West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I would agree. I can see a possible market to bring passengers into MD to have dinner in the town and then a stroll on the sea front etc before going back to their B&B/hotel etc. I have less foresight of people wanting to set off from MD to go - where? Watchet? - or simply 'eat on the train'.

 

I’d have thought an evening trip from Minehead ought to work well, for those staying in the town. Not to go anywhere, but just for the ride and meal. The question is what level to pitch it at.


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I find it hard to imagine that the WSR Board would not have market researched the issue to death considering the potential market

 

Whatever you can serve from a mobile roadside bar you should be able to serve from a train.

 

Looking at a few of the "muck trucks" I've encountered over the years, whether you'd necessarily want to is another matter entirely

 

Surely the concern is that they haven’t.


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But isn't that how most railway's dining trains operate - people going for a ride combined with a meal on the train? On the NYMR, some passengers may get off to stretch their legs, watch the engine run round etc. on arrival at Pickering, but they don't normally disappear into the pub across the road! (At 9pm or so arrival time it's only the pubs that are open). On the other hand, in its early, pre-dining train, days the NYMR used to operate "Scenic Land Cruises" by DMU where (iirc) beer was available and perhaps sandwiches but what was sold was a train ride. I can't remember if it was cheaper than a daytime steam train ride or promoted as a different experience. On the NYMR there were occasional opportunities for unscheduled stops for wildlife-watching/spotting opportunities; if there are similar opportunities on the WSR perhaps they could be marketed as service differentiator.

 

I find it hard to believe that they would be that incompetent.

 

Indeed so. There are a couple of places I won't mention where I would only eat or drink products that are prepacked.

 

I hope you’re right.


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I think @Bayard is suggesting something a little more classy like this https://pizza-mondo.co.uk/
(Slightly biased I know these guys, but you get the idea)

 

The Swanage Railway appear to be able to do it with the Curry Nights on their dining set so it must be possible.

 

Recent history, on a number of different points, might not be supportive of that view, sadly.

Noel

 

Indeed, there are some places where I wouldn't stop unless I felt my immune system needed a workout. However this sort of thing has gone upmarket recently, as others have pointed out. Here is one local to me: https://cafemor.co.uk/

 

Level crossing progress in evidence on WSR.org today with the arrival of the all important Relocatable Equipment Building

 

I have been contacted by the individual who would like the record to be clarified.

Message begins........

For the record I, as volunteer QB manager for WSR plc, and my wife (volunteer kitchen lead) resigned our roles in February 2018 during planning for the 2018 QB season. During peak seasons 2016 & 2017 we were each volunteering up to 30 to 35 hours per week, while attempting to also hold down part-time day jobs. The situation had become untenable for us so we had both verbally agreed to become minimum wage WSR plc part-time employees to cover about half of our QB working hours and continue to volunteer the other half. We had pledged to increase QB income by more than our wage costs, something we were confident of achieving by becoming solely focused on the QB. We attended Minehead to sign employment contracts, so we thought, but found the commercial manager back-peddling on the arrangement. At this point we were both working our notice at our regular jobs in anticipation of the WSR promise being fulfilled. In hindsight the arrangement might well have been cancelled later in 2018 as part of WSR's financial reform measures, so the disappointment at that time could instead have turned into a hiatus for us further down the line. The increased QB program then planned for 2018 potentially placed us in an impossible position so we felt we had no choice but to resign. There were other routine issues around marketing and administration at the time but these did not have the gravitas to be material to our decision to resign.

The generator car was a brilliant enhancement to the QB and of great benefit to the crew operationally, once the inevitable gremlins had been evicted. My only disappointment with the set-up, as I expressed on NatPres some years ago, is that flexibility of operation is diminished. Previously we could run the kitchen restaurant car as a single vehicle attachment at gala events. Now we have lost that option and are obliged to attach two heavy vehicles and service them both accordingly. This proved a stumbling block for both ourselves as QB crew and both operations and commercial departments need to maximize seating capacity at galas.

.........message ends

 

I totally agree, Ive never met Robin but I put more faith in her knowledge and background that the Father of the Chairman basically trying to take the heat off his son.

What a total mess when you think the WSR drama and self destruct cant get any worse.....another chapter is opened!
Will the railway see the half way point of the decade, I doubt it.