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West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by gwr4090, Nov 15, 2007.

  1. MellishR

    MellishR Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    I have seen no evidence on this thread that Sidmouth or anyone else is trashing the railway or has any intention of doing so. Quite a few of us, however, are inclined to trash the current management of the railway for their succession of actions that have been not only reprehensible in themselves but also bad for the railway.
     
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  2. FrankC

    FrankC Member

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    There is a station shop at Watchet. It’s not over large so may be Covid restricted. We don’t yet have a final date for Minehead. There will be a full summary of where we are with the crossing in the next issue of the newsletter due out next week. The information was given to staff, volunteers and shareholders who were on the zoom meeting yesterday evening.
     
  3. FrankC

    FrankC Member

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    I think you might find Watchet has changed over the intervening years. I spent some time in Swanage “some years back” and I wasn’t impressed. But it’s really attractive now. Times change.
     
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  4. Andy Moody

    Andy Moody Member

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    Meanwhile, large Prairie tank 5199 is inside the paint shop at MD being rubbed down for a contracted repaint to GWR Green.
     
  5. Pete Thornhill

    Pete Thornhill Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Administrator Moderator Friend

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    It seems to becoming a thing with GWR tanks there. 7752 was repainted during its time on hire as well.
     
  6. Sidmouth

    Sidmouth Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Moderator

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    Given the broad interest and especially as prospective passengers may be holding back from travelling ready for the line to reopen to Minehead , plus the information shared last night has been sent to me by many people already why not come clean with when it is likely to reopen .
     
    Last edited: May 26, 2021
  7. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    To be fair I'd say it's good manners to inform volunteers on something like that before the general public. Personally for that sort of thing I'd tend to view armchair shareholders as members of the public rather than lumped in with volunteers though as volunteers can be subject to their rulebook in terms of not spilling the beans (in theory, doesn't often work on the WSR). Certainly my general rule of thumb on NatPres is I don't post information contained in volunteer announcements, but if it's stuff in a membership letter I will.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 26, 2021
  8. ross

    ross Well-Known Member

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    As someone messaged "autocorrect has become my own worst enema"
     
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  9. staffordian

    staffordian Well-Known Member

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    Yes.

    And I hear there's a special place in Hull reserved for the inventor of autocorrect...
     
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  10. Sidmouth

    Sidmouth Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Moderator

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    you absolutely are right , however since those closest to the railway have been informed and it is a repeated question on here it would be useful to know plus the OP actually knows it is being asked
     
    Last edited: May 26, 2021
  11. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Indeed, and we've been told to look at the newsletter due out next week. Personally I think that's a satisfactory state of affairs. It does sometimes feel like there has been so much to legitimately criticise the WSR on over the last several years that we're incapable of impartially assessing whether a thing is actually worthy of criticism. And all that does is further the image of NatPres in certain WSR quarters that we moan at everything, and thus there's no need to pay attention to anything said on here, which would be a mistake.
     
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  12. FrankC

    FrankC Member

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    Because the date is determined not by us, but by the delivery date of certain key parts, and by the date our main contractors can complete the job. We can guess, but that would be irresponsible - when we have a date we'll release it. If you go and look at the site you will see that the substrate is not actually salt marshland. And in any case the contractors laying the concrete have years of experience of doing just that including a few yards away. The design of the base was undertaken by a specialist who designs many hundreds of REB bases for Network Rail and the concrete has been laid following a ground survey which has gone down to 30 metres.
     
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  13. Sidmouth

    Sidmouth Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Moderator

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    Thank you Frank . A date was given on the staff, volunteers and shareholders call which a number of people have kindly shared with me . would you care to elaborate for this group . given the earlier audience it will come out before your newsletter
     
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  14. FrankC

    FrankC Member

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    I appreciate that you are trying to pursue a narrative about perceived mis-management but I can assure you that no date was given yesterday. For information I spoke on this topic and I am the director with overall responsibility for this project. If others have chosen to interpret what I said as a date, that was not my intention. It is highly unlikely that the crossing will be complete before mid September, but we would all be delighted if it was. But nobody should interpret that comment as a date because we simply don’t know the date.
     
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  15. jma1009

    jma1009 Well-Known Member

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    I assume the RTC special will be flagged at Seaward Way Crossing as a 'one off' to allow it to reach Minehead station?
     
  16. jnc

    jnc Well-Known Member

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    You get credit for being willing to be frank and open about the timing of the crossing completion. It's unfortunate that it's likely to be then, but, 'it is what it is'.

    I expect most of us take your point about how with all the various players involved (suppliers, contractors, etc) you can't put forward a date with a good certainty of being able to make it, so you all feel it's better not to make a prediction, the likely accuracy of which you cannot assess well. Any information you can provide, as the future comes to pass, will be very welcome though.

    Noel
     
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  17. Sidmouth

    Sidmouth Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Moderator

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    Morning Frank . Firstly thank you and a small apology in that when I said date I should have perhaps been more specific that it was a month rather than an actual day . one thing you will find on here is a little honesty and engagement goes a long long way to getting people on your side

    I'd also like to reassure you that I was not following any narrative, perceived or otherwise about mismanagement . I do try and educate myself on the ways and workings of railways and fully understand that a level crossing installation is a complex project that takes a long long time

    however on the subject of management I'm sure you will agree with me that the competency of management in any business is key and within the movement we have a very salutary lesson of what can happen when things go awry . Having seen the turmoil caused I'm sure you will both appreciate and agree that no one wants to see that happen to another preserved railway

    Hopefully either your good self or a forum member will post some images of the laid concrete so the wider forum can see and appreciate the work involved and progress made
     
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  18. Sidmouth

    Sidmouth Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Moderator

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    to be fair with 5199 posts on the engines facebook page have indicated for some time that a change to GWR livery was on the cards. On this occasion there isn't a link between location and colour change .
     
  19. goldfish

    goldfish Nat Pres stalwart

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    I’m not sure he had much choice in that. Very much his parents’ decision.

    ;)

    Simon
     
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  20. Enterprise

    Enterprise Part of the furniture

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    They do!
     
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