Edmonson tickets a lost "cause" for ever?

Interesting to see this thread come back to life.
Took over printing Edmonson tickets in 2010 from a chap who had been doing it for 20 years. First year turn over was 175,000, last year it was 493,000. I'm not an expert but it seem to me that there is a trend there somewhere. I fully appreciate epos and on line booking etc but I think that a "proper" ticket fits in well with rest of the preservation scene and if thats what the public/enthusiast its important they get it.
Unlike anything else an Edmonson isnt automatically discarded at the end of a journey but remains a nice little advert for the railway just visited.

 

People don't mind modern epos tills in the tea room, or shop, that's I think acceptable, but lets leave the booking office as visitors expect it to be the back room activity can use modern equipment , but by and large you would expect the public facing aspects to retain an heritage look.

 

the trouble is some lines feel it's acceptable to not have a booking office at all and you buy tickets of a sort in the shop

 

If the trains themselves are not particularly "heritage" as, alas, they tend not to be then the sort of ticket issued is faux de mieux stuff,

PH

 

Are you saying that if one aspect can't be perfect there's no point in bothering about another aspect? That seems to sit ill with many of your other pronouncements. There's a thread about the impossibility of 100% authenticity, but surely it makes sense to get right whatever can be got right wherever practicable.

 

Paul, sorry but your overlooking the fact that not every preserved railway has the luxury of Edwardian engines and pre grouping stock, every railway makes the best of what it has,

 

Of course I am not. It's just I see little point in straining for gnats (i.e. tickets) when there are plenty of camels (i.e. rolling stock) being swallowed.

Not overlooking it at all. I query though the bit about every railway makes the best of what it has when the pre-Grouping stuff only makes an appearance now and again. In contrast the somewhat under publicised Tanfield Railway has been restoring and using N.E.R. four wheelers and now a bogie vehicle.

PH

 

So much of the heritage ethos is a fudge; it has to be particularly for large, busier lines. Some areas of a line looking, for the most part, late 19th. to mid 20th. century then the next place on the line is firmly late 20th. century.
I am sure many travellers on heritage lines have ridden on other lines elsewhere in the country but mostly - enthusiasts excepted - providing they get what they perceive as value for money and a welcoming and enjoyable day out they will return or tell others if the journey is too far away. Such things as tickets, souvenirs and booklets are often seen as worth buying and keeping as a memento but truthfully, I firmly believe, once they are tucked away into a drawer at hone are soon forgotten.

 

"I firmly believe, once they are tucked away into a drawer at hone are soon forgotten"

Until they are rediscovered!

"People don't mind modern epos tills in the tea room, or shop, that's I think acceptable, but lets leave the booking office as visitors expect it to, be the back room activity can use modern equipment , but by and large you would expect the public facing aspects to retain an heritage look."

This is exactly as it should be.

 

yes, each one a small memory and who'd to say it's discovery wouldn't be followed by "lets do that again"!

 

I dare say many of us have mementos of visits to all sorts of countries, attractions and so forth. But that is what they are, mementos. It does not follow that people will return to the line. Who knows, the ticket might be a reminder of a horrible wet day or one when the car broke down on the way home. Rose tinted specs, whilst quite common on heritage lines, really should be binned.
As far as 'exactly as it should be' is concerned is, maybe suitable, for lines you frequent, but other lines often have a need for an alternative. The heritage movement - and there is much more than steam railways on offer throughout the length and breadth of the UK - is extremely diverse and 'one size fits all' is a non starter.

 

I saw the interior of a 700 for the first time last week.

It looked like a rack of ironing boards.

 

I have been offered souvenir Edmondson tickets at the NVR in exchange for my online purchase, but usually only at a gala - I think the NVR 40 was one such occasion.

 

I would think that if they had a bad day then they wouldn't have kept the ticket it in the first place. Conversely, if they kept it, then they probably had a good day worth remembering and may want a repeat experience.

 

Now I understand why the IoWSR has ditched Edmondsons.

 

Another data point: I took the kids to the Dean Forest today. There, tickets are sold from the shop counter, through the EPOS system, and passengers receive an Edmonson as their travel ticket from a rack.

The part that caused today's random and unrepresentative staff sample difficulty? Working out how to put my request through the EPOS system, which took several minutes and three members of staff. Selecting the correct Edmonson and handing it to me? Under a second.

 

Evidently some "training" is required! I have witnessed tickets being sold, Gift Aid being put through and the transaction being completed in less time than it took to write this post.

PH

 

ITYM faute de mieux

 

My random experiences of volunteer operated EPOS tills are generally between those two - and that either extreme is the exception. Without the electronics, the bias is to the latter.

The same applies the other side of the counter...


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I wouldn't disagree with you about training being required, and for all I know you took 20 minutes to write that post. Maybe I should spell out the more obvious point you are avoiding, which is that Edmonson tickets can be used alongside EPOS tills adding minimal additional cost and effort to increase the total heritage "feel". It's an obvious "quick win", and in my business it nearly always makes sense to grab your quick wins first.