What's in a name

Recent Rule Book update work by certain WSR folks has raised questions, again, about the names of several bridges on the line. And I've been pleased to provide my thoughts.

For example, the bridge to the south of Leigh Loop - the overbridge with a very narrow arch for trains - is commonly known as "Leigh Bridge" and yet the GWR Survey of 1912 has it as "Leighwood Bridge".

That same survey has the rail-over-road bridge between Doniford and Williton as "Water Lane Bridge". This name is sometimes confused with another bridge "Water Bridge" which is at the north end of Leigh Loop, next to Water Farm. A lot of WSR people refer to the one near Doniford as "Liddymore Bridge", after the nearby locality. All a bit confusing. It could be assumed that "Water Lane Bridge" carries the railway over "Water Lane", but no map has been found to confirm the name of the road.

Another act of confusion has been my own doing. Over the years I have taken many a photograph from the un-named bridge to the west of Washford Station. This bridge gives access, over the deep railway cutting, from the main A39 to the fields to the north. I've long considered this elegant bridge to deserve a name and so "Halscombe Bridge" (after the nearby house) appears on photo captions and also on several maps I have produced.

I guess the updated Rule Book will show for each of these bridges one name and one name only.

Is it me?

Do West Somerset Railway volunteers do it for themselves or for the good of the Railway? A mild-mannered discussion has gently raged on the WSR Yahoo Group about this question. Some postings explaining the detail of the training programme for Guards. Quite a long process with a bit of testing along the way and a formal examination at the end. Seems fair enough to me.

I have to admit my own training as a Guard was a bit more laid back, but is was over 25 years ago when the approach to training was somewhat different as indeed was the world we lived in. Nevertheless I learned the trade the hard way. Modern trainees learn about shunting in a classroom and then some hands on work. For me, I was just thrown in at the deep end. Shunting during the day, after dark, with just me and a driver (and maybe a fireman) and no other staff for miles.

Nowadays, folks get proper tuitition and quite right too!

Back to the original question. Yes I think volunteers do it for themselves but I also think they do it for the Railway. My mother (78 this year!) volunteers at the local charity shop in the Dorset village in which she lives. She enjoys the social side on the one hand, and feels her time is well spent in support of a worthy cause. And why not.

I suggest WSR volunteers are much the same. It's a chance to do something worthwhile for themselves - it hones old and new skills, it provides an social side, it keeps them feeling part of a community, they meet new people; and they also know that their efforts, big or small, further the cause of the Railway. I also think this applies to armchair supporters, those who cannot get to the Railway to physically help out, who talk about the Railway, publicise the Railway, provide funds and so on.

A mild debate is fine but at the end of it one thing is evident. We each get a buzz from being part of this fine Railway...

How many passengers?

The WSR have reported "...at the end of the year we had reached 200,477 passengers as the total number carried compared with 203, 297 in the record year of 2006." At the same time, I am hearing of some very good news from Dorset with the Swanage Railway carrying 200,100 passengers last year. Well done, Swanage. I have a place in my heart for the Dorset railway - my railway volunteering efforts began with the Swanage Railway back in 1975 at a time when there was a Society and a Campaign but nothing else. But the two strands of news about passenger figures raises, yet again, the risk of comparing one with another, since there is no standard method of calculating passenger loadings. For example, is a visitor with a return ticket making a trip out and a trip back one passenger or two? I'm not suggesting the Swanage is making a big deal of their breaking the 200,000 mark, but other railways make a lot of their own figures in marketing and publicity perhaps to the disadvantage of others who may, in fact, be carrying more. It really is about time a body such as the Heritage Railways Association took this particular bull by the horns and laid out a consistent process.

Rolling Stones

Good to see the delivery of spent ballast start yesterday. A huge train from Network Rail arrived, with a large Class 66 loco at each end, and dumped a few hundred tons of stones at the Norton site. The stones have come from track renewal works elsewhere on the main line, the train is a very long purpose-built machine that picks up spent ballast and replaces with fresh in one pass. Well almost like that. The Norton site is of course the WSR Association land in the area between the Minehead branch and the main line. It currently a construction site, with the ballast being used to help built the formation of two curving lines (west and east) that, with re-use of the old Barnstaple trackbed to the south, will complete a triangle of railway. This will be used to turn steam locomotives so they always run chimney-first, and also passenger stock which suffers badly on the side facing the sea at Minehead. Watch developments on www.wsr.org.uk

A good year for passenger numbers

Good news! The Railway has again broken through the 200000 passenger barrier. This news came to me via the blog of The Crier (a local freebie newspaper). It seems the General Manager greeted a chap from Windsor who was taking his family for a trip on the New Year trains and presented them with free tickets in celebration of passing the milestone again. Given it was clearly a pre-planned event it is odd that I can find no mention elsewhere. So what has the Crier got that the rest of the world hasn't? Presumably a man (or woman) in the right place at the right time. Interesting. Going back to the passenger numbers, I am not sure if the 200000+ includes the 700 carried on the Taunton Shuttles (see pic above) operated by First Great Western during the Autumn Steam Gala but, with or without, the Railway is to be congratulated on another good year.

Limited accommodation?

Feeling the need to get on and book somewhere to stay for the second weekend of the Spring Steam Gala we surfed the net (that's an old-fashioned phrase now!) and found a couple of likely looking places. Off went the email enquiries and back came "sorry we are full" messages. One place even suggested the rooms had been taken by "steam enthusiasts". Now that sounds like good news for the town and for the Railway. In reality, I suppose there are lots of places left and we have found somewhere up on North Hill which looks very nice. But some folks might find problems if they leave it too late.