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West Somerset Railway General Discussion

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

  1. Downline

    Downline New Member

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    I'd have a guess that this company may be in relation to potential work from the Gravity smart campus near Bridgwater - https://thisisgravity.co.uk/

    Clue - another .gov.uk website links three relatable companies to the Gravity campus site
     
  2. allan.pyne

    allan.pyne New Member

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    Striping out the Heritage like the Torbay and Dartmouth.
    That line is only 7 miles long.
    Has one panel signalbox.
    Of which controls the MCB crossings at Kingswear. The WSR 23 miles long and has more passing loops to control.
    The T&DSR is a holiday line not a heritage line. The lines are completely diffrent.
    There was talk of demolishing Kingswear station, but its listed and the railway had to keep it. Churston station was a lovely passing loop, but spoilt by the motive power depot, not in keeping to the line.
    The WSR has nice shed's at Minehead, Williton and Bishops Lydeard.
    All in keeping for the line's heritage.
    Yes you can reduce costs by using one signal box, but the savings would be small as all the signalman are volunteers. The out line costs of resignalling would out strip the cost savings. The line has to many level crossings and passing loops to run as one train working and would reduce the amount of trains you could run.

    Sent from my SM-A705FN using Tapatalk
     
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  3. Paulthehitch

    Paulthehitch Well-Known Member

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    Sadly, if every attempt to moderate costs is going to get a response of the ''no, no, no'' kind then the continued existence of the railway may well be doubtful.
     
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  4. Greenway

    Greenway Part of the furniture

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    You cannot compare the DSR and WSR in many ways. It pays its way - not verging in bankruptcy. The DSR has magnificent scenery of sea and river and Churston is not bad - passengers are interested in the MPD.
     
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  5. Big Al

    Big Al Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Moderator

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    Absolutely. Chalk and cheese. An inherited main line, nice and short with colour light signalling in place for 30 years now....etc. etc.
     
  6. allan.pyne

    allan.pyne New Member

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    As an S&T new Works tester, please tell me where you can save money on the operating side, I am happy to have a look at your proposals, I am happy to answer any technical questions you have.

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  7. allan.pyne

    allan.pyne New Member

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    I know the S&T engineer very well !!
    But sorry Churston is not that station that is used to be. The MPD should have been built where the turntable is and that would have kept the village station appearance.

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  8. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    But it also rather begs the question of what preservation is for. The WSR has preserved not just a line, but also something of a time capsule. If all that happens is to turn it into a steam operated version of a post Beeching stripped back railway, how much is left of what made it valuable?
     
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  9. allan.pyne

    allan.pyne New Member

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    The T&DSR has the Sea and scenery, but for the railway enthusiasts it has no sole.
    It's no difference than a Steam train on the mainline but much slower !!
    It's a tourist railway only.

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  10. Bayard

    Bayard Well-Known Member

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    That looks like another case of "let's massively increase the value of some land that we own using public money".
     
  11. Bayard

    Bayard Well-Known Member

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    If an adjoining landowner had decided to put up a big shed hard up against the boundary and the boundary was the edge of the platform as it might well be on a station on a heritage line, the effect would be exactly the same. Minehead Station is right next door to a Morrison's and its car park, people just zone this sort of thing out, they have to.
     
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  12. Greenway

    Greenway Part of the furniture

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    The DSR makes no pretences, but makes a valuable contribution of moving lots of people to where they want to be. You have the choice of the SDR if you want a steam train and 'heritage'. They are nor far apart.
     
    Last edited: Jun 20, 2021
  13. RailWest

    RailWest Part of the furniture

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    I suspect a lot of contrition emanating from Minehead would not go amiss at the moment...:)
     
  14. Roger Thompson

    Roger Thompson Member

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  15. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    My point entirely
     
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  16. richards

    richards Part of the furniture

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    What specifically is missing to give it sole - or even soul?
     
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  17. D1002

    D1002 Resident of Nat Pres

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    That sounds a bit fishy to me:).
     
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  18. RailWest

    RailWest Part of the furniture

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    No doubt that's the problem with the WSR - it's in the wrong plaice and may well flounder :)
     
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  19. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    I think in your rush to harumph, you are slightly missing the point. Assuming the objective is for the WSR to continue along more or less heritage railway lines, specifically with a large volunteer workforce, there is negligible saving to be made in rationalising the signalling, since the major expense in traditional signalling - the labour - comes for free. The major capital expense of modernising only makes sense if you are considering a move to an all-paid model, but I don’t think that is what is being suggested. The bottom line is that if you can’t make the WSR pay it’s way with a volunteer workforce, it certainly won’t pay with a paid one - whether on the DSR model or as part of Network Rail. Clearly cost savings have to be made, but there isn’t much scope in doing so in signalling rationalisation. The big wins are to cut down mileage of trains running largely empty, ie a hard look at the timetable.

    Tom
     
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  20. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    He does, but none of which convinces me there is some Machiavellian plan to somehow buy up the railway for a song and make a killing. I can’t see how such a plan would work financially; I also get the impression that whatever else may be his faults, he does have heritage operation at heart. Why else otherwise would he own a steam loco or have been a volunteer for years before becoming chairman if he didn’t fundamentally have that ethos at heart? I still believe in cock-up, not conspiracy.

    Tom
     

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