West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Lol no. Beer I means

 

Hi , The lowly Goods Van is B752355 and is owned by 5542 ltd. It is famous because it was the very first vehicle to arrive on the privately-owned WSR (it was owned by the 1163 Fund then). It has S.R. origins and is now used in the WSr Heritage Freight trains and is a store for all our Steam Fayre tables and chairs the delights of which you can sample, along with Tea, Coffee and Home Made Cake whilst perusing the Section 3 of our Autotrailer 169 and rummaging our massive supply of second-hand books and Bric a Brac. All in the name of fundraising for GWR Autotrailer 169 to supplement the much needed Vintage Rolling stock of the WSR. I'm so glad you asked. See you over the weekend? Yes?YES!

 

I see the GM has left the railway yesterday so, I hope the problems of the past have gone now and the WSR can build for the future.

 

No, I think you were right first time...

 

Or might it have been ' Orchard Pig ' ?

 

Indeed. Much the same as Harpic.

 

I think Fr. Jack was partial to that. as well as floor polish and insomnia medicines.

 

I allowed myself a chuckle at this appearing in the middle of a discussion about Cider...

 

I can see why. The post has clearly come from someone who is an in cider.

Sent from my SM-J530F using Tapatalk

 

I read via Mr E’s wsr.org.uk site that in future all volunteers may be required to hold WSRA membership. Not sure that this will help volunteer recruitment or even more importantly volunteer retention. No doubt time will tell. When I was Volunteer director for the PLC I was told many times by Volunteers that they did not wish to join the Association and Mel Hillman long time volunteer co ordianator has told me in the past he encountered the same resistance. I hope this is not going to affect the running of the railway in future especially as the PLC chairman has indicated previously that he wishes for the railway to be more volunteer and less paid staff orintated. I know on some other railways being a member of the charity is a pre requsite of volunteering but those railways often have the charity as the owner.




"g.Association Membership for Volunteers: PCW reported that he would be raising this matter at the next Plc Board meeting. We agreed that the only exception should be for those who work solely for one of the separate trusts, and do no operational work for the Plc. PCW and MS agreed to draft a form of words for this.Action MiS, PCW"

 

Cheddar valley I’ve been told.

 

Very good

 

Lets hope that they will do a survey of existing volunteers to see how many of us will be left, bearing in mind that it already cost us more than a membership in travelling; clothing etc... think hard

 

What’s the times of 9466 banking train 2moro please

 

I have been a WSRA member since 1979 and a Life member since 1986 (when you could pay over 3 years as I did). This has added significantly to the sense of 'belonging' and commitment to the Railway for me, and the set of bound volumes of WSRA journals on my bookshelves are a particular joy. Such membership is commonly compulsory elsewhere in railway heritage for obvious reasons. If we want a strengthened, united Railway this is a sensible step, and if we want a useful, well governed WSRA that is able to recruit volunteers and fund raise effectively for our Railway in the long term this is a necessary step.

The Railway has been through much heartache recently to remove barriers to progress of various forms. Time to stop whingeing and pull together.

Robin

 

I see a bit of a stick there, but little carrot. Recognising the accuracy of what you say for yourself, and of what is normal elsewhere, what is the carrot in this particular situation?

 

There are many. But here is one. I love heritage operations (see above my post about yesterday's shunt). Nothing gives me a greater 'warm glow' than to see someone new to heritage learning the ways of signalboxes or railways, and we need a vibrant WSRA to do that.

I have written a paper about about a major development for our Railway which will go to the next WSRA Trustee's meeting and, if endorsed, to the WSR plc Board. Seeing such a leap forward for our Railway, run under the auspices of the WSRA (just like the return to traffic of 9351 at a crucial time) would be another warm glow / carrot.

There are many such opportunities if we come out from our corners and work together.

Robin

 

A compelling vision, and welcome. But where is the carrot for someone who already volunteers without belonging to the WSRA? How does this bring the WSR family together not just in the long term, but also the short?

Don't get me wrong, this outsider welcomes what seems like an outbreak of common sense. But there's an old saying about omelettes, and I suspect the WSR can ill afford many broken eggs.