West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I agree with just about all you say, despite disliking the word ''heritage''. Being ''heritage'' does not prevent catering and sales being efficient and lucrative.

Providing attractions to encourage visitors to remain on site rather than spending money elsewhere is something which, I think, tends to be neglected.

 

It seems to me that the WSR's biggest problem (because it's surely not the only problem) is the falling ridership; and the cause(s) for that are not completely clear. One could be e.g. more people taking holidays abroad now.

On a separate front, in the heritage world, the miasma of conflict that has hung over it for years now just trundles on - even though in many cases the original protagonists are gone now.

The carriages are a positive idea, but the problem(s) are a lot bigger than that.

Noel

 

I'm not so sure of that. We all have our own opinions but the WSR has the advantage of the Quantock hills. The GWSR is as flat as a pancake. The last time I travelled on the line the loco pulled away from each station and basically coasted all the way to the end of the line. On the other hand the climb from BL to Crowcombe is really enjoyable especially if you're travelling on the first train of the day and the rails are damp. Likewise both climbs to Washford are very good especially if you're sat in the first coach, the sound of the loco can be superb. Each to his own but for me the WSR is the clear winner. <BJ>

 

News to me that they let the inmates out of Butlins to do other things…



Simon

 

In South Devon there seems to be a upsurge in caravan and campers. Moreover most of the chalet type homes are ding quite well. The agent for two local places tells me that many people are avoiding foreign travel by buying these home and holiday homes.
Minehead, said to being busier than ever, is managing quite well without the railway it seems.

 

did you mean Minehead is managing quite well *without* the railway?

 

There will always be potential show stoppers in any work of this kind but how often do cylinders get replaced? Not that often and it is usually something that is already expected and planned for. I'm trying to remember how long 76079's replacement cylinder took but it wasn't that long, once it was decided to go down the route of a cast one instead of unsuccessfully trying to fabricate a replacement. Anyway, it is an academic argument relating to 53808's next overhaul and at what point it could be argued that the overhaul must be started to ensure completion by the contracted date but we've since been told that there isn't a contracted date. Whether that is fact, I've no idea, as with lots of other things mentioned on this thread.

 

I wasn't talking about social media marketing, I was more thinking about the post that said that questions like "Can I take my dog on the line?" were going unanswered. You don't need social media marketing skills to answer that. Nor do you need those skills if you are simply going to put posts on Facebook. What proportion of the people who post on Facebook have any sort of marketing skills? All you need is a reasonable command of the English language (mind you, looking at most output these days, not even that is necessary). Certainly I'd agree that social media marketing is a huge opportunity that the WSR seems to be completely ignoring, but getting a professional in simply to monitor social media, make a few simple posts and answer a few simple questions is an admission of defeat.
I suspect that one reason the WSR Plc might be unwilling to engage with social media is that it heightens the possibility that people might use it to be critical of the management, something to which they seem particularly averse. They prefer marketing where people cannot answer back.

 

A valid point but would that really matter to Joe and Joanna Public, their kids and dog?

 

Agree. As Bean Counter will always tell us, it is all about the secondary spend.

Agree entirely. What I was trying to say is that if the argument is that the railway needs a more heritage vibe to give the line a USP and to improve passenger numbers IMO the carriages would be the place I would start. What could be more evocative than a Manor or Praire sitting at Minehead on half a dozen beautifully restored GWR carriages? It would be a USP that you couldn't get at the PDR, etc

You could do a targeted appeal alongside the main appeal for funds during covid - ie similar to the ones running on the SVR, Bluebell, Ffestiniog. This kind of appeal shows that the line is not just barely surviving but is planning for the future.

Of course and we all have our preferences. My broader point is that in say the early 1990s the WSR pretty much had the area to itself. You had to go to the SVR, Didcot, MHR or down to Kingswear, the only other nearby line was the ESR which didn't really go anywhere but was nice for a quick afternoon trip. It's selling points - a long railway (in an era where many lines were short), GWR heritage etc etc have basically been over-taken by other lines who do the same thing but better. The reality is that when I am next in the area I am interested in what the L&B have been doing so that will get a definite visit, I am interested in what the ESR has been doing, I am interested in the Broadway project so that is likely to swing me to visiting the GWSR, if I am travelling with someone who wants something other than just a train ride then the PDR offers me more, if I am travelling with a small child with a short attention span then MSN, AVR have enough for a couple of hours and if the toys come out of the pram then it can be sacked off pretty easy and so on and so forth

 

I have no idea as to what 2021 will bring but the idea that foreign travel might still not be that simple seems likely, and I suggest anyone in the hospitality/leisure/whatever business should be thinking along those lines

 

I suspect most of Joe public just want a nice train ride with some nice scenery with some attractions thrown in one end or the other, I suspect they,re more likely to go to see the sea than the hills. If you can,t get to Minehead it is probably a big turn off if you,ve got kids. Plus you need welcoming and encouraging staff/volunteers. Last time we went it wasn't,t a particularly welcoming experience unlike Bluebell, KESR, North Yorks, SVR, Avon Valley etc.

 

After all, passengers travel in the carriages, not on the footplate.

 

I could have added in my post, clean well looked after coaches.

 

Jus back from the South Hams (used to live there but just a visitor now). I think there are going to be winners and losers in the short to medium term, in terms of people thinking that they might like to come again when the rest of the world is once more an option.

Personally my sense is that this is going to be a short term boost so any money to be made needs to be made now. Dartmouth and Salcombe last week were crawling with people complaining about the prices and the lack of bars to watch the football (in the case of Salcombe I think there was a particularly massive disconnect between the people who have booked this year for 'the seaside' and the people that the town is orientated to catering for but that's an aside).

So I think the crowds are a once in blue moon opportunity to make money. Which is frankly a shame as I did have some hopes that more people might see what they've been missing by going abroad...

 

While WSR interiors, in my experience seem clean if rather tatty the exteriors pre Covid were not that clever.

 

YES . I did.

 

Agree. As Bean Counter will always tell us, it is all about the secondary spend.

He isn't here now, but I think but Bean Counter was of the opinion that secondary spend is the icing on the cake, not the cake itself! The WSR's problem is that its footfall was dropping in the pre-Covid years where other railways numbers were increasing or at least stable. It is the reasons behind that fall that are the cause for concern.

Turning now to the subject of engineering skills I think that an important point has been missed - Steve is correct to to say that much expertise is still available in the wider engineering world, and it is true that the heritage railway has made important strides in establishing engineering apprenticeships to train a new generation of engineers to meet is needs. I doubt whether there are many (if any!) staff now left who were originally trained in a BR workshop in the steam era. What they cannot do, though, is train people in the supply industry, much of which is also obsolete or becoming so. Foundries, forges and steel mills are becoming things of the past (think of the trouble the Clan people e having getting their square section coil springs made). It is telling that wheel tyres are seemingly no longer made in europe, let alone the UK but have to come from S. Africa. Why is that? Presumably because increasing the "Big Railways" use solid wheels, so what will happen when tyres are only required for heritage stock - will there be sufficient demand to keep that ring mill open? Matters like these are as big an existential threat to the heritage railway industry as coal supply (where there is at least the alternative option of oil firing) yet we never hear of them. How are issues like these being addressed?