West Somerset Railway General Discussion

It also depends on whether the £300k exists at all except on paper!

Keith

 

So the stopping of p/way works was not due to Covid19, but down to either the budget not being enough, or the works becoming more expensive (it happens).

Which indicates that there is a problem at a level above the p/way staff;
either whoever did the budgeting got it wrong
there wasn't an appeal ran to fill the gap in funds


So even pre-covid, it looks like there was a possibility that the railway wouldn't open for the Easter holidays.

No funds for p/way, no funds for the WSRA Promotions purchase...

 

You can go out and buy a chainsaw and use it at home without any training or qualification but try doing the same on the railway and watch HSE descend. It's the same with weedkillers. There's a world of difference between using it for your own use and doing it for a business.

 

That was Feb 2019
In October 2019 the Chair of the plc is offering one of his locos, Thornbury Castle for sale to the WSRA.

 

I know where I'd put my money if I were betting on one of those options, and I'd be pretty confident of not losing it.

 

It's been pointed out before, a £300.000 profit is not money in the bank. You can make yourself a big profit by remembering that you don't need a provision to repair something, but that does not increase cash in the bank. It's just a paper movement.

You wonder why the infrastructure manager has gone...

 

I should add that PWay needs regular investment (cash) to keep on top of things. Not doing it doesn't make the maintenance go away, it just adds it to next year's bill.

 

Totally agree, which is why any responsible management would not trumpet this as an achievement.

 

Signalling notes are here http://www.svrsig.org.uk/svr/Iss210.htm

Patrick

 

More than that, a stitch in time saves nine.

 

Sadly it's a bit more than a $10,000 question - if only the WSR just needed that amount!

 

Most interesting and informative item that I have read this week !

 

And the immediately achievable alternative is what?

Steve

 

and if I were their solicitor, I'd want a decent payment on account of costs before I'd bother to say 'good morning' to their board!

 

Actually, it's not HSE who descend on anybody but mindless box-ticking bureaucrats who misrepresent what HSE offer simply as advice.

 

Well it does seem to suggest that 2021 would be the re-opening of the WSR - as announced earlier by the PLC. It is assumed that the WSR is still in business by then. I do get an impression that it might be but not from a influx of appeal money but by a form of 'take-over'.
I have thought that for some while. Key players might be a clue?
Nice photos of 2017 weed spraying, dreadful pity they are not of 2020! Makes a change from wild flower distractions.

 

Given that John Bailey has recommended a structure akin to that of the Trust Board owned but Plc-centric example of the NYMR I should point out that dissenting voices disagreeing with the Plc-led agendas of NYMR Trust Board meetings are labelled "troublemakers". Be careful what you wish for, , or at least be careful about how you go about it!

 

It is all very fine saying 'immediate achievable', Steve, but this has been a fiasco in making for a good while. Too many people who are in positions of influence in the WSR groupings, have either turned a blind eye or totally ignored the writing on the wall - or maybe thought 'anything for a quiet life' was the answer. Why this has happened is open to debate but I suggest those who had influence, such as the former WSRA Chairman who realised there was more to life than WSR squabbling, have probably left it too late to make reasonable change despite Bailey and the PDG efforts.

 

I remember being told that over the counter chemicals, bought for domestic use, immediately require COSSH and all the bells and whistles as soon as you take it in to work (which a heritage railway is, at least for a volunteer, I believe). Happy to be told (reliably) otherwise.
Pat