Spa Valley Railway - Latest News

Many thanks Jonnie. But my full day there yesterday in the heat that the Met Office reported reached 30 C in that area, and despite all I did to try and keep in shade and with my car aircon at times, meant I got up this morning with some of the signs of heat exhaustion. Not up to the level of heat exhaustion that made me decide to end ascending Bavarian mountains in summer circa 20 years ago - although back then it was 32 C or a little more. But enough this morning to warn me to keep out of the sun today.

So it has been a quiet day at home for me, plenty to drink and fans blasting away as will my bedroom aircon when I take a short 'thinking break with my eyes shut' quite soon.

But very many thanks to you all at the Spa Valley for running the SR Mogul again this weekend. Very much appreciated.

With the enormous cost of lorry transport these days I imagine it will not be a loco that will often run again where SR Moguls once did in the 1960s.

So thanks again,

Bryan

 

With Eridge now being well “run in”, are there still plans to get a loop in down there? Particularly now the need for a swing bridge on the footpath entrance appears to have been resolved with the ramp in the platform?


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One day but when we've a bridge to replace at over £300,000 and other areas of the infrastructure to overhaul (we've just invested £70,000 in a failed culvert and embankment) it isn't our top priority.

The Eridge extension is not cheap, because of where it is is it has to be inspected by a mainline registered company. It's £30,000 a year just to do the necessary patrolling and inspections which doesn't include any remedial work. If we have to do anything like this it has to be done by a mainline registered contractor.

Last year the longitudinal timbers were replaced on the main set of points just outside Eridge which cost us over £22,000.

In reality, any installation of a loop at Eridge is probably going to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds because of where it is.

It would be nice though and we would make a saving on our operating costs in the longterm but we don't have the cash there to do just do something like this. Whilst in the accounting world we could offset it overtime the reality is the invoice would still need paying on the due date.

We still have a failed embankment to address at Tunbridge Wells West and the recent repairs at Cold Bath on 30ft worth of embankment and a culvert were £70,000.

 

Agreed it would be great to have a run-round at Eridge, but the priorities have to be as you say Jonnie. Meaning that you keep the line from TWW to Eridge open and in a decent state before improving the operations at the far end.

That £30,000 a year is a bit of a weight around your neck, I wasn't aware of that.

Bryan

 

The costs of a heritage railways operation aren't always that well publicised. Perhaps I'm too open sometimes but I don't see what we gain by not explaining these things. If I just said it's too expensive then everyone would ask questions!

 

Personally I appreciate you being so honest and open about these matters, as it really shows the eye-watering expenses most heritage railways have to deal with, yet many don't appreciate these issues.

I am curious though, with the expenses that Eridge section incur, does operating services there sufficiently make up for it?

Or in other words, is it actually more a burden running the Eridge extension then it's worth?

I'd like to think it is, even though I know people debate back and forth on the benefits for heritage railways being linked to the national network.

 

It isn't worth it on a regular basis for the mainline connection. That comes into its own during special events such as the Beer Festival but on a normal day it's seldom used. That is why we changed our standard timetable to do away with connections, too few people were using it and keeping it made the day longer and impacted on when we did our dining experiences.

The last train used to be 16:15 and get back at 17:35. It used to run with around 20-30 people on it. The last train now is at 15:30 and it's regularly carrying 70+ for dining and another 30 to 40 standard travel passengers.

What the extra 2 miles does bring though is the longer journey and 25 -30 minutes one way vs 15 minutes makes all the difference on visitor numbers. So whilst it does cost £30,000 to use, the valve is in the journey we offer not the mainline connection.

It is still easier if you want to visit the Spa Valley to go to the mainline Tunbridge Wells station and walk 10 minutes to our one. The Southeastern service to/from London and Hastings is a lot better than the Southern over an hour from Eridge. The first and last trains are also much earlier and later from Tunbridge Wells mainline.

 

I have visited twice (from London), both times walking down the hill at Tunbridge Wells but travelling back from Eridge. Having both ends accessible to/from main lines seems to me a significant benefit.

 

Can you get a return ticket to cover that option or did you have to get two singles?

 

Would be interesting to know as I have never seen a booking engine you can put two "via points" into.

 

Southern Daysave rover nearly works (from London Bridge, Watford June etc) but only as far as Tonbridge to get to Tunbridge Wells. Could still prove cheapest option at £26 with flexibility of trains and routes? (see railrover.org )

 

Possible on a Saturday I guess, although quite a deviation via Redhill. Inability to start until 10:00 in the week probably kills it.

 

That's true - was considering a Saturday but you're right for in the week

 

Trainsplit will give you that option. I suspect you'd be on two singles though given that there's no common point at the end of the line.

 

Thank you for making use of Eridge, I just wish others did the same!

We operated our 'classic' Green timetable with some slight changes from 25th March 2011 up until when we closed in March 2020 due to the restrictions. The original timetable was a 10:20 departure from Tunbridge Wells West arriving at Eridge for 10:45, we'd then depart at 11:10. The theory being someone could get the 10:51 to London or arrive on the 11:03 from London at Eridge. The last train was then 16:15 from Tunbridge Wells West arriving at Eridge for 16:40 which meant visitors could get the 16:51 back to London or if they'd gone elsewhere return on our 17:10 back to Tunbridge Wells West, which arrived back at 17:35.

We did this for a good 8yrs and I honestly couldn't tell you why we let it continue for so long, perhaps it was stagnation or other things standing out that we needed to put at the front of our operation. Anyway, reality then hit and 2020/2021 weren't really properly planned out operating years due to the variety of restrictions with everything being done at the last minute when you were allowed to do something.

When the 2022 season came around we did change how we operated. The first train from TWW is now at 10:00, arrives at Eridge at 10:25 and goes at 10:35. The last train is 15:30 and arrives at Eridge at 15:55 and goes at 16:05, arriving back at TWW for 16:30, this has significantly improved the steam crew shifts which are now 11hrs or 11hrs 30 on some days rather than the full 12hrs and we have made best use of what our visitors want. Whilst the mainline connection is good for visitors during big events (although out of 1,700 or so people only 211 came through Eridge during the Cuckoo Line Gala) and as I've said above it gives us the length of journey we need it just wasn't used on normal Green days.

We've changed what we do to follow what the visitors are doing and it so far has worked for three seasons.

 

Used Eridge for the Friday of the Gala. Thameslink to East Croydon and then Southern to Eridge. Couldn’t be simpler.

 

One of my more eccentric aspirations is a day trip I very much would love to make, possibly in 2028 whereby in attempting to travel on three heritage lines in a single day, I would use the connections at either end ofthe Spa Valley Railway.

As one section of my proposed route doesn't even have rails laid yet, I have no idea of timings, but I would hope that on a day when either the Bluebell or the K&ESR are runnng an enhanced timetable (Gala, perhaps), it might be possible to go from Sheffield Park to Tenterden by train, via East Grinstead- Oxted (or Hurst green), Eridge, Tunbridge Wells (walking from West to Central) and Robertsbridge. I have a "significant" birthday that year and I think this would be a great way to mark it.

 

Well John, that sounds good. But, if I may I'll trump your 'more eccentric' with saying I'll aim to do it only behind locos in BR lined black SR locos (Bulleids in usual green) and of course all with a proper BR 1960s number!

Which, getting back to the Spa valley Railway, over those incredible recent two long weekends saw 80078, 80144, 80140, 80011, 34050 (the 3 briefly fell off), 34053, 31803, 31806 and honorary SR loco 41319.

Bryan - my eccentricity knows no bounds - B

 

We have had people do Spa Valley and Bluebell in a day via the connections under our old timetables.