Bluebell Railway 50's Branch Line Weekend

This is advertised on the Bluebell's website for the 20th/21st October, does anyone have any further details?

Sounds as though it could be an interesting event?

 

Just announced on the Bluebell's Facebook group page that this year's October Branch Line Gala has been cancelled due to work ongoing on a number of locos. Event now postponed until next year.

 

Thanks for the update!

 

Strange that the Bluebell hasn't really had a "gala" this year - or have I missed it? Is this due to a loco shortage or all efforts being concentrated on the East Grinstead extension?

The Giants of Steam gala used to be one of the best events of the year (down south anyway) and it's a shame it's disappeared.

 

Giants of Steam was taken off the list of special events due to the fact that we didn't have enough large home based locos in steam to stage the gala anymore and now sadly we don't even have enough small locos to do a Branch Line theme gala aswell. So sadly this year we haven't had a Spring or Autumn enthusiasts gala which just sums up how much trouble we're in with our loco situation. The one silver lining to this very dark cloud is that hopefully by Autumn 2013 the railway could bring back the Giants gala as "hopefully" we can have 1638, 541, 847, 34059, 92212 and a large headline visiting loco or two to be able stage the event again.

 

Sadly, the loco situation has meant "Giants of steam" became "Gnats of steam" and then nothing... I think the reason is basically loco-related. Even if you have, say, one high-profile visitor, you still have to rely on your core fleet to do a lot of the donkey work; at the moment our core fleet wouldn't reliably support an intensive four train gala, especially not with heavy loads. I made the point on the Bluebell motive power thread that 323 did a sterling job in efficiency terms pulling around 180 seats. But even so, that is only 180 seats... Double up the engines to get big trains, and then you can only run maybe a two or three train service with our current fleet; and if that is all you are running, will enough people show up to pay the hire and transport cost of your visitor? It's a bit of a Catch 22. I don't think EG is particularly a reason, except to say that inevitably the management have been focused on that objective, and in the end maybe something has to give.

Last year we had a vintage cariages gala with our home fleet when normally we would have had GoS. That seemed quite popular and moreover not especially expensive to promote and certainly personally, that would have have been far more likely to attract me than some godforsaken thumper. There you go, genuine Bluebell anti-diesel bias writ large

And here are two thinking points (I don't have the answers...) - not necessarily Bluebell-related, but more about galas in general:

1) Is there a difference between a "gala" (which I define as being very largely targeted at the railway enthusiast community) and "events" (which are more broadly targeted, and potentially have a larger market)? For example, when we had a Bulleid-fest or Terrier-fest a few years back: They were great, but frankly, beyond railway enthusiasts, is anybody interested in being able to see five Terriers all at once? Whereas events like the ubiquitous "war weekends" would seem to have more interest outside the hardcore railway enthusiast community? War weekends seem popular but actually there are lots of possibilities outside the 1940s: Victorian weekends, 1920s weekends; the KESR Hop picker weekends etc. The key would be to think of it as stage dressing: not just the train service, but encouraging visitors to come dressed in period etc - a bit like the Goodwood Revival festival that I think has an audience outside hardcore car fanatics.

2) Beyond the very biggest lines that can absorb the passenger numbers needed to pay for several visitors, are galas with several visitors actually cost effective? Transport costs can run to multiple thousands; steaming fees to high hundreds per day. Before you know it, you could be spending more than £5k per loco. If, say, we hired in two or three locos, we'd have to cover upwards of £10k - £15k in extra revenue, over and above our normal visitor numbers. At say £20 per ticket, that means selling around 1000 tickets extra over two days to really make the event pay - but 500 extra people per day would flood our restaurants, toilets (metaphorically, if not literally...). So I wonder as hire and transport charges go up, but people try to keep a lid on ticket prices, if it will increasingly only be very big lines like the SVR and WSR, where passengers can spread out over multiple trains and multiple stations, that can really justify the "mega galas" of old?

Discuss, as the exam question has it...

Tom

 

1) I would expect that some non-gala events are bigger money-spinners (just look at how many days the Mid-Hants stage Thomas events for each year) but speaking as an enthusiast I am not interested in war weekends or fancy dress events. I just go to heritage railways to see, photograph and ride on the trains. Galas obviously provide the best opportunities for doing that but I am also happy to come on normal service days. In my experience steam galas are popular beyond the enthusiast community. You see lots of families and sometimes tourists as well. It is true to say though that these people may not be too discerning about what is on offer - they won't care if it's a Bulleid Fest or Terrier Fest so long as there are lots of engines to see and lots of trains to ride on.

2) Agreed - I would not expect a line the size of the Bluebell to hire in many visiting locos for a gala but they have succeeded in the past with galas based largely on the home fleet with just one or two visitors - or even entirely on the home fleet. If the current motive power situation does improve next year I would have thought it possible to stage a gala again. Ideally I would like to see something that is neither Giants of Steam or Branch-Line but a mix of both, giving both large and small locos a chance to shine.

 

If Giants is to come back and in the Autumn as it usually is, I would say its unlikely that 92212 will still be there (I think she was brought in as cover until 847 returned) and it depends on how the Just Give campaign this Christmas does for 34059 but it would be more ideal for a Giants event.

But with any luck we'll get some visitor engines next year for a gala or 2 (I think Tom said there was a plan for a celebration when the Extension is completed).

 

Photo charters have helped pay for visiting locos at some galas e.g. SSS2 - 9 charters with the Dukedog.

The Coal Tank, 31806, and the T9 which are at the SVR'S Gala, are all being used for photo charters, but I do not know if they are contributing to the costs in bringing the locos to the railway.

The Spa Valley seems to used visiting loco's over 2 weekends - last year the M7 was used at the Real Ale and Cider Festival as well as their gala.
44422 is being used at Gala, a further weekend and on a photo Charter.

 

Car parking is another problem.At one Autumn Gala cars were parked on the verge of the main road at Sheffield Park.

Catering - I do not think the catering could cope. The layout in the Bessemer Arms is poor. It was suggested in the Bluebell Group that the servery is removed and orders taken at the Bar and customers are served at the table. Capacity also needs to increase at SP and HK.
A number of other railways have pubs and cafes within a short walking distance of the Railway, such WSR, MHR, NYMR, SVR, & LLangollen.

 

Technically of course 92212 is also a visitor

Something to point out on the visitor side of things, if all that is printed is to be believed, Met #1 is doing the rounds next year to celebrate the 150th anniversary, and one of the booked destinations is...yep, you guessed it.

 

Oh yeah forgot about that. I missed out on seeing her in 2007 for the Lewes and East Grinstead Railway 125th Anniversary Gala.

 

Met loco no.1 will be something certainly to look forward to if she visits next year to pair up with our Met coaches. In terms of visiting locos at galas I've always felt that the home based locos are the "spine" of the event that hold everything together whilst the visitors give the gala that bit of uniqueness and dare I say the phrase "X Factor". The visiting loco/s are the headline stealer that attract the photter/enthusiast to come to the railway to see the loco/s as it's only there for the event or a couple of weeks. Certainly for myself and my Dad living just a 40 minute car journey from the Bluebell if the gala was just a selection of home based locos which can been seen all throughout the year, as much as it's a superb collection of locos, there's not really much incentive to visit as we've seen it all before and there's no uniqueness about it. However if there's a visiting loco that's only there for the gala or a couple of weeks we're going to definitely visit as it's unlikely we might see it again especially if the loco came from a great distance away but is appropriate to the line e.g. the visit of the Fairburn Tank.

I think enthusiast galas and family events are a totally separate animal. Branch Line/Giants galas, whilst yes attract large numbers of family visits, are specifically aimed at the railway enthusiast/lineside photter to come to the railway and give the event much needed publicity in the railway press. The family fun weekends like "faces on engines", War weekends etc are aimed at the general public and children's market rather than the railway enthusiast. Both types of galas are equally important to the railway although I would probably concede that the family galas make more money than an enthusiast gala as you don't really need to hire visiting locos for those events.

 

Barring those on the photo charter, pretty much everyone missed out on seeing her in 2007. Rather disgraced herself as I remember.

 

Oh yeah. Didn't Sir Berkeley fail as well. Can't quite remember but I remember Met 1 not making the event.

 

Sir Berkeley made it to Kingscote and back in anger, which is more than the Met tank did, spent most of the time shunting and "posing" at Horsted though.

 

I've got photos of Met No. 1 on 4th August 2007 at Sheffield Park taking water and running round, then dropping down Freshfield bank light engine in the afternoon. I have a feeling it did a couple of trips in the morning before failing with a hot box.

In the TfL document about LU150, the most interesting bit I noticed was this

Hopefully more than just the one visit to the Bluebell then. KWVR and Spa Valley with their LT stock would be good too.

 

Maybe even a few tours around the further reaches of the Underground as well? Not just the Met, but the outer part of the Central Line and the extremities of the District would be interesting.