Swanage Railway General Discussion

True, though presumably without shop and catering, the membership of that railway would have to find £86k more than now to keep the railway afloat - even more of an ask than currently.

Is there any heritage railway in the country that is genuinely funding itself (including a proper allocation for infrastructure and rolling stock renewal) just from fare income? Most seem to be a mixture of fares + “value add” services (weddings, footex, filming etc) + catering / shop + member support + altruistic donation + grants from third parties. The proportions might vary, but the advantage of diversity is that hopefully those different streams have different cycles of when they are strong and weak, helping to smooth out overall revenue fluctuation.

Tom

 

Not forgetting what is probably the most expensive part of most businesses. . . labour costs. How fortunate that heritage railways are able to take advantage of so much 'free' labour. It's not just the wages saved by volunteers, but also the flexibility of being able to draw on a pool of volunteers as required (Paid staff would still need paying even when business is slow).

 

Indeed. I think the non-fare revenue trend can only increase. There was/is an article on the BBC website to the effect that galleries/museums/stately homes are increasingly becoming shops/cafes with a bit of heritage attached. You have basically got to find a way to be able to pick visitors up by their heels and shake them until the money falls out. Although not a railway as such, Mountsorrel Heritage Centre, which generally receives approving comments on here, is exactly that - a cafe with a children's play area and a bit of heritage thrown in (entrance is free). Yet you do not have to go too far from there to find railways with catering and shop facilities behind a paywall.

 

I don' disagree that a varied income stream is needed for most railways, I just dispute the assertion that secondary spend is effectively what keeps hem going - its a part of the overall picture but is difficult to get right and can easily turn into a loss-making centre. I'm guessing that there are some railways that are self-sufficient - for example the L & HR, BMR, Bure Valley , Launceston, that don't have big supporting groups because they are privately owned. Again our experience at Fairbourne was that people were reluctant to contribute financially because they assumed that the money would go to the owners, when the reality was that it would merely have decreased the torrential outflow from our pockets!

 

See post 2757

 

The two most likely candidates would be Lakeside and Dartmouth.

Regards

Matt

 

Which one?

 

But how much of PDSR's income is from railway fares, rather than from boat and bus services?

 

On Sunday the family & I spent about as much on food & in the shop at the Bodmin & Wenford as we did on travelling..............

 

The boat and bus services also have their own operating costs, not just income.

 

and a lot these days will automatically shut down the engine (and therefore the air conditioning) when you're stationary in a traffic jam.

 

Which, dare I say it, was revenue - not profit.

 

Mine don't - but then they will both restart the engine if the battery discharges too far.

 

Both mine and my wife's cars have automatic shut down as an option. It's disabled on both vehicles.

 

Bad move - it saves a lot of fuel at no practical cost. But little to do with Swanage!

 

Why?

 

The Greyhound because it sits under that iconic shot of the castle taken from the main road.

 

Thanks, I will have to look!

 

Just go to Wikki, main picture on top of page

 

Is there any news on the locomotive front ?80104 and the diesels seem to be going alone at the moment....