West Somerset Railway General Discussion

As I read the statement, the Plc is not saying that it can not run trains with 'open' coaches, more that it does not believe that it can carry enough passengers that way to cover its costs.

To some extent it seems to be following the line that, as it is going to lose money until such times as revenue streams come back to something like normal levels, then running no trains will incur lesser losses than running trains with all the associated overheads. This seems to be one of those situations where the 'logical answer' is clear (especially to the 'bean counters' <g>), but the practicalities of trying to maintain interest in a 'tourist attraction' railway with no passenger-carrying trains are questionable.

 

I suspect it depends a bit on how you define "operations staff" - i.e. "staff needed to run an operation" or "staff in the operations department". the latter (loco crew, guards, signalmen, platform staff etc.) could be all volunteer. But you might (indeed probably would) deem it necessary to have on hand one or more loco fitter, carriage fitter, S&T fitter before attempting to run an operation that went outside station limits at Minehead - and those might well be paid members of staff. So it doesn't sound so odd to my ears.

Where I am still bemused is over what happens in March of next year if there are still restrictions in place about Covid, since if they still exist, then the railway will still be in the same place as now - i.e. if it doesn't feel it has an operating model that works right now at reduced occupancy, what is likely to change between now and March?

Tom

 

As I understand the situation (outlined in Platform), a move across the crossing is possible, but requires hand signalling. So it may not be feasible for a regular service, but surely a loco "trapped" at Minehead could make a one-off movement to the other side of the crossing if required, for example allowing planned maintenance at Minehead but then a one-off move to Bishops' Lydeard for any putative winter service?

Tom

 

Fair enough. On GWSR we don't have those sorts of roles, we can usually rely on the workshops having some volunteers in to be called on (or someone relatively local to come in specially on occasion) if there is a problem that can be fixed on the day, and if not the vehicle is failed and provision is made to do without until it's fixed or replaced. But I appreciate that may not be the situation for other railways.

Indeed. What I don't know is if the track relay hasn't been officially signed off because of a lack of paid staff, would you be allowed to have any sort of manoeuvres over it? If there was no public on board my gut reaction would be yes, but other with more knowledge in that department may take a different opinion.

 

"rubbish and ill-informed speculation"? I seem to recall it was an announcement from the Plc themselves. Oh....

 

One thing I learned as a kid was that one excuse is more convincing than offering several!

It is obvious that if the plc wanted to run trains, it could. Maybe not the full 'normal' timetable, but some kind of timetable. Other railways have shown that it can be done.

 

The DSR was one of the first to re-open on 6th. July. They made modifications to the carriages very quickly realising, I guess that it was do or die!

 

Paint them green and add some brass beading?

 

As far as we know the relay at MD cannot be signed off yet , as its not completed yet, at both ends of the relay, 2 pr joints to finished off & completed by ??........ our volunteer gang have been spot re-sleepering at CH for last 2 weekends instead.....

 

Perhaps, instead of a 1940s weekend, everyone could grow their hair and dig out their old flares, kipper ties and Slade records and the WSR could stage a 1970s weekend.

 

And show a few episodes of ‘The Flockton Flyer’ as well?

 

With the present state of the line, let's have a 1975 weekend and come dressed for a working weekend getting the track ready for reopening.

 

So it is hardly as if it is a recent discovery that you can run with open carriages.

Unless the WSR is so hard up it doesn’t have money for Perspex or plywood.

 

Every railway is different and there is no one size fits all. I do not have sufficient knowledge of WSR operations to give an informed opinion but, even with volunteers, I would think that the WSR would need to bring in a fair number of paid staff to run any sort of train service. That will include a Generlal Manager, an Operations manager, Chief engineer (perhaps all three of Mechanical, electrical and civil varieties), clerical staff, cleaning staff, PW staff (to do track inspections, if nothing else), S&T staff and a host of other people who do roles not normally the sphere of volunteers. The GWSR is perhaps unique for its size in employing minimal staff; I don't think that you can realistically compare it with the WSR.

It is then a matter of balancing costs against expected income. I know that the perceived view amongst the major heritage railways was that it was probably financially better to not run trains whilst the furlough scheme was available. Things on the NYMR are certainly marginal in terms of operating their present services and making a return on costs. The initial short length shuttle services on the NYMR proved to be poorly patronised and it was only when limited through running to Whitby (2 trains/day) was introduced that patronage increased to a reasonable level. Even so, a full Covid compliant train is only about 50% loaded compared with pre-covid operations and the Railway still has most of its staff on Furlough to minimise costs. I don't have any figures but two trains instead of five with an 50% uptake simply calculates to an income level of only 20% of normal. Then there are no shops, no catering and no dining trains to swell the coffers. It also has a much reduced volunteer availability and a proposed additional train service has had to be put on hold because it is considered that it can't be crewed with any certainty.

Railways that are running are making ends meet. They are generally not making money.

 

I would hope that any railway has a long term plan with regard to provision of locos. The Middleton Railway is only a small line but has already planned its loco overhaul programme to take it well beyond 2030. It has locos coming out of service in 2021 (2), 2023, 2027 and 2029 and knows which locos will replace them and when overhauls will have to start to meet the overall plan. A caveat to that, though, is that it does not generally hire in locos (too expensive) and has its own fleet so is largely in control of these things when it comes to expenditure. It has also reboilered four locos in the last 21 years so these overhauls shouldn't be at significant cost.

 

If the carryings mentioned in the current edition of "Steam Beano" are reasonably accurate, then there is a wide divergence. Some places are doing remarkably well and others less so. No pattern seems to have emerged as to whether it is the "big" places who have an advantage or the "small" ones.

There is a slight suspicion that those who managed to get started earlier have fared better. Perhaps this is no more than general enterprise?

 

Those lines that are running are in the public eye and even if some do not travel on the line they know it is open. Hopefully they give the public a view of a going concern rather than a closed down one.
Many businesses are not re-opening and it seems many never will in the future. The public are fickle, by and large and while mourning the closure of a favourite shop or pub they will soon find reason to patronise another place. The risk is that the WSR could be seen as just another dead duck!

 

Kipper ties, forgot all about them,takes me back.

 

So the photographers and timers will just be coming in their usual clothes then?

Authentic food in the form of cuppa soups and angel delight.