Bolton Abbey Station Developments

Fair comments platelayer & some might say, justification for the stance taken given your examples.

If you work for the E&BA it would be nice to think you could pass on these comments to the powers that be & maybe they might come up with a bit of flexibilty of prices charged. i.e. car park with platform access only = ?????

Best wishes to all that it being achieved & future plans.

 

I visited Embsay station specifically to use the splendid bookshop [which has unusual books on topics other than railways such as old metal mines] as I happened to be in Skipton, 45 miles from home. I guess there was a special event on but I was not allowed on the premises without purchasing a full day ticket. This was probably about two years ago. I was not happy about this and fail to see why access to the shop was denied, a refundable fee with a shop receipt would have been better than refusing access to the premises. This incident left me with a reluctance to visit the place again and I am sure my experience was not unique.

I think a system which allows access to the shop should not be too difficult to figure out and would avoid such disappointments. I appreciate that the railway needs all the funds it can raise but it's never a good idea to upset potential customers.

Edward

 

Last year on visiting Embsay (for the bookshop) we were asked to pay £1 each for a platform ticket, refundable for each £5 spent in the shop. Chatting to those in the shop, it transpired that they had noticed a considerable increase in people calling in, using the toilets and disappearing off again without making any contribution to the upkeep of the railway, hence the introduction of a charge. We actually spent well over £10 and got our money back.

However, this year this sensible idea had been dropped and we asked why. It seems that for some reason apparently unknown to the person in the shop it had been dropped, but they were prepared for regular shoppers to be allowed in free. Less satisfactory in my opinion!

(And Nene Valley Railway ask you to pay £3 for a platform ticket...... but no problem accessing the cafe and shop.)

 

Going back to the original purpose of this thread, we've been fundraising steadily since I first posted and we are about to start with the Platform 2 wall works.

Our fundraining efforts, as well as Sponsor a Concrete Block have included some useful sales on Ebay and we also have a list of books for sale.

The full list is below. If anyone wishes to support us and buy a book please PM me with your choice and I'll get a price for postage. All these books are from my collection, donated to the fund:

Bulleid's Pacifics D W Winkworth George Allen & Unwin, 1981 £5.00
The Railway Detectives, 150 years of the Railway Inspectorate Stanley Hall Ian Allan, 1990 £5.00
Big Four Remembered J S Whiteley, G W Morrison PRC, 1994 £5.00
British Rail around the East Midlands Chris Milner Pathfinder, 1988 £2.00
Golden Years of British Steam Trains - LMS Colin Garratt (Rev A W V Mace photographs) Milepost 92½, 1995 £5.00
Modern Railways the World Over G Freeman Allen Ian Allan, 1962 £10.00
Locomotives of British Railways H C Casserley & L L Asher Spring Books 1965 £10.00
The Last Years of British Railways Steam O S Nock David & Charles 1978 £5.00
Narrow Gauge into the Eighties G T Heavyside David & Charles 1980 £5.00
Supernatural Steam J A Brooks Jarrold 1992 £5.00
The Railwaymen R S Joby David & Charles 1984 £5.00
Milk Churns to Merry-Go-Round - A Century of Train Operation R T Munns David & Charles 1986 £5.00
Salute to the LMS Cecil J Allen Ian Allan 1972 £7:50
On the British Narrow Gauge Michael Harris Ian Allan 1980 £5.00
Rail Routes in Devon & Cornwall Chris Leigh Ian Allan 1982 £5.00
Great Railway Photographers - Henry Priestley Colin Garratt Milepost 92½, 1995 £5.00
British Rail 1948-78 A Journey By Design Brian Haresnape Ian Allan 1979 £10.00
World of Steam - Working Steam Locos of the World. Colin Garratt Peerage Books 1981 £5.00
LNER Album Volume 2 Brian Stephenson Ian Allan 1974 £5.00
Live Steam - Locos & Lines Today David Eatwell & John H Cooper-Smith Batsford Books 1980 £5.00
LMS 150 - The London Midland & Scottish Railway - A century & a half of progress Patrick Whitehouse & David St John Thomas David & Charles 1987 £5.00
Great Railway Photographers - Maurice Earley Colin Garratt Milepost 92½, 1995 £5.00
Down the Line to Brighton Murial V Searle Bloomsbury Books 1986 £5.00
Steam Renaissance Tom Heavyside David & Charles 1984 £5.00
Forgotten Railways Vol II - Severn Valley & Welsh Border Rex Christiansen David & Charles 1988 £5.00
LNWR Pre-Grouping Scene No 3 O S Nock Ian Allan 1980 £5.00
Rail Centres: Clapham Junction J N Faulkner Ian Allan 1991 £5.00
Steam 80 Roger Crombleholme & Terry Kirtland George Allen & Unwin, 1980 £5.00
Down the Line to Southend Murial V Searle Bloomsbury Books 1984 £5.00
The West Highland Railway John Thomas David & Charles 1976 £7.50
Preserved Steam In Britain Patrick Whitehouse George Allen & Unwin, 1979 £5.00
The Country Railway David St John Thomas David St John Thomas 1991 £5.00
Steam Railway of the World Patrick Whitehouse Marks & Spencer 1988 £5.00
The Railways of Britain, their history, engineering & operation Jack Simmons Macmillan 1986 £5.00
Briain's First Trunk Line - the Grand Junction Railway N W Webster ? £2.00
The Power of the 50s J Vaughan Oxford Publishing1979 £5.00
Flying Scotsman On Tour - Australia Compilation Chapmans 1990 £5.00
Great Railway Journeys of the World Compilation Jade Books 1983 £5.00
British Locomotives of the 20th Century Volume 1 1900-1930 O S Nock Guild Publishing 1988 £7.50
British Locomotives of the 20th Century Volume 2 1930-1960 O S Nock Guild Publishing 1988 £7.50
British Locomotives of the 20th Century Volume 3 1960-present day O S Nock Guild Publishing 1988 £7.50
Well Trained David Packer Triangle Publishing £5.00