West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Best not to talk nonsense, then.

 

We will get to that.

 

What rubbish .
Replacement of bridge costs £400k and month of line closure .Do you replace in February when line has 5 days of half term traffic or the month of December and cancel all santa trains which net you 25% of annual income ?
I know which any well run line would choose .

 

Straw man? Or deliberately misunderstanding? Of course it matters whether you replace a bridge when the line is closed anyway or when you would otherwise be operating, but it makes minimal difference to the need for a large amount of money.

 

On the contrary, as the time taken to deal with Seaward Way has illustrated, when you do this work makes a significant difference to the company as a whole. And if that is when the line is busy, that means the cost goes up significantly because the cost of the job is not just the direct cost, but also the income foregone. I'd say @D7076 has it about right when considering what should happen and when.

 

"Rail replacement service". One of the most depressing ways you can put three words together in the English language.

 

Can actually be quicker than the trains they replace.

 

In the context of paying to go on a heritage railway though....it's pretty sub optimal!

 

Depends whether it is a leisure entertainment on offer or an aspiration to provide a public transport service. The sad truth is thar after the introduction of the heavy duty pneumatic tyre between the wars, yer av'rage branch line tended to be on life support.

 

The irony of which, in this specific context, is not lost on many.

 

Yes of course, if infrastructure work prevents or restricts operation of trains for a prolonged period that loses more money. But the post that I was responding to cited replacement of a bridge occupying one month, either in or out of season. Even if that had to be done during the normal operating season, the loss of income from one month's operation would be a fraction of the direct cost of replacing the bridge. The WSR lost a whole season's income, and because of the level crossing, which I would expect to be a bit cheaper than a bridge.

 

How did they lose a whole season's operations? They provided a service to Minehead last year and didn't run in 2020 but neither did some other railways, including the commercially operated Vale of Rhediol, which is similar to the WSR in having a seaside location.

The past is the past and let's move on, 11 days until trains roll in and out of MD with passengers on board.

 

You've missed the point. Yes you would do it in a closed season and not in the summer or on the pre-Christmas run up, but the cost of replacing the bridge doesn't change whenever you do it, that needed fundraising. That was the point I was making.

 

People go on like they scrapped 53808, burnt down Washford and ran a bus from Crowcombe to Minehead, jeeze, chill out guys.

Crossing is replaced (which was a SCC project) and trains are back to normal again.

 

Such railway has changed the ownership structure of the carriages, and now a daily rate is paid everytime each carriage is used to pay for future repairs, plus plans to build a carriage shed with pieces of the jigsaw ongoing to get that to happen.

That's future proofin'!

Anyway, back to the lovely WSR...

 

Ah Brains SA, nice stuff. Dark is nice too. Rev James are good ales. Not had some in a while.

 

The other factor to consider, is how much do you want to spend doing the work?
Spend a lot and get the "Bridge or whatever" replaced in a weekend or spend less and take longer.

Which would cause the least damage to the Bank Account in the long run?

As an illustration take look at the Bluebell track renewal works.
The plant in use will cost a lot but they get the job done with the least disturbance to the normal service.

 

Good, Quick, Cheap- choose any two

 

You need the plant whatever way you do it and if you need to hire it probably cheaper to say hire for 2 -3 weeks than ad hoc days. But importantly see how other railways e.g. NYMR, Bluebell etc do a lot of preparatory work to minimise the time the railway is shut down. Also remember some of those lines do high income experiences during the off season.