West Somerset Railway General Discussion

[QUOTE

What I did notice though were two more creeping things. One was that the line seemed to be fighting a losing battle against lineside vegetation, such that large sections (especially at the southern end) were the proverbial "green tunnel". Apart from the immediate impact on passenger views through the windows and the risk in extreme cases of scratched paintwork, that could be a bit of a "canary in the coal mine" indicator of stretched resources. The second point I noticed was about weeds growing in the four foot - quite visible from the board crossing at BL. That is potentially symptomatic of drainage issues. Drainage is a bit of a cinderella subject, but unless all your culverts and cesses are free flowing, you could be storing up problems for the future.

Tom[/QUOTE]

I would agree with much of the above up to Season 2023. The battle for the lineside had been a loosing one pre covid when compared to earlier times. The Covid period made the situation a lot worse.

Since then much lineside clearance has been done both by concentrated gang effort (including MPD vols) in some locations together with considerable mechanised attention.
Weedkilling has also vastly improved this year following in house training of key staff.

As a result the picture in 2024 is one of considerable improvement to restore the line and lineside to the condition previously achieved.

 

I feel reasonably well placed to respond to this. You're correct in all that you say; whilst the majority of resources were concentrating on other priority projects/areas, we were somewhat caught napping in this respect. From almost from nowhere the railway transformed from being reasonably presentable to a bit of jungle in just a few months (April to June 2023). I should also say that the line was nowhere near being overgrown in 2022, so this was a bit of a surprise to everyone.

In terms of an immediate response, this was difficult to enact because if even if we were able to promptly employ weedkilling and flailing contractors then we would then be left with a significant amount of dead/dried out vegetation which would then become a huge fire risk during the peak summer season. There are also other considerations in correctly managing the overgrowth in terms of biodiversity and the bird nesting season, so not as straight forward as we would have liked. No-one was more unhappy about this situation than the staff and volunteers, but it was quickly made a priority for the management and infrastructure teams.

There was a plan put in place for towards the end of 2023 and during the winter season which has largely remedied the situation now. The difference between last year and today even are quite stark and I think you'll be impressed during your next visit.

The cost to spray the whole line with weed killer twice a year by a contractor is in the region of £20k. Therefore, the infrastructure team designed and built a weed killing 'rig' in house and had all of their staff trained/certified in the use of the necessary chemicals. With that initial investment made, the on-going cost of staff and chemicals to carry this out are just a fraction of the contractor figure and go a long way to keeping the line clear. The P-Way team also continue to work on areas where wet beds have developed and poor drainage exists. They're a small team of paid staff, but they should be commended for their hard work and savvy use of the railway's funds to achieve some impressive results.

The second change was that the company owned RRV/flail was brought back in to service and was in use on almost all non-operational days (typically Mondays and Fridays). In addition, our volunteer Cutting Back Gang had a very busy winter season concentrating on areas that the flail cannot reach. An example of this work below is between Eastcombe Cutting and Tribble Bridge which should give you an idea of what has been achieved since your last visit.

 

It is to be hoped that any vegetation that is still encroaching is dealt with PDQ, to address the heads-out-of-windows risk.
Edit: Quotes and typos sorted out

 

Having travelled on the line last weekend for the annual Erlestoke Manor Fund outing, I can only agree with the above - the lineside looked in superb order.
It was also a very smooth ride on the train, with last year's TSRs having all gone.
The coaching stock provided for the trip was extremely tidy inside and out, 7812 was also immaculate. Very tasty pasty too at Minehead café!
Overall I was impressed with the railway and thoroughly enjoyed our visit. It has certainly turned a corner and deserves everyone's support.

 

It is plausible and reasonable that a fresh assessment of the state of the track and formation by a new pair of eyes resulted in a relaxation of the weight restriction. But, if that is what happened, why not just say so?

 

Why should they say so? It is of no real concern to virtually everyone and, I suspect, the reality is only a very few people are interested, including on this forum.

 

Weren’t they running an appeal for funds for pw/civil work? If so then the donors should be told what happened to their money and an update on the website/facebook/to members would explain why further funds are not required at present. It’s all about keeping people informed and feeling a part of the railway even if they live miles away.

 

It is surprising what can be achieved when everyone in pulling in the same direction. Good news for the WSR.

 

I've can vouch that I have seen this matter cleared up and clarified on several occasions in communications to staff, volunteers, shareholders etc. (Ie. The really important people who support railways both in terms of their time and financially). As a result, parts of that information has spilled out on to social media and this forum for example. Frank Courtney posted here a little while ago to say that if those people had any queries or had been missed out then he would be happy to have one to one conversations and/or update their contact details if necessary. I think that's an entirely reasonable and fair offer for those who would like further information.

The 'issue' at hand isn't a secret either; you can hardly hide a hundred ton steam loco running up and down the length of West Somerset. As I see it, the real point of contention here is that there are a number of people online feel as though they're entitled to know every little detail about the workings of an organisation and are extremely quick to cristise if they're not furnished with all of the information and methodology. Historically, when details have been made public there is quite a lot of unfair crisism and forensic analysis. You simply cannot win. Therefore, in this instance I can fully understand not feeling the need to shout about it in public statements, rather just update the stakeholders and get on with the job of running trains with locos that are both available, and suitable for the line.

I understand that this can make for an interesting talking point, or perhaps another conspiracy theory in certain quarters, but I'm starting to feel like a broken record. Dissecting this kind of subject online very rarely achieves anything. In this difficult financial and operational climate, as enthusists, we should be really grateful that we still have such a variety of railways and locos to enjoy.

 

The HR sector is unrecognisable from where I started out where a few enthusiastic people cobbled money together to raid a certain scrapyard in South Wales. That shouldn't mean that we have to be 'silenced' for calling out where we believe things can be even better for the future? Not wishing to steal anyone's punch line but Change doesn't happen without the will to admit something needs to change.

 

It's a puzzle, because the issue with the axle limit was made so much of at the time, used as a key point in fundraising, and drove a number of policy changes. At the time, the implication was that it had been ignored and allowed to deteriorate for too long, hence the need for significant investment over and above the usual.

I'm happy to accept both that these are matters of judgment, and that the judgment has changed. My remaining scepticism is because the changes in position are convenient in terms of both politics and economics, and that no one has ever suggested that the underlying evaluation - that the WSR had relied on using residual life for a very long time - was incorrect.

I also disagree with the questions about publicity. My observation of the WSR, amongst others, is that the most serious criticisms tend to come because of the railway's determination to be rigorously private, and leave questions hanging.

I hope that the analysis is right, and that the railway is in the position it is currently claimed to be in. My previous comments about sharing the secret sauce remain; I will also add that those claims will affect the credibility of future fundraising campaigns.

 

Some lovely footage of 6880 working on the WSR, she has a lovely bark.

 

Even if that state of affairs has been reached by throwing some of the crew overboard?

 

It would appear so if the foregoing posts state how the lines condition is at present. However no comment is made here regarding present finances.

 

Although you included "etc." in the list of "really important people who support railways" you seem to have overlooked all those of us who are "donors". If you look at the accounts for the three main WSR organizations you will find that between them they receive annually some half million pounds in donations, much of which will come from people who are not otherwise engaged with the line( ie: are not shareholders or members). As @Pete Thornhill and @35B have indicated the confused and grudging financial communications from the company leave an impression that things are not in good order with the result that many of us have, like Pete, closed our wallets to the WSR until such time as we are satisfied that we are not throwing good money after bad.
There are plenty of other deserving projects in preservation land and, if you do need our money, you need to be open and honest about your affairs or miss out.

 

6960 left after the 2018 season, that is over 5 years ago now, and work has been done to the railway since then, hence why TSRs have disappeared. Very few heritage railways state their every p-way activity to the public.

 

Why not just go along and enjoy yourself? Isn't that what anything leisure is all about? "Support the team, not the regime" etc.

 

Maybe some of them felt they were untouchable and were the WSR?