If you register, you can do a lot more. And become an active part of our growing community. You'll have access to hidden forums, and enjoy the ability of replying and starting conversations.

Swanage Railway General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by Rumpole, Oct 10, 2012.

  1. oliversbest

    oliversbest Member

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2011
    Messages:
    814
    Likes Received:
    121
    Success begets success. Well done!
     
  2. biggles200

    biggles200 Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2007
    Messages:
    328
    Likes Received:
    237
    Occupation:
    retired and holding on
    Location:
    Purbeck
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    The Kitchen Car is now back down from the jacks and sitting on its bogies. Work in progress to get the dining train ready for service.
     
    Johnme101 and Sunnieboy like this.
  3. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2017
    Messages:
    12,172
    Likes Received:
    11,493
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Brighton&Hove
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Just having checked the date of the post you cited (within the last week), it's most heartening to see such rapid progress made in recovering from the year from hell.
     
    Sunnieboy likes this.
  4. johnofwessex

    johnofwessex Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2015
    Messages:
    9,185
    Likes Received:
    7,226
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Thorn in my managers side
    Location:
    72
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Anyone know whats running on Saturday?
     
  5. 007

    007 Member

    Joined:
    Nov 3, 2012
    Messages:
    418
    Likes Received:
    872
    34028
     
  6. johnofwessex

    johnofwessex Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2015
    Messages:
    9,185
    Likes Received:
    7,226
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Thorn in my managers side
    Location:
    72
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Thank you
     
  7. Paulthehitch

    Paulthehitch Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 2020
    Messages:
    1,090
    Likes Received:
    1,093
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Hayling Island
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Being involved with a line never likely to be entangled with dining cars I have always wondered whether they are truly profitable in view of the capital and revenue costs. Swanage also has a great number of competing outlets.
     
    twr12 likes this.
  8. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2018
    Messages:
    2,696
    Likes Received:
    5,501
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Leicestershire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    I think the profitability of dining trains is unquestioned - if they are marketed correctly, high standards maintained and customer expectations exceeded. I believe the GCR is to operate two dining trains - and they are quite shrewd financially. Of course they are even better when a "large chuffer" is pulling them :D.
    Although Swanage has many dining outlets.....only one has ever changing scenery as it goes through the countryside.
     
    mogulb, Mogul, jnc and 1 other person like this.
  9. Paulthehitch

    Paulthehitch Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 2020
    Messages:
    1,090
    Likes Received:
    1,093
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Hayling Island
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Only confirms my suspicions of ''folie de gricer'' being a factor.
     
  10. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2008
    Messages:
    26,103
    Likes Received:
    57,425
    Location:
    LBSC 215
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    I saw a financial analysis of our Pullman dining train that indicated to me that it was clearly profitable, including an allowance for the capital cost of providing the train. I don't think we would be spending hundreds of thousands on overhauling Pullman cars if that wasn't the case.

    It is dependent on loading: there is a degree of gnashing of teeth on a certain railway that their dining train isn't able to turn a profit, but with a four coach train having only fifty-odd seats it seems to me they have got the wrong set of carriages.

    An important point is that it diversifies your market, which is important in helping to balance out the highs and lows of different market sectors.

    Oh, and we frequently use a Class 1P tank engine or class 1F 0-6-0 goods engine for our dining train ...

    Tom
     
    jnc, Kje7812, Matt37401 and 5 others like this.
  11. Paulthehitch

    Paulthehitch Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 2020
    Messages:
    1,090
    Likes Received:
    1,093
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Hayling Island
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    That is a positive step to contain costs and maintain a branch line feel at least.
     
  12. 61624

    61624 Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2006
    Messages:
    5,294
    Likes Received:
    3,596
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    ....and highly authentic with a train of Pullman carriages.... not!
     
    jnc, Monkey Magic and 35B like this.
  13. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2018
    Messages:
    2,696
    Likes Received:
    5,501
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Leicestershire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    So how do you maintain a Main Line feel on the GCR without "Big Chuffers"?
    ...but back to Swanage....and I'm hoping to visit over the next few days and looking forward to a ride behind "Eddystone" if possible.
     
  14. Pete Thornhill

    Pete Thornhill Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Administrator Moderator Friend

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2008
    Messages:
    7,498
    Likes Received:
    5,455
    There’s definitely a good chance of profit if done correctly.

    The railway you mention seems to of over complicated things, 50 seats as you say isn’t a lot. The Severn Valley Venturer manages to serve 42,(although in the past has managed 108), just from an RB. This makes putting it onto the front of a service train easy and has run successfully for years in this format.

    On the other railway? For an extra 8 seats, you have the generator car, which is semi permanently coupled and needs adding to the mix, then they have a RMB as a bar car that you could do without. The inflexibility also limits the opportunities. Maybe some of the stock is suitable but not necessarily in their current format that’s for sure.
     
  15. Paulthehitch

    Paulthehitch Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 2020
    Messages:
    1,090
    Likes Received:
    1,093
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Hayling Island
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    The railway is only permitted to do 25m.p.h. It has a 2 MT which would be perfectly adequate.
     
  16. twr12

    twr12 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2007
    Messages:
    1,540
    Likes Received:
    692
    Paul, you are entitled to your opinion. But it is a stuck record.
     
    jnc, desperado, Monkey Magic and 6 others like this.
  17. Paulthehitch

    Paulthehitch Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 2020
    Messages:
    1,090
    Likes Received:
    1,093
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Hayling Island
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    They are in exact agreement with comments made to me a couple of years ago by a GCR supporter.
     
  18. ruddingtonrsh56

    ruddingtonrsh56 Member

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2009
    Messages:
    979
    Likes Received:
    1,470
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Nottinghamshire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Yes, as we all know, all GCR supporters think exactly the same way and therefore if one person has one opinion it is identically shared with all other supporters. There is no difference of opinion at all among them, they all think alike. (Spot the sarcasm)
    I'm sure for every GC supporter who thinks having a class 2 at the front is fine, there is another who thinks having a 9F or 8F or Brit or class 5 adds something extra that a little loco doesn't offer. Open your mind to the possibility that there can be more than one acceptable way to do it. (Last time I checked the GC hadn't gone bust from running bit engines so it clearly is at the bare minimum, good enough)
     
    jnc, Monkey Magic, Spitfire and 5 others like this.
  19. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

    Joined:
    Oct 7, 2006
    Messages:
    11,930
    Likes Received:
    10,088
    Occupation:
    Gentleman of leisure, nowadays
    Location:
    Near Leeds
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    There are people who are in agreement that COVID doesn’t exist. Just because someone agrees with you doesn’t make you right.
     
  20. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2013
    Messages:
    10,440
    Likes Received:
    17,941
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Cheltenham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    And it's not like the GCR has a line of 2MTs sitting out of use in preference to 9Fs and black fives either...
     
    35B likes this.

Share This Page