West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Today’s Railway Herald reports Paul Conibeare suspended

 

Edit - Deleted

 

These posts are discussing the position of an individual which is contrary to the Nat Pres rules.

 

The posts above mine might fall under that definition (although you could equally argue they're just repeating something already in the public domain) but I made absolutely no reference to any individuals or their positions, merely the fact this thread is known for producing high drama on occasion, hence the humorous GIF indicating this. It would equally apply to pretty much any other discussion seemingly that occurs on this thread!

If mods would rather avoid this discussion altogether and delete it, as they did last week before this was being reported elsewhere, then I completely understand and expect my post to be thrown under the bus too, but in the meantime, I was specifically making fun of this thread, not any employees of the WSR.

 

Totally unfunny.. no humour.

 

Oh alright then it's gone, but I repeat, I was making no comment either way on anything except the reputation of this thread.

 

New track does not come in different grades for red,

By doing that you have exposed the reason why you keep cropping up here. Time to give it a rest?

 

I think everyone is over-looking the point, who owns several large loco's?

DJB.

 

I'm sure that I have read or been told that a major problem is chair galling of the rails. If true, this effectively reduces their strength and ability to support heavy axle loads. If so, replacement of the rails with new/good S.H rail would allow an increase in axle load without any further infrastructure work. The same would apply to sleepers if their condition is not the best. The work has to be done in any case so it isn't a question of reducing expenditure. Of course, I could be miles off target.

 

Can someone please explain why this post is not to be expanded upon, however there was no such restrictions when the reform group used this forum to name those they thought should be removed from the WSRA? Surely this is double standards from Nat-Pres and @Robin Moira White ?

Keith

 

Whilst I share the scepticism, it has to be said that the WSR runs trains that are close to the limits for Class 3 (45XX) and smaller engines, and larger ones are, for the most part (e.g. Halls) red route. The line is in a right mess in terms of its loco fleet (barely enough even with 100% availability) and no pipeline of suitable engines under restoration. It will be interesting to see what happens to the 56XX. Letting the three 28XX go was a big mistake, I feel - there was the potential for the core of an efficient fleet there when combined with the Manors. In retrospect, if the working one was damaging the track it was probably because the track was poor and needed attention.

 

Really? The common requirement is two locos (peak season three) and we have 53808, Odney, Foxcote, 9351 and 7752 in service ATM. And its only not 6 locos because of the sad failure of Bradley Manor. As a WSR operator, I dont get the feel of a steam fleet 'in a mess'. We are not diesel substituting, for example, nor am I hearing that the loco department are struggling to do washouts etc.

Assuming the steps to recover control of 4160 are successful, that forms one loco in the pipeline and there will shortly be significant steps to move 4561 forward. ('Watch this blog')

I am constantly surprised by the pessimism put forward here.

Robin

 

It's the difference between short term and long term. It is possible to get by with a minimalistic fleet (the NYMR managed for a season with just 4 locos for a timetable that called for 4 most days of the peak a couple of years ago but it called for a superhuman effort from the shed staff to achieve it and was not a position sustainable in the long term) but what concerns me is the lack of depth to the WSR fleet. Three of the six you mention are hired in and I suggest that finding three hire locos a year will not be easy in what is a competitive market.

 

Calling all enthusiasts!

Help us make the trial Taunton to Bishops Lydeard shuttles a success.

It is now well known that in co-operation with GWR, the West Somerset Railway will be running trial shuttle TRAINS between Taunton and Bishops Lydeard stations on 27 July, 3, 17, 31 August, 7, 21 September and 5 October.

Here are a few of the possible origin points for a trip to the WSR on 27 July.

These times assume an arrival at Taunton in time for the first shuttle departure at 09:39 and a return on the last shuttle which gets back to Taunton at 17:28. That would allow you to catch the 10:20 from Bishops Lydeard and the last connecting return from Minehead is 15:25, giving almost 4 hours on the beach at Minehead (or at the bar of the Beach Hotel!).

Bring yourself, bring the family, bring someone else’s family (but ask first), or share or copy this post.
Times are indicative and should be checked when booking.
Departure and return times are given.

London Paddington 0702 2037
Reading 0730 2010
B'ingham NS 0712 1956
Cheltenham 0752 1910
Gloucester 0741 1923
Bristol PW 0826 1846
Bristol TM 0845 1825
Plymouth 0750 1921
Exeter 0852 1817
Southampton CL 0620 2022
Salisbury 0640 1951
Cardiff* 0700 1940
Newport* 0752 1923

(* Cardiff and Newport times are for 3 August - earlier on 27 July as bus for part of journey.)

 

Hmm

Not what the original post focussed on. But heigh-ho.

And only two hires now.

Robin

 

Post 20589, by DJB, might shed light on the future of hiring in locos on the WSR. It might give more credence to the desire to upgrade to red maybe?
It could seem that the line is slowly moving away from its 'branch line' era even if it has some 'branch line' stations.

 

Or 7 hours at Quantock Brewery's annual beer festival, although you might have to share the bar with several West Somerset Steam Express passengers arriving from Paddington behind a Duchess! A really busy day for the main line connection, once upon a time only allowed six return passenger movements per year, although I understand we used to start counting from when the previous train ran!

 

"Heritage" railway?