Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway

Visited yesterday. Bit of a mixed bag this one...

First the good:
Good loco line up. Timetable only called for four locos in steam but there was five with the austerity on station pilot/spare (which came in handy on multiple occasions, including on my one of planned two brake van rides where it subbed in for 419).

Trains seemed pretty busy with passengers on the middle services of the day having to share tables.

Brake van ride on the goods was a fun addition, top and tailed so you had the pleasure of seeing a loco work up close.

Good catering with a small real ale bar on the train and a fish and chip van supplementing the station buffet.

The free bus linking to the Mainline is always appreciated.

But...
Heritage railways are dividing into two camps: the slick commercial operations and the more eccentricity and haphazard labours of love. The Bo'ness line is certainly in the latter camp.

The first odd choice is that the Museum of Scottish Railways is shut for the weekend. The line is not the longest or most bucolic, so this museum would really ease the £40 rover ticket charge. I'm sure operationally there was a good reason but it seemed a shame. This wasn't helped by signage saying "go this way for more" only to find a barrier up. This wasn't the only signage problem I came across. I stumbled on the 0 gauge railway completely by accident, the cafe signage displayed incorrect opening times, the entrance to the station had moved so you had to ignore those signs, nowhere mentioned brake van rides were available etc.

It was also a very cold day with steam heat varying from a trickle to non-existent.

But these are minor compared to how it came a cropped in the late afternoon/evening.


Only 15 minutes was permitted in the timetable for the removal of the brake van from the goods and shunting it over to the dining set that was running in the evening. Here is where it all fell down. The dining set was made up of half the day time set and three dedicated dining carriages, meaning a shunt had to take place to get those on, then the brake van, then the rostered 4MT needed to take water so the austerity went on the front instead. Perhaps to top and tail I thought, good idea as it'd save on the run round time. So we then left about 30 down. Well we only made it about a yard or so as the day set and dining set portions had become divided. So the austerity backed the stock up, we sat around for ten minues, then the austerity past us with the brake van in tow. Now I'd already paid 15 quid to ride in the brake van on the service after, so that was disappointing to see it be removed from traffic. Then the 4MT went on the front and we finally left nearly an hour down. I had a bus and train to catch so I thought I'd only do the one return trip instead of the two I'd planned to make sure I got home. I then overhear a member of staff saying the journey on the return will only run to Birkhill before reversing again to make up time. So I'm now a bit trapped, as there is no public transport from the other stations and spend the journey praying they do make up the time they hope as a ten minute delay will now see me miss the bus and thus the last train home. We get back into Bo'ness eight down and I dashed for the bus. A staff member watched me go down a dead-end barriered path that was previously the way in and out but had changed and says nothing. Not the final memory a line should hope for.

No information about revising the timetable or the cancelled brake van rides was passed on, despite others being made by tannoy and walking down the train so the means was there. The none-dining portion of the train was only a few carriages, once the plan had changed they should have gone down the train informing passengers.

It was a disappointing and stressful end to a gala that had been quite enjoyable. A rather haphazard experience.

 

Similar thoughts to above .
Overheard they were expecting a second brake coach to arrive in the run up to the gala but it didn’t .
Thought £40 was excessive bearing in mind essentially a one train operation on a 5 mile line ,but arrived 1220 for I thought about 8 trips including many with 80105 I hadn’t had for about 15 years .
Enjoyable but cold day until around 1700.
Eventually 1700 departed 1753 but the £40 ticket didn’t appear to cover steam heat in the front coach and the four evening trips ended up being 2 and a bit ,as trip 1 ran round at Birkhill and running about 25 late still trip 4 was announced as cancelled on the approach to Bo’ness …
Then had to try and fight my way to the car park as all exits appeared closed ..the moveable barriers having been moved ..

 

Or have BR black galas.
Pity it is so far away from Dorset.

 

Thanks for some very fair and balanced feedback which I have passed on to those in senior positions within the SRPS

 

I sympathise with your experience. I remember a similar incident at an East Lancs gala a couple of years ago, where the last train of the day was so delayed that I realised I couldn't make it from Bury to Manchester Victoria in time to catch my booked train. In desperation I jumped off the ELR train at Ramsbottom and caught a bus to Victoria, but I still ended up missing my train by about 5 minutes and (due to having booked an advance ticket) I then has to fork out for a new ticket for the journey home.

OTOH, I have some sympathy with the railway regarding the signage problems. When I worked for the National Trust, my old boss used to say that signage was the hardest thing for any heritage site to get right. I certainly agree that any signs you have need to be up-to-date, however!

Sent from my SM-A125F using Tapatalk

 

Delays are common at galas and I'm used to having to compensate for that (I'm a veteran of many a SVR gala after all), although I didn't think delays could get too bad with only one service train and two top-and-tailed goods runs... if it had been communicated that the first trip wouldn't have returned I would have probably bailed before we left. It was the lack of communication that frustrated me, that we should have just guessed that the the return journey would run short.

Signage can be a hassle to adjust as things change, but given the buffet had a handwritten piece of paper on the door saying "Open 10 till 3" in the window and was still going at 4 when I went past, you do wonder if it would have been really too much effort to put up a new piece of paper... A couple of chalk-able sandwich boards would have solved the majority of the issues, and then could be used for other occasions throughout the year (This way to Santa's Grotto, Coach A Dining This End of Train, Drivers Experience Briefings --> etc).

 

The guard on Saturday evening made two announcements over the PA that the delayed 17:00 service would go to Manuel, return to Birkhill and then go back to Manuel before coming back to Bo’ness as I was standing next to him when he did so (and a lot of people got off!). Sorry that you missed this and no stewards on the evening said.

 

There was no announcement at all in the second (or third maybe) coach from the front, I would have definitely have heard. Faulty equipment maybe? As I said, no one in my coach was aware, and as we were leaving a passenger asked someone passing through who was wearing Bo'ness merch who explained what was happening. It might have been a known issue as information about the real ale bar was done earlier in the day by walking through the carriage. Either way, this information was not communicated to the carriage I was riding in, otherwise I would have got off.

 

No such announcement heard in the front coach ..

 

Interesting to read the comments on here, which have some similarities to my experience on Sunday. Being from "down south", I'd never visited this railway before, but I happened to be in the area for the weekend, and after reading that there was a gala, I decided to visit. First disappointment was discovering that the museum would be closed - I'm not likely to visit the area again in the near future, and had assumed I could see everything in the one visit. The £40 cost was excessive, as mentioned previously, especially with no discount for booking in advance.

I arrived on the shuttle bus from Linlithgow at just after 10. It soon became apparent that things weren't operating in accordance with the timetable I'd been handed - either locos or timings. In fact no-one, loco crews included, seemed to know what was going on. Not a good first impression - there seemed to be a large degree of "make it up as you go along". This resulted in paying customers sitting on the carriages, but with no engines on either end, for half an hour while engines were watered and everyone tried to guess what was happening. There were no announcements or information at all. Eventually, the 10:20 departure left shortly after 11 - in all that time, there had been little to no clear information given out - not being helped by the staff themselves not knowing. The 35/40 minute delay persisted for the following trains, with the complex loco changes not allowing any chance to catch up.

On the positive side, I did enjoy four return trips (three to Manuel, one only to Birkhill). It's a fascinating line, and I hadn't previously realised how steep it is. Hopefully I'll get the chance to return one day - if I do, I very much hope that the museum will be open!

I don't like to criticise - I suspect this line may be struggling for volunteers as many others are (incidentally I do volunteer at my local line). However, I did get left with an impression of a rather haphazard and overpriced event, and having read the experiences of others above, felt that I should add my thoughts.

 

The £40 ticket price sounds a lot to me, the MHR gala was £70 for a three day ticket and it was seriously good, with a lot to see and do besides just riding trains.
Slick operation at stations often recouped time lost with late departures.

 

A bit of New Year news from the B&KR. Work has started on a signalbox at Birkhill which should greatly improve operational flexibility.

http://www.bkrailway.co.uk/birkhill

The top up appeal has got off to a decent start in its first few days. Details in the link.