West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Which is pretty much what those in charge keep coming out with despite evidence to the contrary.

 

That may simply be because it is difficult to defend the indefensible ......

 

We could always have a ‘roll around’ on the platform at Minehead if you fancy a proper discussion Martin that’s how things are supposed to be in Zumerzet.

 

And JohnofWessex asked "Good or Bad"

It's a general discussion with Andy Castledine (operations consultant and WSR Non-Executive Director) of Micro-concessions, as suggested in the Williams-Shapps plan, using the WSR for examples.

The main problem seems to be Health and Safety, and the involvement of the Office of Rail and Road. The conclusions are that it will involve "very deep pockets and a lot of expertise" and "is going to be ferociously difficult.

I won't comment on the specific WSR examples as plenty here are more involved, but it seems to me that the ORR seems to spend an inordinate amount of effort on the Rail side and not enough on the far more dangerous road side.

It's a two page spread and there's plenty else in Modern Railways, as always.

 

Thank you. I have read it over lunch.

It all depends on whether the solutions adopted for reasonably required safety considerations are based on spending money or using the experience of the available highly qualified volunteers.

If it’s Plan A, we should shut up shop now.

Robin

 

My membership of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and transport was conferred on the basis of a presented and assessed paper entitled ‘Cost Effective Monitoring for Management’ which compared the resources applied to and results achieved in timekeeping/operational monitoring and management of the London - Bristol main line train service with that applied to the Bristol - Severn Beach service and how both could be effective with the coat cut according to the cloth. Lessons there somewhere…

 

Surely, all they need to do is put out another appeal.

 

I think that if you are considering examples of alternate views not being accepted then look no further that a particular page on facebook. If you have a non-compliant viewpoint then you are out on your ear. No debate is allowed as it may encourage the faithful to think for themselves.

I reckon the the crime that caused some of the 10 to be subjected to the most ridiculous kangaroo court is that the membership of the supporting organisations would be asked to think for themselves and make a decision on implementing Bailey, or some variation of it. The PLC kicked the original proposals into the long grass on the basis of a mythical 6 figure sum, no doubt as accurate as Diane Abbott's homework. Any attempt to discuss those proposals or god forbid, give them some traction, was deemed to be dangerous.

The great irony is that the PLC are saying that spending £100k (probably £20k or less) to make winning grants and increasing revenues via gift aid was too expensive. Instead, let's have your money so we can spend much more on converting the line to cope with locos which neither the PLC nor the WSRA possess. Remember, no independent thinking is allowed.

 

In that light, there was a comment in the latest issue of Bluebell News from the Bluebell Railway Trust that noted, in sources of income, "[Gift Aid] is usually worth about £100,000 to us each year." (my emphasis).

The breakdown of where funding had gone was interesting as well, with over £1.1m spent by the Trust on the track in the last five years, amongst many other projects.

Clearly changing the overall corporate structure of the railway (for example, in line with the Bailey proposals) doesn't automatically mean that the railway will suddenly become successful as a fundraiser: you still have to do the hard yards of active fundraising. But the current structure is I believe a very strong disincentive to donors. In other words, the structural change is a necessary, but not complete, step.

Tom

 

One way to concentrate the clown's attention would be for all staff and volunteers to report sick on the same day ....

Who would like to propose a date ?

 

This armchair member of BRPS has also noticed how Bluebell have had significant continuity of management, thought seriously about governance and succession planning, and have had very effective people in key roles.

That's not to about how good the Bluebell is, but an illustration of indicators of factors, taken together that help drive sustained success.

 

Agreed,and this illustration from Bluebell News shows the high level responsibilities of each organisation and indicate that they are working together.

 

All that time and effort wasted on the Bailey report etc, when all that is needed is to nick a diagram from the Bluebell

 

To be fair, I think what matters is not the diagram, but what it actually represents.

 

Andy Roden's report contains yet another version of the level crossing story.
Apparently Mr Castledene says that the existing crossing could simply have been replaced on a like for like basis.

But that was never the case.