GWSR General Discussion and Operations

Yes, great!

Unfortunately those spirited departures are limited by the need to pick up a token from the box, and then the 10mph speed restriction for station limits, which extend for a considerable distance.

But a great machine!

 

Why does the 10mph speed restriction for station limits extend for a considerable distance?

 

Great day on the railway with Dinmore Manor today, in gorgeous sunshine. A couple of coach trips arrived today with a number of daytrippers, so it wasn't actually as quiet as I thought it would be. Amusingly, at Broadway I watched someone empty a whole bucket of pine cones into the fire. Alternative coal testing is getting very imaginative! Overheard one of the volunteers say a couple of the crew today were striking TOC staff. Better to spend a day on the footplate than a day on the picket line. The less said about the drive home the better - I'd failed to take into account that with the strike it meant all the hundreds of people who would normally get the train were in the car instead!

 

Does anyone know how long 46521 is staying at the gwsr

 

The GWSR website states "until the end of summer". Probably open to interpretation (!), but I hope that's of some help.

 

Based on an average English summer then could be September or tomorrow.
I suspect it will go back for the GCR Autumn Gala which starts on Sept 30.

 

46521 is with us until the august bank holiday and then returns to the gcr. See the gwsr website for details of the loco roster.

 

thanks for the replies will be up for a ride rail strikes permitting

 

Last Friday, 17th June, the Tory government's Assistant Transport Minister Wendy Morton declared that the Stratford to Honeybourne rail link proposal would not be carried forward to the next stage because it had 'failed the business case'. See:
https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/new...to-honeybourne-railway-line-shelved-for-good/
https://www.shakespeareline.com/stratford-to-honeybourne-2/

I wonder whether the 'business case' considered only the minor benefits of the Stratford to Honeybourne route alone? (Mirroring somewhat the revenue picture used for the original Beeching closures.) The connectivity benefits seem most compelling and one must hope that a more enlightened view might prevail in the not too distant future, perhaps with a change of government. One cannot help but wonder just what post-Beeching railway reversals might actually eventuate. In the current economic climate, probably only a very small handful. Meanwhile the railway route must be preserved.

This is bad news for the GWSR because it weakens the benefits that might accrue if the Broadway to Honeybourne link were to proceed at some future date.
The idea of a Tyseley to Toddington run must therefore be consigned to the back burner...

 

Looking at the merits of the proposal, I'd say that the likelihood of success for other hopefuls must be rather bleak. The decades of struggles which have bedeviled the Lewes to Uckfield line is a further case in point, in that local custom alone seems to be the only consideration when these proposals are assessed.
"Rolling back Beeching" will go the same way as "Build Back Better" and all those other utterly meaningless political slogans which have replaced proper government in recent decades. It doesn't help, either, by having a civil service which seem only capable of "managing decline", as they themselves have admitted. We need something here- I don't quite know what, by God, we need it!

 

A heads-up to Jo's latest update on the heritage front.
First of all, a really brilliant result with the poster boards, and fire bucket rack on the North end wall at Broadway:
That really does set this end of the building off even more than before. A truely excellent selection of Edwardian posters.
On a less optimistic note, apart from the still gaping hole which is P2, the powers that be have decided that Broadway is, in true "Edwardian" style, to have a PA system installed. This for a station from where trains can only head in one direction, and has operated for 4 years without problem. But no, "they" have decided that the public must have booming, amplified announcements in order to know what is going on around them, despite the presence of station staff.
There seems to be a disconnect of spirit between those who create, and those who "manage".
Hopefully, the effect of this may yet be minimised, or negated. One possibility, in extremis, could be the use of, if not Edwardian, then period, Tannoy speaker boxes, vis:

At least its better than dirty, white, 80s style plastic.
Link to Jo's excellent blog page:
https://haylesabbeyhalt.blogspot.com/2022/07/good-news-and-not-so-good.html?m=1

 

Sadly there is a disconnect between those who create the heritage, and those who use it. It's very disappointing to see our efforts cheapened, and the charity that is supposed to 'create a railway museum' willing to pay for it.

 

It seems to me no bad thing to have the possibility of making announcements when necessary; for example that little Johnny is looking for his parents, or that the XX:XX train to Cheltenham Racecourse will be half an hour late. A lot will depend on discretion as to when a PA announcement is needed.

 

How did they manage at smaller stations before PA systems became ubiquitous?

 

Whilst I've every sympathy with what you are saying, I was once asked by a woman passenger at Grosmont, which platform the Pickering train would depart from and at what time. I politely answered her request and got a response along the lines of why couldn't they say so, then. I pointed out the information was on the chalked noticeboard she was stood next to and got the response of 'You don't expect me to read that, do you?' I'm afraid that you have to cater for such people at your lovely period station.

 

The Great British Public, you cant beat them…
Pity really

 

It might be worthwhile taking into account that 16% or about 7 million people can not read in the UK. This figure is probably on the incline. Having trained people for MHE in the past, I was often found that certain age groups of trainees could not read or write .

 

I'm sure the "they" busy working unpaid to keep the railway drawing in revenue to pay for your restoration, and avoiding being sued under the disability discrimination act will really appreciate the sentiments above.

 

It is possible to provide PA without it looking out of place. The recurring issue is, as I understand it, that 'they' (Frankie Howerd's 'thing....upstairs') seem to have a tin ear for heritage. Maybe their interest stops with the locomotives?
Pat