West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I’m not unhappy. I’m ANGRY.

The photo below was taken on 19 April 2019, 40 years to the day when I first volunteered on a heritage railway, needle gunning the underside of the running plate of 88 at Washford.

This unnecessary, apparently manufactured, dispute threatens the future of a piece of the WSR Crown Jewels.

These remarks are made personally as someone (like many others) Who has given much personal time to the movement and feels great responsibility towards those who have done so in the past and are no longer with us. Nothing I have said should be taken as an official position of any Railway organisation.

Grrrrrr!!!!!!

 

Lots of lines seem to have approached the summer with a lot of flexibility. Shorter trains, more frequent service. Many lines thanks to good long term planning have loco fleets that have allowed them to adapt, they have suitable locos to run the services.

 

But then what does the WSR do when a charter comes in? Don't get me wrong - The ability to haul an excursion train does not mean that it can only ever haul excursion trains. It can also haul whatever normal service train, dining train, Santa train... anything you can throw at it, rain or shine - Having that flexibility is a great asset to some railways.

 

There in lies the WSR's problem, well one of many problems.

 

SVR referred to several times above. For info only and avoiding comment on the WSR matters:

Home fleet in service – 813, 1450, 1501, 2857, 7714, 34027, 43106, 75069. Non-residents 6960, Welsh Guardsman

1450’s annual mileages 2014-2019 are 2,110 / 1,714 / 1,297 / 2,640 / 3,487 / 1,178.

In works – 4930, 7802, 7812, 13268 (all COVID delayed but were planned for 2020), ex-Barry 4150 and new build 82045. That would (subject to unforeseen circumstances) more than cover 1450, 6960, Welsh Guardsman and 2857/43106 as they come out of service.

24 steam locos have left the SVR. Most recent were 34053 (extended hire, left 2018), 6634 (2017, overhaul and run agreement terminated with payment to the SVR) and MR Compound 1000 (returned to NRM 2011).

Patrick

 

People seem to forget 7822 has been spending time on the WSR in recent seasons, as it was due to do in 2020.

 

It is truly sad to see the direction that a railway I have so much admiration for seems to be heading.

Circumstance, and other responsibilities, mean that I am no longer actively involved in working on or managing heritage railways, but when I was WSR was a valued and respected organisation to use in comparisons. For the years I was managing another railway not too distant, we had comparable passenger figures, served a similar market (though with markedly different operating needs), shared good practice and learnt a lot from colleagues. Having navigated our own cash-flow crisis, there was (friendly!) rejoicing when our passenger figures overtook those at Minehead. It is such a sadness that this seems to have become a longer-term trend... (and not something I would have dreamt of 10-15 years ago)

From all I see (and that is now from some distance, and not just on NatPres), the indications are of a cash-starved organisation that is no longer able to undertake even mothball level maintenance, and is struggling to deliver logistics required for cash generating activity on the scale needed to avoid what must still be fairly significant cash outflows. Before COVID-19 took hold, it had been a possible family plan to revisit the south-west, catch up with old friends and revisit railways with my train-mad ten year old. It is truly sad to realise that Minehead may well not be on that tour when we get to make it next year.

 

I recall its custodian did not like the way in which it was driven!

 

Any know if class 47 north star went to the nymr it was due go. After being to heavy for the wsr at the moment. Not seen any updates on the depg website its seems its not updated that often.

 

As soon as the Position Statement of the WSR PLC dated 1st May this year was published, that it intended to renege on the agreement on paying for the next overhaul of S&D loco '88', there was a potential anticipatory breach of contract.

Some of us anticipated all this when we examined the last set of accounts and the provision for the loco's overhaul was no longer there, and indeed at the time these accounts were prepared the WSR PLC board made noises to the SDRT on all this.

As the agreement is 'end loaded', the WSR PLC could be argued to have got free use of the loco since the last overhaul in 2016, except for regular maintenance costs etc. , if the WSR PLC fails to honour the agreement to pay for the loco's next overhaul.

 

And for context, the lowest of those figures is roughly 36 full return trips, although I'm sure the loco will have done shorter workings too. The highest is over 100 full return trips, if my rough maths is right

 

On that note of mileages (and I realise I sometimes get obsessive about them, but they are a key driver of per-mile loco operating costs), No. 88 apparently ran over 9,000 miles on the WSR last year, which is a very creditable figure for a loco much nearer the end than the beginning of its ticket, and subject to heavy loads. I don't know what the average duty works out at on the WSR, but I suspect that is probably well over 100 days in traffic, perhaps not far short of 150.

Whichever way you look at it, losing her is going to knock a huge hole in the ability to operate a steam service.

Tom

 

A good point; which is why one possibility is that this joint statement represents the first step on the road to unscrambling the egg between the two organizations. I was just struck by the tone of the joint release when I got it in my email - even-tempered and practical; a long way from some previous things. We'll see; much better this, than some of the previous brickbats back and forth.

One observation is that if the PLC is going to climb down from the order to leave, that's a pill that might be a tad difficult for some, and so it might take a while to get a path sorted. We'll see; let's see where things go from here.

Noel

 

As long as it's not a Pacer

Dave B

 

The move didn't happen. The loco remains at Williton. It is hoped it will go ahead next year.