West Somerset Railway General Discussion

30 years today since the first main line charter ran on WSR:

www.tauntontrains.co.uk

 

With the hideous green, red and blue Pilkington stock. Does anyone else remember them? <BJ>
https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/137496-traintours-pilkington-green-mk1-set/

 

There may be some smoke soon in the East of the county.

 

I see from Companies House today that the WSR PLC has a new director, appointed on the 9th June. However not newsworthy to make the newsletter released on the 15th June. It would appear the WSSRT now has a representative on the PLC board. Should the same privilege not be extended to the WSRA! https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/01010188/filing-history

 

He has been there before, of course. Deckchairs on the Titanic comes to mind.

Sent from my SM-T590 using Tapatalk

 

Too many people getting carried away with reopening euphoria although perhaps understandably. I don’t think there are any railways planning for a return to normal working before 2021. What happens in 2020 will be limited in scope, have a number of restrictions and will inevitably be economically risky.

 

Maybe he failed his probation period and has been dismissed already ?

 

Given that the WSR is in an area with a much lower population than lines like the SVR it seems to me to make some sense not to push reopening.

Also after what happened in the early days of Coronavirus I suggest that there may be some 'sensitivity' about reopening

 

Well, if it were me in charge, I'd be considering re-opening in a few weeks time on the easy Minehead to Blue Anchor section with a 2 train service with 2 locos each hauling long rakes of coaches to observe social distancing rules as far as possible. At both stations you would segregate on and off passengers - could be easily done at Blue Anchor by having the train detrain it's passengers on one platform then draw ahead then shunt into the other platform (then run round) for waiting passengers.

If the WSR PLC were proactive over all this it could benefit the resort of Minehead and surrounding areas; and no doubt the Somerset Council Council, if suitably mollified, could then release reserves to assist the whole Minehead area tourism industry, or apply for Government funding. Obviously, upsetting the local MP and Somerset County Council is not a great position to start with.

(And with both being aware of the 'Notice to Quit' over Washford and the SDRT; not just by me but many others).

No glossy belated 'Platform' (that omits any mention of the SDRT 'Notice to Quit'), and is far inferior to what Tom James bashes out every 2 weeks for the Bluebell, and has doing for quite awhile, can correct this implausibility between the claimed profit of £300,000 or so in March, and now we need your donations!

As a bit of an aside, Steve Williams Vice Chairman of the WSSRT is no doubt an honourable man... and I wish him well on his ascendancy again to the WSR PLC board. But the WSSRT gave £35,000 to the WSR PLC, yet the WSRA gave was it £187,149 when someone verbally abused someone else on 18th February 2020...

I look forward to Robin Moira White being given a similar position on the WSR PLC board as Vice Chairman of the WSRA.

Cheers,

Julian

 

We dont have a Vice Chairman in the WSRA at the moment. Mike S was VC and has temporarily stepped up until the WSRA AGM as he has explained previously.

I look forward to the time when all WSR positions of responsibility are subject to an appropriate appointments process including a competence assessment and due diligence all conducted by an independent and transparent appointments panel, followed, of course, by exposure to members or shareholders' vote where appropriate.

A personal view, of course.

Oh, and a new structure.

Robin

 

Forgive me, Robin, for adding the [sic] additions, and no doubt your spelling is usually far better than this evening, and for me elevating your status in the WSRA inadvertently, but would you like to comment on the above further?

Steve Williams seems to have avoided the probationary period and interview process that a recent and still current WSR PLC Chairman introduced that is not in the 'Articles of Association', and therefore seems to me to have been appointed quite properly according to the 'Articles', and without all this nonsense of a probationary period and selective interviews for WSR PLC board positions? Anyway, he hasn't been elected to the WSR PLC board, but co-opted on.

Would you agree with me that the very small WSSRT, with a very small membership, despite it's shareholding in the WSR PLC that we can discuss at length, ought to suggest that the WSRA with a similar shareholding and much larger membership and as the main supporting organisation, sort of, for the WSR (PLC) ought to have a similar position on the WSR PLC board?

And that you would be the ideal person for this?

Cheers,

Julian

 

A few weeks? You do realise that public transport is still officially for ‘essential travel only’?And that the rate of infection in the UK is still 5 to 6 times higher than most of the rest of Europe? Staff need refresher training and assessment, and just looking at what those railways considering opening are having to do there’s a huge amount of risk assessments and method statements to be written and people trained in - even assuming you’ll get enough customers willing to travel to cover your costs.

 

Looking at the NYMR thread, it seems that they are running simply to allow staff to update their competencies and carrying passengers as a by product of this.

 

Thank you, no. I have no further comment.

Robin

 

I was looking around the preserved lines last night to see what plans if any they had for re-opening. I saw that several already have some tentative plans to open in July or August (e.g. Mid Hants, Torbay & Dartmouth, Severn Valley, NYMR, Great Central) even if with limited services. Therefore I find it rather strange that the West Somerset feel they cannot re-open till Christmas or even Easter 2021. I'm not saying that it is the wrong decision, just wondering why it has difficulties in re-opening that the others seemingly don't have. I would have thought that given the financial state of the railway they would want to grab every penny they can. Any comments?

 

But it has yet to be shown that "grabbing every penny"....in fares...…. will actually stack up to generating a surplus over the direct costs of running a service. Personally I'm surprised that so many railways have concluded that they can operate in a non loss making way given that, as yet, none have any experience of just how many folk will want to book, pay, turn up and travel in a fairly tightly restricted way. At least one railway is selling travel per compartment making that suitable for a family, expensive for a couple and probably prohibitive for those travelling alone. The WSR is not alone in its current carefully considered stance as the Bodmin & Wenford have reached a similar conclusion.

 

Those other railways that are re-opening on a limited basis may have good reasons to do so other than expecting to make any net gains of pennies. For instance

It is often said on here that things are different in West Somerset, but differences in the scale and timing of re-opening between one railway and another should not be surprising at all.

 

I agree. Every railway is different in terms of geography, passenger base, staff base etc. Hypothetically what would you do if a lot of your operating staff are furloughed? Would it not be better to keep them on furlough and continue to receive the JRS payments until October or would you bring people off furlough and gamble on the fare box?

there are some difficult decisions to be made by every heritage line, just because one line can operate within certain constraints it does not mean that all can...

regards

Matt

 

At this stage it is arguably slightly premature to state publicly that railway X will be opening on a certain date. This may not be possible in the event and people who see the original intention and turn up without further enquiry could well be annoyed even if they should have taken more care in checking.

On the other hand it is a trifle unenterprising just to give up on 2020 at this stage. Staff competencies need to be renewed and even if services, should they be practicable, are not especially lucrative , there will be some contribution towards training costs.

So be ready to run a modest service if possible. The added advantage is to remind future customers that tourist railways are still there.

 

Even more important IMHO is that operating will show a commitment to the community by offering a facility that will attract visitors; many enthusiasts forget the multiple of spend on heritage lines which is spent in the surrounding community.