West Somerset Railway General Discussion

There is so many hidden treasures on the west Somerset railway. The recent picture on Steve edge's website of the ticket printer at dunster is but one of these. Wish it was made more of a feature for the public to see.

 

That would be this picture?

A number of Railways run very successful 'behind the scenes' days.

Perhaps something we should think about in Somerset.

Robin

 

What about something like the 'naturewatching' train that has been run in the past, probably with the DMU?

 

Congratulations to Mr Aldfort on his appointment as vice Chairman of the WSRA. I am totally confident that he will do his absolute best to serve our wonderful railway.

Onwards and upwards.

 

It is a retrograde step not to appoint a Compnay Secretary. Many of the past problems were caused by not having a suitably qualified CS. When the articles are rewritten I hope that they will include a requirement for a treasurer and a Company Secretary.

 

I will make sure the chairman is aware of your concern.
On the plus side we do have a Treasurer now.
I think we should keep this discussion out of this thread give that the mods shut down the WSRA specific thread a while ago. However do feel free to pm me if you have on-going concerns or e-mail the Association direct.

 

Any idea when the 2017timetables will be out?

 

Keep checking here.

http://westsomersetrailway.vticket.co.uk/calendar.php?jssCart=abd87e1bcb312b07121b357ba43d2889

 

Hopefully the diesel turn finally gets its extra mileage back instead of that turn around at Wiliton, We can but hope,

 

That might please the 20 or so diesel enthusiasts who turn up for the diesel running days, but if you have travelled on the Williton - Minehead returning train you will have noticed that there is a considerable demand from the general public at that time - especially for passengers returning from Watchet to Minehead - it can arrive at MD almost full, whereas when it used to run through to BL, it would only be the enthusiasts making the most of the extra mileage. When it was the DMU, it would frequently have single-figure numbers. Surely it's best to run trains for which there is greatest demand for all types of passengers?

 

Bit negative isnt it ?
I mean I know I'm one of many who won't travel whilst its still load 3 and less mileage,
Better to put the money straight in the DEPG kitty, then pay more for less,

Better to go else where and get your moneys worth then pay £20 for less at wsr,

 

I don't see what's negative about providing trains at the times that most people want to travel. As for the load 3 in the peak timetable, it's been discussed ad nauseam on this forum that that is the number of coaches left after the 21 or 22 needed for the steam services have been allocated. In the green timetable, when a 6-coach rake is used, if you were to count the number of passengers, you would find that they could easily be accommodated in 3 coaches, so running longer trains doesn't appear to attract more enthusiasts.

I can see a catch-22 situation arising here - the WSR doesn't increase the number or mileage of diesel trains because they don't think there's sufficient demand, whereas the enthusiast doesn't travel because the service is not to their liking!

By the way, these are my own personal observations - they are not meant to be in any way an official WSR comment. Negative? No, just facts!

 

Ian's second paragraph sums it up perfectly!
The WSR cant afford to be running trains around with hardly anyone on them.

Robin F.

 

I do hope the £25 seven day rover tickets will be available next year, great value to use over weekend with diesel running days, and looks like the windows on front coach behind loco will be available.

 

Agree, it's a great site. Enjoyed pictures of line from 80s.

 

No company secretary?!

You cannot run an organisation such as the WSRA (a company) without a company secretary fulfilling all the roles imposed by statute surely? Especially after the last few years hiatus!

Cheers,
Julian

 

There in lies the problem,
the trains run empty cause people feel alienated ,
The whole load 3 only thing put a few people off, the no buffet put a few more people off, then the turn round at wiliton was the final straw for the rest,
With it staying how it is people are staying away,
If it wasn't for having a lineside pass I'd stay away, at least I can enjoy the trains from the lineside instead eh,

 

But it's already been explained the traffic isn't there to justify a longer train or a longer trip.

There is a direct cost to running a bigger train. Every carriage will need periodic mileage-based examination, which means taking it out of traffic and labour expended in the examination and correcting any wear and tear. If I've understood correctly, you are suggesting changing a three coach diagram that does 60 miles per day into a six coach diagram that does 80 miles, on a timetable that runs about 50 days per year. That is adding about 15,000 extra carriage miles to the fleet each year - if the direct C&W cost is assessed as, say, £1 per carriage per mile, that is adding about £15k per year of direct cost to the railway each year. That's a lot of extra tickets just to make up the revenue.

I obviously don't know the precise WSR cost model, and I might be out by a factor of two, but I doubt I am out by a factor of ten. But the key point is that what sounds like a good idea to add excitement to the journey comes with a real, eye-watering cost when you scale it up to be day-in, day-out. That money could almost inevitably be spent more wisely elsewhere than hauling round empty carriages on one diagram every day.

Tom

 

I agree that appointing a treasurer is a positive, and essential step. Now that we are, and I hope will remain, one railway, it seems a legitimate topic. It was not my intention to be controversial.

 

I don't know the hire arrangements between the DEPG and WSR, they could be a daily hire fee or a mileage fee. If the latter, then that will also add to the costs of longer running. Just as a matter of interest, one of the main reasons in running a diesel-loco-hauled set at weekends is to schedule in maintenance days for the DMU, so it is supposed to directly replace the facilities found on the DMU.