West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Well, just to illustrate the investment shortfall…

https://wsra.org.uk/dmu-appeal/

A mere £180,000 for an ‘out of the blue’ appeal.

IMHO, the numbers (insofar as they are available) don’t presently add up.

 

While I haven't studied this years timetable in detail it seems there are a fair number that are diesel hauled, presumably intended to be by the DMU but there doesnt seem to be any revenue funding to maintain what was a few years ago a rather tired set

 

The DMU appeal is for a set used on the Great Central AFAIK. There is a heavy GWR theme but no attempt at exclusivity, which would be foolish in the extreme. The WSRA now have a 4MT which IIRC, was built in Brighton. Will they be told that their loco does not fit the vision ?

 

On that basis, anything that made it to Barry scrapyard is "western". My point is that the S&D were not a poor fit for the line, quite the opposite in fact.

 

...to the extent of giving its members information on one issue which appears to have been contrary to that provided by FOI requests to the relevant authorities, a practice sadly prevalent also at another heritage railway in a nearby county :-(

 

Looking at the map, and the distance is by road, not as The Rooster flies the S&D is no more that about 20 miles from what is now the WSR at its closest point

By comparison the 94XX class were 'Red' loco's so unable to work over the Minehead branch in steam days and mostly based either in South Wales or on Paddington ECS workings

 

Even less than that it would appear, about 15 miles from Bridgwater to Crowcombe station

 

Until suddenly,without M£5 being spent on the PW as if by magic , certain engines could run. Who knows we could even see Hymeks with steam heat boilers reinstalled soon running !.............................

 

I look forward to the WSR's new secure financial position being evidenced when they contribute the requires sum to the overhaul of 53808. When this kind of tangible action is taken, I'll start to allow trust to be rebuilt.

 

Porcine aviation theory methinks !

 

I doubt whether Standard class 4 2-6-4Ts ever worked on the Minehead branch in BR days, but I have seen a photo of one on the ex-GWR Taunton - Barnstaple line nearby. So, 80064 looks perfectly OK on the WSR, not that we want to be pedantic anyway!

 

In the context of a purely GWR railway being suggested as one of the reasons for evicting the S&D Trust, any class that never ran on the WSR, even if GWR, is inauthentic. But was pure GWR ever actually cited by the WSR management as a reason, or was it just speculation on here? Anyway it would have been a lame excuse, as was the allegedly urgent need for the site to be released for the WSR's own use. The originally cited reason was as quoted in post #44216.

 

Update from the WSR Wagon Division

With GW Chaired Sleeper 100678 now complete, attention has turned back to our other projects. We are very grateful to the WSRA for funding the new deck plates and info plates.

Work on BR Vanwide B784676 has been continuing well in the background at Minehead, whilst at Williton focus has gone back to our long term project GW 5 Plank Open 135744. Our fair weather outside project GW Macaw 32742 has been paused for the moment as some new gusset plates are required.

 

Excellent work.

 

Have you considered using Tricoya instead of plywood for your panelling? It's getting more and more use on heritage railways for this purpose and with a claimed life of 50+ years outside should outlast most of us. It takes paint well and with a lack of swelling and shrinkage the paint tends to last.
https://tricoya.com/

 

That isn't something I have heard about before, thankyou for the recommendation. All the timber is in stock for current projects but we will look into it for the next one.
We do find that following the application of our chosen resin based hardener/primer, Ply sheets last quite some time - certainly not 50 years though!

 

Just in case anyone was wishing to travel behind 6880 Betton Grange this week. <BJ>

''Sadly 6880 Betton Grange has failed. It is thought that a gasket has failed in the smokebox, hope to be back in service by the end of the week''.