If you register, you can do a lot more. And become an active part of our growing community. You'll have access to hidden forums, and enjoy the ability of replying and starting conversations.

West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by gwr4090, Nov 15, 2007.

  1. Sidmouth

    Sidmouth Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Moderator

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2005
    Messages:
    9,635
    Likes Received:
    8,303
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Alderan !
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Unusually for me it isn’t one that should be aired here so you will have to trust my comment. The effects of the two were profound as I haven’t been back as a paying customer since
     
  2. Triumph 2500S

    Triumph 2500S Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2014
    Messages:
    1,066
    Likes Received:
    933
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Swindon
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    or Lydeard to Watchet

    Has been done before!
     
  3. Another Lancastrian

    Another Lancastrian New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2015
    Messages:
    29
    Likes Received:
    65
    Gender:
    Male
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Yes it has - sadly it was far from a commercial success
     
    Another Yorkshireman likes this.
  4. Greenway

    Greenway Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2008
    Messages:
    3,906
    Likes Received:
    3,704
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    South Hams
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    That could be said about anywhere on the WSR to anywhere on the WSR in recent times it seems.
     
    nine elms fan and Will Foster like this.
  5. Cuckoo Line

    Cuckoo Line Member

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2020
    Messages:
    298
    Likes Received:
    300
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    South West
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    We live about equal distance from WSR and SVR and have to admit our last two experiences on WSR have been OK but not WOW must go back, whereas SVR is now our preferred outing of the two, SVR just seems more slicker better organised, more enthusiastic and a more fun day out. WSR need to get that WOW back.
     
    green five and Southernman99 like this.
  6. Gunz412

    Gunz412 New Member Loco Owner

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2013
    Messages:
    79
    Likes Received:
    113
    This is a very good point.

    I live closer to the SVR, but for many years the WSR was my favourite railway. However IMO it went pear-shaped when they dumbed down the gala TT to that boring hourly service, and it has gone downhill ever since. It just feels a bit dreary compared to the great vibe and jovial atmosphere at the SVR.

    During a visit to the WSR in 2019 (midweek normal running day) I had a couple of volunteers near me who spent several minutes publicly airing their opinions on the never ending internal squabbles. Because I have an interest in the railway I was probably more attuned to the conversation but I would hate to think what impression this might have had on the handful of tourist passengers seated near me.

    If I was to wake up in the morning and had to decide between the WSR and SVR, all things being equal, the SVR wins on every set of criteria.
     
  7. Paulthehitch

    Paulthehitch Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 2020
    Messages:
    1,090
    Likes Received:
    1,093
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Hayling Island
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    I don't doubt in any way the factual accuracy of what you say save for one caveat. That is to do with galas.

    Do galas make any money to compensate for the immense amount of work they involve? As a sort of annual one weekend "thank you" to volunteers for their efforts then fine. As a sort of mad poker game between railways, not fine. What really matters to the bulk of passengers is how friendly are the staff plus how clean are the carriage interiors and what condition are the seats in.
     
  8. SebWelsh

    SebWelsh New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 15, 2014
    Messages:
    171
    Likes Received:
    987
    Gender:
    Male
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    I can assure you that the Hourly Gala Timetable will not be returning for as long as I am writing them! Spring this year was going to be fairly interesting before Covid stopped play :)
     
  9. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2011
    Messages:
    25,494
    Likes Received:
    23,734
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grantham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    That's fair - and has been debated to death on this and other threads. However, in the context of what @Gunz412 says, I find it easy to believe that a change of approach to galas was a tipping point in how the railway was perceived. I know there are times when an objectively minor change in something has caused me to look again and reduce my interest in the place, as I've realised the appeal it used to hold has now been lost.
     
    Gunz412 likes this.
  10. SebWelsh

    SebWelsh New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 15, 2014
    Messages:
    171
    Likes Received:
    987
    Gender:
    Male
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    WSR galas in the recent past have made sufficient profit to make them worthwhile. And as you say, they are about other things than just making money, volunteer morale for example.
     
  11. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2013
    Messages:
    10,440
    Likes Received:
    17,941
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Cheltenham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    That's great news, certainly would make me more likely to visit.
     
  12. SebWelsh

    SebWelsh New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 15, 2014
    Messages:
    171
    Likes Received:
    987
    Gender:
    Male
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    It will make me more likely to do Guards Turns too!!
     
  13. Paulthehitch

    Paulthehitch Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 2020
    Messages:
    1,090
    Likes Received:
    1,093
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Hayling Island
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    In the present situation actually operating would be a plus.
     
  14. SebWelsh

    SebWelsh New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 15, 2014
    Messages:
    171
    Likes Received:
    987
    Gender:
    Male
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Indeed!
     
  15. Ploughman

    Ploughman Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Apr 1, 2008
    Messages:
    5,806
    Likes Received:
    2,649
    Occupation:
    Ex a lot of things.
    Location:
    Near where the 3 Ridings meet
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    There is one other crucial criteria to meet and that is the standard and state of the toilets. On train or at station.
     
  16. Cuckoo Line

    Cuckoo Line Member

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2020
    Messages:
    298
    Likes Received:
    300
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    South West
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Volunteers make a real difference to visitors. From past experience a railway we often go on (no names and not the two mentioned already) when in the area, when it went through a bad patch the volunteers were not so involved with the public and visitor numbers declined, now volunteers seem more motivated and engaging and popularity seems to be rising again.
     
  17. Bayard

    Bayard Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2015
    Messages:
    1,826
    Likes Received:
    3,871
    Gender:
    Male
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I dare say this point also has been "debated to death", but the "immense amount of work they involve" must include a fair chunk of volunteer labour that is only being given because it is for a gala, so is not time diverted from other railway tasks. What proportion of the labour this represents is probably also a subject of mortal debate.
     
  18. martin1656

    martin1656 Nat Pres stalwart Friend

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2014
    Messages:
    17,609
    Likes Received:
    11,223
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    St Leonards
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    There is of course, the feel good factor , Which is a point to remember, Gala's are hard work, but the pay off is in repeat visits hopefully and hard cash in the bank, These days, visiting engines can be a swop, or an agreement to loan another railway one of your home fleet in return, so cost neutral, except for the road costs, or if mainline approved, movement by rail, and of course both railways benefit .
     
  19. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2008
    Messages:
    26,105
    Likes Received:
    57,436
    Location:
    LBSC 215
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    One of the hidden costs in a gala, especially on those railways that have paid workshop staff, is getting your entire loco and carriage fleet all operational simultaneously on a single weekend (or week). A railway like the WSR might have ~ 35 carriages that it can form into five * seven coach rakes, but it would be very rare that all 35 would be operational simultaneously. Instead, individual carriages would be being withdrawn for routine service and put back into traffic all the time.

    A big gala might require that level of total availability across the whole fleet, but getting there probably requires co-ordination of maintenance schedules starting months in advance to ensure everything lines up at the same time. (It's also possibly not the most efficient way to run such maintenance, when keeping a "steady state" in traffic would be preferable, for example, "we have 35 carriages of which 30 are operational at any one time" is maybe easier than "we'll have 35 available that weekend, but probably only 20 for the next three months while we catch up on maintenance"). Many of the larger railways seem to have two "maximum output" galas per year, and I doubt if they could support such maximum output any more than that: say two (or four) weekends out of fifty two. Indeed, if you have also run an intensive Santa service, getting the carriage fleet back to full availability for say a March gala is probably working flat out in the C&W.

    Locos incidentally would be the same, because things like annual boiler exams take a reasonable length of time and generally you will stagger them through the year. So a railway might have nominally six locos in service, but getting six in traffic all on the same weekend is a completely different kettle of fish. Most enthusiasts don't see that: the CME or Workshop Manager will likely have a board listing the whole fleet, but if you took a snapshot at any time, you might find two or three are stopped at any moment, whether that is for washout, boiler exam, some minor repair etc. The snapshot changes all the time as jobs get ticked off and new ones arise, but there is very rarely a point when the entire nominally operational fleet all has a tick by it showing "available for traffic".

    On galas in general, I am sure there are diminishing returns with visitors: one visitor will likely be a draw for many enthusiasts, but each subsequent visitor I suspect increases the footfall by less and less, and sooner or later I am sure there must be a point where adding the nth additional engine ends up costing more in movement and hire charges than it attracts in extra passengers who would have come anyway with n-1 visitors in service. Hard to know where that point is, though I can't think of an occasion personally where I have seen a gala with, say, three visitors and thought to myself "well, I'll go for three, but had it been only two it would have been a bit meh". Maybe I'm not a typical gala visitor though.

    Tom
     
    mdewell, Spitfire, Steve and 10 others like this.
  20. Paulthehitch

    Paulthehitch Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 2020
    Messages:
    1,090
    Likes Received:
    1,093
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Hayling Island
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Is the actual outgoings which really matter.
     

Share This Page