Loudspeaker happiness

I agree wholeheartedly. This is not an unique example; one line known to me has these in virtually every passenger vehicle. If nothing more it would serve to give just a little interest to boring Mk. 1s!

PH

 

IMO it's a balancing act. Signage, notices, staff and P.A. all have their uses and each one complements the other. The art is in getting the balance right. One heritage line I visited some years ago had a running commentary on the journey and it really grated but the non enthusiast passengers seemed to be quite happy with it so was the railway right or wrong?

 

Of course the passengers on a heritage line have a very different purpose to the passenger using a railway as a means of transport. The latter would no doubt have looked at the timetable before travelling so would arrive at the station knowing when they expected to leave and quite likely in which direction and wait single mindedly awaiting that train. A visitor to a heritage railway will turn up some time in advance of their planned departure, wander round looking at other attractions at the station, go in the shop, buy refreshments, take the kiddies to the play area etc. so may well need a gentle reminder that the train is going to leave in a few minutes etc. Having said that the fewer announcements there are the more likely people areto take notice of those that are made, and be less irrtated by them.

It's probably a question of atttitude, i.e. How can we make sure a piece of important or relevant information is communicated? Rather than Look I've got the mike! what can I use it for?

 

Are you sure? They're not all timetable anoraks, like some people I can think of.

 

Surely it's better to talk with people rather than at or to them?

 

Indeed so but I fear P.A. systems come very much into the talking at category!

PH

 

Especially when the person behind the mike adopts a german accent when carrying out the morning test, before the customers arrive, i can remember one joker telling a nursery ryme in such a way, ok very very anti PC, but funny

 

In the past, when there were no passengers on board both Waverley & Balmoral were known to play Kevin Bloody Wilson over the PA.........................

A crew announcement on Balmoral about Laundry when I was serving on it once was dirtier than a motormans boilersuit and sidesplittingly funny

 

Perhaps hire out earphones with a tape - like National Trust have for many of their properties. Then people who want a running commentary can have one, without disturbing those who prefer some peace and quiet. I really hate the constant bombardment of announcements that you get these days, both on the national network and on preserved lines.

John

 

There is absolutely no need for a railway to go to the expense of buying a load of 'earphones' to hire out (that's so last century dahling! ). because the majority of punters carry a very high specification personal audio device everywhere with them, called a smartphone.

It can be done via an app, which can either be configured for the user to manually trigger commentary at different points, as they did with the old National Trust-style systems, or for beacons at different places to automatically trigger sounds. It's also a way of delivering announcements directly to people, rather than over loudspeakers.

Sennheiser already does such a system. It's an incredibly flexible solution which has many applications, from tourism to assisting the visually impaired.

Although I can imagine such contemporary solutions triggering utter apoplexy on forums like this, either because not all punters will use headphones with their smartphone or, indeed, because they are wandering around everywhere with personal headphones in their ears. There would be inaccurate accusations from the old guard that 'all they want to do is listen to music'...

Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

 

You of course assume that the infrastructure for downloading said app will be available at the stations, and that potential users will be happy to download said app using their data allowance... And that is before we start to wonder about the safety implications of having people focused intently on their audio guides and ignoring the rather more imminent risks of moving trains, clouds of steam, etc....

I think I prefer the older technology of human interaction, PA announcements and guidebooks...

 

I'm assuming nothing, my friend. For a beacon-based system of course there would have to be some WiFi points installed, but there is increasing demand for free WiFi everywhere now, anyway. If Joe Public doesn't already expect it at heritage railways, s/he soon will. It's coming anyway.

Data allowance via free WiFi is pretty much unlimited and millions of Joe Public don't seem to worry too much about their data allowance when they are permanently welded to the latest social media or game fad.

Which is precisely how different from the 'safety implications' of...

... that is the point I was replying to?

Which is the flaw in your argument in a nutshell. You prefer. However, as a railway enthusiast, you are not the primary market for heritage railways. Joe Public is. And most of Joe Public has been happy to embrace the latest technology, fashions and social mores.
As I keep having to say, they want a theme park, sanitised, seen-through-all-the-advantages-of-modern-life version of riding on a steam train, not the hyper-authentic recreation that the majority of railway enthusiasts want.
The whole thing is an exercise in compromise, which I hope you will remember the next time you park your comfortable, modern car in the large car park that never previously existed at a station, wearing your modern, warm, easily washable mix of cotton and artificial fabrics, buy a ticket with your credit card and take photos of steam locomotives with your digital camera or phone!

We are all part of the illusion, whether we like (or admit) it or not. And if we want those locomotives, carriages and stations that we like to survive, we all have to accept it.

 

I can think of one or two volunteers who will happily cycle 5 miles to their rostered turn on a 1950s bicycle, wearing tweed and a flat cap, so I'm not sure you can quite include everyone in this category.

 

Actually, you mistake me. I am writing this on my iPhone, and have downloaded visitor attraction apps before. I have also been underwhelmed by them, and now avoid them.

There's also a significant cost to install the infrastructure you suggest, assuming that the sites in question have decent broadband - not necessarily a given. All for a service that may actually deprive a railway of sales revenue while undermining the illusion of historicity being presented.

Not convinced

 

I must disagree with some of what you say. I know non enthusiast people who visit heritage railways and/or go on rail tours and their first question isn't "where's the free wi-fi?" They are much more concerned about the loos, refreshments and perceived value for money.

 

On the subject of apps the West Somerset does have an app, Heritage Hunter. It doesn't act as a tour guide but it does encourage you to get off at different stations and look for things like engine numbers, to go into museums etc. However you might say that development of this app was a little bit of a waste of money, as on google play it has had less than 5,000 downloads. This suggests that it isn't a good solution as these are figures since 2014 and downloads are very low. (I know there are iPhone sales as well, but even if that doubles the figure it still means it has had less than 10,000 downloads).

For Reference https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wsr.heritagehunter&hl=en_GB

 

The KESR did trial an e information device i believe it was an headset sort of thing, and an APP. i don't know what the cost was, but it was at a time when we were hard pushed to afford it, many people questioned it because it competed with an very good guide book, but the then GM, decided he wanted it so he ordered it, i think it very quickly showed just how flawed an idea it was, most of the headsets, either remained in the boxes, or in some cases got nicked, by people taking them i see no mention of the head sets in the information about the Railway, so i assume it was abandoned, the WSRA were not the only railway to suffer from " i know best " syndrome.