Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

This - the screen doesn't give a link. But the whole piece is dated 9.1.2023, maybe postdated with the new website.

 

Michael said the article was dated 9th January and was by Nik Barrie, so why are you asking about an article dated 28th May 2021 by Chris Dadson?
As was said above, maybe you should post less and spend the extra time thinking and checking your post before hitting send.

 

This is a very old bit of information. The first paragraph and picture is a summary of what state the van was in when the original post was made some time ago. The second paragraph is a bit of an update that has been tacked on, currently the van is still in pieces.

 

Now now, you know you shouldn't ask questions at the AGM, that's what the Members Forum was set up for, no doubt from what i have heard of the early meetings its simply to keep the AGM short as they were always rumoured to take up a whole day but it has been commented they were very lively affairs, i have always wondered though if this was a canny way of keeping questions and answers from being minuted as they would have to be at an AGM

 

Another example perhaps of some of the website 'oddities' already discussed here recently.

By an ironic coincidence, I was in a Zoom meeting last night with another railway society to which I belong who have recently done a lot of update work to their website. A key feature of their site is the large amount of historical information held by the society about 'their' railway. A lot of the information is in the form of very old documents or photographs, often in rather poor condition and not particularly readable in parts. However they had taken the view - supported by most of the 'attendees' - that it was better to make as much available for research as quickly as possible regardless of its condition rather than have it all hidden away until such time as it could be made perfect. The down side to this, if it could be classed as such, is that the material included captions, notes, articles etc written by society members many years ago and in many cases now known to be incorrect int he light of subsequent research and more material coming to light - this was regarded as an unfortunate situation that would need attention in the fullness of time, but outweighed by the wider benefit.

However...we were talking there about a website which is essentially an historical archive, with a small content for 'society news' about forthcoming meetings etc. Many of the erroneous bits of content will soon become obvious anyway to those familiar with the subject. Essentially the website is mostly 'static'. By comparison, I would argue that the L&BR 'public' website is largely 'dynamic', in that it deals largely with the 'here and now and the future' and is trying to attract custom, so it needs to be accurate in it coverage of what it has and what its visitors can expect to see and do, something that will require constant monitoring and updating.

Time will tell, perhaps.....

 

I have been to AGMs (not at the L&BR) where the AOB often took up more time than the rest of the meeting put together, simply because of all the 'questions from the floor'. Once the AGMs were shortened to being essentially pre-advised formal business only, with a Members Q&A session afterwards, suddenly the former took up much, much more time, to the extent that at the end of the formal AGM we would then be advised that the Q&A had to be very quick indeed as the hire for the meeting room ran out about in 10 minutes or whatever

 

Hay don't be so quick to shoot the messenger, Michael asked about updates to van 23, all I have done was to post a link to a website he and certain you have missed.

 

"Time will tell, perhaps". It has already been stated here that the website was put up as a starting block so we can build on it, Its only been up for 4 days cut it some slack.

 

"It has already been stated here that the website was put up as a starting block so we can build on it..."

Agreed (but it might have been better if that fact had been made clear(er) before it was launched). Anyway, "building on it" will take time, would you not agree?

So - by your own admission - it will take time for it to progress (whether for good or bad). On what basis therefore can you claim nevertheless that my comment was a 'stupid thing'?

I note the reference to 'we', so as a matter of interest perhaps you could tell us your part in that building process please? After all, you seem to dislike lynbarn talking in the plural.....

 

Your use of "perhaps" implied you thought it might never get updated, and was just all round seemingly negative. I am one of a few individuals who are being trained on how to use the website so that said building upon can occur at a constant rate. There is a reason why it was launched quietly without fuss but seemingly that isn't a good enough excuse.

 

Re payment fees, if you look up a standard website payment plug-in such as Stripe (and I doubt it is practical to create one's own payment app, and I guess Stripe's owners would not be billionaires if you could, although you seem to be implying that previously the railway somehow managed to work around this), Stripe's fees are shown at https://stripe.com/gb/pricing i.e. 1.4% + 20p for UK card transactions. I use Stripe as a plug-in in conjunction with a (fairly basic) site set up via Squarespace (Squarespace do not make any charge related to transactions, just an annual fee + domain charge). So a £10 UK transaction would cost me 34p which is I guess significant as a % although obviously that reduces as a % as the size of the transaction goes up. According to the L&B website, they use Trekkpay (which I have no experience of) and paypal. From a quick search online, Trekkpay's tariff seems to be expressed in euro and it looks slightly more expensive than Stripe, but one assumes this was explored.

In terms of the website (non-payment related) costs, I would guess that the L&B felt that they needed hands-on professional design help through Website Vision rather than the more stripped-back service offered by companies such as Squarespace. I see the site https://websitevision.co.uk/ shows the Swanage Railway as a customer (who seem to use Worldpay on their site) and I imagine they also considered the alternatives.

 

I have involvement with a website which makes sales - in our case the website links with paypal - so the paypal fees are deducted from the sales - as a charity we pay 20p+1.4% - so I think it unlikely that the fee would be fixed at 70p. Depending on your provider there is a percentage fee for in-person card transactions but in this day and age people expect to be able to pay by card.

 

Or that the previous web team was entirely voluntary - there was some professional technical support, certainly for the past 2/3 years...

 

This text and image of van 23 is also on the L&B archive site, https://www.lynton-rail.org.uk/page/heritage-rolling-stock I've no doubt such information will be replicated on the new site in due course.

 

It's a good job they didn't shoot the messenger back in the early 2000s, that's for sure, I doubt many of these 'supporters' are aware of the importance you played in securing the Thorpe Park carriages, not only for your namesake 'the lynbarn railway' which for the price of a few gallons of diesel actually paid the mortgage on Woody Bay but also for the fledgling Lynton and Barnstaple railway where the remaining carriages were rebuilt and used, carrying fare paying passengers right up until 2014, so you're efforts back then have probably done more for this railway than the rest of us on this thread have achieved collectively for the L&BR, so I'll say it Colin, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR BEING IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME

 

My use of 'perhaps' related to the different approaches taken between the two groups about their respective websites and how that might turn out in the future, not as to whether the new L&BR site might be updated or not, so I am sorry if I did not make that clear enough to avoid a misunderstanding - mea culpa.

I am bemused however to read that apparently you have to be trained how to use a public website, a process which ought to be largely self-explanatory otherwise surely the website will fail to serve its purpose. I am assuming therefore - and no doubt you will correct me if I am wrong - that your training is actually in how to use the underlying website management software, in which case that would seem to be good news if it leads to more frequent updates from those such as yourself 'on the ground' at WB.

Noting the comment from Martyn in post #6614, does anyone know please what will happen to the old 'archive' site in the longer term, particularly in respect of Trust-related news? Will that be shifted to the 'Trust' section of the new site, or will we still have to visit both sites in future?

 

Between yourself and Tom you have I think described perfectly the principal challenge facing any heritage railway. There is a tension between your two very accurate statements.

Tom is quite right to state what most members understand and have always understood was their role. Right from the beginning of heritage railways which are, or were, more truly co-operatives or perhaps communes than companies or trusts. There has always been an expectation of a democratic right to set the broad direction.

Your statement is quite correct about the legal framework.

My observation is that some trustee boards work within the legal framework to deliver the expectations of democratic involvement in the broad direction. Bluebell, KESR, KWVR, TR, WLLR and others I am sure. Others have taken a different approach which is less respectful of that democratic root and that may be the issue we see at the SVR and NYMR to name two whose difficulties with volunteer relations are public. (There are others I know with the same issue, and in each case the problem is the lack of respect for the expected democracy).

I am not sure that the wibble we have seen on this thread necessarily means the L and B have this issue. I’d need to hear from more voices that there were issues before I drew that conclusion, but it might fair to say that there are people (and I expect the posters here represent the views of at least few others in broad terms) concerned that the trustees might forget their membership’s expectations.

 

Thank you, being in the right place at the right time was lucky, what I hope everyone can get, is I am still passionate about this railway despite any brickbats which come my way from time to time. I will do what ever it takes for this railway to be successful.

I would like to remind some of you on here that this is not just mine or your railway. It really doesn't matter if you are either a working or supporting member or someone who helps finance the project or even someone who manages the project. everyone has a part to play in it.

It also doesn't matter if you prefer Woody Bay to Chelfham, it is after all one project.

I was once told that no matter were you go in life there will alway be someone somewhere who will know more about any subject than yourself and this has turned out to be so true. It can also be said that you will not know what I know and you will never know that either. I hope I have never expressed the view that I am an expert, heavens forbid that to happen.

Life is about learning and growing and if you go through life learning one new thing a day then you can be happy, we may not alway see eye to eye and my view on things may not be shares by others on here. That I can except, but I wonder if others can do the same?

I admit to making mistakes and I have made plenty in my life and no doubt I will continue to do so, but I try to learn from them. No one person is perfect, but if you think you are, ask yourself the question why am I here on NP then.

So some of you might not understand this, but as a life member of the the L&BR I am very disappointed at the lack visible progress over the pass few years and if you where in my position I am sure you too would want to kick some butt, or get answers to questions that have been plaguing you for sometime.

As far as I am concerned, it is a two way street, but I also need to step up and take some of that blame by not getting to past AGM's or being able to attend members meetings and asking the question that need to be said due to personal issues.

It is also so important that everyone involved is open, honest and communicates with each other and that it is so important to listen and engage with what the membership are telling you not so much verbally but also via the donation box.

 

Virtually any form of payment will incur bank fees, they are inevitable- banks charge you for paying in cash! What this discussion really should be about is the difference between the cost of paying in cash and the cost of accepting electronic payment of any form.