West Somerset Railway General Discussion

That's kinda the same thing...

 

A tour was run to the NNR where half the passengers went by bus from Norwich and then swapped over at Holt when the other half came back by bus. Yes it can be done but it was very difficult to keep check on if you had collected everybody. It is like trying to herd cats (that is bad enough with just one cat!). People wander off, want to photograph the loco etc. No idea what plans may be in place or stress tested but the opportunity for problems I would think could be quite high.

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ueGLfKCppe97ccQs8

For future reference...

 

If HMG's COVID-19 Stage 4 decision opens up tourism then Swanage is likely to be operating a two train (basically 45 minute interval) service and is unlikely to have line capacity to deal with a lengthy rail tour.

 

Batten down the hatches.....

R rate back above one across UK with daily cases highest since March (telegraph.co.uk)

 

The point of the vaccine is not to stop you getting COVID, but stopping it hospitalising and/or killing you. If COVID hadn't put so many people in hospital and so many hadn't died, it would not have been very different to 'flu, in the way that the country reacted to it.

 

How about Bath, Bristol & Severn Beach?

 

This will always be a problem, unless the railtour passengers are kept on the train at all times, which, I gather, was never the plan in this case.

 

Now you’re being cruel


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

The logistics, not to mention the maintaining the required social distancing, is going to make any changing from tour train to bus very difficault, IMHO, the tour operator would be far better advised to forget the WSR, On this occation , and instead re route the tour,if possible, or if its not, rebook it for a later date, Personally, i would divert it to call at Bath, and Bristol, the stock and engine can be serviced at Bristol there is enough space to ensure everyones safety, or continue the tour down to Paignton, and Kingsweir, the stock can be birthed at Kingsweir engine can run to Churtion to be turned and serviced assuming there is a path from Tauntion on that day.

 

I do not disagree there is always a risk but if you announce the departure as 1700 and people get back at 17:05 and the train has departed it is pretty black and white. Add a bus into the mix and possibly where people may have decided to make there own way back to Dunster (if that is where the RRB runs to ), or never even go to Minehead then it is less clear all far harder to control what is happening. The bus would of course be the responsibility of the tour operator as part of the tour offering. Also I guess one or more of the buses would need to be suitable for people with poor mobility and room to store wheelchairs strollers etc.
Not sure if this year this train is part of the holiday to the west RTC offer but luggage is often involved as well.
But I guess we will know next month.

 

I cant't believe that most people would enjoy a bus ride instead of a train journey. Well, I wouldn't.

 

No, it is the one on the 14/8/21 that is part of the West Country Explorer.

 

There's something very on-brand for the WSR about them potentially needing to run a Rail Replacement Bus…

Simon

 

I appreciate people being concerned about transferring a railtour from train to coach on social distancing grounds, but is the high interest in this railtour really due to this, the other factors given, or because it involves the WSR?

The railway touring company are also running the Royal Duchy to Par in July, where you can transfer from the tour to a coach, to various destinations nearby, or stay at Par which I wouldnt quite rank as high a day trip destination as Minehead. I would note that the destinations this year appear to be less than in previous years.

Transferring from railtour to coach isn't uncommon, and dosen't appear to be stopping any time soon. When people are campaigning at RTC to redirect the railtour away from the WSR, why dont you ask them to redirect the Royal Duchy trips organised this year, and other similar railtours, on the same grounds?

 

Apologies if this has already been discussed - I've skimmed through recent posts (about 10 pages!!) and not seen it, but it would be easy to miss amongst everything else. If it has, then could some kind soul let me have the relevant post-number, please?

I've just had a look at the Red timetable on the WSR plc website, and I'm wondering what the method of operation at Dunster is? IIRC, there's no passing loop, and it's in the middle of the Minehead - Blue Anchor block section. Either all trains must be worked top-and-tail (from Blue Anchor?) or a station pilot will be required at Dunster, meaning a temporary block-post is required, complete with telephones and hand-signalers. If there are enough "main-line" locos, I image top-and-tail is preferable. Assisting loco can be added to the London end at BA; the other one can be detached on the return to BA and be attached to the back of the next down train. That still means 4 locos are required for the 3-train service but seems to me the lesser of the various evils.

Finding a path for an incoming charter amongst this fairly sparse timetable shouldn't be too difficult. However, providing 2 extra locos, even if 1 steam & 1 diesel, could be quite a challenge for the loco dept. Also, the point about congestion at Dunster station caused by loading & unloading multiple buses is well made. Do Blue Anchor or Williton stations have more space to accommodate buses? They do have passing loops, allowing 1 loco to work the charter out and back. Williton is presumably needed for passing service trains? BA would seem a good choice - charter passengers then have 3 choices: an afternoon on the beach, a short bus trip to Dunster or a slightly longer one to Minehead. Perhaps, if BA beach is popular, fewer buses may be required?

One problem is what to do with the charter carriages between arrival and departure - how to affect the exchange of assisting locos on the service trains? How long is BA loop? Does BA have outer homes and advanced starters? Are either of the platforms bidirectionally signaled? I suppose the charter could be shunted onto either single line when the loop is needed. How about this? Charter arrives in down platform while service train is at Dunster; Charter loco runs round while passengers alight; Up service train arrives in up platform - assisting loco is detached from rear and waits in up platform; Service train departs; Empty charter stock is propelled into Dunster section; Down service train arrives in down platform; spare loco shunts from up to down platform and attaches to rear of down train; Charter stock pulls into up platform; Down train departs; Charter passengers board and charter departs before service train returns from Dunster.

The charter must leave BA on time. Given the time taken for WSR trains to travel the length of the line, if the MD excursion coaches are late returning to BA they could probably still get to BL before the charter arrives. Indeed, that could be factored into the travel options - early bus returns to BA, later bus returns to BL.

It may well turn out to be impractical to run the charter beyond Bishops Lydeard but that would be rather a shame for the passengers - and the casual observers ;-)

 

Lots of questions there! I don't know the answers to all of them, nor do I know what is planned for the day. However, I can offer some observations and suggestions.

The Red timetable can be covered with 2 steam locos and sets of stock, and one diesel assisting.

Blue Anchor could accommodate one coach in the camping coach area opposite the station, otherwise there is nowhere for coaches to load/unload without stopping in the road and causing delays to the traffic. Williton has a small car park (about the same size as Dunster) which might be better.

The length of BA loop is loco + 10 coaches, or 2 locos + 9, or one coach less if running round. BA is not signalled for bidirectional running. It does not have outer homes or advanced starters so any movement beyond the loop is into the next section. The run-round procedure you describe would involve a lot of hand-signalling or verbal/radio instructions. Also, either the level crossing gates would have to remain closed to traffic while this is carried out, causing a large, unpopular build up of traffic, or they would have to be opened and closed a lot, extending the time taken for this. Not impossible, but not very convenient. I still think the best method would be ecs Dunster - Minehead.

Trains are running to Blue Anchor this weekend, so you can watch them running round on the webcam. Times: Saturday arr. 1335 dep. 1440 and arr. 1900 dep. 2000. Sunday arr. 1200 dep 1230, arr. 1530 dep 1600.