Welsh Highland Heritage Railway – Spring 2009 Newsletter

You are a very sad man, we all know your views about the WHHR and most of us are sick of hearing them, get a life and shut up! :-$ =;

I'm WHHR and proud, I also play on the BIG WHR and FR when I get a chance!

Mark

 

i'm amazed to see someone berate a heritage railway, which has managed to run trains for almost 30 years, who also expresses their pride in associating themselves with railtrack!

we all remember railtrack don't we? who managed to kill 42 rail users and injure 729 others in 3 major accidents during the 8 years of its operation, before being put into administration with £7 billion of debts and plummeting shares (from 200p in dec 03 to 9p in dec 04)? at least the WHHR has managed not to kill anyone!

 

With the same stick you could beat anyone like that...Caledonian Railway, Cambrian Railway, British Railways...hardly seems relevant to the thread mind.

 

maybe not, but railtrack was the most recent, took vast amounts of government money, and failed spectacularly. i'm just trying to highlight a pot, kettle and black situation

 

Changing the tack slightly, and probably risking a visit from a hitman. Has anyone noticed the fare on the WHR? It's been set at £25.00 return from Caernarfon to Hen Hafod, so how much for the full line? I would guess at around £30.00. Now, I'm an enthusiast 56 years of age, and my wife invariably accompanies me on trips so this effectively doubles the burden on my pocket, so it's £60.00 for a full line ride. I think not!! I wouldn't pay that much to see all four Beatles play live on stage again!!

 

Firstly, its 25 miles through stunning scenery on a railway which is, in my opinion, only equalled by the West Highland Line. Secondly, if you dont want to go the whole way, you dont have to. Porthmadog-Beddgelert will make a very pleasant and highly unique journey in itself, with a line running through the town at Port, a crossing of Network Rail, a chance at Pen-y-mount to have a ride on the WHHR and visit their museum, an opportunity to nip off to the Osprey centre at Pont Croesor, with a fast run across traeth mawr, a blast through one of the longest tunnels in narrow gauge preservation, a trundle through the spectacular Aberglaslyn Pass from arguably the best viewpoint, and concluding with a slog up to the station at Beddgelert where not only can you take a wonder through the village but you'll be able to hear Garratts, and hopefully soon a NG15 and replica L&B loco attacking the long 1 in 40 switchback climb through the forest. Who'd want the beatles instead of that?

Chris

 

Chris

I entirely agree with what you say about the quality of the experience. The point I'm trying to make is the expense involved, if an enthusiast like myself is baulking at sixty quid for a train ride, what is Joe Public, his wife and 2.4 children going to think about paying even more?

 

I think its success, like with most things, will be in how it is advertised and marketed to appeal to different people willing to pay different amounts, and we wont know exactly how thats done until the line is open throughout. We might, for instance, see heavy promotion of Caernarfon-Beddgelert and Port-Beddgelert almost as seperate journeys, regardless of whether the railway is operating in 'frontier' mode or with trains running end-to-end - perhaps if there are a lot more of the latter journeys thats what we'll see, that said i wouldnt be at all suprised if a lot of families who buy a Port-Bedd return end up doing the rest of the line at some point during their stay...

Going back to my comparison with the WHL, the Jacobite is highly successful not only due to its scenery, but perhaps because it is also a 'whole-day' activity, making it very popular for coach tours and the like despite there being little opportunity to do other things. I think, with good marketing and a few years to become established the WHR it will carve out its own niche given the huge potential to be more than 'just a train ride'. We'll just have to wait and see

Chris

 

Well, as the good Dr Jarvis keeps telling us - 2.4 children is many years out of date. So let's look at the statistically more accurate Family of 2 Adults plus 2 Children...

At current prices, said family would pay £100 for entry to Alton Towers, £92 for entry to Thorp Park or £78 to travel to Hafod Eryri on the Snowdon Mountain Railway - compared to £50 for a day out on the Rheilffordd Eryri/Welsh Highland Railway...

Of course, if you - or they - were residents of North Wales, there's always 'Y Cerdyn' / 'The Card'... which costs £15, then entitles holders to travel at one-third of the normal fare, as often as they like during a five-year period...

 

Roger

My question is not a "dig" at WHR but merely a comment based on my own thoughts. I would be interested to know where others draw the line as to how much they are willing to pay for a ride on a heritage railway of any sort, anywhere. I would also be interested to know where you get your fifty quid for a family of four figure from.

 

Children under 16 travel free if acompanied by an adult

Cheers

Martin

P.S. I had the privilidge of travelling on one of the test trains in glorious weather yesterday - believe me it's worth every penny - If you like the Caernarfon -Rhyd Ddu section you'll love Rhyd Ddu - Beddgelert!

 

Ah, right. Found that now, I would have thought for promotional purposes that this information should be a bit more prominent on the page than it is. Not relevant to my original post though,as I have no kids.

 

They may very well only go for ride part of the way, or choose an alternative which may or may not be a railway!

I doubt though if they are expecting a large percentage of passengers to book a full round trip as at 2hrs each way is a long time to be seated in a narrow gauge carriage unless in first class and especially if with kids.

The success of the railway may well be dependent on how successful the railway is at attracting coach parties and what fare basis is reached as I can envisage that when the line is up and running many such parties might travel one way. The FR always appears to be very good at attracting such traffic as invariably if you travel on the FR a decent proportion of each train is reserved. I have often wondered what the FR split is in terms of number between booked parties and the rest.

The most important matter though long term and what I am sure everybody is waiting on is to see whether long term the WHR can attract additional passengers and spend or whether it is just diverting a sizeable number from the FR. I say long term as I am sure many will in the first couple of years want to travel the whole line just because it is new.

I do not know what hotels are like are like in or around Porthmadog but I reckon there could be an opening there for one able to handle coach travel as I am sure an itinerary of

Morning: Caernarfon, Afternoon: WHR, Night: Porthmadog, Morning : FR might be appealing or alternatively the opposite way

Afternoon: FR, Night: Porthmadog, Morning: FR, Afternoon: Caernarfon

 

Very likely, the passengers are at Porthmadog or Caernarfon and the place they want to go is probably Beddgelert.