Chapter 3
The Wrecking Ball - (Part 1)
Somerset and Dorset
Introduction
The event which caused most folk outside the West Somerset Railway to realise that something was foul in the state of Somerset was the giving of notice to the Somerset & Dorset Trust to quit the Washford site in early 2019, which they had occupied for 40 years, only a couple of years after they had apparently signed a 50 year lease. The real reason for this has been hinted at on social media but the relevant parties have been reluctant to speak publicly, perhaps for rather different reasons. Well, here’s the truth of it, as I understand it.
Funding the winter works
To fund some works to be carried out in the winter of 2018/19 the WSR plc Chairman, JJP, hit on the wheeze of raiding the funds of all the station and other groups along the line. Personally, this smacks of a Norman Lord imposing a tithe on the villains but nothing actually wrong with that, perhaps.
In passing, I should say that the status of funds held by stations has always been in some doubt. Are they WSR plc trading? Something else?
‘KNEEL before Zod!’
However, the S&DRT are a properly constituted charity and faced with an unexpected demand from their landlord for, I understand, a sizeable figure, they looked at their charitable objects, decided that would be outside it, and then chose to use a banned, heinous word:
‘No.’
(In passing, I note that this is rather like an edict abroad on the Railway at the moment that only ‘positivity’ is allowed. Of course, in a repressive regime, we all recognise what that means.)
Having used the banned word, the response was the notice to quit which we have heard about.
Two WSR plc Directors at the time told me that they were equally horrified as anyone else but felt powerless to do anything about it, fearing that if they spoke up, they would just be removed as Directors. See below for a discussion of dilemmas.
My shame
When the news reached the WSRA by the bush telegraph, we held an emergency Trustees’ meeting, called by three of us. To my eternal shame, I was unable to persuade my fellow Trustees to come out publicly against what was being done. I faced the dilemma of resigning or sticking with collective responsibility and I chose option B.
The Bailey Report
If any good came out of this unholy mess it was the Bailey Report, authored by John Bailey of the NYMR and HRA. This was in two parts. The public part repeated the obvious point (see Chapter 2) that the WSR would be better with a charity in the lead and a subservient operating company. The secret part expressed the opinion that the 50-year lease had not been properly enacted and so was unenforceable.
Now MY reaction, had I been the WSR plc, who had granted the lease would have been to act honourably and be bound by a commitment I had made. That was not the WSR plc’s response and what we have seen since is a negotiated withdrawal from the Washford site by the S&DRT to the mid-Hants Railway, Midsomer Norton and Shillingstone . As the WSR wakes up for the 2023 season, Washford is a desolate site, stripped of its museum and rolling stock. Some negotiations apparently continue over the trackwork and shed but the most likely outcome appears to be more scorched earth.
The (Elephant) 7F in the room
Away at the mid-Hants is the S&DRT’s most significant artefact, ex-S&DRT 7F 2-8-0 locomotive number 53808. ‘Iconic’ is a word far too overused for me to use it without comment, but this locomotive has a VERY special place in the hearts of many WSR folk, myself included. Speaking purely as a WSR ‘Responsible Officer’ it was always good to see ’88 in traffic. It could haul any train; rescue any failed train complete with locomotive; haul any charter; and all the crews knew and loved it (well, almost all). Minehead loco had known it and maintained it for years and a few ‘Andy Foster’ modifications made it a better loco than it had been on the S&DRT. The WSR plc Directors seemed to believe that they could give the S&DRT its marching orders without consequence on the presence of ’88. But no.
The difficulty is the ’88 is on a run-and-repair agreement with the WSR plc and when it comes out of traffic in a short time from now, does the WSR plc have the funds for the overhaul, perhaps £250,000? Is that liability properly recorded in the WSR plc trading accounts? When the loco is restored, would I, if I were an S&DRT trustee, consider letting it anywhere near the WSR now?
And all because of a fit of pique by one person that no-one felt able to challenge.
The Roostery
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© 2023 Robin Moira White
