West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Doesn't look as though one person at least thinks the WSR will not return to being a red route for at least 5 years:

9466 is now a resident and will be based at Wirksworth until the boiler certificate expires in 2025 https://www.facebook.com/wyvernrail/posts/10157398634552175

Rats and sinking ships.......? Or agreements/contracts are made to be broken?

 

Why am I being irresistably reminded of The Snailbeach?

 

It's much worse than that. At a time when the PLC Board (and Chair thereof) had to know that this work (which was vital to the operation of the line into Minehead) had run hard aground, instead of focusing on getting it moving (as a matter of the utmost priority), they allowed themselves to get distracted by the Washford imbroglio - which got them what, exactly? What on earth were they thinking?

What's particularly galling is that somebody else was paying for it: had the WSR to find a lot of the money, OK, the line's financial situation was troubled, and so that might have been a valid excuse for letting things slip. But all they had to do was make sure that everyone was moving on the various tasks needed to make it happen - which in many cases might have only meant regularly contacting people to see where things were, and what the next step needed was.

This whole thing has also given the SCC an up close look into how the WSR's management operates - or doesn't. I doubt the impression was a good one.

Noel

 

In the absence of any firm information from the WSR plc concerning the current position over the crossing, and only speculation from supporters, only two options are apparent.

1. Gross and long term incompetence and mismanagement on the part of the plc.
OR
2. There is another motive for not wanting to reach the present Minehead Terminus.

Neither option illustrates the openness and management skills required to run a whelk stall.

 

When I wade through the endless pages of rubbish on this thread I get the impression that most of the speculation is from those who wish to see the WSR fail.

 

That is the absolute opposite of the impression I get.

Why on earth would anyone want to see a line, any line, fail?

The rampant speculation is a result of only one thing.

A complete lack of awareness, morality and/or competence by an organisation that entirely fails to realise that without the goodwill and trust of supporters, volunteers and the public at large, it is at best going to struggle, and at worst, go under.

The endless posts on this thread reflect the frustration and incredulity that such a situation has not only developed over time, but actually seems to have got far worse over the last couple of years.

I for one would far rather see this thread go the way of others such as the Bluebell where all you get is information about events, progress and some general interesting banter, but suspect I'll have a long wait for that to happen.

 

If people wanted the WSR to fail then they would simply say 'Not my clowns, not my circus' and let the current board and their apologists drive the railway into the ground.

Maybe for once you ought to accept that criticism is i) allowed and ii) valid and justified.

So instead of accusing anyone who is critical of the PLC Board of wanting the line to fail, can you explain why this isn't a failure of management.

Seems to me that you only want obsequious, fawning discussion. It's a railway, not a cult. Criticism is allowed.

 

It is rather interesting that where there is scope to close down speculation, it is conspicuously spurned in favour of silence and promises of information later.

 

You've got completely the wrong end of the stick. People are so upset (as expressed in this thread) precisely because they want the WSR to be a success - and it's manifestly not. As I've mentioned, it could/should be a jewel in the crown of the heritage rail world - an entire, lengthy, branch line, through some absolutely gorgeous countryside - which makes its troubles absolutely heart-breaking; it's not a 'who cares', short line, though an industrial morass, which wouldn't be missed.

Even worse, a large part of the causes for its current troubles are not down to external forces over which the line has little control/influence (although one has to react to such in productive ways, as several other lines have done with the unforeseen major challenges they've faced), but internal issues which the line's community seems to be unable to come to grips with, and sort out - of which the level-crossing ball being dropped, and the management failures which led to that, is only the latest.

You all really need to deal with these internal problems, or the line really might fail - to everyone's distress.

Noel

 

Put it this way, having been a WSR Annual Pass Holder for the last two years, I am planning on buying a Season Ticket for The Swanage Railway next year.................

 

I'll gladly settle for the WSR running any trains again. Red route loco hauled trains are a definite WIBN, and just a Pacer dmu would be a lot better than nothing.

 

Well said - too much legitimate criticism is being brushed under a partisan carpet.

 

Note that @6960 Raveningham Hall said "wade through", not "read". Nobody who had actually read the posts could come to that conclusion. It was obviously just a quick glance to see that, yes, people were still having a go at the Dear Leaders and a quick knee-jerk reaction to that.

 

Given the less than stellar performance on the Seaward Way project, what is the likelyhood that all the £800K odd that was recently granted to the WSR will be spent by the end of March. February and March are very busy times for the construction industry as everybody is trying to spend public money.

 

'6960 Raveningham Hall' allegedly has a bit of form on here as a supporter of the WSR plc board.

I could mention a few others.

2 years the WSR plc board have had to sort out Seaward Way crossing under the current Chairman; and from a press release from SCC April 2019 (the last I can find) the SCC had contracted out the job to specialist contractors, but as the WSR plc board have to be consulted and appear to have vetoed the details at a preliminary stage, when JJP became Chairman, everything has been in abeyance since then.

And so the no trains this summer is just incomprehensible.

And also no BL to WN service, except it is now considered appropriate for Christmas services in December, though personally I doubt even these will now run.

But for the covid lockdown in March we were a few days off the March reopening - and as now appears implicit "Sorry, we can't run any trains because we haven't fixed Seaward Way crossing in time".

2 days before the lockdown in March, Seaward Way crossing was being tamped, having had much work on the track and road surface the previous year.

 

A defining moment - a road movement today at Washford. Photo by David Temple

 

The beginning of the end?

 

Or the end of the beginning?

 

I didn't realise that having a view different to you makes you makes the poster wrong. This is a discussion forum not an anti PLC thread.