West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Well, from what we in the volunteer PW gang gather from our information we gleaned from others who know more ? there is at least 4 weeks of works to be finished off at MD -DR or started elsewhere to be done by whom ?..... & works signed off by ? as main PW men involved have moved on.....

 

.................and the line that the WSR might wish to emulate. as has been suggested here , i.e. Paignton to Dartmouth, started today.

 

That's quite a revelation if true! So has this work not restarted since the imposition of lockdown?

 

Not necessarily a great comparison though, as managing volunteers is a totally different ball game compared with paid staff. But in terms of concluding it's viable to run trains, yes, a stark contrast.

 

They are.

They've also all announced funding appeals, bringing the total number of WSR based appeals to 149. One more and they get a set of steak knives.



Keith

 

Let's use your numbers and ask why the work has not been done. How has every other line bar a few, managed ?

 

Perhaps there is a need for a new company to be formed for maintaining and renewing the track. Maybe it could be called Red Route Rail Renewals SW Ltd. "No job too big or small. Fine words guaranteed. Payment of bills, less so."

 

Anyone in particular in mind?

 

I am wondering if it ever will.

 

This situation is pathetic.

 

The Paignton to Kingswear/Dartmouth line has all open stock, in my experience. So, the excuse offered for the WSR that they don't have enough compartment stock, to comply with social distancing rules, doesn't wash. Now, it's that the track out of MD needs work. Can they run from BL then, perhaps to Williton? Do they want to?

 

That was half my point, really, but I wasn't coherent enough when writing my post to make that clear!

The Pontypool & Blaenafon (or "Blaenafon's Heritage Railway" as they seem to be rebranding themselves) are only a couple of miles long; even allowing for the fact they have a branch line, it doesn't take very long to do a round trip. A small loco with a couple of carriages can do a number of round trips, carry a full day's complement of passengers, and (I am I admit making informed guesses here) cover costs, even allowing for cleaning between trips.

On the premier league lines, that's not possible. So, to take the SVR as an example, they're clearly going for the full day out experience. The price is pitched about right for the amount of space you get, compared with their regular pricing (it'll be more expensive for some parties but cheaper for others), and you get several hours on the train plus plenty of time to look round The Engine House and either Bridgnorth or Bewdley. I'm sure though that if the SVR had said "well, we'll just do Kidderminster to Bewdley shuttles with two coaches", then if you looked at the business case, you'd find that it didn't make sense for a railway with the SVR's fixed costs.

From what I can tell, the WSR appears to be a long line which is unable to reopen with a "long line" service. That spells problems.

Incidentally another SVR comparison: at the start of lockdown, the SVR was midway through major engineering work which involved a full relay of a substantial length. The work went on hold and staff were furloughed, and from memory at that point there was still a big gap in the line, but the management planned ahead and brought staff back in time to complete the work in time for test runs to start.

 

Bluebell is only operating between Kingscote & Sheffield Park.

 

Indeed, there is a concern about managing social distancing at East Grinstead which has a narrow platform - there is more space at Kingscote. But to put it is a WSR context, it is similar in distance to Minehad - Williton; and in terms of "proportion of whole line" would be like Minehead - Crowcombe.

From an operational point of view, that length allows three round trips in a day while using only one crew (and one loco) diagram per day, with time to clean the carriages between trips. Stock will be non-corridor compartment carriages.

There are also some additional dining trains being trialled - how they work we'll see, but if you don't try, you won't know. They will be starting and finishing at Horsted Keynes, which means the different groups of passengers are kept separated to manage distancing - those doing the whole line starting and finishing at Sheffield Park; those dining starting and finishing at Horsted Keynes.

Tom

 

The absolute heart of the situation as it affects the W.S.R. and other places which have given up on 2020

 

Why? 5 to 6 weeks work at lockdown would have taken them up to the opening (original) date. If the Company only had minimal income at that point e.g. any contract work, then it would have made sense to Furlough the staff. The donations that have come in (providing all materials etc had been sourced) *may* have covered the works to the end, but the PW men have moved on. So, you need the skills to finish the job and they aren't there. It isn't pathetic, it is an unfortunate chain of events that appeared at the wrong moment.