West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Sorry to be a bit late to come to this but I have only just got around to looking at the new Articles.
Can one of you please identify those clauses? The nearest that I can find is something quite different:
"19.(3) No business shall be conducted at a reconvened meeting unless it could properly have
been conducted at the meeting had the adjournment not taken place."
I see nothing at all wrong with that. The original business can still be conducted but no-one can raise a new item of business. In practice the chairman could choose to allow informal discussion of a new item but formal consideration would need a new meeting.

 

Well the $6400 Answer is that every preserved railway in the UK has so called "Linear scrapyards" as you call them. Some railways have enough siding space to hide various items of rolling stock that are shall we say "Work in progress" other lines do not have available siding space.
A lot of so called "Tatty" wagons are also used on engineer trains when the lines are closed down for winter relaying jobs.
I understand that you @oliversbest currently live in Canada? Well I have visited several Railway preservation sites including the national collection at Delson Quebec, All have various items of historic stock quite a lot that are stored in the open awaiting restoration.

 

And which railways do the punters and their families visit; the ones that put on the best appearance. As far as restoring old wagons.did the original purchasers find that beyond their capabilities? form a committee and ascertain if any are capable of being restored and if not..... I think this is a moot point because I am reading today that the local MP is not too happy with the WSR failing to run to Minehead this year. I AM a railway enthusiast but I draw the line at donating to an organisation that cannot get it's act together on or off the line

 

The ones which run trains. A variety of trains. A variety including freight which attracts people too, and tells a story at the same time. Even family friendly Thomas events use wagons...

If you scrap them, you will never get them back. There are plenty of groups trying very hard to restore the unglamorous stuff, and railways are beginning to realise that it does have appeal and, more importantly, can be used to generate revenue. You only have to look at railways like Mid-Hants, Great Central, Bluebell and NVR (I'm sure there are others) to see it happening.

 

This post is something of a non-sequitur! The "linear scrapyard" has nothing to do with the WSR's ability to run to Minehead. It also represents a tiny proportion of what is anyway the most scenic part of the line. If you are saying that its presence would deter you from riding on the line I have to suggest that your priorities are rather distorted.

 

Re post 37940...

I lost the will to live before getting anywhere near the end, but I assume the point of the post was either to demean @Robin Moira White or to present an "official" version of events surrounding the Seaward Way crossing saga.

As others have already noted, I too thought all it did was reinforce the widely held view that all is not right in Somerset.

I can understand that the author might feel he has been unjustly blamed (I take no view on the rights or wrongs here but know from weighing up the tone of this post against that of the many hundreds of open and informative posts made by Robin who comes over as more credible) but if he wished to set the record straight then half a dozen well chosen lines would have sufficed to do that.

The War and Peace length saga posted serves merely to suggest chips on shoulders, and an ultra defensive need to bolster egos by quoting a detailed biography and does absolutely nothing to further the reputation of the WSR.

Edited to add: I originally intended to say that any professional wishing to have their views taken seriously would be well advised to ensure that their submission does not contain numerous schoolboy spelling howlers and further ought to ensure that the majority of their paragraphs actually make grammatical sense.

Having now read it in it's entirety, these thoughts are doubly relevent...

 

Thank you, kind Sir.

I should have also said that the editing by the moderators of the original post by the 'end of' commentator to remove the misgendering didnt go unnoticed. This casual (or careless) nastiness is something that most trans people have to endure and I am pleased to note that Nat Pres is a safe space for trans people.

Robin

 

It struck me as very self exculpatory. The thwarted saviour narrative was very strong here. It was the fault of the previous regime for leaving things in such a mess, it was the fault of people who didn't respond to emails etc, it would have all be fine but for covid. There seemed to me to be very little willingness to take any responsibility for what has gone wrong, the blame apparently always lies somewhere else. The lack of self reflection is all the more ironic given the emphasis upon developing a 'learning culture'.

 

if i were to travel towards Dunster(I know I can't at the moment) i would see the same stock slowly being engulfed by the undergrowth as I saw four or so years ago. And I would say that does reflect on the general care and maintenance regime for which the WSR has been upbraided previously. Yes ,linear scrapyards and sub par rolling stock should bring comments and I strongly doubt that I am the only fare paying customer who has remarked on such. It's your WSR and i personally think that the Railway is at a watershed moment.

 

What I think it also highlights is that the delay to the crossing works was not due to any one single cause, but to the Board and other members of the WSR management, those who hadn't been laid off, being preoccupied with other matters, principally, I suspect, with the ORR's concerns, the state of the infrastructure, the lack of money to do anything about it and all the other things that sprung from that, especially the fundraising activities. Then the crossing mechanism packed up, or was condemned, and the railway was up the proverbial creek with no means of propulsion.

 

The railway has far more pressing problems that the possibly adverse appearance of a few bits of rolling stock waiting to be restored. Personally, having grown up when such "linear scrapyards" were a feature of British Rail, I rather like them being there. I remember there was a tender dumped just outside Salisbury which was there for years before it disappeared, hopefully to be restored.

 

No they don't although far too many do. Various gricers, gunzills and foamers might drool over piles of old ''stuff'' but the ''normals'' tend not to be turned on by these. Preserved railways have been around for decades now and need to do better in general to compete with other attractions.

 

Sad to read that The WSRA have come to the conclusion that GWR 3668 ex corridor 3rd/Ambulance Coach/ Camping coach has been deemed beyond realistic repair. The coaches stored out of sight ( out of sight linear scrap line) are in far far beyond realistic repair. Will be interest what the membership decide on this coaches future.

 

Do we think it runs in the family ?

 

Restoring wagons is not beyond the capabilities of anyone who is capable of handling simple hand tools. Might need a bit of help with machining if needed, but mostly it is pretty simple. However, an operating fleet of wagons is often considered something of a luxury, a vanity project, as they will not immediately add anything to the cashbox, and therefore pushed far down the priority list.
A row of tatty looking wagons is a big negative. It brings down the whole environment, and I think most people look and think 'what a pile of junk', rather than' ooh look, irreplaceable historic rolling stock awaiting restoration'. In the interest of both conservation and presentation I would advocate throwing a coat of paint on such items to prevent further decay and weathering.
A few tidy looking wagons would be a major 'heritage positive', and add to the railway ambience that we all wish to create, and in time the resources will come available to effect the necessary work.
I would like to believe* that a fleet of restored wagons could be a sellable asset for film work. The Bluebell railway has appeared in dozens of period dramas which must have put some money into the pot, and in genuine old films freight stock outnumbers passenger about 3 to 1. One would have thought a line which can offer heritage buildings, locomotives and a convincing array of stock might be at a premium.
It also occurs to me that there may be the possibility of advertising revenue. Ask mcVities to pay for the structural restoration of a van, and for 3 years it is painted up for Jaffa cakes. Might be a bit Hornby-ish, but it would be much better than continuing decay, and at the end of the contract you repaint in authentic livery.

*This is the same film industry that is happy to present mk1 TSOs as appropriate for 1940. One hopes they will learn

 

I see that in the latest issue of the WSR Journal the WRSA have stated that it might become necessary for them to seek permission from their membership to sell the Quantock Belle coaches, due to a lack of profitability from their continued use. This is a great shame after all the efforts that have been made to run the QB operation over the past few years.

 

It will I suspect take some time to absorb Chris Pratt's post.

In the interim, (and the timing may possibly be significant, and it is for others to confirm), what has been going on with ID card removals? The individuals concerned might not want to comment, but other third parties might provide a suitably nuanced reply?