Swanage Railway General Discussion

Or maybe they do care, and are concerned about what they're being asked to sign up for.

I'd hope that the clarifications made on here help in a number of ways, both in giving confidence to donate to the appeal and in helping others who may be involved in organising appeals optimise them.

 

I shall be volunteering at the railway this Sunday.....

 

BBC 2 today at 18.30. 'Great British Railway Journeys'

''Michael Portillo reaches England’s south coast to continue his exploration of postwar Britain. He begins in Dorset on the Swanage Railway, riding a glorious 1940s steam locomotive on the trail of one of Britain’s most popular children’s authors, Enid Blyton''. <BJ>

 

I do support the railway and will continue to do so but would like to see some signs that the actions being taken by the Board and Com are bringing about the necessary changes.

Perhaps I have missed this from the various communications but how many fare paying passengers in 2024 does SRC need to carry to break even?

Has there been any progress in reducing the cost base so that going forwards the number of passengers required will be lower thereby creating some margin of financial safety?

Can the Polar Express (or xmas equivalent) passenger numbers be stated separately so that there is a common understanding of what the core operations costs and needs to produce in terms of revenue to break even?

What are the capital expenditure projects planned for the next 5 years? How much are they now budgeted to cost and what (if anything) is their likely impact on revenue and / or running costs?

 

I would think it unlikely that those sort of questions would be answered in any kind of mailshot. Perhaps you would be advised to contact the SRC directly?

 

I could contact SRC and ask. However I think if SRT SRC really want to get the members, volunteers and others "onboard" then putting this sort of information out at least into a wider domain will give people more confidence that their efforts / donations etc are being matched by the railway taking steps to increase revenue and cut costs so that a similar black hole will not occur again.

 

To be clear, I was commenting on the narrow point about appeal declarations. The wider issues around appeal targets are a different issue.

 

Thanks for that clarification.

 

I'm not sure how you expect the SRC to somehow guess what questions you (or anyone else) needs answered before you would hand over any donations.
If you need to know, just ask them, it's really not hard.

 

Looks like they belong together.

 

Flash 24 hour sale for this weekend mini gala!
Never seen them do that before !?!

Sadly I'll be staying at home for this one. But very much looking forward to the next two big ones in May and June

 

Normally a sign that the event isn't selling

 

According to the gala website, as of 9am, all ticket prices have returned to their original price. <BJ>

 

Great, so all those who bought tickets in advance can now enjoy the warm feeling of having been ripped off. It looks to me like financial panic setting in very early in the season. An intending passenger already gets hit with an extra £5 for having the temerity to pay on the day.

 

There has to be a consistent pricing policy. If you do flash sales there is a real risk of causing greater dissatisfaction to your most loyal customers (the ones who book early) than you please those who get a last minute bargain. If regular facebook page watchers get the idea that you will (nearly) always do a flash sale at the last minute then they will cease booking early and wait for the flash sale.
Many retailers have found to their cost that regular customers can become very savvy indeed.

 

If you have to do a flash sale for an event you must have got something wrong in the 1st place , doesn't give the impression of sound marketing to me.

 

I remember Jonnie Pay saying their event with the O1 didn't sell as much as they thought it would. Maybe the O1 just isn't a big enough draw?

 

Well any gala is only as good as those that want to attend. Everybody seemed keen to see the T3 last year it appeared, the O1 has not been here before, although is a "localish loco" using my M3/M27 analogy.
So for example the GCR Gala could have had a £5 ticket sale, but I would still not have attended as the time involved and the associated costs were more than I was prepared to pay.
Last week I went to the ESR, somewhere I can drive to in about 2 hours, and ok it was very cheap in modern gala terms, but the railways ticket cost was not what sold it for me.
Living in Swanage (and of course getting older by the year) does make me realise how difficult it is to get to and from here, especially by public transport, especially this weekend when on Suns=day it is RRB from Southampton to Poole and I see lunchtime part closure between Woking and Basingstoke now as well. But even by road if & you are not coming from either the M3 or M27 catchment areas it is time consuming and accommodation is now very expensive everywhere it seems.
The only issue I have with the "sale" is the timing two days after the initial pre booking price closed, it may have been OK for a further £5 off flash sale, an extra £15 off is perhaps not what people expected and hence feel cheated.
If for example I still lived in London a cheap ticket to Keighley may well have cost less for the day then coming here.
Who would want to organise a gala?

 

Hi is 30120 still in Swanage or has it left to the Flour Mill now?

 

Still here, moved to Kings Road Sidings when I was up there earlier so 563 and 65 could access the pit as 31806 was then on the shed.