West Somerset Railway General Discussion

They could try holding all the management team, board and trustees meetings for the PLC and the various supporting bodies in the open, on the platform at Bishops Lidyeard. I reckon there'd be a queue of 'interested parties' from NatPres and beyond as far as the eye could see, looking to express their opinions. Massive moneyspinner right there.



Simon

 

I thought bare knuckle boxing and cock fighting were banned.

 

In recent years several of the places which I have used in the past have closed down. This has had two effects:-
1. Demand on the remainder has increased, meaning that it is even more difficult - if not impossible - to get a booking at short notice
2. Very few, if any, now allow for 1-night stays, which rules out any 'go down on Sat morning, come back on Sun evening' short weekends (or even mid-week breaks).

 

The question is whether those bums on seats are actually profitable. You make valid suggestions for how to generate demand - but will the costs of generating that demand actually yield the additional income that would make them worthwhile? Thirty years ago, I'd always have stayed in B&Bs; now, with loyalty points in hand and some very keen pricing, I'll often stay in a chain hotel - hotels that simply weren't there back in the day.

I'm always very mindful on here that we are enthusiasts talking to other enthusiasts. Our families frequently don't share our passion; nor do the wider public. So while I'd probably plan my day in the same way as you, my family would insist on there being something in it for them. On the WSR, that would probably limit me to one out and back trip for the whole line, while (for example) the family alight at Washford and walk back to Watchet (keeping my daughter walking to the ice creams...). I wouldn't get any support for paying a premium for hired in traction, and it might even deter.

That's not to suggest cuts for the sake of cutting, but to support the point made by @Jamessquared that there will be a significant proportion of mileage on many railways that is neither "useful" nor remunerative. Any business needs to focus on weeding that bit of it's spending out; the challenge is doing so without cutting to the bone.

 

Both those points my friend would come under sales and marketing, something those in charge at the moment don’t seem to grasp, (wasn’t the person in charge of marketing let go?)
You can’t keep putting out the begging bowl and doing a Bob Geldof ‘just give us your money’
The WSR has lost a lot of goodwill regarding the situation at Washford and various other activities (legal threats etc) with a hell of a lot of Enthusiasts, it really can’t expect to bang out the same tune and expect the same response again and again.

 

What you describe the P & D as doing is little different to what most s0-called "heritage" lines do in practice. I can't think of any that are really "heritage"-focused, even the much-vaunted IoWSR , although the Bluebell comes closer than most and it at least does have documented plans to try harder in the future. Others on the other hand, seem to have no desire to increase the variety of their offering and I can think of at least one line that would prefer to reduce the variety there. Until we get people to accept that there is more to heritage than steam engines and the BR era claims of being "heritage-focused" will ring rather hollow.

 

I think that the Plc have lost the plot with this latest appeal. What I like to support, and I doubt I'm the only one, is a Project, let's say the refurbishment and refitting of a heritage building as a workshop, something that I can follow on the 'net with weekly updates and see how my money is being spent and maybe contribute some more when the inevitable snags rear their ugly heads. I can share in the sense of progress as everything comes together and I can feel that in some way, it is "my" project. Contributing to a general fund, OTOH, is like paying your taxes. You know some of it will be spent on things dear to your heart, but you also know you will have no idea where the majority is spent and will have a strong suspicion that a lot of it is being wasted or spent on something of which you disapprove.

 

We go back to my point of the person in charge of Marketing being dismissed…

 

Speaking of the appeal, it's been 2 weeks since it launched now I think. Any news on how it's doing? In addition to @Bayard 's points above, another way of encouraging people to donate is to shout about how well the appeal is doing and to entice people to keep the momentum up, to be part of something that is succeeding. Since the initial launch I've seen zilch on any WSR social media that I've seen. For comparison, the SVR launched an appeal for repairs to their loco works at Bridgnorth not long before the WSR appeal and raised over £150,000 in a little more than a fortnight as I recall.

While checking wsr.org.uk in case I'd missed any fundraising news, I did note the latest WSRHT minutes. Potentially of interest is that Martin Brown, recently resigned Plc director, has been co-opted onto the board. That brings the total number up to 10 trustees. Apologies if that's old news, sometimes it's difficult to remember everything, especially when directors come and go with incredible speed in Somerset, revolving door boardrooms and all that!

 

I was quite shocked when I noticed that there is absolutely no engagement with Facebook comments on their own page, it is surely the bare minimum to answer questions like "Do you allow dogs" and other simple queries like that.

 

It doesn’t take much does it?
We get the odd message or phone call regarding work on what we’d call out of hours, we might not be able to reply straight away, but we’ll try to acknowledge it pretty soon.
I would have thought this was pretty simple though.

 

As he was H&S Director why did he feel moved to resign with less than two years in post ...... ?

 

Yes most appeals post a regular update of where the appeal is atAnd no option for gift aid very unusual. Doesn't come over as a particularly professional appeal

 

For us at work (4 employees) we maybe can get away with it!
For one of Britain’s so called Premier railways lack of comms and marketing is something that seriously needs looking at.
Dare I mention the likes of Mr Stratford and what the Mid Hants have done on YouTube again?
I rather enjoyed this one in particular