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West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by gwr4090, Nov 15, 2007.

  1. jnc

    jnc Well-Known Member

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    Sorry, senior brain fade on my part. I'll fix it.

    Noel
     
  2. Blackdown Boy

    Blackdown Boy New Member

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    Then go for the big one, it's the only way a turn around will happen.
     
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  3. DragonHandler

    DragonHandler Well-Known Member

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    Oh dear! Just when I thought it was safe to wear my WSR cap again when visiting other railways.
    I'll have to go back to wearing my 6024 cap that way I'll avoid being harangued by other enthusiasts who want to know what the heck the WSR are playing at, as if I have any idea what is going on in the minds of the WSR Plc!
     
  4. Snifter

    Snifter Well-Known Member

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    I would have thought that there were other matters more pressing than an innocent typo for the largest single shareholder to comment on. The membership need to call upon the board for a full explanation of the events to date and how the WSRA intend to respond. To do nothing is unacceptable otherwise the WSRA will appear weak.

    With the very real prospect of the WSR losing its' most useful loco, returning 4561 to traffic must now be a priority. Is there an agreement with the plc being drafted ?
     
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2020
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  5. Andy Norman

    Andy Norman Member

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    Thanks for the confidence its appreciated. I would only ever engage again if the shareholders and stakeholders wanted me too and I could help them to change the culture to a positive one. I think the WSR can only survive if the Community feel it was their railway in which they had a say. The leaders should be representing what the stakeholders want and be answerable to them in everything they do. Currently the Shareholders have backed the current Chairman at a recent AGM so unless they change their minds it must stay on its current course, so I can't be a part of it.
     
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  6. 60044

    60044 Member

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    Something that no-one seems to have touched upon is the likely cost to the S&DRMT of having to move. with a sum in the mid to high 5-figure range likely, I'd guess. They'd have their building to take down and re-erect, plus all the issues of finding a new site, obtaining planning permission etc. etc. (I would imagine that they will prefer to adopt a scorched earth policy rather than leave anything useful behind) It is unlikely that any alternative site is likely to be able to do much other than welcome them, and equally unlikely that any assistance will come from the seemingly vindictive WSR Plc.
     
  7. Ron Sidewater

    Ron Sidewater New Member

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    As someone who worked at Minehead at the time, to make one thing clear, the decision to remove the beer festival from Minehead was the decision of the then station master alone. She used the pretext of safety to pressurise (or do I mean bully?) everyone else. I don't recall anyone thinking it a waste of time - to some of us it was the best weekend of the year on the railway.
     
  8. Snifter

    Snifter Well-Known Member

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    The plc had the power to overrule the station master but chose not to exercise it.
     
  9. Ron Sidewater

    Ron Sidewater New Member

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    Everybody was scared of her!
     
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  10. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    Although possibly at the expense of being perceived as an over mighty centre riding roughshod over the the local group on the ground! One suspects that regardless of the decision, someone in Somerset would have found a reason to complain.

    Tom
     
  11. lynbarn

    lynbarn Well-Known Member

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    I am not sure but just how many of the station buildings at Washford do the S&DRT own itself? Could it in fact say to the WSR railway, that if you get us to move, then we shall take any of the buildings we own with us, I think the signal box at Washford is a genuine S&DR railway one, but as I see it this is far more complicated for the WSR that anyone else.


    I did speak to someone from the S&DRT sometime ago and the conclusion was they didn't want to move as most of the volunteering members where not young enough to undertake such a move and most of the regular volunteers all lived local to Washford, so a move away from the areas would have a serious consequences for the S&DRT as a whole.


    Someone needs to buy the winning euro lottery ticket for them.


    Colin Rainsbury
     
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  12. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    (Apologies for just taking this one bit of your long post ...)

    Surely the next capital project must be track renewal? Twenty miles of railway, maybe £750k per mile as a rule of thumb cost for complete replacement of the p/way and associated works, a backlog of repairs even before you get to a "steady state" renewal based on, say, a lifetime of 50 years (so 0.4 miles per year). Easy to see where a figure of £500k per year, that was widely touted, came from. That level of spending stretches almost indefinitely into the future.

    Don't get me wrong - a carriage shed is a useful asset, and I would suggest border line essential if the railway every restores for regular operation any wooden carriages. But you can continue to run the railway without one: you can't continue to run it without track - or bridges, or drainage, or embankments. Only when the essential infrastructure spend is covered can you look at the "nice to haves" for other capital projects.

    (As an aside for an organisation that is financially stretched, the payback on the carriage shed (in reduced maintenance costs) is relatively long term, but in the meantime it also puts balance sheet pressure on the railway since, as a capital asset, it depreciates. To a degree, that loss is nominal (i.e. doesn't affect cashflow) but it still has to be represented on the accounts).

    Tom
     
  13. Not me guv.
     
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  14. Ron Sidewater

    Ron Sidewater New Member

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    You're a braver man than me!
     
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  15. Robin Moira White

    Robin Moira White Resident of Nat Pres

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    Just as a point of information, the signal box structure at Washford dates from GWR days and survived closure of the box in the 1950's when Washford was reduced to a pair of ground frames because to remove it would have left an inconvenient hole in the back of platform fence with a big drop to the road behind.

    The 'works' installed are a recreation of Midford signal box from a collection of appropriate signalling items not all of which came from Midford. Largely the work of the late Dr Peter Cattermole, IIRC.

    The station building is also Minehead Railway, built for the 1874 extension from Watchet and forms an architectural group with Dunster and Minehead, but everything the other side of the tracks has been installed by the S&DRT as the site was cleared in the early 1960's after the regular cattle market closed and the associated traffic stopped.

    Robin
     
  16. D1039

    D1039 Guest

    I remember an assertive early statement from JJP saying WSR had contacted groups based on the railway to sponsor particular projects, I can't immediately find it, but if anyone can dig it out it might inform the debate.

    Patrick
     
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  17. lynbarn

    lynbarn Well-Known Member

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    Hi Robin thanks for the clarification on that
     
  18. 60044

    60044 Member

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    Deleted
     
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2020
  19. 60044

    60044 Member

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    I'd have thought that even track renewal should be routine, rather than a project - other than entirely new works it is all repairs and maintenance - isn't depreciation all about making provision for when the day comes? Except, cash strapped organisations can't afford to actually set the money aside. Save the project category for new works where there is at least a possibility of grant money.
     
  20. johnofwessex

    johnofwessex Resident of Nat Pres

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    Looking at it, I am no Property Lawyer, BUT

    So long as the S&DRT have complied with the terms of the lease and paid the rent, the ability of the WSR to Terminate the lease without making a payment to the Trust seems unlikely
     

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