West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Yes me too, then fields with a level crossing complete with barriers going up and down in the correct sequence, but without a road anywhere nearby !

 

Anyone who has ever considered becoming a volunteer heritage railway worker or maybe fulfilling childhood ambitions of getting actively involved in the romantic world of running steam trains will find a warm welcome awaits on the West Somerset Railway (WSR) at the end of this month when the 20-mile line holds an ‘Open Morning’ for prospective new workers.

As the WSR nears the end of what has been a very busy summer holiday period, and one in which volunteers have played a crucial role in the railway’s slow recovery from Covid 19, the WSR is now seeking new people who might be interested in volunteering on the line to come along to the ‘Open Morning’ at Bishops Lydeard station, near Taunton, between 10:00 and 14.00 (2:00pm) on Saturday 30th October.

The ‘Open Day’ presents a great opportunity to find out about volunteering on the WSR in general and to speak to some existing railway volunteers in different departments and organisations about their many different roles along the line. Volunteers have kept the WSR going for the last 45 years since the line re-opened as a heritage railway in 1976, and there are almost 1,000 regular workers today but more are always needed.

 

If your railway wasn't so busy throwing out people who you disagree with, you wouldn't need to have a recruitment drive,

 

Good luck.............I have my final turn of the year in the BL Museum on Sunday 24th Oct - well away from the politics still amply discussed on this thread...............

 

The online 'cancel culture' mob comes to NR. Isn't the Internet wonderful? (Not!)

Noel

 

While I agree that heritage lines have to be run in a 'business-like' way (e.g. keeping a close eye on income and expenses), they aren't 'businesses' in the normal meaning of that term; i.e. their purpose is not to make money (and especially not 'as much money as possible'). So that affects the way they are run; borrowing money is, as you point out, often done as part of a plan to make more money - but borrowing money inevitably brings with it risk. That tradeoff (more risk, to make more money) may be acceptable in a real business, but probably not for a heritage line.

I think the most appropriate case for a heritage line to borrow money is the one mentioned by others - to acquire a key heritage asset which cannot be paid for with cash in hand, but has to be purchased then and there, or it may be lost forever.

I'm fairly dubious about the "repair/overhaul" case because, as others have pointed out, if the line is not being run in a 'business-like' manner, then borrowing money for those purposes may just be pushing the disaster can down the road. If there's not enough money coming in to pay for repairs and overhauls, everyone needs to sit down and come up with a way to turn that around - or the line has no future, in the longer run. The obvious exception is an unexpected repair/overhaul event - e.g. one's only loco suddenly fractures a piston rod, or something. But even there a prudent line may decide to proceed otherwise - e.g. start a major appeal when one has a major embankment failure - even if the line has to stop running by the failure site, until the money has been raised for the repair.

Business-like - but very restrained.

Noel

 

The advantage of borrowing money for an overhaul then raising money to pay off the debt is that if you borrow money, inflation eats away at your debt, if you save up, it eats away at your fund. Obviously, you have to balance interest rates with the rate of inflation and what is likely to happen to them: at the moment, interest rates can only go up. It's when money is borrowed and there is no plan to pay off the debt that the problems begin.

 

Not sure I'd lend them my toe-nail clippings right now. I want them to succeed in getting the WSR onto a firm base, but their ruthless attitude to the S&DRT and any dissidents puts me off.

 

Surely the crucial matter is that the WSR survives and thrives as perhaps the finest branch line survival in the country irrespective of any minor museum problems, no one would seriously prioritise one over the other.

 

I wouldn't characterise the many and varied problems of the past few years as "minor museum problems"

 

Finest?? other " finest" branch lines are available though out the country, And very few have incessant civil wars on going, and are in hock to the banks up to their necks. The West Somerset way, is i'm afraid not one to hold up as an shining example , like all houses of cards, it must as some point fall, and the end result will be yet another civil war as those who did not support the cabal, throw out those that did, and so it continues on, towards the buffers, until, it all comes crashing down,

 

Perhaps the writer needs to likewise really think himself before posting? This gentleman is a National Preservation moderator who also frequently posts his own, sometimes critical opinions, on the very same site that he moderates. Likewise he also takes advantage of his National Preservation moderation duties in order to actively promote his various photographic ventures every time he chooses to post a personal opinion or details of his moderational decisions.

It has been suggested by some members over the years that the aforementioned moderator often tends to tidy up (his own words when wearing his moderator's hat) postings that tend to be critical of his personal views or sometime those of his fellow moderators.

Therefore I pose the suggestion that it may be time that the management of National Preservation confines his moderators to the functions of moderation? Likewise banning them from posting personal opinions relating to the topics being discussed on the National Preservation site.

It will be interesting to see if this present posting will be regarded as another "Pot Shot" and therefore tidied up with some undue haste?

A comment from the site owner, not the actual moderators, relating to this issue would be much appreciated.

Jamie Glover.

 

Sorry Jamie, but that is a rather ludicrous suggestion.
Why would anyone want to be a moderator with all the associated flak, if they cannot take part in the conversations themselves? It would be slightly different if they were getting paid.

As for the owner replying on here-don't hold your breath. I don't think he has posted anything since shortly after he bought the site.

 

Whats interesting is to see who liked that post of Jamie's, Nothing more than the usual suspects, who clearly would live to see criticism silenced as has been done on their own railway, Moderators have as much right to an opinion as anyone else,

 

That will be the photographic ventures which benefit the railways involved ?

So you are suggesting that moderators should no longer be allowed to offer a personal opinion on the latest beer being discussed in 'the tap room' ? Seems a bit harsh.

Jon

 

O/T The Grauniad has a piece today on regeneration/gentrification (delete to taste) at Watchet https://amp.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/oct/20/watchet-east-quay-arts-centre-onion-collective

Patrick


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

This is fair and reasonable and there are times when the moderators remove comments which cross the line. However, there have also been occasions when someone who is listed as both a moderator and a staff member has repeatedly called for the removal of the chair and board of the WSR. As a staff member are they speaking on behalf of NP, or in purely private capacity capacity, either way it should have been made clear.

And I am just expressing a personal opinion!