S&D Railway Trust

I certainly agree that the eviction of the S&DRT from Washford is most regrettable. The affair will continue for some time to tarnish the reputation of the WSR leadership.

However, the bulk of the S&DRT's stock has now moved away to other sites, and their focus is increasingly on developing a presence at the new sites. The publicity from the Washford affair will likely have brought extra members and volunteers to the S&DRT, but the moves of locos and rolling stock will have cost thousands of pounds. So if people are able, they might wish to consider a donation to help the S&DRT cover these costs and move forward.

 

RUBBISH !!!!

 

Care to give some examples or evidence of this?

 

Don't hold your breath, the proof will come when the subject of the overhaul of 53808 comes up, i'm expecting the WSR plc to insist on terms that will never be acceptable to the trust, such as signing a long term running agreement that ties the engine to the line, before any overhaul commences as a way to claim the trust has refused to agree to the overhaul.so they can get out of their liability to it.

 

What total nonsense. The whole debacle is down to the ego of the WSR plc Chairman who could not bear to be told ‘no’ when demanding money from the S&DRT for his first winter of works.

Given that the WSR plc now has no reserves to speak of, it will be interesting to see how it approaches its overhaul liability to 53808, widely thought to be of the order of £250,000.

Don’t hold your breath for an honourable approach.

 

Could this push the PLC into insolvency?

 

I doubt it. I don’t know what the agreement says but locomotive overhauls on heritage railways are typically carried out, and therefore funded, over several years.

In addition we already know the WSR plc is not liable for the entire cost of the overhaul. the latest S&D Trust annual report (uploaded on 12/06/23 to the Charity Commission website) includes:
"The pre-existing 10 year operating agreement with the West Somerset Railway remains suspended for the period until the boiler certificate expires with the Trust retaining the cash for steaming fees on the strict understanding that it be made available for the overhaul of the locomotive. The suspension agreement clarifies WSR’s requirement to provide funding which will reflect WSR’s usage since the previous overhaul. The original agreement remains in place and WSR’s contractual commitment to carry out the overhaul is unaffected."

Therefore the plc's potential liability is limited by the 2 items highlighted above, and the second might be negotiable depending on how tightly this was defined in the original agreement. Unreliable memory tells me the Trust had already agreed to fund works needed to the tender tank, or perhaps this has already been done - no doubt someone'll correct me if necessary.

 

Hard to say. What is clear is that they are not keeping up with maintenance. A practical expression of that is (1) the gradually expanding cripple line of coaches at Minehead 'awaiting restoration' and (2) the short-formed sets at the recent Gala.

 

The trust is currently fundraising to replace the tender tank which you are correct in saying they will pay to have replaced.

 

Did the WSR help fund the removal of rolling stock off the site ?
Presumably there is also a requirement to restore the site to its pre SDRT occupation situation.

 

You mean bugger all there then?

 

he's just another pro WSR plc troll judging by his previous statements, the sites pre SDRT condition was an overgrown wasteland, no track, no buildings, I would think that to leave the site as they found it, would signal an desire on the part of the SDRT to sever all links to the Current management of the WSR. it would make discussions re 53808 very difficult, if not impossible, I would imagine they will be very hard anyway, as there will be a reluctance of the part of the SDRT, to believe anything that comes from the WSR PLc, without it being witnessed and signed and backed by a cast iron legal agreement,

 

The two 0-4-0 diesel shunters at Washford, one Ruston the other Barclay, are for sale:
https://www.tractionads.co.uk/html/_current.html

 

Thanks for drawing attention to this announcement.

When I last visited the WSR in early June, the Ruston shunter was in Washford yard (Post #4210 above). I guess that the Barclay shunter is inside the shed, possibly with the restored S&D coach for company.

Let's hope that new uses are found for these two small vintage diesels.

 

Would be a real shame to see either leave the South West - both different parts of the story of industrial railways in Somerset and important pieces of the puzzle, 349 in particular

 

A few shots of 53808's last evening in service.

To start, 53808 coming off shed about to start it's final duty hauling the 4/11/23 RAT service.


S&DJR 7F 53808 by Tim White, on Flickr


S&DJR 7F 53808 by Tim White, on Flickr

And a couple of shots at the end of the evening after hauling the ECS back to Ropley awaiting disposal.


S&DJR 7F 53808 by Tim White, on Flickr


S&DJR 7F 53808 by Tim White, on Flickr

 

Some pics from Fridays charter & yesterdays final trains......

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/53311559909/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/53311473558/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/53311677455/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/53311561129/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/53311474238/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/53311446563/in/dateposted-public/

 

Some crackers in there young David, thanks for sharing.

 

Some superb shots there.

Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk

 

Here's to the future of 53808. Let's hope the politics of overhaul get sorted out quickly. A few from Firday and Saturday

7F at Butts by Stephen Morley, on Flickr
End of the day by Stephen Morley, on Flickr
Emtying the ash- for the last time for a while! by Stephen Morley, on Flickr