West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Barrie
What does the HRA have to say?

 

As I've mentioned before, the beer festival was a WSR plc event. Why then didn't they set some parameters before it ran?

I've been to a whole host of main line open days and other events over the last 50 years. None of those closed exhibition areas were treated as live operational railways. Am I missing something?

 

Review complete. Findings yet to be published.

 

Please can a link be provided when it is published

 

I don't think we need worry about it passing us by unnoticed here on NatPres!

 

Well who is giving the press different stories each time, but with the same target?

It's very unlikely to be the target, the S&DRT.

Could we assume that whoever has spoken to Steam Railway & bought up the ORR, is the same person/org that originally bought it up on the 1st May?


(Interestingly maybe, that the ORR doesn't get bought up until the 1st May Joint Statement, yet there had been a statement from the plc 24th Feb.)

Indeed. It's very much like Argentina bringing up the Falklands/Malvinas whenever there's political trouble in country.

Query for someone that might know;
are the PLC Deputy Chair & Vice Chairman the same role?

 

That is a WSR trait, usually wild flowers or some old photograph. However, it never seems to work.

 

Isn't that called the dead cat strategy?

When things get a bit embarrassing during a discussion, you throw a dead cat on the table, and everybody goes: Hey, Whassat ?

 

So 500+ people calling for change is just 'mischief making'? Honestly you might as well kiss goodbye to the WSR if that is still the attitude of the management. Talk about a bunker mentality. What you have here is the antithesis of great leadership. The antithesis of competent management. It reminds me in some ways of the Terry Pratchett character, Bloody Stupid Johnson. "Johnson was not incompetent, far from it; indeed in many ways he was a kind of genius. Pratchett suggests on numerous occasions that he possessed a kind of "inverse genius"; as far from incompetence as genius but in the opposite direction." This era, 2018-2020, might well come to be defined as the West Somerset Railway's BSJ era (any resemblance to other three-letter acronyms, living or braindead, is purely coincidental).

 

A quick google using the name of a famous individual who retreated to a bunker with "runs a steam railway" will keep you amused.

 

Does that theory include a pre-pack management buy-out at pence in the pound and selling off land to pay for it all, rendering the purchase effectively free ?

Just asking.

 

I have and I guess many here have, Al, thought along similar lines. (pun intended).

 

I agree with you, as always you are well informed. If I may I’d like to pull some of the PLC’s statements into parts, being the detail kind of guy I am. Quotes here courtesy of Steam Railway Magazine, please go and buy one.

1. The Petition/Open Letter has not yet been presented, it’s still open for people to sign yet already it’s been dismissed. Is this the first petition to have been dismissed before it’s been sent ?

2. “We don’t believe that the initiators of the petition of the petition are current volunteers”. The group concerned have referenced themselves as “Concerned WSR Volunteers” plus of course it seems the PLC can without process or notice decide who is and who isn’t a Volunteer, so that’s an easy statement to make and what would it matter in any case there are many shareholders and stakeholders who are not volunteers.

3. I’m sure if I asked the Group of Concerned WSR Volunteers they would tell me that they have not had any form of reply from the PLC, yet the PLC has made a public statement in advance. The PLC has slagged off the local MP, S&DRT, Headteacher and individuals (who all tried to talk to the PLC in advance) for talking to the press, calling them trouble makers, whilst of course making press statements themselves in advance claiming that they, the PLC had been trying to make contact with all the above mentioned who all have refused to talk to them. There seems to be a trend here ?

4. Whilst saying the petition is just mischief making and reputation damaging they also say “All three main issues raised by the Petitioners are in hand”. So that’s good.

5. The first item is “Retract the notice to quit issued to the Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust”. So you heard it here first, the notice to quit is going to be retracted the PLC have now confirmed that, I’ll ring the SDRT and give them the good news !!!!!!!!!!!

6. The second item on the petition is “Establish an independent review of the structure of the WSR in order to create an organisation which is fit for the future”. Having seen the HRA initial review document, ‘Peaceful Somerset’, 23rd May, marked Not for Publication, which the HRA proactively produced without prompting from the WSR in order to help is a start and it’s good to see the re-structure many have been talking about here is going to happen. Well done to the HRA (it is a good document) for stepping up, now the PLC have confirmed they are going to cooperate with you things will get better. Now you just need to make it happen.

7. And just to wrap up the confirmation of changes the PLC say “So, those WSR Supporters who have signed the petition are effectively pushing against an open door, but perhaps they are not aware of the actual situation”. Time will tell on that one, but again nice to see they are going to do things the petition has asked for, it’s just strange they also said the people signing the petition are just “attempts to damage the WSR’s reputation" (please don’t start me on that one!!!) that seems to be conflicting but maybe I’m being petty.

8. Lastly it thinks the name who generated the petition on the web-site “George White” is somebody they don’t recognise as a volunteer so it must just be a spoof not to be taken seriously. Really, after its been made clear people are scared to lose their ID Cards, it was made clear that one person from the group was not going to put him or herself up for ‘special treatment’. As was stated all along, it’s a group who have called themselves ‘George White’ not one person. The name doesn’t seem to ring any bells within Somerset. But if a person knew their bus & tram history in North Somerset perhaps the group name would make more sense. Who said people can’t have a sense of humour in the face of adversity ?

So good news for the S&DRT and the Re-structure, it seems the people signing the Petition have helped the WSR become a better place.

 

I try to stay out of the WSR goings on, i was a former member of the WSRA but left when the now retired former chairman took over (personal reasons) i volunteer on another railway much less political as do a fair number of ex WSR volunteers, when we have a conflab usually in boozer somewhere the Tyseley connection with the WSR keeps popping up, a lot of people on here may scoff at such a connection but there is a connection quite a number actually. worth thinking about.

 

Perhaps the plc could cut a bit of slack to the S&DRT? Not that the S&DRT have done anything wrong, but if the plc expects tolerance from observers it needs to be a bit more tolerant of others.

 

I'd wondered about the plausibility of such theories. And also wondered about the impact on those who currently volunteer of having the nature of what they volunteer for fundamentally changed as a possible consequence of such a course of action.

 

A pre-pack requires the approval of the shareholders. Why do people think the existing shareholders will sign up for it? The permits to run the railway will also die with a pre-pack.

 

But, if we're being conspiratorial, a takeover at pence in the pound (probably fewer when you remember that the liabilities would transfer) looking very like a pre-pack, but without entering the administration processes, might also be a strategy.