West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Going by this picture, yes he was:
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...onpix&u=&j=4&usg=AOvVaw2BiKgUEDgLBCNZapzCujYf

 

So is this a hint of what happened to the bus? If so, then there is some truth behind Snifter's satire.

Regarding the comment of Snifter being biased is is equally noticeable that there is also a strong bias from the other side of it all.

 

Any post that does not agree with ones' viewpoint is "biased".

 

Forgive me if I'm wrong but isn't it that 53080 is unaffordable?

 

Are vintage open top Bristol VRs except from having a vehicle registration number?

I've always assumed most open top buses are the result of losing a battle with railway bridges?

 

I am well aware that he and others have agendas, not always that well hidden. Meanwhile, I (like others) detect silence on the points at the heart of his post - that the fuel gauge was defective, that the fuel ran out, and that a volunteer had to pay for the fuel. I'd be delighted to hear that those were all incorrect.

 

I'd question whether 53808 is "unaffordable" or that the funds set aside to honour the terms of that deal have been reallocated in the interests of wider corporate solvency.

 

Short term, no. The WSR don't pay a daily hire fee on 53808, instead they fund the overhaul. I presume Foxcote Manor will be attracting a daily steaming fee, perhaps a sum of maybe £6-700 a day?
Wouldn't the WSR be much better off putting that kind of figure towards the overhaul of 53808, which it is anyway contractually obliged to carry out, rather than letting the 7F go and earn some hire fees elsewhere, only for the WSR to be paying hire fees to another loco owning group?

 

I believe most not Anne. Accident vehicles often ended up as tree loppers in the past but today are repaired or scrapped - depending on extents of the damage.
The erstwhile Devon General had a fleet of nine convertible/open top Leyland Atlanteans which had detachable roofs. The were used all year around with or without roofs. One or two are in preservation I understand.

 

So they could pay £6-£700 a day to hire 7822, or keep 53808 and put the £6-700 a day aside to help fund the overhaul when the time comes.

The difference being that at the end of the contract 7822 will just go away. The owners of 53808 would still be there asking where the other 80% of the funds for the overhaul are.

Presumably the SDRT will still be chasing the WSR for these overhaul costs though, even if 53808 is then based elsewhere. So it’s hard to see how this decision leaves the WSR any better off.

 

Indeed, the problem of funding the 7F's overhaul hasn't gone away, although perhaps in the board's mind it has now that it had left.

 

It seems that it was originally destined to arrive for the March recommencement of services - which never happened. So maybe that is fulfilment of a contract made possible now that lines are re-opening. However with no open line and much work to seemingly be done along the line it would not have much to do.
https://www.foxcotemanorsociety.co.uk/

 

Fulfilment of contract - on the WSR!? haven't seen those two things in the same sentence for a while...

 

They only have to display, by law, a rear registration plate in Pennsylvania, and that applies to all vehicle types!
The PA reg plate was apparently BA 56781, though in its previous life this side of the Atlantic it was City Of Oxford Motor Services, HUD 480S...

 

Quite.

My original post was not intended to further the conversation, nor to debate the subject hence my "silence" regarding the specifics of the bus. I was merely questioning the motivations behind the post from Brian and why it had been posted in the first place.

For the avoidance of doubt, I am not biased to either party and have never commented on the specifics of that debate. My grievance is that issues are quickly taken public and ultimately undermines the good work that goes on. Isn't the public nature of WSR business always something that it is criticised for ? What a pointless and vicious cycle ...

No doubt Brian will be along shortly to fill in the gaps regarding the bus, imply that there is lots of information he is privy to that should be public but he simply cannot divulge and the cycle can continue.

That's me signing off for now. You can draw your own conclusions

 

I remember driving across Bristol one Saturday in the mid 1990's

Fishponds Road was full of men with Video Cameras, & I could not understand why until the office bus enthusiast told me that it was the last day of VR's in scheduled service in the city

 

I hope they are not the tracklifting gang.

 

Again I wasn't having a dig at the 7820 group. Whatever state the WSR was in, if it was running 5 locos a day on 10 coach trains due to demand, 3850 would not be available for use. I wish them all the best.