West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I know these are all suggestions made in good faith, but just thought it worth pointing out that:

Almost certainly yes, but the most frequent complaint I see on feedback forms on my own railway is that the timetable isn't frequent enough. Something to factor in.

Probably yes, but adding and taking off coaches all day is a bit of a hassle. You'll probably need another crew for shunting - more volunteers, and at the end of the day, what does it gain you? You've still got to do the maintenance on the carriage and regardless of the slightly decreased mileage, you're not going to do FTR exams on that one a day later than the rest just because you can, and the saving in coal will be negligible.

Yes but see above.

I really don't see this helping at all. For a start the WSR doesn't have any smaller engines, so that would require moving some bigger ones on and getting some smaller ones in. 2x the locos means 2x the crew, 2x the maintenance, and whilst diesel locos are cheaper than steam to run they're still not free. Add in to that you'll pee off all the steam enthusiasts and the diesel enthusiasts.

Again, possibly, but you do need to do it carefully. Most of the travelling public do come for a steam train ride, but using a diesel or DMU as an extra train to make a timetable more interesting but without the cost of another steam loco might well be worth looking at.

Probably not! DMUs are so easy to run, only require 2 staff and dead cheap to run, and it's a great idea to use one in a spare path to spread the steam trains a bit thinner and still keep people moving, but it does need to be reliable, absolutely.

 

I wonder if sending an 'is it OK if we send you some other messages' message is OK, or is there nothing that can be done with that info?

Noel

 

Thanks Richard - I might well agree with your last point but the post you quoted was a response, with examples, to Al's comment suggesting a lack of mention by WSR of the closeness of the beach to the station. I stand by my comment that many folks will look at many sources of information (WSR and non-WSR) when planning a journey and will surely note, as per my examples, that the beach is very close to the station.

Steve

 

I'm not a lawyer, but I have looked into it in some depth in connection with work, and I think this is one of those areas where it is unclear at present. Many organisations, though, did their hardest to resolve it by sending out messages of that type before the regulations came into force.

 

Hi Steve,

Richard's point I agree with and some re-branding and attention to publicity material is in order.

The quite considerable delights of Minehead and it's beach ought to be stressed in the WSR publicity material.

Cheers,

Julian

 

I’d love to see prototype HST 41001 and coaches on the WSR. Think it would be a massive draw for the line

 

Lady of Legend would be another useful draw for enthusiasts.

 

Is that the saint?

 

The main thing is control and knowing what your costs are its not constantly thinking what loco you need to bring in its running a reliable service to take tourist to Minehead and all its surrounding attraction. I am surprised there are no mention of Dunster Castle which is a great place to visit but is quite a walk from the station.

 

Do you mean on this thread or on the WSR website?

https://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/events/detail/dunster-castle-express-2

 

Draw for whom?

 

As it is already visiting lots of galas this year including the SVR it may not be as big a draw as you think. I don't think galas are the best way out of a tight financial situation as you end up taking a bet on how well they are going to be attended with lots of element that are out of your control like weather.

 

We had one work through to Minehead a few years back. It turned heads and looked amazing. It is a landmark diesel, over 40 years old has given amazing and reliable service down the years and works at speeds other diesels cannot dream of. Why wouldn't diesel fans like it? I'm a steam fan and I like it!

 

I think that I paid £150 for a footplate ride MD - BL, on 53808 - that was during the Spring Gala two years (I think) ago. Still quite a lot, but you have to treat yourself occasionally!

 

Sorry, but that is not correct, the £100 deal on the Mid-Hants is one way only on the footplate,not round-trip. You travel the other way as a normal passenger. I did it recently.

 

Tbh the £300 fee was a guess as it was a long time ago . Problem with the Watercress Line , rarely do you see a GWR loco , understandably and in all honesty I used to live a dozen or so miles from it in Tadley and the best trip I had on it was behind Nunney Castle , certainly flattened that little hill they call the " Alps " .
Previously I had a footplate trip on the NYMR , that certainly was £300 or there abouts for a two way trip with breakfast . It was on a Black 5 where it really had to work climbing to Goathland , I know it was an ersatz hall but on the WSR I had the real thing 6960 and when I saw the regulator go into the roof climbing Washford Bank I was in heaven .
If I thought £300 was good value , then I'm sure others would do the same .
Must be the easiest way to get more revenue .

 

I'm not 100% certain about the £300 figure , I've not a stack of spare cash so if I didn't think it was worth it , I wouldn't gone for it .

 

Very much apprieciated by this " over-seas " member .

 

How about a 'in line with new data protection regs, we will be unable to send you any information at this address'? Even if it doesn't include a link they can use to allow marketing info to be sent to them, it might joggle them to take a look and try and add themselves back in.

Noel

 

Because the evidence seems to suggest that they can be surprising fickle - to a much greater extent than steam enthusiasts - in what they want, which makes diesel events riskier to put on. See https://www.national-preservation.c...ilway-operations.508987/page-902#post-2417548 for a good analysis.

Galas can be tricky for finances. What's the average loading for a single WSR train on a normal day? Let's say 250 passengers; assuming some are travelling at some kind of discount (family / advance / association / group booking etc), that probably represents in the region of £4,000 of gross fare income. So for a visiting loco to make sense, you have to clear £4,000 per train that it hauls plus whatever it costs you to bring the loco in (hire fees, transport etc), plus a contribution to cover the risk it may not cover its costs.

Clearly special events can work, because otherwise railways (and indeed other tourist attractions) wouldn't run them. But the more niche the attraction, the riskier they are, and the prototype HST power car seems pretty niche to me.

Tom