in the corridor carriage loos, almost certainly.

 

I'm going to have to disagree with your negative reaction to the discussion here.

It's true that at least one poster thought the operators were to blame (I forget whether they thought primarily, or just in part, and it's not worth checking), but others were very quick to set them straight, pointing out that it was a simple component failure, and one that probably wasn't detectable before it happened - a conclusion that seems to have been generally accepted. Posters with technical knowledge looked at the picture and explained to the less technically inclined what apparently happened - an analysis which has now been confirmed in the release from the owners.

I think the whole thing was pretty healthy; the failure was publicly known, so having open discussion here was probably the fastest way to quell misapprehensions that undoubtedly would have festered in private.

Noel

 

And the bars

 

Older people and children are probably numerically the largest numbers of passengers on heritage railways.

 

That would be a nightmare solution - having to either deal with a nappy, or a small child with a bursting bladder. They have a nasty tendency to come together...

 

How to really upset your passengers - how long do you think it would be before doors got kicked open?

 

I have travelled many times over the years on the number 28 Taunton to Minehead bus which takes one hour and twenty minutes. Not once have we had to stop for distressed passengers requiring toilet needs, at weekends the service carries many families with young children and it has never come to my notice of children screaming out for toilets on the journey. Perhaps they have realised that it is a long bus journey and have prepared themselves accordingly. Just an observation I thought that may help with the discussion.