The Elephant in the room...

Beneath all the good news about this railway expanding and that railway opening a new extension, is all really rosy in the world of preservation or is it actually like a cartoon character that has run off the edge of the cliff and the only thing stopping it falling is the fact that it hasn't looked down yet.

Neil Scott reports that "the current SVR news has a rather dire report on the state of the coaches".
The SVR needs to spend some, at least, of its recent share issue on what should be routine maintenance, and thus should be funded out of revenue.

According to steam railway the GCR racks up trading losses measured in the hundreds of thousands of pounds per annum yet seeks money to bridge the gap and build an outstation of the NRM.

Few locos whether owned by a railway or a separate organisation seem to be restored without a call to the general public to fund the overhaul.

These are just a few examples.

So does railway preservation actually have a long term future and if so will there need to be a radical change in the way it is funded for it to survive?

 

Yes, it has a long term future, one with Challenges, but that's what has got it this far.

I suppose the obvious difference is going to be less volunteers and more commercial management.

Preserved Railways are here to stay, as important to the Tourist Industry as the Lions of Longleat

 

I don't doubt the importance. What I doubt is there financial sustainability when it relies on so much money coming not from fares or catering or similar sources but from appeal after appeal.

 

I don't have enough info to comment on that. My Impression is that appeals are largely for projects extra to the core railway

 

If they can raise tens of millions to keep a Vulcan in the sky, thousands to keep a preserved railway running should be childs play.

I think they both face the same challenge however.. which is neither funding nor resources but physical ability..
there will come a point where it's just too expensive to maintain.. and thats where things fall by the way side… indeed that already started back in 1980 when engines from Barry were preserved and are in the weeds still today without any sign in site.

 

not to mention the dozens and dozens of diesels, almost all of which I suspect are in those weeds!

 

Ha ! On some lines you might wonder whether the railway exists purely to make money to support the catering outlets !

 

none at all, (and I'm a diesel fan btw) except that when you peruse the lists, there are a heck of a lot of them with very little work to chase.

 

He's not wrong about some SVR carriages, I've seen a few in recent years that can be best described as "tired".

Is it a lack of finances though, or does the carriage works have too many vehicles to try and maintain with it's current capacity ?, I don't know the exact number, but I'd imagine the SVR operational carriage fleet must number over 50 (assuming 5/6 8 coach rakes + spare and odd vehicles).

 

The Vulcan has the advantage of being the only flying example so for all of us who want to see it keep to the skies, there's only one project to support.
Heritage railways proliferate nation wide so immediately divide loyalties amongst supporters. We cannot afford to support them all.

 

Required for family attractions I'm afraid, when young kids can decide they are hungry or thirsty at 10 seconds notice.

A brew in Kidderminster Museum at 6am on a gala Saturday morning has been a lifesaver more than once.

 

It is generally accepted Lord Montague of Beauley knows his clientel. he famously commented along the lines " the attraction can be as good as you like but get the tea and toilets wrong and you have had it". Catering is central to the leisure business. On one train I had there was no buffet staff, volunteers in that department are stretched too, and there were a significant number of adverse comments re no catering.

 

Heritage railways in general are here to stay. Just read the All party report on them (I keep plugging that) or listen to Visit England enthusing over them. They are as much a part of the British scene as the pub. However, I can see some contraction and consolidation in the next few years and I'm not too certain that it will simply be the big guns that survive. Too many of them have mortgaged their assets, either to the bank or the deferred maintenance fund. Having said that, the whole essence of the heritage railway movement is that the figures in the bank don't balance and the extra credits necessary come from the time, effort and pockets of those that support them. It started that way with the Tal-y-llyn and continues today. If that wasn't the case, these railways would still be being run commercially.
Interesting comment by Reading General about diesels and I think that he is largely correct. It is a fact that there are more diesel locomotives 'preserved' than steam locos but I suspect that they only do a quarter of the total heritage mileage, at the most, and I can't see the income stream that will be necessary to support them in the future ever being there. Have any HLF grants been obtained for overhaul or restoration of a main line diesel? (Or any other, for that matter.)

 

Whilst I would certainly agree that more £££s are needed to maintain the SVR carriage fleet (the best pre nationalisation fleet in the UK?) I would also contend that the condition of most of the fleet compares rather favourably against that found currently on many other HRs.

What has not so far been mentioned here which I would suggest is the real "elephant in the room" - PEOPLE or the lack of them.

In suggesting that I take into account the following:

a. One railway, and they may all be like this or worse, where two thirds of the membership are already over retirement age
b. Another railway which recently reported that by far the greatest age band for new volunteers was 66+
c. The fairly obvious end to general early retirement and likelihood that even your average 66 year old will still be at work in a few years time with less free time
d. Observation of both midweek volunteers and midweek travellers who, outside school holiday periods, seem to largely comprise of the already retired

Fast forward 10 years from now to then find:
- fewer volunteers who can put in significant midweek days and are still physically able
- decline in non school holiday midweek passengers resulting in timetable pruning and the financial issues surrounding declining numbers
- a conflict between the increasing need to pay essential staff & the decline in the budget to do so

 

I'd challenge the notion that appeals are somehow inherently a bad way of raising money, whereas fare and catering income is inherently good.

Someone elsewhere mentioned the Vulcan. If you looked at the balance sheet, you'd see a diversity of income sources: some grants from grant-making bodies; donations from individuals; donations from companies (in cash or kind); income from a supporters' body; sales of merchandise; appearance fees at air shows. Replace "appearance fees at air shows" with "fare income" and you aren't too far from the funding model of a typical railway. Yet no-one seems to think the Vulcan should pay its way in appearance fees alone.

So I see railways that have successful fundraising operations as actually a good thing, since it gives a greater diversity of income and therefore less risk as spending patterns change.

As an enthusiast, I donate a certain amount of money to a number of heritage and conservation causes. I'd challenge the notion that my money would somehow be more worthy, or the causes I choose to support would be more sustainable, if I spent an equivalent amount in entrance fees / fares rather than donations. In fact, for the same net benefit, I'd have to spend a lot more in fares and meals to have an equivalent level of impact. Ultimately, it is my cash that I choose to spend on a hobby: giving it as a donation is just as valid as spending it in fares.

I see a kind of continuum of support. At one end, I can visit a railway, buy a ticket and have a ride. A subset of those people will be so enthused by what they see that they may join the society behind the railway, providing useful cash and also having deeper emotional attachment to "their" cause. A subset of those people are likely to be sufficiently enthused that they go beyond paying the membership fee to pay additional charitable donations for specific projects within the overall railway umbrella. So for me, a key challenge for railways is to make their value proposition sufficiently enticing that casual visitors feel it is worth deepening their level of support. Different railway's will have different ways they approach that problem.

Tom

 

I agree with Tom. I believe a railway must at least meet its operating costs through the farebox, and maintenance of bog standard passenger rolling stock should really be counted as an operational cost, especially as nobody is going to run a marathon to keep a Mark 1 TSO running! But appeals, special events, raffles and so on can be used to support a plethora of restoration tasks. The hardest problem is maintaining what has already been achieved, and the burden rises in line with the success of these extra curricular fundraising events. And a healthy rate of volunteer recruitment is of course absolutely essential.

 

A few points. I
I am not questioning how people chose to spend their money I am questioning the begging bowl mentality of some railways
Maybe there are enough people out there with enough money in their pockets to fund a never ending series of appeals but I somehow doubt it. The fact that the SVR fell a long way short of the 4 million they said they required being a case in point.
Apart from a donation possibly being subject to gift aid ticket revenue and a donation have pound for pound the same value.

 

but too many railways do have insufficient funds to maintain their carriage stock in a fit state. Or else they choose not to spend it on their carriages.