woodenhead Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 Some further updates from WSR on the £1m appeal, http://www.wsr.org.uk/news.htm#2343 It's possible that as the work to upgrade the Minehead crossing completes the railway itself could close if funds are not found. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mulgabill Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 (edited) On a more positive note, I yesterday noted a coach (road), waiting to pick up a bunch of "tourists" from the first train of the day. Some services have not seemed that full, but I now suspect that some numbers may have been picked up, previously, from Watchet, which would have been the original destination. (As the timetable got a fairly serious revision, after trains had started). I am also reliably informed ticket sales have been good, except, for some reason, last Saturday evenings train. This was cancelled, as apparently they had sold only 8 tickets! The diesel fleet has shrunk, the Class 14 has gone, on hire, to the KESR, and the 47 is at BL, awaiting clearance from, Highways England, to travel. (Motorway problems). At least the DEPG will be earning some revenue. There are 2 galas to look forward to "Mixed Traffic" 17th / 18th Sept, with Friday Diesel, and Saturday steam/Diesel. Normal steam Sunday. And Steam Gala Fri 1st - Sun 3rd October. They certainly need the support of all that can. TONY Sorry almost forgot the gratuitous pics - from Sunday. Edited July 7, 2021 by Mulgabill add pics 7 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PenrithBeacon Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 Last Saturday I noticed there was scaffolding up around the water tower at Minehead. Also there was a very large gap in the barrier at the level crossing which is there to prevent access to the line. The fish and chips takeaway near to the station was doing good business! 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mulgabill Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 An update / background re the crossing replacement. https://www.rsprail.co.uk/west-somerset-relocatable-equipment-building/ I found it quite interesting, some of you will actually understands all of it, and will hopefully interpret it for the rest of us. TONY 1 1 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold adb968008 Posted July 8, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 8, 2021 18 hours ago, Mulgabill said: An update / background re the crossing replacement. https://www.rsprail.co.uk/west-somerset-relocatable-equipment-building/ I found it quite interesting, some of you will actually understands all of it, and will hopefully interpret it for the rest of us. TONY Relocateable Equipment Building… so technical they need to describe it, but to the rest of the world… its a Portacabin / Prefab. 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold adb968008 Posted July 8, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 8, 2021 (edited) On 07/07/2021 at 09:11, woodenhead said: Some further updates from WSR on the £1m appeal, http://www.wsr.org.uk/news.htm#2343 It's possible that as the work to upgrade the Minehead crossing completes the railway itself could close if funds are not found. Sad that its coming to that. I just still dont understand how destructive its become or why. I cant help but wonder if closure is the ultimate goal, for some other hidden agendas that are not yet known, it just feels to me like the actions we read about are consistently destructive. It doesn't make sense, and if the £1m appeal raises only £13k, it doesn't sound like theres much goodwill incoming, and plays into that reasoning that the venture has become unsupported. Who owns what, when it comes to company, land, has it been taken over by outside interests etc ? Edited July 8, 2021 by adb968008 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mulgabill Posted July 9, 2021 Share Posted July 9, 2021 Land and trackbed are owned by Somerset Council, I believe. Currently leased to the WSR PLC. But some of the recent past divisions were exacerbated by the the associations "offer" for said trackbed, a few years back. Whilst that is in the past, and all interested parties are very much about the WSR Famiy. It still discourages interested outsiders, who might otherwise contribute to the cause, With regards only raising £13000 against 1m appeal. That is only against the new 1m appeal, The previous money raising, since last March, raised 1.4m including grants. And this appeal stems from the failure in obtaining 400k in the last "govt" round. TONY 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenhead Posted July 9, 2021 Share Posted July 9, 2021 24 minutes ago, Mulgabill said: With regards only raising £13000 against 1m appeal. That is only against the new 1m appeal, The previous money raising, since last March, raised 1.4m including grants. And this appeal stems from the failure in obtaining 400k in the last "govt" round. There is a big gap between £400k and £1m - so even if they had got that money, they were still £600k short on what they need to survive. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted July 9, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 9, 2021 1 hour ago, woodenhead said: There is a big gap between £400k and £1m - so even if they had got that money, they were still £600k short on what they need to survive. What they say they need to survive. What we don't know is what economies are possible without hurting the railway's revenue earning potential or what things could be done (dining train anybody?) to improve the revenue potential. The associaition is certainly not ina particulay; parlous situation as its latest accounts show - https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-live.ch.gov.uk/docs/xTDufM0AEnHrahQF9YroeZZlquCG_Jt5JZoAjjePo-0/application-pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAWRGBDBV3IEH3FLEI%2F20210709%2Feu-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20210709T113547Z&X-Amz-Expires=60&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEKL%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEaCWV1LXdlc3QtMiJIMEYCIQCC0AA6joTCJy6C1oQTklXbzNki7wJVh4%2Fd4Wvh5TdH7AIhAMJQO0asvVkhrBnOE9iDSHqEGzLvr8nYTXyLW1QcMv0RKoMECIr%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEQAxoMNDQ5MjI5MDMyODIyIgw6czJN2vDm5mWSn%2Fcq1wPMMQv9YglMzawZSdTBCHQU4%2B7KsxvOHHcJq1hCaNDuzbx0bbH1BXDaD9WDOa9YayT9KRu7gNVUr0YC934w4sqW8oH1Wt7370KvKpKqGIMk9zmaIZPzdLmw5WQ6j37MxuSmZ3gBicQkD0uAvpLYwCT06xjxvmS9eNM%2BG9JlKODiZ8Mq8G2kbU2nyIyNgI0ugqB9XYAiKax31fuekSIDT76T73RCedAMbDEgQDqKLgqRldAW4yl3iirlU3w7cJzbk%2FeAbpL5ck9%2Bf9jU100GGncMPe9sxTZS2bKrVW4AqkBQrfVjb0rIkZOmSiHr9Ckg2QiB6lk1TPkKpAcg1%2FA793jACqj7%2FecYR1e312btNHzmsmnZilzI1kNqnX2acQPucp9T6P%2FtFP8unyiiy0Ybb5jgAq9UbxrTDxOGYEsm6B8KGD9MVdHxmdUdUzGt5GW%2Bq38BZkAheGKvOiTSaTLsnKuI%2Ff2q5FwkGz4swgiYSidkrhViNkqmLb3%2B5H7ATYnB4EUgcXip0Yks6md2f%2FLQWgbt4ZGCmV%2F%2BfFyhXeX3yKPg4g49DRymYpJrMFldICRP4Txbd2htZT8ylXAO9N11413tM0xRuOFikW66UeGX0GUqhE8txXas2jgw66aghwY6pAFfgku9kQ00CrvBMMTVQvX26YC0BOoAY%2FJs2AYtgcIe0Y44bUyIzqOiYN7OzyZCQSVJ0MUvx7BWrJdxLXLi2XjHJaPlqJOBAi76SUQKQRjxcWEqRxoGatVPkfj6sEG8gH73GcH%2FJPXKq%2F1EY8V2D1g7Yv1ScsKKc39oqvQlsWsYWnKeQ64cpWDxQQ0Iey0zCrKpoNP%2BYKDHj2FvkCIlpPVqQI9Ecg%3D%3D&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&response-content-disposition=inline%3Bfilename%3D"companies_house_document.pdf"&X-Amz-Signature=6af12331070367d5418393e2df766f8de5cc341b242b7c344d7bd6aea73485f8 The most recent copy of the PLC's accounts is also interesting - with 48 staff on the books despite using considerable volunteer labour https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-live.ch.gov.uk/docs/hG8sRyGxQvFIOtHRUqfRooIK_-W26negnKaWXx_cHv0/application-pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAWRGBDBV3IEH3FLEI%2F20210709%2Feu-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20210709T113945Z&X-Amz-Expires=60&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEKL%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEaCWV1LXdlc3QtMiJIMEYCIQCC0AA6joTCJy6C1oQTklXbzNki7wJVh4%2Fd4Wvh5TdH7AIhAMJQO0asvVkhrBnOE9iDSHqEGzLvr8nYTXyLW1QcMv0RKoMECIr%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEQAxoMNDQ5MjI5MDMyODIyIgw6czJN2vDm5mWSn%2Fcq1wPMMQv9YglMzawZSdTBCHQU4%2B7KsxvOHHcJq1hCaNDuzbx0bbH1BXDaD9WDOa9YayT9KRu7gNVUr0YC934w4sqW8oH1Wt7370KvKpKqGIMk9zmaIZPzdLmw5WQ6j37MxuSmZ3gBicQkD0uAvpLYwCT06xjxvmS9eNM%2BG9JlKODiZ8Mq8G2kbU2nyIyNgI0ugqB9XYAiKax31fuekSIDT76T73RCedAMbDEgQDqKLgqRldAW4yl3iirlU3w7cJzbk%2FeAbpL5ck9%2Bf9jU100GGncMPe9sxTZS2bKrVW4AqkBQrfVjb0rIkZOmSiHr9Ckg2QiB6lk1TPkKpAcg1%2FA793jACqj7%2FecYR1e312btNHzmsmnZilzI1kNqnX2acQPucp9T6P%2FtFP8unyiiy0Ybb5jgAq9UbxrTDxOGYEsm6B8KGD9MVdHxmdUdUzGt5GW%2Bq38BZkAheGKvOiTSaTLsnKuI%2Ff2q5FwkGz4swgiYSidkrhViNkqmLb3%2B5H7ATYnB4EUgcXip0Yks6md2f%2FLQWgbt4ZGCmV%2F%2BfFyhXeX3yKPg4g49DRymYpJrMFldICRP4Txbd2htZT8ylXAO9N11413tM0xRuOFikW66UeGX0GUqhE8txXas2jgw66aghwY6pAFfgku9kQ00CrvBMMTVQvX26YC0BOoAY%2FJs2AYtgcIe0Y44bUyIzqOiYN7OzyZCQSVJ0MUvx7BWrJdxLXLi2XjHJaPlqJOBAi76SUQKQRjxcWEqRxoGatVPkfj6sEG8gH73GcH%2FJPXKq%2F1EY8V2D1g7Yv1ScsKKc39oqvQlsWsYWnKeQ64cpWDxQQ0Iey0zCrKpoNP%2BYKDHj2FvkCIlpPVqQI9Ecg%3D%3D&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&response-content-disposition=inline%3Bfilename%3D"companies_house_document.pdf"&X-Amz-Signature=4dea3e25bf270d81e9ff2242befee36a59ac6c7f874ef4d77a377f4e15d3feb6 I don't know about the present directors etc but the days of the original 'robber baron' and his very private bright ideas to make a personal fortune out of the land assets of the WSR are long gone (and no doubt is he as well, along with his cronies). 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenhead Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 More info on the gap. It's £500k to keep going and £500k towards winter works for a return of red route availability, sort of answers why they asked for £1m to make a up a £400k shortfall in Government grants. http://www.wsr.org.uk/news.htm#2349 1 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted July 13, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 13, 2021 1 hour ago, woodenhead said: More info on the gap. It's £500k to keep going and £500k towards winter works for a return of red route availability, sort of answers why they asked for £1m to make a up a £400k shortfall in Government grants. http://www.wsr.org.uk/news.htm#2349 I do wonder what work they had ever done previously in order to upgrade the branch to Red? And in fact even 28XX and 78XX were not permitted between Bishops Lydeard and Minehead BR (and probably GWR) days so they might sensibly at least get it into the right state for them before getting it to Red status. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold adb968008 Posted July 13, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 13, 2021 Many preserved lines have received government grants, how come the WSR wasn't considered worthy? 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium phil-b259 Posted July 13, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 13, 2021 On 08/07/2021 at 12:21, adb968008 said: Relocateable Equipment Building… so technical they need to describe it, but to the rest of the world… its a Portacabin / Prefab. 'Portakabin' is a registered trademark and only buildings sold / hired from its creator (The Shepherd Building Group Ltd.) can be described as such in anything official. Relocatable Equipment Building" (or 'REB' as they get called for short) is therefore used to cover such structures as it is generic. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium phil-b259 Posted July 13, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 13, 2021 21 minutes ago, adb968008 said: Many preserved lines have received government grants, how come the WSR wasn't considered worthy? Its about what you are going to do with the money. Much like lottery grants the conditions, of this extra Covid support grant explicitly rules out things which could be termed operational costs (an extreme example being paying the electricity bill say). The GCR got rebuffed last year IIRC for a similar reason. Thus the railway needs to be careful what it says its going to use the money on - and in this case it would seem the WSR didn't do a good enough job in selecting the right things. 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mulgabill Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 10 minutes ago, adb968008 said: Many preserved lines have received government grants, how come the WSR wasn't considered worthy? They received a sizeable amount in the first round, this more recent round, found them considered to be too commercial. Hence the impression that they are missing about £400k of income, at a time when they have little in reserve, following on from the losses that prompted this topic. TONY 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold adb968008 Posted July 14, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 14, 2021 Too commercial ? I wonder how is that defined / measured ? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold rodent279 Posted July 17, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 17, 2021 On 13/07/2021 at 12:09, The Stationmaster said: I do wonder what work they had ever done previously in order to upgrade the branch to Red? And in fact even 28XX and 78XX were not permitted between Bishops Lydeard and Minehead BR (and probably GWR) days so they might sensibly at least get it into the right state for them before getting it to Red status. Didn't 3822 work on the WSR for some time in the 1990's? 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted July 17, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 17, 2021 2 hours ago, rodent279 said: Didn't 3822 work on the WSR for some time in the 1990's? I don't know which one it was but there was definitely a 28XX working on the WSR at one time, and - all too obviously - a 'Manor'. I don't know why they were originally barred. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold rodent279 Posted July 17, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 17, 2021 (edited) On 17/07/2021 at 17:27, The Stationmaster said: I don't know which one it was but there was definitely a 28XX working on the WSR at one time, and - all too obviously - a 'Manor'. I don't know why they were originally barred. Don't know why I asked.....3850 was the naughty little puppy, I have a photo of it here, taken in 1992. Edited June 6, 2023 by rodent279 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianusa Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 There has been a diesel parked by the Up Platform at Blue Anchor for a couple of days. Brian. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mulgabill Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 18 minutes ago, brianusa said: There has been a diesel parked by the Up Platform at Blue Anchor for a couple of days. Brian. It's been used as the shunt release loco at Dunster. Worked down on the back of the 1st train, and back with/after the last. I presume it's felt that it is more secure stabled at BA, in full view of the camera, and cheaper than returning light to WN. Check Admiralscorner, for some (quirky) coverage on U Tube. TONY 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fezza Posted July 18, 2021 Share Posted July 18, 2021 To sum the situation up, had the current management followed the advice of the governance review and converted the core operation to a charity, they would have got at least half a mill in government support (like the GCR and other lines). They didn't, so they haven't. Don't be surprised if the members aren't rushing to find the half mill that the management decision cost the railway... 1 3 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnofwessex Posted July 18, 2021 Share Posted July 18, 2021 I fear that there is a major 'culture' for want of a better term issue with the WSR and that will lead to its ultimate demise. 1 3 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium rab Posted July 18, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 18, 2021 It'll probably close then be taken over by a group of volunteers. what goes round, comes round. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steamport Southport Posted July 18, 2021 Share Posted July 18, 2021 8 hours ago, fezza said: To sum the situation up, had the current management followed the advice of the governance review and converted the core operation to a charity, they would have got at least half a mill in government support (like the GCR and other lines). They didn't, so they haven't. Don't be surprised if the members aren't rushing to find the half mill that the management decision cost the railway... They probably got more than "half a mill" in furlough money alone. Something they wouldn't have got if they were run by volunteers. How many people do they actually employ? About 50 according to the website. £10,000 each at a low estimate. That's half a million right there. https://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/corporate-information Jason 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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