Swanage Railway General Discussion

Many years ago it was pointed out to me that the worst risk for lineside fires was April, while the new growth might be pushing through and all nice and moist, all the dead stuff from last year was nice and dry, and ready to burn.

 

Sounds reasonable, although it's one area where I'd most certainly defer to the opinions of members of fire brigades.

 

Ahead of random internet gricers? Surely not?!!

 

I've definitely been on lineside clearance in the winter to get ahead of the new season and remove dead brush so theres merit it. More than some nonsense round here.

 

Its pretty obvious at the moment, large areas of dead grass/vegetation that will be dry when the ground and what has survived is wet

 

The railways liability insurances' excess is £50,000

 

A fair sum to find if you had to make a claim but not a lot in comparison to the extent of cover. I would hope that’s at least £5m

 

£50K would drown the railway atm

 

It rather depends on the excess or self insured amount for that bit of coverage.

 

If true, that's a very awkward position to be in.

I am wondering what changes wee may see as a result of energy costs. Railways are often pretty big electricity users.

 

But hey just as long as someone who has a column in a certain mag can just enjoy ‘pure steam’ on their holiday eh? (Shakes head)

 

I've noticed a few significant solat panel installs. Blodge and Aberystwyth come to mind. If it's worth doing in Wales, there's no excuse in England!

 

See Friday's Bluebell Times ...

Tom

 

.... and ZapMap for that matter. There you go, an honourable mention for the Bluebell's EV charge points at SP (all currently - 22:45 - listed as available).

 

This thread seems to be wandering a bit.
Back to topic, we had a heavy thunder shower at around 1800, I took a look at both the webcam cameras at Swanage and Corfe and the sun was shining.

 

Fairbourne has a sizable solar panel array (12Kw I think) at Fairbourne station and a smaller one at Porth Penrhyn to power the cafe there

 

They require money upfront, the Swanage Railway has other projects like the carriage shed which may need extra cash, hopefully ticket sales were good this summer so outstanding projects can progress. A solar panel project can be added later.

 

They do indeed, but do provide a predictable return. I'd tend to agree considerations such as undercover storage (which have scarcely crept up unannounced) are priority, though I would add that questions related to energy really have to be kept under consideration in the design of any new facility .... be that included on 'Day One', or passive provision, for completion as and when funding permits.

Merely to dust down some plan held over from 20+ years ago, containing no such provisions, would be beyond folly to my mind.

 

Sorry, But I seem to have lost the plot somewhere. Why on earth do the Swanage Railway need hideous solar panels for? They have been using low wattage bulbs in buildings and for station lighting for years.

 

And the Talyllyn used tallow dips before Pendre got electric light in 1952. Your point?