West Somerset Railway General Discussion

If only that was a quote from JJP himself. <BJ>

 

They are indeed so entitled but given their known interests we inevitably speculate about what business opportunities they have have perceived.

 

I am not defending anyone, just providing a viewpoint about reopening.

Actually I suspect the cost goes up the longer the period of shutdown and you are quite right that there are costs that cannot be avoided.

Yes all of your other points about risk of delay in reopening are valid. However, no one yet knows how many people will come out and ride the trains. Bookings are good some places particularly in August, but we can still not be sure of the situation. Maybe there will be a lot of staycation, but maybe there will not.


Sent from my SM-A405FN using Tapatalk

 

2hr on platform and a bus trip along the parade for £5. No thanks.

 

The American railway magnate, E.H.Harriman, is famously quoted as saying that for each dollar saved by closing a line, two will be spent in opening it again.

Robin

 

But no-one knows how many will want to visit next year, either. I hope that doesn't mean they won't open then, for the same reason...

 

At least the railways that did open and trade, will at least know what works, and what does not work, they will have an idea of the costs, and will have hopefully have had some revenue to bank from this years services.
What ever the outcome, the biggest hurdle possibly will be in the state of the track, if your track is in need of attention, and maintaince has been neglected you will not even be able to run any trains, if its deemed as not being safe to do so. add on to this the recertification of loco's and coach exams, which have to be done anyway, if nothing is done, even opening at Easter 2021 might be in doubt.

 

But there always remains the "opportunity purchase" by visitors who do not plan specific activities during their visits. Many visitors are attracted to holiday centres for a specific activity (e.g. visit a heritage line) but many are attracted by a range of events which will be sampled once in the area. Thus if the heritage line is operating the line will be sampled; if not other attractions will be sampled. The WSR has to engage with a more commercial mind-set and provide an attraction else it will simply be ignored and cease to exist - permanently. Or is that the intent of the present PLC Board ?

 

Says it all in very few words.

 

I am expecting the PLC to shortly announce a reopening plan or that it will have to cease to trade

 

Just out of curiosity, if you own and use/hire out a loco do you have an operator license?

 

Indeed. It can’t carry on in limbo for much longer.

 

But sadly the WSR has never had that type of mindset!

 

Perhaps it was wrong in 1971, but as the drive then was to move to road transport, then understandable. The railways had to cut losses.
However, with hindsight, it was very good that it did close. If it had stayed open then we would today just have the basic rail way...look at exmouth, barnstaple, st Ives etc to see what it would be like now. Almost certainly the whole of minehead station site would have been cleared and the buildings demolished. So from that point of view, be thankful that it did close....and be thankful to those who worked to reopen it.
Ian Coleby

 

Sadly the least work involves the latter!

 

Will the WSR PLC really go bust? It wouldn't be in the interest of the SCC to let it do so, especially with all the stuff about getting a new operator involved.

 

We know that at least some of them read this thread and surely this is one rumour/suspicion where a categoric denial of any such intent should be easy to provide. Not only would a deliberate effort to run the Plc into the ground for personal gain (i.e. to acquire the assets of a liquidated company at a bargain rate) be a conflict of interest, but it would surely be an attempt to defraud the majority of shareholders - imho, the absence of such a denial is cause for concern.

 

The interest of the SCC is to secure the future of the site - irrespective of how. If there is a railway that attracts income to the local economy then the SCC will "invest" by allowing the land to be made available to the railway; if there is no railway then the SCC will "invest" by selling the land for building with the double benefit of cash from land sales plus on-going income from local taxes paid by householders. The SCC wins either way; if there is a railway there is an attraction generating income for the local economy; if there is no railway there is income generated for the SCC.

 

Oh rubbish! I can think of dozens of examples where the WSR has acted very commercially. Dunster castle trains, hestercombe, character days, fish and chip specials, cream tea trains....I could list many more. Over the last few years there has been a very active and ambitious commercial arm.
Ian Coleby