Paignton & Dartmouth Steam Railway

[whole diary]

[John R]

Some unrest in Devon being reported at the decision of the above mentioned railway to rebrand itself and drop Paignton from its title.

On the home page it gives a brief description of the route as follows:-

Dartmouth Steam Railway steam trains travel seven miles along the most spectacular South Devon coast down into the Dart Valley, a designated area of outstanding beauty; with stations at Goodrington Sands, Churston and the beautiful village of Kingswear which sits proudly opposite the pretty Port of Dartmouth.

So, no truth in the rumour that the company is embarrassed by it's connection with the town of Paignton then? 

[devon_metro]

Can't say I blame it 

In all seriousness, the new name is stupid. Long and entirely forgettable.

Next "Paignton Zoo" will be calling itself "Whitley Wildlife Trust". Oh wait...

[signalandtelegraph]

Should go back to being the Torbay Steam Railway if it wants to attract 'tourists' 

[devon_metro]

Should go back to being the Torbay Steam Railway if it wants to attract 'tourists' 

Indeed, certainly the most logical name, considering all 4 stations served fall within Torbay (the council boundary anyway - 2 of them cast their ballot paper in South Hams, such an odd setup)

[paul7575]

Indeed, certainly the most logical name, considering all 4 stations served fall within Torbay (the council boundary anyway - 2 of them cast their ballot paper in South Hams, such an odd setup)

Unless you adjust all council boundaries to contain multiples of approximately 70,000 people (rough number of voters per parliamentary constituency) - that will always be a requirement, ITYF...

Paul

[Super Guard]

Can't say I blame it 

Seconded

[devon_metro]

Can't say I blame it 

Seconded

I'll choose not to take offence and class myself as a resident of nearby Goodrington


It does seem strange that PDSR have dropped the station that provides most traffic; you try boarding the first train to Kingswear when the weather is nice at Paignton! I noticed that all of the local bus services that "Riverlink" now run are branded by whatever the new name is (I honestly cannot remember it!!!!!!). I think that explains the renaming, as it amalgamates Riverlink and the PDSR (even though they were the same company).

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

A woman from Devon has been jailed for a year after admitting stealing nearly ^50,000 from the company where she worked to fund her fruit machine addiction.

Tracey Spilsbury, 47, from Paignton, was employed as a cashier at the Dart Steam Railway Company. Between April and September this year she stole ^45,972 - 50% of the company's annual profit.

The mother of one was sentenced earlier at Exeter Crown Court.

Prosecutor Mark Barton said Ms Spilsbury's job at the railway involved taking all the money in from the cashiers and putting it in the safe. When police arrested her they found just ^150 in cash at her home. She told them she had spent all the money on fruit machines, trying to win back what she had already taken.

Mr Barton said: "It had spiralled out of control. She spent none of it on her family or herself but fed it all into the fruit machines."

The court heard that Ms Spilsbury's gambling addiction was so bad that she was playing two gaming machines at the same time.

Defence barrister Gareth Evans said: "The extent of her dishonesty took her by surprise. Nobody was aware of what she was doing and she was not spending that money in any other way. She never expected to get away with this and every time she went to work she expected the police to be there to arrest her."

Sentencing her Judge David Tyzack QC said: "This is a very sad case indeed. You wickedly helped yourself to the very substantial amount of money. The company can ill afford to lose such a large sum of money and there is no chance it will get any of the money back."

[super tm]

Seems ridiculous to me that in these days of computerised accounts it took the railway company 6 months to realise such a large sums of money were being continually taken.

[devon_metro]

Bet that kept the Grockel Road traders afloat...!!!

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Dartmouth steam railway station development delayed

Plans to completely redevelop a train station on a steam railway in Devon have been put on hold for 12 months, its managing company has said.

Work had been due to be carried out at the Queen's Park Station in Paignton, home to the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway.

The Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boat Company said improvements would be made for the 2011 season instead.

It added that it hoped to carry out a complete refurbishment by April 2012.

Group general manager Andrew Pooley said: "Unforeseen technical challenges has led to this late decision and I felt it was too risky to proceed with the full redevelopment this year. In the meantime, we will be upgrading some of the facilities at Paignton."

[JayMac]

I'd imagine a lack of funds would also partly be to blame.




Edit note: Link to split topic removed. CfN.

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

An admin may want to split this one off, as its covering two different railways, unless they share ownership?

[Chris from Nailsea]

Fair point, relex109 - I'll do a bit of 'tidying up'.

Chris. 

[julian]

Was this the company where an employee was recently jailed for making off with over ^45000 which she then spent playing fruit machines?