Blandford1969

A long time ago the price of gas was tied to the price of coal and followed it. Now it is the opposite way round. Prices have fallen a but from their height but are still very expensive and a serious concern to many.

Too much reading 'Beechingposting' or 'The Bash Mash' - a meme is guaranteed within minutes of something happening somewhere on preserved railways.

Love the lubricator pipework. I thought they were hydrostatics ?

The lessons are clear that those that ignore the ORR do so at their peril. Sometimes it can feel frustrating, but better that than not having a railway that can run.

The sets concerned are the two GWR sets. As many will know the feature of these coaches is that the locks have to be manually turned through 90 degrees to either open or close them. As the article mentions with COVID these sets were used more having more compartments. The number of people who could be witnessed at Bridgnorth pulling the open door closed and either 1) expecting it to automatically latch if in the open position, or 2) damage the latch if they had turned it to the closed position. We do also see people pressing the rubber bump stops expecting the door to open. The age of the people I have observed struggling with doors has been anything from 20s to 60's so not sure the Gen Z comment is accurate or fair. The railway has taken a pre-emptive move in relation to these two sets and has taken them temporarily out of service. There are as mentioned a number of things taking place. 1) Updated risk assessments are being carried out taking into account recent experiences and the pattern of locks which have more often been found open. 2) Updated training for platform staff. 3) Additional training of platform staff is being looked at 4) As mentioned there is a solution of a GW self latching lock as fitted on some later GW coaches. These locks though are £350 each and so you can imagine the cost changing all the locks. We already tell passengers which coach to use for which station. In terms of the article it must have been a slow news day for them to pick up on it and of course put their slant on it. The reality is that the environment has changed massively in regards to Health and Safety and the expectations of the ORR . The expectations are not far short of the standards on Network Rail. Each incident on any railway results in the Safety Committee looking at what happened and any lessons that can be learned and applied to the SVR. Not sure what else to add to this, other than we hope to see them back out again in the near future.

Times drain cocks are left open with the regulator open. 1) When the engine is cold coming off shed or staring away with its first train 2) If the loco primes due to water being carried over its important to immediately open the taps till it clears 3) If the engine is going to stand for a period of time, say more than 20 or so minutes 4) BR standard locomotives have a specific instruction that when stationary the cocks must be opened. You sometimes see an ex BR steam man would probably was a young fireman when steam finished commenting on preserved lines that we did not have the taps open when leaving Paddington, Waterloo (insert a starting point) the difference being that the engine has run for a couple of miles from the shed to the starting point and so has already got rid of the water and cylinders are slightly warmed.

Loco grade coal was not just from Wales , yes for the Great Western but not for other railways

Yup, from around £100 to nearly £500 per ton. The price has fallen slightly but is still much higher.

Just to confirm your thoughts here is the front framing on 30368 which confirms your thoughts as well.

Not sure if it helps I looked through the negatives and original slides in my collection which are already scanned and came across these couple of 30368 I hold the copyright on these and hope they are of use to you as part of making this kit Best wishes Duncan

Not a great photo, but it was my angle on the gala. I can comfortably say Taw Valley goes much better in black than it did in lilac - That being said it has had good deal of work on the valve gear over the winter and she was on top form. Why some dislike driving them is beyond me, all I know is its a privilege to be able to drive them and boy was it fun yesterday. What was great was to see the volunteer spirit alive and well over Friday and Saturday. When things went wrong or the weather was rubbish everyone pulled together doing their bit to help everyone else as the big dysfunctional family that we are. If we could have a year like the weekend we have just had - as someone said back to as the railway was before 2019 then it would be amazing. If you travelled I hope you enjoyed it. If you rode behind TW yesterday afternoon or evening hope you enjoyed the run, we did.

Putting this into context the catering now totally relies on volunteers since the redundancies in February. If you take Bridgnorth as an example the cooks are both at least in their 60s and signed on before 7am and finished about 5pm. The weather yesterday afternoon was appalling the forecast is better today. If you are coming there are some changes to the timetable in the evening The 19.25 from Bridgnorth will now be worked by 34027 rather than 43106 and it will then come back on the back of the 21.25 from Kidderminster The 20.40 from Bridgnorth will now be worked by 43106 rather than 4555 The 21.25 from Bridgnorth will now be double headed by 4555 and 7714 (4555 lead engine)

How do you get on with the Gibson's they have a reputation for sticking over time?

No idea is the honest answer.

Maybe, but they would have been a real pain to change being behind the frames. Then again labour was cheap and accidents did not matter to the railway companies in those far off times.

However Chris Price has been very clear the NYMR is having financial challenges and it effects the entire movement.

Some trains were very good on Saturday when I was there, others more lightly loaded. The last one in was really heavily loaded, sad as they don't get much time before the departure.

In the past 35 years as a volunteer I have seen all sorts and spent over 1/3 as a Director. What I see on the ground is a shift and recognition there is a way to go. The cost challenges are massive and we are not unique. Others are struggling too, but may not be being public about it. Just as we heard rumours of what was coming earlier this year which proved correct, we now are also hearing rumours suggesting positive improvements, but they take time to happen. We are all keeping our fingers crossed. There are of course new challenges and unfortunately visitors do not always understand how the doors work on coaches for instance as they press the door stop expecting the door to open. We still are able to have a laugh at times On Saturday afternoon the Driver of Taw Valley said they wanted a bucket of coal (they had some in the morning) This was the result of their request.

To ensure the record is accurate lets look at the last few large projects Bridgnorth shed yard / points - paid for from an appeal, on budget and on time Bridgnorth shed rebuild and crane, paid for from an appeal, on budget and on time Hampton Loade slip - works paid for by a company who used the railway as a test bed to prove a way of dealing with slips - no cost to the railway Falling Sands viaduct - funded by the Charitable Trust and National Lottery - on budget and on time Hagley Hall - paid for the the Charitable Trust Bridgnorth refreshment rooms- went beyond the original budget, but still within the money raised Kidderminster Diesel depot - came in on budget from an appeal To answer the how would I know is down to the position held for a good number of years. Yes some older projects did cost more than expected which pre date the Charitable Trust (eg the wheel drop which was learned from as have each subsequent project to make sure any lesson are always leaned. However your statement is not a fair reflection of the past few years. The issues are a perfect storm 1) Minimum wage rises have pushed up many of the ancillary staff who supported the railway in catering, pubs, cleaning 2) Covid 3) Cost of coal and utilities - coal went from around £100 a ton to nearly £500 per ton- each loco will burn about 2.5 tons per day 4) The world around railways has changed in terms of compliance requirements and the ORR requirements which come out of incidents on preserved lines. All railways are being effected by these issues and the recent changes in leadership are already showing in more thanks being given and more encouragement to volunteers. The green shoots are there and we all hope to see more changes which we hope will encourage more people to visit us. We all want the railway to survive.

The colour makes no difference, the steam brake still sticks no matter what colour paint it has !

There has been lots of negative comments over the past few days about volunteering, so lets get back to the why. The driver this afternoon asked for a bucket of coal. There is still a good deal of camaraderie to be had. So please do not be put off reading all the negative comments.

Whereabouts was the Moorewood one and I will have a look

The tender top is FAB

Love how you have made the lubricators, great work

Looks great. Do they not have a drop link?