West Somerset Railway General Discussion

No idea. Probably based on analysis of likely demand. But it does create a very pretty calendar:



Steve

 

I was told by the ladies putting up the yarn bobbing [ knitting ] that Bishops Lydeard village theme was a tour of the world - B L station decorations are all swiss themes, other areas are different countries.

 

The ones around Quantock Brewery are all themed for Venice.

Planted the idea today of opening the Quantock pop-up bar on Minehead station while the 7802/7828 anniversary special is in town. Offered to help man said bar in a bid to see it happen. The bar at MD is set to be open each daytime that weekend so will be in situ.

 

It will also be good to see the railway getting to know and working with the Minehead community one day.

On the Minehead station page of the Website there is mention of the Exmoor Producers Association at 11 Friday Street. The organisation now has different members and rebranded as Exmoor Food and Crafts hence the broken link. It moved a couple of years ago to The Avenue while a different "Exmoor" shop took over the premises in Friday Street. To the unknowing this is effectively now an advertisement for a competitor.

Also mentioned on the page is Atlantis which now operates as Doormouse plus there are two glowing mentions of the clothing store Dottys who left Minehead completely in 2016, the address now being occupied by a hair and beauty salon.

 

You need to tell their webmaster not us!

 

Catherine Dance catherine.dance@wsra.org.uk is the Railway's Community Engagement Officer so perhaps you and I should each get in touch with Catherine on the issues you mention above. You will know I am working on a webpage for wsr.org.uk on the theme of "Things to do" (at Minehead) which may help a bit, however, it is far more important to have the official website reflecting current situations.

Steve

 

Steve

Yes there was some science behind it. As a part of the turnaround plan in 2018 the previous Head of Marketing and previous FD did a lot of work looking at increasing revenue and a better customer offering whilst decreasing costs. The now redundant Head of Marketing oversaw a 6.7% increase in revenue in 2018, but that was only half of the picture. He also completed a large piece of work looking at traffic flows and train usage.

The resultant 2019 Timetable which was locked into place for printing/marketing before his departure resulted in a more scientific running pattern. Now I’m sure this new method will need some modification as it goes live but it results in a circa £100k pa reduction of costs whilst not unduly effecting the customer offering.

The previous long running strategy of just putting on more trains to increase revenue meant the small increases in revenue was outstripped by large increases in operating costs (and of course wear on the track). Many have said that the large cost increases seen in the last 3-4 years was due to the increase in staff salary, I partly disagree. Their salaries costs involved with getting this result of both revenue increase and cost decrease are far out stripped by the overall cash saving their employment caused (not including all of the other parts of their jobs).

This is just my opinion of course but perhaps, people of the WSR should ask if the retention of the old guard who presided over the previous strategy and the departure of this ‘radical new thinking’ was the right direction to take?

 

The point that I have been making in this and in my previous posts #18199 and #18149 is that although the railway terminates at Minehead it seems to take little or no interest in the town that it supposedly 'serves'. Such an interest could benefit both the railway and the town.
16 vintage buses are running from just the other side of the buffer stops tomorrow and it doesn't even get a mention on the facebook page.

 

I'll get my ticket on the train!
https://www.somersetcountygazette.c...-building-to-be-converted-into-ticket-office/

 

Some good news for the railway. Blue Anchor station has returned to normal operation.

7828 'Odney Manor' hauling the 10:15 ex B. Lydeard has just passed D6575 in the station.

The class 33 was a Diesel Experience course. <BJ>

 

This maybe. However if you want the site changing telling the webmaster really is the most effective way. Or were you just having a moan ? Alternatively write to the chairman. Don’t leave it to somebody else to do.

 

I have a feeling this post could be one for filing away and bringing up later!

 

I'm sure there was some science behind it but it makes no sense to me or I would guess to a large number of the travelling public. The inconsistencies seem to be mainly for the month of May then it seems to settle down into more of a pattern. Why for example are there trains next Friday but none the following Friday which precedes a Bank Holiday weekend? Is there some element of experimentation about it to see what passenger loadings it produces?

 

Yes, it would be much better to contact the webmaster directly. They probably don't read Nat Press so commenting on the errors and/or omissions of the website here is really a bit pointless. For Facebook, and Twitter, there's nothing to stop people posting messages about events happening near the railway that aren't mentioned by the respective admins.

 

This is something which is very easy to look at from the point of view of an enthusiast rather than that of a "normal". Are the staff paid or voluntary? Does the individual railway do more of its business early in the day or later?

A modern electronic system will give data as to when in the day the greatest sales are made. It can even give data as to sales of cooked meals versus sandwich consumption and ongoing trends. It is not so much income the railway needs from sales and catering as profitable income.

 

Thought the diesel gala was at Swanage this weekend.

 

I think it’s widely accepted that a larger number of people start and end their day on the WSR at Bishops Lydeard than at Minehead.

However, in my opinion, the shop at BL is very poor; fine if you have an interest in model railways, but little else to interest many people.

I hope and expect that the BL shop will improve markedly when the WSRA (reportedly) ceases its commercial operations.

@Pete Thornhill,I fully understand the observations made about the early closing of the Minehead shop.