West Somerset Railway General Discussion

A complex issue (again) I'm afraid and I’ll try and keep as short as possible. The WSR did not complete the overhaul. The boiler was fresh but the bottom end tired when it arrived, all knew that. Plus cracks were found in the wheels (some of which may have been original casting cracks but some not) so there was a debate between welding up the cracks or casting some new wheels (not all). The old management had a plan of which I was partly involved in. A volunteer gang of people with the knowledge and expertise had it in the workshop, put it up on blocks and began work on it to align the horn blocks and other work. I myself was involved with removing piston covers, working on the motion etc. as 'partly skilled labour'.

I can't remember the exact sum the volunteer group felt it would cost but it was low £x00,000's to turn it into a good engine with a long life especially on a 25yr run & repair contract. I was ready to gain external grant funding for this repair so with volunteer labour it would not have actually cost the WSR anything to keep it (or very little). As a genuine S&D engine with a history in Somerset it was felt by grant funders that as a legacy and along with continuing to employee the BESTT Trainees as apprenticeships it was an ideal project to fund on a number of levels.

The new management came along and stopped the work. They then had a report 'commissioned' by the new CME based on taking it away and having it fixed commercially to a ‘as new’ standard. The estimate was around £1,000,000. The group were approached for money and the outcome we all know.

I personally feel 44422 was a great engine for the WSR it would have been cheap to run, it looks like a big engine being a tender engine, it has the water range and it steamed brilliantly, I have fired it many times (it did many miles on the WSR and was at one time in daily use) and it’s a great fireman’s engine with a damper you can play tunes on !! It would pull 7 coaches with no issues and of course was a Somerset engine and an ideal partner for 53808 having earned the WSR much on double headed photos charters and galas (I will never forget firing it with 53808 behind more than once). It would have been very suitable for the WSR’s lighter axle loading as well. In my opinion its just another lost opportunity.

I’ll happily pass my email explaining all of this in my reply to the CME when we last spoke about this during my ‘mediation’ meeting if you want more details and breakdown of it. Just PM me.

 

Thank you, Andy. Very helpful.

 

The railway makes significant payments (£112k according to Note 17(b) in the latest Trust consolidated accounts) to an entity called JMB Locomotive Services for supplying loco power. Whether that is related to Mr B (whose initials appear to be JSB based on Note 24 to the 2014 accounts) I do not know.

 

John Bunch has a son named James. A quick Facebook search reveals he works at a company called JMBLS.

 

Having two 'iconic' S&D locos working was always a big draw for me to visit the Railway, especially if they were both rostered on the same day. It seems from Andy Norman's account that 44422 was needlessly lost from the WSR, and being within the new axle loading restrictions should surely have been a keeper.

 

Was the low axle loading in place or foreseen at the time 44422's contract was terminated?

 

Yes and if memory serves 44422 did not leave until Nov 19 although the decision was made a few months earlier. The track condition being known about of course did pre-date the current management.

 

Presumably though irrespective of the track condition, a low axle weight loco is a plus on any line?

 

The WSR 2019 day rover prices were £22 adult/ £21 senior citizen. So a 2020 rate of £28 does seem a substantial price hike. Some potential customers will likely be deterred by the higher price, but the WSR must have made a judgement that there will be an overall benefit to the railway's finances. If the WSR is indeed looking to get more income from fewer passengers, that would enable the railway to make do with fewer coaches and smaller locomotives. With the currently lowered axle-loading limits, that is of course what is happening anyway.

In the past, WSR fares were lower on a "cost per mile" basis than those of other heritage railways. That may no longer be true. A WSR rate of £28 for a 20-mile line is about the same "cost per mile" as the 2020 day rover rates for the SVR (£23 for 16 miles) and GWSR (£20 for 14 miles).

Although the WSR is Britain's longest standard-gauge heritage line, it does not have the major viaducts and tunnels found on the SVR and some other lines. So I am not sure that WSR necessarily has the highest total infrastructure costs to finance.

 

Yes I agree with you and I have to say that both the 44422 group and the owners of 53809 also felt the same way about seeing their engines run. Both these engines could have stayed on the WSR (as of course they did for a year) with 53808 if the will had been there. To keep the GWR fans happy the 4110 group actually went one further, they would have let it stay on the WSR and paid for much of its restoration whilst also repairing it themselves ongoing, partly because they just wanted to see an engine that actually ran on the line in BR times run on it again into the future. Many loco owners take this view that its not about money its just seeing things saved and used.

 

Surely all loco owners think like that? I don’t think anyone ever bought a Barry wreck expecting to make a profit out of it, and I don’t think any loco owning groups pay dividends to their shareholders.

It’s just that money is a necessary evil if you want to see things saved and used. Loco owners have to maximise their income to pay for the next overhaul and running repairs.

 

Dictators usually come to a sticky end ......

 

Not the original kind. In the days of the Roman republic, from time to time a dictator was appointed to deal with a crisis. Quoting from Wikipedia; "the right of the plebeian tribunes to veto his actions or of the people to appeal from them was extremely limited. However, in order to prevent the dictatorship from threatening the state itself, severe limitations were placed upon its powers: a dictator could only act within his intended sphere of authority; and he was obliged to resign his office once his appointed task had been accomplished, or at the expiration of six months."

Edit: I had just drafted the above as perhaps relevant to present circumstances, without any implication about anyone's character, when Piggy's post provided an occasion to post it.

 

On a lighter note and in view of our newly inspired coach painting and cleaning group at Minehead, has any body been inspired enough to start up a coach cleaning group at BL.

 

Just for balance.

http://www.wsr.org.uk/news.htm#1976

WSRA just KBO - which is as it should be.

That's all folks!

 

AFAIK it's all one group, they are quite mobile!

...and that really is all!

 

Perhaps you could be the inspired "anybody". Teams are often built up around one individual who has leadership qualities.

 

This apparently https://www.national-preservation.c...lway-operations.508987/page-1188#post-2556196
Whatever the loco agreement actually says the plc's 24/2 press release says "we propose to honour this contract".

 

Thanks. I had missed that.