Is a physical rail connection important?

Wasn't there some plan to build a park and ride for commuters at Aston Rowant to take traffic off the M40?

 

I'm sure others may correct me but isn't there also an advantage of being a railway from somewhere to somewhere when it comes to the VAT treatment of ticket revenue as such journeys are zero rated whilst a ride which does not perform a transport function incurs VAT?

 

This is true but does not need a mainline connection. ASFAIK it is the availabilty of intermediate fares which is the VAT criteria. For example you can get a single on SVR between Bridgnorth and Hampton Load

 

I seem to remember Quainton (might have been Didcot) got in trouble over this a few years ago ie not paying VAT when they should have.

 

The way i see it is this, if a railway has a mainline conection, it then has the means to make use of it, from bringing in ballast and materials in bulk, cheaper and where they need it, directly to where they need to reballast, so money can be saved there, if your hiring in a visiting loco, if its passed to run on NR,again, it could be easier than by low loader, as you have it already in steam, so can put it straight over the pit and service it, FTR it, having the connection isnt the problem, its being able to make best use of it,
Many Preserved railways are only accessible these days by car, and some stations may not have adequate parking, or come to that a regular bus service, many being down back roads, away from town centres, most likely the very reason for their closure in the first place.

 

IMHO rather too many "could's" and "may's"! The sweet sound of wishful thinking?

PH

 

PH seems to have a problem with me it would seem, so Paul, one question, you state that Havenstreet no longer has a bus service, is that correct, so the only easy conection has to be your own side by side conection at Smallbrook, Now if that were to be lost, and the only public access to The line would be at Wooton, most likily by foot from Wooton bridge, how much would that cost the railway in the loss of trade not everyone who comes to the island can bring their car with them, day trippers etc? as if you have a buggy |& kids in tow, are they more likily to go elsewhere? Getting back to my post i was just stating what most mainline connected railways already do, they get ballast in from NR, plant, and guest locos, where they can, in effect what i was saying is if you have a connection, it makes sence to use it where it is possible to obtain savings from using it, as opposed to road transport.

 

This was investigated by Chiltern very early in the process which ultimately led them to building the chord at Bicester so they could offer a service to Oxford.

They also looked at reinstating the Thane branch as one of the early options but the whole process was very much a high level scoping exercise at that stage. When the numbers were crunched in detail the Bicester option came out best.

 

If you provide a transport function, it is essentially zero rated. However, this does not include transport within an attraction, even if a separate fare is charged. It is not necessary to have single fares but it helps prove that you are providing a transport function if you provide them and they are used.

 

What did I say about wishful thinking? In other words wanting to have something and then trying to think up reasons to justify it. An early example of this was an attempt to revive the Waverley Route which was going to wax rich on cabbage traffic!

Back to specifics. The vast number of visitors to the IOWSR come by car or motor coach to Havenstreet. It might be unpalatable to you but it is a plain fact. You can get to Wootton perfectly well by bus. It takes longer but the vehicles are excellent and the route is more scenic. I can get to Havenstreet earlier by this means because of timetable patterns but the difference in levels between road and rail at Wootton would make it a bit awkward for frailer people.

PH

 

Only shows the limitations of rail connections.

PH

 

This is not a limitation with respect to a mainline connection - it is a limitation of any heritage railway - i.e. you cant run till the bobby turns up

 

This was talked about, but tbh it's almost a complete non-starter. As above, it was considered by Chiltern but I think only really so they could say they'd looked at all the options. Having driven from Chinnor to the M40 in the past hour the problems with the plan are both manifold and legion!

First off, a significant problem might turn out to be that it could end up being vastly popular. I'm all for railways being reinstated as railways rather than preservation schemes, but that's what we'd be talking about here. Nevertheless the junction off the M40 onto the B4009 wasn't built to handle more than a tiny level of traffic so that would need complete re-modelling. The B4009, as it's name suggests, is not the world's biggest road, so it would need widening. The trackbed is off the B4009, along a single carriageway lane, halfway up a hill in an almost entirely unspoilt (now Chinnor cement works has gone) rural area which would have to be levelled off and concreted over to provide car parking - probably leading to mass compulsory purchasing and the CPRE fighting every step of the way (and in an area with some of the nation's highest house prices). Volumes could be so significant that you'd have to look at doubling the line, which is all engineered to single track at the moment, and has multiple gated level crossings, which would have to be automated or more likely these days bridged.

One of those schemes which looks good on paper but doesn't survive first contact with reality. The only way it could be made to survive is probably a few hundred million pounds.

 

I think that you have taken the opposite view to the one Paul always takes, that is: "WIBN = Wouldn't it be nasty".

 

Nah, whole new category - "Wouldn't It Be Vanishingly Unlikely?" WIBVU

 

Not possible because it would be too successful.......

That may seem like a new one although I have come across a few people involved in Railway Preservation who bemoan success and being busy and long for a simpler, quieter, less successful life............

Steven

 

I just looked at the CPR website and it says "how to get to the railway if arriving by rail"

"catch a train to PR and get a taxi to Chinnor" I think this just about sums up the whole thread....

well done on finally getting there BTW; I'll schedule a visit!

 

yes what i call the preservation taliban, they would prefer to turn back the clock , but in reality the clock cant be turned back. normally its groups of people who fall out with the management and then think they were in the right, and everyone else was wrong

 

Actually, I was thinking more of the 'easy lifers' referred to elsewhere, who can infiltrate any part of an organisation, but I also know the sort of thing you mean by an 'authenticity Taliban' - they are often very guilty of @paulhitch's favourite 'W.I.B.N' - 'wouldn't it be nice to hold a Gala recreating the BR era of trains, involving lots of hire and transport costs but relying on there not being too many passengers for the limited passenger accommodation being operated' (overcrowding is one of the signs of success which 'easy lifers' hate)

Steven