West Somerset Railway General Discussion

You can only buy a business for pence in the pound if it goes bust. Just saying.

 

Precisely. And it is poorly phrased, because it sets the assumption that the visit would happen anyway. That is dangerous for the railway, because people will be biased by that in answering the survey, but without the survey answers reflecting actual intent. Which risks over investing in a "no trains" event that actually won't draw the crowds.

Mine was, but it took a conscious effort to put an answer like that together to answer the underlying question, not the one on the page.

 

So, looking at those and going by what the WSR plc have said publicly, I think the answers are:

1. How do we immediately secure the railway? Done, quickly and professionally
2. What immediate support is available? Done, staff placed on furlough. Not possible to comment on whether other reliefs were considered or, if sought, granted.
3. What’s our immediate business plan? Partially done. Obviously an immediate business plan given announcements made of possible redundancies associated with reopening unlikely till April 2021. Hard to see much evidence of business planning beyond that.
4. How can our members / supporters help? Part. A lot of emphasis on appeals, but confusingly structured and underlying structural tensions extremely visible.
5. Can we think about running some sort of service? Feels completely left hanging, and left as an afterthought. Compare and contrast with other major preserved lines, which have shown intent in either their actions (e.g. GCR, early test running even though passenger running is taking a little while) or actual announcements/action. Or compare with Vintage Trains, who quickly came out with a policy statement on why they wouldn't run - a clear, positive, statement even if disappointing to many.

So I'm with @Jamessquared; the evidence is that the planning just hasn't happened, and what we are seeing now is a kneejerk reaction without moorings in a clear strategy. And that strategy is something that I would expect even a small board to be able to define and promote, even if the furloughing etc. is a massive problem for actioning.

 

I am not in any position to be defending the plc and you may be right. My observation was really that what is in the public domain suggests there may not be the cash available to reopen and get through the winter unless traffic figures are good when reopened. If so it makes the caution understandable.

Sent from my SM-A405FN using Tapatalk

 

That's assuming though, you have access to the funds to be able to buy the company out of administration, and so satisfy the creditors, the only way that could be done would be by selling off parts of the non operational railway or by purchasing the freehold, and then using it as collateral against an large debt. both very risky options, given how the board, has acted towards people it disagrees with.

 

Whilst ferreting around the early pages of this thread, I came across this quote from March 2013. Talk about going round in ever-decreasing circles.

Move on seven years and the same subject is still being discussed without any progress forward. West Somerset - where time really does standstill.

 

At this distance I don't think I'm giving anything away. In April some heritage railways (I'm not sure which though) were already working together to address plans for what the visitor experience might look like (social distancing, dealing with queues, crowd management and events), and planning how to reopen to ensure maximum interest and attendance.

Patrick

 

Patience is all very well. Meanwhile I'll spend my money elsewhere!

 

I'm not sure it is patience that would be donors might have in mind, more like value for money. That value is debatable for the WSR.

 

Yes, now ask yourself where the money is that was to be used to buy the freehold. Are the jigsaw pieces lining up yet ?

 

No.....was Mineral line bridge area earlier in the year.....

 

I check in to this thread occasionally... it wasn't that long ago when we were on page 1000, was it?!

 

This is the big thing that doesn't really add up, for me. Can it really be explained in terms of staff now being on furlough?

 

No!

It's a utter shambles - to put it politely! A cynic might consider it a device to prevent trains running again for who knows when, in the complete absence of any authoritive statement on the subject on this from the WSR PLC board.

 

I can imagine a combination of time being added on due to interruption to works and some work not needing to be done before trains can run under a TSR (ballasting, tamping etc. I guess), but I must admit I still struggle to imagine that as adding up to the difference between 3 days and 4 weeks.

 

Isnt the WSR tamper/ the tamper that was on the WSR now on another railway?

 

If worst came to worst, and a Receiver were flogging off the assets, would there be opportunities to buy any land at a fire sale price, and develop it for housing, etc? I'm not a property developer, just curious!

 

A survey that relies on freeform text, apart from taking much longer to analyse, also gives the analysers much more scope to push the outcome in their favoured direction, by judicious categorising and cherry-picking of the replies.

(although never forget, don't ascribe to cunning what could just be incompetence)

 

Why are the redacted parts of the Bailey report being kept secret? Secrecy breeds speculation.