West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Thanks for sharing. I hadn't seen this before, and hadn't known about the fitments recovery train. That must have been very poignant.

 

Assuming they dont have copies already would it be worth the WSRA/WSSRT contacting the album owner for a copy?

 

The story behind the album, and a selection of pictures, appears in the latest WSRA Journal so I think you can take that as done!

 

I did it!

Robin

 

I wonder if anyone here has had chance yet to read the latest statement from the Plc Board regarding the Bailey proposals? I may be doing it an injustice, and no doubt some of the arguments have validity, but a cynic might be tempted to view it as an attempt to kick Bailey into the proverbial 'long grass'. I shall be very interested to read whatever comments may come from the Association in due course.

The statement makes the point that, when the Plc circulated their proposals to shareholders for comment, only 4.7% replied and it would appear that this is 'interpreted' as an indication that there was 'scant support' and, by inference, perhaps with Bailey itself. My problem with the consultation was that IIRC the option offered was to merely agree or disagree with the Plc's own proposals, there was no option to say - in effect - "I agree with Bailey, but not with the proposals from the Plc, please draft some new ones and try again".

Meanwhile, at least steam is running again in the South West...

 

The statement is here for anyone interested (I imagine some will be ). It does seem very disingenuous for the relatively low level of shareholder engagement to be used as an excuse not to proceed, I thought that was one of the problems this proposal was supposed to help solve! I note we weren't told what % of that 4.7% were in favour of the proposals vs against, nor what % of the total shares those shareholders represented. It would be absurd for the total WSRA shareholding to be counted as "1" vote in favour for example in the same way that Fred who bought £5 worth of shares in 1975 is counted as "1". It might also be interesting to compare what % of shareholders vote in directorial elections and see if the same spurious argument could be applied there?...

Yet again the ORR is invoked to try and make it impossible to hold any opposing point of view. I imagine the ORR are getting rather tired of being a scapegoat in this way, noting their response in the press to photo charter matters at the SVR.

 

Note: I didn't buy £5 of shares in 1975 .

Agree with your comments in the rest of your post though.

 

Well, that's a surprise - avoid opposition by looking as though you're doing something and then, when the pressure's died down, gently kill things off using the same "not today" arguments that were run previously. Others comment on whether 4.7% of shareholders is a representative sample of shareholdings; my own question is what level of response is typical.

I wonder how @Lineisclear feels.

 

Hahaha, excellent, my apologies!

 

Ah, the good old ORR again, not heard that before from anywhere. Along with Covid or Government Guidelines they have become the must go to excuse to justify not doing something when something may involve just a single calories worth of extra effort over the last year or so, if we say ORR or Covid etc nobody will question....

Still, it's given 'Health & Safety' a bit of a rest so every cloud and all that.....

*before anyone jumps down my throat I'm not in any way shape or form suggesting things be done outside of guidelines, ORR or H&S requirements, but things can be done IF you can be bothered to put the effort in to making it happen. It is not a WSR specific observation either!

 

I think the point being made by the Board is that reorganisation is an additional task, and perhaps a distraction, when they are trying to get the Railway back out of the proverbial. I can see some sense in that, but will be watching for definite progress this year!

 

It's a bit rich them saying, "can't do it now, we've got a railway to restart", when they've just had a year in which they had plenty of time to get something like this organised.
There's never the time or the budget to do those things you don't want to do.

 

I think the PLC has probably made the right decision. The reality is that it needs to get running this year, it needs to make money if it is to survive.

Whether there has been a reality check after there was no second bail out I have no idea.

Trying to implement major organisational reform now would be a major distraction and drain on resources and energy. The consequences of management taking their eye off the ball to settle scores is evidenced by the lack of trains running at the moment.

Bailey looks like going the way of Coombes but I think that was always a likely outcome given WSR politics and culture. Bailey was a useful beard. Likewise, ORR etc serve as a useful scapegoat for inaction (as others have said - much like H&S, the EU, local govt or any remote institution that you can blame and that is unlikely to answer back).

Bottom line, the PLC board have no more excuses for any issues that may occur later.

I'd see it as that covid provided a 'valid' reason for not running last year when they could not run, so running this year and provides a 'valid' reason as to why they can not introduce reform they had no intention of introducing. But it is better to pull the plug now than to carry on with the charade of reform and then in 6 months time, and after a summer of infighting, pull the plug.

 

Hang on. The two largest shareholders in the Plc both indicated they supported the Bailey proposals, so how on earth did they come to the conclusion that only 4.7% of the shareholding responded? That is disingenuous at best. It is very clear from the statement the Plc simply does not want to change, so the only way that it's ever going to happen is if the shareholders take action and that boat seems to have sailed.

It is clear from what has emerged that 2020 would have been horrendous for the railway but, just like with the unfolding disaster that is Brexit, Covid provided a very useful smokescreen that deflected attention from the huge problems the railway had, problems that could well have seen the railway go the same way as Llangollen. The present structure is, as far as I can see, unsustainable but it would seem that those in charge of the Plc are intent on self-destruction.

 

Is that Corrie Street you're watching dear?
No darling its the WSR discussion on NP
They are thinking of doing reruns at 0600h on sundays

 

Speaking of re-runs, if folk are struggling to remember what had been said by whom about the Bailey recommendations since the WSSRT AGM kerfuffle they could do a lot worse than refresh their memories by having a look through @Steve Edge 's 'butterfly blog'. It seems reasonably possible we might expect a fresh post there before long too.

 

True, but it's their (in the sense of 'everyone involved with the WSR') railway; if they all want to do it that way, their call.

Noel

 

I see that the "six figure sum" has been mentioned again as a barrier to change. How was that figure determined ?

I would have thought that with so little happening on the line compared to times when it is business as usual, there would be no better opportunity to transform and be ready for when those days return.