West Somerset Railway General Discussion

True. Why not simultaneously though? It doesn't really sit well IMHO that they don't look after the 'business' side of things as promptly as a company should, there is a relaxed approach which can be good then there is a slack approach which doesn't look good.

 

Under the 2005 Act (s.167) you've got 14 days to notify the registrar (in effect Companies House). Companies House "aim" to process Electronic responses within 24hrs, but there are no promises, I'd allow it a few weeks.

Bear in mind once it's on companies house, it's (generally) fact, so you won't do that until you are sure everything is done and dusted. I can well imagine a situation where the director has to all intents and purposes stepped down, but needs to sign something off/get his mandate at the bank etc etc revoked, so won't be formally resigned until all that it is done.

 

There are some lovely pics of Steam Locomotives and Steam Engines on Steve Edge's web site wsr.org.uk today. However the ones that impressed me the most were the ones of the wonderful supporters weeding and doing track maintenance work.
Well done guys and gals.

 

Ah that makes sense to a degree, one in particular went through with the same dates (30th June 2019) yet another was appointed 14th December 2019 yet registered 31st January 2020 which is a large gap even with the bank holidays in between.

 

Starting to get the impression that there are some people on here who sit on the companies house website hitting 'refresh' every 5 minutes looking for changes!

Some nice weather coming up, save some bandwidth and catch a tan instead!

 

Agreed, it seems far too early to be jumping up and down hoping for a story to be had about not updating companies house. If nothing's happened in 3 weeks, maybe, but really, for now, stand down folks! Let's hope the new appointee manages to make some inroads on the WSR's current *actual* problems.

 

But will he pass his 'probationary' period and stay long enough to make an impact ?

 

The press release implies he's swerved those new rules on this occasion, as indeed Justin appears to have done.

 

All the more reason to be careful with the content and the timing then!

 

lets all hope these new faces are able to inject some calm measured thinking and professionalism into the Board, because that's whats needed more than anything at the moment, and to try to move the railway foreward in a more conciliate way, it's probably now to late to save the S&D Trust from leaving, even if the threat of eviction is lifted, such damage has been done that both parties need to find a new future, and for the trust, I fear that now is elsewhere,
What the board now need to do is to urgently get the outstanding trackwork and level crossing matters sorted, so they can then announce a staged reopening, , even if its only over a short section of line, to build up public confidence , and employee confidence.

 

Interesting article in the latest issue of Railway Herald describing the efforts of many heritage railways reopening. Apparently, many are doing better than expected. Minehead gets a mention with a paragraph on the two open weekends and the good financial result. However, the article is accompanied by two photographs; the first of a train on the North Norfolk Railway under way but the second, by Brian Kennedy, is a view along the track towards Dunster station and on to Minehead station showing the weed infested track and commenting on how much still needs to be done, with staff on furlough.

What a shame that the WSR is presented like this and not even a photo of the Minehead station event.

Ed

 

Dunster, which is a great shame, almost seems to be the poor relation of the line. There are quite a few photos, taken at different times, of Dunster. Some show well maintained and clean track others give a neglected or abandoned appearance - all pre Covid. The dump near the goods shed doesn't improve the view!
I believe the one in the magazine could be one taken around midsummer day, this year. That photo gives an impression of an abandoned line.

 

An update from Martin Brown

 

It is a pity the opportunity was not taken to tell us What Work needed to be completed to the Permanent Way for Reopening and not just talk about weeds!

 

We intend that further 'News' videos will follow.

Robin

 

Weeds? Oh! The Weeds Somerset Railway?

 

have they tried ground up , it is good against weeds,

 

Yes but still a missed opportunity to say what work needs to be completed.

It is almost the mushroom scenario we will keep you in the dark - the trouble is interest is being lost as I write!

 

That point was discussed on the thread ages ago, the consensus being that while it is perfectly permissible to buy an over-the-counter weed killer for use in your own private garden, the moment you do the same thing at a company level (i.e. on behalf of the railway), the requirements around the company's responsibility to those volunteers and the surrounding environment involved makes it an entirely different thing. I'd also struggle to believe that if the apparent cost of running a weed killing train along the whole length of the WSR is £xx, then doing it with individual garden-sized supplies is going to end up any cheaper.

Probably worth cutting those planning the work a bit of slack on that one. In a perfect world you wouldn't be hand-weeding twenty miles of track, but in a perfect world you would also be running a peak season timetable right now, and no-one is doing that.

Tom