S&D Railway Trust

I gather that the S&DRT were planning to make a further statement about the eviction notice.

Does anyone have any idea when it might be released?

 

So nothing to say about the eviction of the S&D then? Nor about whether you think it is necessary for the survival of the WSR or if the characterisation of the S&D as Cuckoos in the nest is accurate or fair?

 

Maybe though those involved at the sharp end on the WSR might consider why they are so adept at spilling milk in the first place? Most other railway threads on this forum don't follow the same path, despite in most cases the railways being subject to similar financial, maintenance and regulatory pressures.

Tom

 

For what it's worth, I think that about the same amount of "good stuff" gets reported on here as on other railways' threads, and I expect if you boiled it down to just the "good stuff", the WSR thread would be about the same length as most others. From the limited evidence available, I don't think the "bad stuff" is discussed more on the WSR thread(s) than any other railway either. There were a few controversies over the rebuilding of Broadway station on the GWSR at the time and they were discussed at length on here generating pages and pages of posts, and some of it was very comparable to the kind of discussion associated with the WSR.
So the only conclusion that can be drawn from that is that the WSR has the same amount of "good stuff" going on as other railways, but a hell of a lot more "bad stuff" than other railways, at least from a public point of view. One other contributing factor is that because the WSR problems have become something of a saga, every time a new controversy arises, inevitably some of the old stuff is raked over. Again we've seen this to an extent on the GWSR thread, but with the pure size and breadth of the "back catalogue" of sorry stories on the WSR, inevitably these things grow at an exponential rate.
I'm not sure whether it should cheer folk up that the WSR receives no specially disproportionate attention to all its problems or not, but there we go.

 

Hi Mike,

My apologies, I got my dates wrong and I should have instead said next Tuesday, is it? In the meantime a lot is at stake over the SDRT 'Notice to Quit'.

Cheers,

Julian

 

Not so far as I am aware.

 

But of course the WSR is a 'mature' organisation, not one just learning to walk

 

Were it me I would change the word 'mature' in this context to 'well established'. Maturity is a human quality displayed from people in positions of leadership & the good processes they then follow. I won't add to this other than to say that 'organisations' should & will be judged on what they say, write & publish and how they behave towards others. Bias applied to deflect & discourage from any not-so-good news that is being created does not demonstrate maturity imho.

 

Just a thought - it has been mentioned previously that the contents of Washford signal box belong to the S&DRT. If they were to have to move elsewhere and took these contents to a new site, how would that impact the WSR's ability to run trains, or is the signal box for demonstration use only?

Keith

 

It’s demonstration only (Washford isn’t a block post and there are no main line signals. Presumably there is a ground frame unlocked by token to gain access to the sidings at the station).

Incidentally, someone might want to suggest that the WSR website gets with the programme on the attractions of visiting the Washford cuckoo:

The station is now home to the Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust who have set up a museum and workshop on the site of the old Goods shed and yard demolished by British Railways in the 1960s. The museum contains some wonderful artifacts of the S&DJR and is well worth a visit.

(From https://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/railway/stations/washford - my emphasis). ​

Tom

 

So, along with all its particular issues, the PLC also shares the common problem of left hands and right hands.

 

Better yet, they might want to be saying "visit when you can, it won't be there for much longer..."

 

There is a very clear pattern to the behaviour of a particular animal called the Minehead cuckoo. It calls out a problem that does not actually exist and wins when other animals blindly follow what it says. Recent examples of the Minehead cuckoo's behaviour are

1) describing a band of individuals as "troublemakers" but not giving any examples of what trouble they were causing.
2) inferring that the "troublemakers" were in some way responsible for the financial non-performance of the WSR when two individuals in particular were very successful in raising external and internal funds in the way of grants and purchase funds to keep a valuable loco on the line.
3) claiming that the S&D Trust were following their own agenda without demonstrating what that agenda is and how it conflicts with the wider agenda of the WSR.

The behaviour of the Minehead cuckoo is totally predictable. Once it arrives, it targets anything that may divert resources away from its' own interest and ensures that they are quickly ejected from the nest. The resulting destruction is ignored as it does not fit within the desired outcome of the Minehead cuckoo. If questioned, it tells the mother bird "I did it for the greater good" and if the mother bird believes the new arrival, it is allowed to continue.

Mother bird is beginning to suspect all is not well.....

 

Mother is always right .....

 

You're a goner.

 

The Ffestiniog during the WHR trackbed issue, the job cuts in the 1980s, the GM who ditched the TyG signalling project...

But that was then and this is now. There is more regulatory scrutiny and there is social media. On the one hand it means it is easier for lines to communicate with more people and so on, on the other hand, what would have been a local punch up in Minehead, Porthmadog, Ropley, Bridgnorth etc in the 1980s or 1990s that would have got scant attention outside of the mess rooms and local pubs, is now much more visible. So, those positive developments like track replacements can now be seen by far more people (rather than say the people who read the P&W report in the magazine as in the past) but also those negative stories too. WSR supporters want their cake and to eat it, the benefits of social media but without the negatives.

I'd add that if this had happened in say the 1980s it might have taken me say six months to find out about and by which time it might have been too late. Thanks to social media etc, I can read about it, I can make a decision to support the S&D and can sign up online and they can have my money straight away. They get my support faster than they would have done before and in a situation such as this I can only think that is useful

 

Cuckoos should arrive in Somerset around mid April all being well, having spent most of their time in Africa having left in July las year. That is if the Government's latest point-based immigration system still allows for such migrations? I can categorically state however that there will have been nada Cuckoos in Washford for the past 7 months

I shamelessly advertise the work of the BTO - a highly respected charity https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/cuckoo-tracking-project

 

If the S&D Museum trust does have to leave, would the East Somerset Railway be a potential home, whilst it not on the actual S&D, its not far from it, and should the Railway ever extend to the outskirts of Shepton Mallet, they could always build an replica S&D station, and museum at that location,