SVR General Discussion

After a very busy Spring Diesel gala, news today that Autumn Steam Gala is back up to 4 days (originally announced as 4, then changed to 3 earlier this year).

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... with one, two and four day rovers. No three day rovers?

 

Maybe to come.

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Has anyone heard of having a little bit of patience? Our visitor services team have been running flat out over the last 7 days and have deserved a day off.
Also, put a comment on the facebook post, which will be picked up by the team.

 

Can we have just a few moments to reflect on what a gala that was? I can’t think of any diesel gala that comes close for the variety and quality of traction. All of this at a time of major cost saving, one rake of coaches out of use, and the general theme of SVR bashing that seems to be in vogue at the moment. Every train I planned to take arrived, each loco I wanted to ride on produced. Amazing effort for all of the associations or companies involved. Particularly well done to the SVR for having the balls to put it on, where by far the easier and least risky option was not to have a gala at all. Hopefully at the end of the day it managed to put a reasonable sun into the bank.

 

Totally agree, phenomenal effort by all involved. And let us not forget, the 'star' guest (cl 58) didn't actually make it! It also demonstrates how highly the railway is viewed by the mainline industry, that it could gather such a broad range of 'modern' traction.

The Saturday was up there with the busiest I've ever seen, so hopefully it did do well financially.

The SVR bashing I think is amplified on here, I think the vast majority of normal folk fully appreciate what the SVR does and wishes it to come through this tricky patch as soon as possible. The gala was a superb demonstration of what the railway in my view is the best in the business at doing - putting on a quality gala. The spring steam gala was also exceptional. Yet someone will still say the railway is anti-enthusiast!

 

Unless I’ve made it up, wasn’t this a query from the SSG? Was the answer that you booked the individual days and it applied the necessary discounts to come to the river price ticket? Or has my mind invented this?

But yes x 3. It should be easier, it’s worth raising the question with them, and let’s cut them some slack.

 

I tried to test book the thursday and friday as a two day rover but it didn't apply the discount ie both were full price.
I suspect it hasn't fully loaded into the system.

 

Whilst agreeing that the variety of traction on offer was spectacular the timetable was a major source of problem - especially for those restricted to visiting on one day only. Analysis of the timetable identified Saturday as the best day to see most traction BUT the capacity was insufficient to cope with the number of trains that were timetabled. Although trains started on time they were running around 30 minutes late by dinnertime and 60 minutes late by tea time hence the failure to see some traction when a fixed personal departure time was necessary; the timetable had no leeway to catch up time when delays occurred. I do not blame the SVR for trying to maximise its capacity but the timetable should include more resilience than was available. I hope that matters can be improved in time for the Autumn galas when I would hope that the phrase "Less is More" will be at the front of the planner's thoughts.

 

Who’d be a gala organiser eh?

 

I agree the timetable didn't quite work, (I commented as such on the gala thread), but I hope organisers will instead learn what caused those issues and address - rather than scaling back. What works on paper may not always work in the real world (with its many variables) - so learning from this can hopefully improve for the future. But we mustn't discourage ambition which is what makes an SVR event great, the Mid-Hants learnt that one.
I note one or two replies indicating late running is a fact of life of galas - but it did cause a number of grumbles, especially for those with public transport connections or who had planned trips behind specific locos (a big deal at a diesel gala!). You can excuse unexpected incidents, but it was clear on Saturday 'something' within the timetable wasn't working, which caused things to run later and later. This is unusual for an SVR gala and I'm sure it will be learnt from.
For me it didn't detract from a brilliant event, but it was a more major issue for others - so should not be dismissed.

 

The thing that struck about the gala was that the railway again seemed to be a happy place (Happy Valley?). Staff were engaging and outgoing and despite the timetable problems I felt it was notable that station staff didn’t start shouting at people. Great to see the SVR getting its mojo back after all the doom and gloom of the recent past.

 

I agree with the brilliance of the event but the delays did affect my enjoyment hence my decision to air it; if no-one says anything the SVR won't be able to learn from problems

 

Yes, late running can be a problem but any grumbles need to be justified particularly if the cause was outside the railway's control or it was difficult to rectify the delays with the number of passengers already on the trains.

 

Which is precisely why I mentioned it, the timetable slipped by about 10 mins every hour and from other reports it was the same pattern on other days too. Whilst apparently there was a failure (cl 20 at Bridgnorth) this wasn't the cause of the late running - which was purely congestion through Arley. This is unusual for an SVR gala, the steam gala slipped a little, but managed to regain some of the time and definitely didn't run an hour late.
This isn't a criticism of the organisers who overall put on an incredible event, but feedback is important too - otherwise improvements can not be made for the future.

 

Couldn't agree more, same feeling at the steam Gala, railway back to doing what it does best.

 

SVR Charitable Trust's appeal total on the SVR website is up to £300,000 in six weeks, 20% of the target.

I also noticed from Companies House that £152,106 of new shares in SVR (Holdings) have been bought since 20th March. I don't know any more details about this.

 

See feedback posts and links on the 2023 spring diesel festival thread

Headlines: 6,500+ visitors, excluding shareholder vouchers/passes, which is the highest number of visitors the SVR has ever recorded for a diesel event. 44% more passengers than budget, 35% more ‘secondary spend' than last year. [For comparison the 2023 Spring steam gala was ~5,002 but over 3 days and the 2022 spring steam gala was ~7,500 over four days.]

Note also the comment: “As with the Spring Steam Gala, there are some learning points to take on board and we will action these for future events."