West Somerset Railway General Discussion

The reason there was one prime aspect was that the post and those that preceded were a discussion with a member of the P Way volunteers and they referred to the appearance of P Way staff and equipment at Williton and of the work completed and yet to be done by the volunteers. The comment about P Way spending was tongue in cheek but, overall, I do have serious concerns about the Plc's ability to properly spend that amount of money in the available time scale.

 

Removal of id cards, and expulsion from the railway, would not be a very good move, if the PLC think they have problems now, imagine the problems that would be heading the way of the WSR plc, if they were to, for one, there is no laid down procedure and the the railway would lose any appeal to an tribunal the fines and possible costs would bankrupt the railway, and possibly the charity commission would become very interested in why standing for trusteeship would lead to being sacked. it would open a very large, very ugly can of worms, with very serious ramifications for trustees and board members of the WSSRT and PLC board.

 

Just for interest, has anyone received their AGM pack yet?

 

Yes.

 

I have. I thought the poor photocopy of an old version of the statement from the 14 (I use the number advisedly) clipping one side off was a particularly nice touch.

 

I haven’t. Do I receive it by email or will it be sent by post?

 

Mine came in the post. Less chance of other people's email addresses being included that way...

 

Post.

 

Does the pettiness never end?

 

No way!

Give it a couple more days, and the page numbering will have shot off the end of Kirtley R/R1 0-4-4Ts and be into batches of Wainwright engines.

 

It will probably continue up until the morning of the AGM. Maybe we need a poll suggesting the page number? The winner getting a free ride on the re-opened WSR.

 

As expected, one side draws blood whilst the other side seeks revenge. This won't end well.

 

Wouldn't Churchward 'moguls' be more geographically appropriate to the line? At the current rate, it won't take too long .....

 

I think that is a bit unfair to infant school playgrounds.

 

I am surprised that you of all people should be pointing out that the now ex-Chairman of the WSSRT has brought the railway into disrepute by contravening the GDPR and laying his Trust and fellow trustees open to a fine. At least he has done the honourable thing and resigned

 

Alex, you have to understand that the WSSRT xerox machine is somewhat overtaxed at the moment, as it seems to be replicating Steve Williamses at an alarming rate.
At the forthcoming AGM there is
Steve Williams the acting chair of the WSSRT
Steve Williams the chair of the AGM
Steve Williams the Company Secretary of the WSSRT
Steve Williams up for election as Director of the WSSRT
Steve Williams as returning officer for WSSRT elections

Which is a lot of Steve Williamses in one place. However, simultaneously, there is
Steve Williams the Director of the PLC
Steve Williams the Chair of the PDG
Steve Williams, chair of the committee tasked with spending the recent £ 800,000
Steve Williams, chair of the fortnightly tri-partite PLC, WSRA,WSSRT (Whizzer 3) meeting.

I respectfully suggest that Steve Williams might consider the role of returning officer might, for the sake of clarity, be better handed to someone completely independent.

 

Agreed.

As another outsider, with no axe to grind but a wish to see a peaceful WSR, I've mixed feelings about this resignation.

Clearly Chris Austin is an experienced railwayman, with a great record behind him on many levels and with an undoubted commitment to the WSR family.

Has he been weak willed in acting as he appears to have done in recent weeks?

Or have external forces leaned on him with undue pressure?

Or is it simply a case of someone being overwhelmed by events?

Possibly a bit of all of the above, but regardless, a sad end (though I realise he continues to be involved) to a long history in WSR administration.

But given what has happened, I believe he had no choice, did the honourable thing (though yes, the rancour in the resignation statement reflects far worse on the author than on the subjects of the broadside) and I think maybe others should reflect on their role in the sorry saga too.

Will this in any way help towards fixing the broken WSR?

Not in any meaningful way, IMHO, but it may eventually be seen as a small step in the right direction, in spite of the views of some who seem to think the current path (towards oblivion?) is the right one, and anyone who wishes to change that direction needs their cards pulling...

 

I did not read this as criticism at all, it is somewhat who has Project experience stating what the real world is. Putting my Procurement hat on I had already had the same thoughts as soon as I heard about it, based on my experience. It would be a push to get it done in normal times with tendering, negotiation, spec clarification etc. Add to that Christmas, maybe poor weather and "the unexpected". But of course on top of that we have Covid, so who knows what impact that may or may not have.

 

I suppose it might only be a matter of time before Steve Williams falls on his sword, but Steve and Chris are only 'bit' players in all this from the singularly inept WSSRT board, as is.

Steve Williams must now be considerably compromised.

The real players of concern have yet to be tackled - no published plan for track renewal (cf the Bluebell), and no published plan for Seaward Way crossing etc..

Charitably, I take the view Chris Austin was out of his depth over all this, and I genuinely wish him well and good health.

I don't myself think he was the prime mover over the cock ups... Steve Williams now has the invidious position of dealing with all this, and if he dares, explaining his own duplicitous involvement on the WSR Plc board as well as the WSSRT board now as acting Chairman.