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Mid Hants Spring gala

Discussion in 'Galas and Events' started by pete12000, Jan 27, 2010.

  1. David-Haggar

    David-Haggar Member

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    May I just add my last comments to this thread by reiterating the point that I hope the Mid-Hants did have a successful w/e with Tornado and the customers on the whole had a good time. But please could the powers that be accept the point regarding the issue of no platform tickets. To charge an average family(mum,dad +2 kids) £80 to just stand on the platform, take in the atmosphere, take a few photos and buy merchandise in the shop/cafe is a helluva lot of money & as has been said many will not pay that sum & will walk away. Not everyone will want a ride on a train and not everyone can turn up early on in the day or even by mid-day, a fair price tag for a platform ticket should be around £5 per person, I believe this is what we charge at the Bluebell on gala w/e's. If the platfrom ticket was introduced at this price for Mid-Hants galas as an alternative to the standard charge for a round trip then this could help matters.

    Cheers
     
  2. 50002

    50002 Member

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    That should keep Eurostar's marketing and PR people in work for a good few years then!

    At least they have the benefit of professional staff operating modern trains and communications technology. Things still went badly wrong though in recent months. Relying as it has to on steam age technology and a largely volunteer workforce, perhaps the MHR did not do that badly after all is said and done.

    One point not yet mentioned: the visit of Tornado made front page headline news last week in the free local newspaper that circulates in the Alton area. Perhaps many occasional visitors who would not otherwise have attended the gala were attracted by that article. I hope they were. The author(s) found room to include the obvious falsehood that Tornado was the first new steam engine to be built in Britain for 60 years - that's funny, I wonder when the 999 BR Standard locos were bult, plus the many more engines that were built by BR to pre-1948 designs. Yet nowhere was it mentioned in the article about there being special fares or limitations on station access for casual observers.

    Would whoever supplies press releases on behalf of the MHR please make sure next time that such relevant information is included. Failing that, could they please ask a knowledgeable member of the volunteer staff to check such material before it is issued. We do have quite a few such people.
     
  3. Tynwald

    Tynwald New Member

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    Not this time - however my issue is not with the gala (which you will notice I haven't commented on) but solely the attitude of MHR volunteers in this thread (which I have attended).
     
  4. 73129

    73129 Part of the furniture

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    People on here moan that they can’t buy a platform ticket to see Tornado but you can’t go to Thrope park or Chessington World of Adventure and buy a cheaper ticket just to watch the rides or buy some think from the shop. So what makes persevered railways different?

    Ps Will the Bluebell sell platform tickets when she goes there in Sept?
     
  5. LN850

    LN850 Member

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    For whoever gilesby... is, i am not an old man who has been ousted by forward thinking men, i am a 16-year old who has spent too much time reading up about various railway institutions on the internet and i am certainly not backward thinking.

    With regard to no one knowing whats happening, just listen in to people in the know,
    and 73129, MHR is hardly a theme park.

    Plus, i have spent my moneys worth on the MHR, i paid for 2 day rovers and i am a member of the MHRPS, so you could hardly say i dont contribute.
    All respect to you chessie having been involved with the MHR, i think u r right about some people going who were determined not to enjoy their day.

    (BTW where can i get a reasonably priced boiler suit? i am looking to start volunteering thursday after next)
     
  6. cct man

    cct man Part of the furniture

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    Point taken Dave although it was clearly advertised that no plarform tickets would be issued for this event.

    Regards
    Chris
     
  7. cct man

    cct man Part of the furniture

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    Ah OK, do you mean all of them?

    Regards
    Chris
     
  8. Tynwald

    Tynwald New Member

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    I don't. My apologies, some have been polite and a credit to the railway.
     
  9. Spamcan81

    Spamcan81 Nat Pres stalwart

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    One alongside the Llangollen Railway does. £1 to park your car and another £1 per head to go into his meadows. A perfectly amicable arrangement IMHO.
     
  10. Dan Hamblin

    Dan Hamblin Part of the furniture

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    Doubt it...

    ... it won't be there in September ;)

    Regards,

    Dan
     
  11. cct man

    cct man Part of the furniture

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    Many thanks Tynwald though no apology was needed.

    Chessie was right when he said that it is the few that are spoiling it for the many.

    Best regards
    Chris
     
  12. pennysteam

    pennysteam Well-Known Member

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    My first trip to MHR this weekend, on whole we had two good days. I have to agree pricing statergy should be looked at, as I feel MHR are loosing money on such an event with high entrance fee's. I would say it would be better to have a platform ticket price of 10 pounds or for a family 20 pounds with consession at fiver. How wil lthis make more money, simply because a family will spend more money in the shop, drinks etc. I saw loadfs of familys attending the event but not at the stations, instead they spent their money in local shops, and got the picture of tornado etc at several vantage points.

    Likewise their should have been a 2 days price, I myself as probably many punter could make the saturday, I did the weekend, but opted to by just a saturday ticket, didn't ride a single train as I came to film and take photo's, I thought 40 pounds for two days of as expected limit photo angle at the stations was to steep, if there had been a 30 pound option for two days I would have opted for it and maybe taken a ride sunday afternoon, but as there wasn't.

    Getteing back to the gala itself, I would say it was worth the trip, I would suggest allowing a bit more time on time table and start a bit early and finishing a bit later would make more sense, as this would allow trains to make up time when they fall behind, secondly they are less likely to do so in the first instance.
     
  13. pennysteam

    pennysteam Well-Known Member

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    Maybe you have a distant relatives that a french or spanish?
     
  14. Widge

    Widge New Member

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    I really do think it's a shame that some who attended the Gala didn't enjoy it, because there was so much on offer that was truly stunning. But we do need to remember where we are here; this is an informal discussion forum after all.

    Simon, if you feel that you have a genuine complaint then the correct way to voice your concerns would be to write a letter to the railway's management who I'm sure will deal with it in a sympathetic and considered manner.

    The Mid Hants is a great railway; one of the best, and if some of us have overstepped the mark in its defence, it's only because we care about it so much. If such passion constitutes stereotypical behaviour then we can make no apologies for being a very small part of an organisation which inspires such loyalty. It would be great if you gave us another chance and perhaps even considered volunteering. You might be very pleasantly surprised.....?
     
  15. Widge

    Widge New Member

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    I really do think it's a shame that some who attended the Gala didn't enjoy it, because there was so much on offer that was truly stunning. But we do need to remember where we are here; this is an informal discussion forum after all.

    Simon, if you feel that you have a genuine complaint then the correct way to voice your concerns would be to write a letter to the railway's management who I'm sure will deal with it in a sympathetic and considered manner.

    The Mid Hants is a great railway; one of the best, and if some of us have overstepped the mark in its defence, it's only because we care about it so much. If such passion constitutes stereotypical behaviour then we can make no apologies for being a very small part of an organisation which inspires such loyalty. It would be great if you gave us another chance and perhaps even considered volunteering. You might be very pleasantly surprised.....?
     
  16. cct man

    cct man Part of the furniture

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    Well said that man and thank you.

    As you say this is an informal chat area and everyone is entitled to an opinion.

    best wishes
    Chris:
     
  17. chessie1

    chessie1 New Member

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    Some very fair points made there. I think that what the weekend has shown is that when the railway comes under extreme pressure, and I don't mean just on the loco side, it definitely does start to creak. The volunteer pool is finite, so I suppose in most areas it's only possible to roster the same amount of people as on a normal service weekend, or at best only slightly more. Consequently the railway then becomes a victim of it's own success with. to be quite frank, probably not enough people to run it as smoothly as would have been hoped.
     
  18. lil Bear

    lil Bear Part of the furniture

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    Having read this thread, I am very surprised at some of Chessie's posts, as normally he is one of the MHR guys whose posts are well thought through and are worth reading.

    Yes Joe Public pay most of the lines bills, but this weekend was different, it was an ENTHUSIASTS weekend. Therefore you were aiming at the enthusiast market. This is slightly different from your normal visitors, and after all such events some people will post their views on forums like this, some of these posts will be rubbish and others will be constructive.

    Simon's post was that there was a lack of information of what was happening when things started going wrong. All it would have taken is a small announcement that there had been a train failure in section and the MHR was doing its best to rectify.

    The post that during an intensive service timetable it is hard to recover time, you build it in to your timetable. Before I'm asked where my experience is I've written gala timetables for 2 railways and the longest delay I had was 7mins and that included having a token machine fail in one of the signalboxes. OK it may mean sitting in loops for a longer period, but a customer would rather get home on time then be delayed by what was an hour at this event, especially if they is a lack of communication as Simon feels there was. He is not the only one either as I met a few people on Sunday who had visited at some point and their views were not as constructive as Simons.

    Platform tickets, they will make money end of. For SSS2 I was initially against running them, but overall the 6880 Society chose to have them and my opinion of them has changed as we did generate an income from these. We even had a few people return to the ticket offices and buy a ticket so they could travel as they'd enjoyed being on the station that much.

    The other issues are old ones that continually pop up. No working timetable available for visitors, early finish etc. It's not really worth going into all again I feel, but its the same for the MHR supporters as it is their volunteers. They want to see the MHR be the best it can, and so where they see an opportunity or an area that could be improved, they make a suggestion. To be continually ignored or be responded to in such a manner as seen here is rather off putting and you wonder why you bother. Yet the railway will still want their membership fee every 12 months, and requests will come for the latest appeals etc.

    You will never get it perfect. What satisfies one person will not satisfy another. However when there is clearly a problem which more than one person has highlighted then surely steps should be taken to at least learn from these occasions?
     
  19. rsfaithfull

    rsfaithfull Member

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    He was wrong. She came to a stand 300 yards short of the summit (which is one of the steepest parts of the line).
     
  20. LN850

    LN850 Member

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    My (or his) mistake.
     

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