West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Says it all really. The ‘individuals’ are free to vent their spleen in whichever direction they want.

 

I suggest that the K&ESR reference was a pointer to what can happen elsewhere when there’s an appetite for change. I know nothing of what’s happened there (my last visit was in 1992), or what’s changing, but from what little I do see, I sense an atmosphere of focus and drive on the railway, deepening and strengthening that railway.

I’d love to get that same sense from around the Minehead branch, and it’s not something that could be achieved by killing this thread.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Surely not, bad things always go away if no-one talks about them, don't they?

 

Thankfully Malcolm keeps us up to date with WSR p-way news and photographs. Why jeopardise that because of pettiness? <BJ>

 

Volunteer gang at Woolston Moor again Sunday on ongoing trackworks on wet beds & drainage !

 

Unfortunately, there seems to be something about the WSR that attracts pettiness.

 

& one of our gang fell in a deep puddle.....

 

and you left him there!!!

A few questions about the work, if I may:

What is the cause of the wetbeds? Trackside drainage failure/inadequacy, neighbouring properties flooding onto the WSR or something else?

The previous work in October showed trackwork - was this track realignment, sleeper replacement, rail replacement, ballast replacement or a combination of these?

Thanks

Keith

 

Did he fall or did you 'ditch' him there on the way home?

Oooh - Sorry

On a more sensible note (I hope) I see the cess there is really too narrow for decent drainage ditches. I would have thought that buried perforated pipe would have done a better job than those shallow ditches - or has it already been tried? (apologies if it's a case of grandmothers and eggs...)

 

Thank you for putting me right on things - it's good to see that this work is going on. I had been too focussed on the level crossing at Minehead, as regards trackwork. If I lived closer, I'd like to join the gang - perhaps coming up from the wilds of Cornwall might not count as an essential journey in the eyes of the lockdown police!

 

It's a pity the WSR don't do a blog which regularly reports on this sort of activity and we have to rely on other sources for updates. Two blogs which come immediately to mind are the GWSR* and @ilvaporista's excellent updates on the CHR* which, I am sure, form a very positive impression of those railways for those of us who view their activities from afar - they make a great impression on me to the extent I have been persuaded to make donations.

On the other hand, there's next to nothing coming out of the WSR that inspires although it does teach a good lesson on how not to do things.



* apologies to other heritage railways who's blogs I haven't mentioned.

 

I shall pre-empt Steve's post by pointing out http://cgibin.wsr.org.uk/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?h=Topical+pictures&t=pics

Which fulfils a similar function, although not quite in the same way.

 

Thank you Alex.

A shorter link to the same place is www.wsr.org.uk/pics or just go to wsr.org.uk and look under "Pictures". Visitors will also note a range of activities also underway. There's also a news page and lots of other stuff too. Nearly all of it courtesy of thousands of contributors.

Steve

 

Unfortunately (but understandably) Facebook isn't everyone's cup of tea but I find that the WSR Mechanical Engineering Dept News Facebook site (a closed group with 1,200 members) is a very useful source of regular information.

It is also pleasing to see work undertaken in Somerset popping up on other railways' Facebook sites https://www.facebook.com/128151190579410/posts/3753140278080465/?sfnsn=scwspmo

 

The first picture of the 5 included with post 35265 does seem to show a pipe deep beneath the drainage medium on the right hand side. Even the best perforated pipe drainage system becomes useless if the stone drainage medium becomes clogged with silt/mud etc, or the outlets become blocked.

 

I was pointing out that the Plc itself doesn't really advertise the good work put in by the volunteers on its website - look at the "News" section there's very little about what the boots on the ground are doing. Fortunately, Steve's web-site does provide a tremendous amount of information but his is an unofficial site. What also should also be borne in mind is that despite it's widespread use, not everyone is signed up to face book or twitter and even then, the WSR's facebook page is a closed site.

 

Which rather underlines the point I was trying (obviously not very well) to make, that there is positive stuff going on but the Plc's web-site isn't shouting about it from the roof tops.

 

Mind you, if they do they tend to get accused of trying to divert attention from the negative stuff....

 

I think the thing is that the plc website and its main Facebook page is not designed for enthusiasts. It's designed for Joe Public who wants to travel on the trains for an ordinary day out. The plc relies on the specialist Facebook sites and WSR.org.uk for the enthusiasts.
Having said that, I am sure there are exceptions, so don't shoot me, but I understand thats the intention.
Ian