West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if some of those loos were locked out on purpose simply because a loo in every carriage is unnecessary. Locking a few out is a sensible way to reduce maintainace/train prep time.
I think comparisons with the SVR would be unwise at this time, given they are currently running an extremely successful service with 3 trains. The loos on the WSR may be better, but it rather reminds me of that hospital in "Yes Minister" which was awarded most efficient hospital in the area, the one with no patients in it...

 

I don't think that's entirely true, otherwise you wouldn't still be posting about it here and elsewhere. If the WSR were to close tomorrow, after all its been through recently and it's extended period of closure anyway, it probably wouldn't look like that big a tragedy. But when you consider what it could be, and has been in the past, it really would be a major loss.

 

That's not quite what I had in mind, but, it's a serious question , what PPE do track workers need to wear when dealing close up with the muck that gets deposited on the ballast and sleepers, When I worked in C&W the very first thing I had to do before starting to dismantle brake gear etc, to lift a coach was to don full protective gear, including respirator, and steam clean under the bogie and discharge Shute, to ensure everything was clean of any debris, human and otherwise,

 

Yes, thank you Paul... I'm sure you'll appreciate that it in no way takes away from the point I was making, and thus irrelevant.

 

Personally, I find it disgusting that any Railway, National or Heritage, is still allowed to discharge human waste onto the track bed.
It’s 2020.
All railways should be forced to fit retention toilets.

 

Why am I reminded of the Matt Damon film 'The Martian'? You'll never look at a potato the same way again...

Robin

 

Photos on wsr. org, of weed pulling people, do not portray any attire described by Martin 1656. Apart from the obligatory heritage line orange Hi-vis, the only other 'safety' item I saw in a photo were HD gloves.

 

I suspect the practical effect would be for most heritage railways to remove most toilets from their trains to avoid the cost. Significant alterations would be required to heritage stock. Tank emptying equipment and staff would be required.

I think not but it's worth posing the question, would significant alterations to carriages (such as fitting retention toilets) trigger a requirement to make the carriages PRM-TSI compliant?

Patrick

 

Yes, technically you are correct. If a tree falls in a forest does it make a sound and all that.

You and so many others completely miss the point on this sort of thing. The Engine House isn't just about providing undercover storage for locos awaiting overhaul. It's got flexible exhibition space, informative displays, interactive exhibits for children, a cafe, a viewing platform, a film room, a playground, a classroom, and I suspect a few more useful spaces which are not normally accessible to the public. All part of providing a service to the community. The spin-off benefit for the SVR is that its stored locomotive don't deteriorate as quickly as they otherwise would, but its clear that they didn't get the funding for it on that basis alone. To successfully attract grant funding/donations these days you have to have a completely different mindset. It's all about what the railway can give to the wider world, not what the world can give to the railway. "Give me money to restore my engines/track/stations/DMU/whatever it is this week" will simply not cut it. Well we nearly had a breakthrough with Andy Norman and the HPC funding but we all know what happened there. The forces of darkness put paid to that one pretty quickly.

Well there's a non sequitur if ever I saw one. So you're citing evidence of the SVR's sub-optimal marketing of their stations in 2003 as being a reason why the WSR's marketing today maybe isn't so bad. Are you trying to say that the WSR's marketing is about where the SVR's was 17 years ago - so that's ok then?

Yes it does have nice stations. It's a shame they don't have any trains running through them but hey, that's a minor detail.

 

Alas it was not quite accurate though.

 

There is more than a whiff of hypocrisy. Outraged at negative comments about the WSR while making negative comments about the SVR and SDR.

As if the SDR and SVR don’t have hardworking loyal volunteers putting in the hours doing the crappy jobs like keeping the toilets clean.

While I know that I have said that I think lines should think outside the box, I am not sure selling trackbed raised vegetables is winner.

You can try the tomato sandwich first.

The NNR carriage blog is interesting because on a number of their restorations they have taken the toilet out of the carriage and used the space for something else such as storage.

If the Ffestiniog can fit retention toilets on 2ft gauge stock there is absolutely no excuse for standard gauge lines not to follow suit.

If anyone is interested https://www.pressreader.com/uk/steam-railway-uk/20200207/282355451725230

 

Yes. You only need a couple of toilets per train, not one in every coach. Aircraft manage with only one or two loos so why not trains.

 

That seems fine, but would it satisfy social distancing required at present? I know of one line, a short one, that had decent toilets at each station, that locked , out of use, their toilets a few years ago but have since re-instated, some or all of them.

 

Much though I despise the present management of the WSR, I really hope that the WSR will reopen. I think it is unfortunate to almost wish otherwise - there are so many people who have put a lot of their lives into the WSR, and deserve better.

 

I don’t think I’ve ever used a toilet in a train on a heritage line. The journey times are usually pretty short, so it’s hard to see why they are needed. People manage to make similar length journeys on buses and the London Underground without the need for toilet facilities.

There are probably a few exceptions such as dining trains, where toilet facilities are more of a necessity.

 

Sorry, do you mean the real invasion is going to be at Bridgenorth then?

 

In the instance you are describing, I think the all over protection was because of the pressure cleaning. Once a turd has hit the ground, it tends to just stay there. My dept. at Network Rail was responsible for dealing with (amongst other things) track litter in stations. This included the regular cleaning of track at a rather well known London terminus. HST's did not have retention toilets. The public lavatory on platform 1 of this west facing terminus charged 20p per visit, so the ever considerate travelling public used the loos on the HSTs sat at the platform.
The track cleaning guys wore hi-vis and HD gloves (needle proof) and as far as I can remember, that was it. Clearly they could have had whatever PPE they wanted, it was a job that just had to be done, but gloves were all that was required. And shovels

 

Personally, I would recommend the ‘facilities’ in Pullman cars Barbara and Theodora on the K&ESR with their specially-commissioned floor mosaics.

Robin