West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Wasn't it owned by the Bluebell or was it always privately owned? seems a strange decision to make, when you think how useful they are, As regards 7821, i'm wondering if that's as much about now former members, as to why it hasn't been overhauled, a link to the past that some might find an embarrassment? might that now be sold, I would imagine the SVR, might be interested in another manor, and it would be a way to fund the overhaul on what really is an LMS design of loco, oh the irony of it

 

Up to your usual standards of fantasy loco allocation there Martin! I can't *possibly* imagine the SVR being interested, they've already got one out of ticket Manor, and are so strapped for cash they sold a 4-6-0 only one power class up recently.

It'll be interesting to find out how the std 4 is going to be funded though, and how that impacts on Ditcheat. As I recall it had been subject to fundraising in the past, but I think just as part of a general loco fund, so hopefully no cash tied up unable to be spent. Maybe Ditcheat will be put up for sale to raise funds, but I can't imagine who would want to buy it, it's reportedly in very tired condition and I can't see either of the 2 usual suspects going for it.

 

Never owned by the Bluebell, so ultimately not our decision as to where it goes - it was a private group that owned it (and have presumably now decided to donate it).

Tom

 

With 80136 also being donated to the NYMR by a private group, 2023 is becoming the year of the standard tank giveaway. Any more going this way? Only a few days left to make it a trio

 

I remember that period when the WSR front line motive power was a 4mt & a small prairie.

Very nice!

 

Ahem 7819 anyone?

 

I suspect that 80064 will just spend further time rusting away in Somerset instead of Sussex. That it has been out of traffic for 30 plus years probably means the current owners couldn't afford/raise money for its overhaul, the Bluebell reasonably had little interest in funding given their interest in 151/100 and quite reasonably the owners can do with it as they see fit. I am not party to any offical information from Minehead but I would ask the question as to whether the WSR in whatever guise can afford it, or has the PW all been fixed.

 

The SVR aren't interested in any steam loco to overhaul at the current time!

 

Great news for the WSR/WSRA, another in-house locomotive that is well suited to the line, but looking from the outside it is a bizarre situation!

 

Why is it bizarre?

As @Martin Shaw says, the issue will be money, but that is now for the WSRA to find, not the previous owners. The loco has at least been stored under cover for most of the last 30+ years.

Tom

 

So when the WSR Plc demands, " Give us your money " and you have an engine that also needs it, who wins? the association, who's money it is, or the Railway, another cuckoo in the nest.?

 

https://wsra.org.uk/80064-comes-to-...XfsbvV6nC_ww_EuM4pKvlYtnlxacs1ZLnD-QuCGBzjOe0

 

The WSRA has been spending money on 4561 over the last years and this is soon to return to steam. Ditcheat Manor is happily safe at swindon so, in my opinion, it makes a great deal of sense to have another loco ready to start on when 4561 is done. The finance channel for this is different from the channel for other support to the railway. What you are referring to is past history and things have moved on.
Ian Coleby

 

The WSRA are already loco owners on the line though, so I don’t see that this changes anything in a fundamental way, it is just one more option in a pool.

Money will be required, but money will always be required, regardless of who owns what. It’s old ground that has been debated ad nauseam but basically operating a steam loco requires generating several hundred per day of operation just to pay for the overhaul: whether you pay that as a daily hire fee to a private owner, a once-every-ten-years investment in overhauling off site or run your own workshop absorbing several hundred £k per year. The numbers work out similar however you budget it - each day of operation needs to be putting several hundred into a kitty somewhere. The degree of copper embellishment doesn’t fundamentally change that calculus.

Tom

 

Sorry, but as an ordinary simple (?) WSRA member without any knowledge of the situation beyond what I have read so far in the media, my two questions would be (a) who on earth would anyone give away any steam engine which might essentially have any future value and (b) why would the WSRA want to have it and spend 'our' money on it?

 

I find it bizarre in the sense it's a 30-year-out-of-service locomotive that has been gifted to a railway('s association) it has no previous obvious connections to. I'm sure there are reasons for this but they are certainly not clear!

 

Fairly common, as @Steve has mentioned, it's already happened once before with the same class of loco this year! Plenty of other examples where a small group who own a loco decide they no longer have the resources to look after it so gift it to a larger, typically whole railway, but not always, organisation. They do it because they never bought it to realise value in it in the first place, but to see it working, and have decided them owning it is no longer the best way to achieve it. The H and C classes at Bluebell spring to mind, along with 5164 to the Erlestoke Manor Fund. All 3 were previously owned by groups dedicated to their single loco.

'Cos it's "your's" now!

 

This is a 'dead' engine. It has ceased to function. The only reason that it does not collapse is 'cos it has been welded together. I demand a refund....

[With apologies to Monty Python

 

No ones going to turn down a free engine , thats of a type that's economic to used once overhauled, and its complete, no motion to make the manor, at least is under cover, it actually makes sence to overhaul the standard tank, and then, in the future decide if the 2-6-0 mogul takes the manors place on display, Assuming the WSRA can raise funding continually so there is a revenue stream to finance each restoration, but having one, possibly two working, one nearly at the end of ticket, one about to enter service, one under overhaul, and one on display makes sence to me,

 

Who cares?! This has got Somerset & Dorset potential written all over it! It is after all, three more years until its 60 anniversary!

Wonder if 53808 will be back by then?