West Somerset Railway General Discussion

It turns out he was quite young; approximately, not quite 40, from what I can gather. That will be hard on the daughters, sadly.

Noel

 

Simply tragic, no other words for it. No one deserves this, at such a young age, to leave so much behind. RIP.

 

43, according to records at Companies House.

 

As someone the same age as JJP and with a teenage daughter, something like this really hits home. An utter tragedy, I really hope people appreciate the huge contribution he made to the WSR and I hope somehow, that his young family are able, in time, to find peace and closure. At the moment their entire world will have fallen apart, let's hope they are having the support they need and the West Somerset family is able to pull together too.

 

I was lucky enough to work alongside jjp in his early days of owning 4936 and then also when the collection ‘grew’ somewhat. Jonny had the spirit of the early preservationists and wanted to save everything. His heart sometimes ruled his head and things didn’t always work out but he gave it a go anyway. The world needs larger than life characters and Jonny was certainly one of them.

 

When you work it out though, only takes another 125 visitors a week , 25 per running day, buying an advance adult day rover at prices.

The railway has had a few kids go free or kids go for £1 over the summer, maybe that is something that needs to happen every day?

Seems like a lot of locals feel priced out going off facebook comments. Maybe they should offer £20 day rovers for those with a TA postcode, and heavily reduced fares for part single/return trips for those who live around the railway.

Some people online have suggested using a return visit within 12 months for a lower fare.

 

How many of the moaners would travel if the prices did fall? And how often?

More practically, that 25 visitors per running day is the best part of half a carriage, on a railway that has a strong tidal demand - so really only on a couple of trains. That's more of an ask If you offer those discounts, you also need to consider what happens to the income from those groups who do pay full whack.

I'd be looking to incentivise travel on lesser used trains (there used to be a discount for part journeys on the last 2 trains from Bishops Lydeard, for example), and considering how I could make more return from the seats I do sell before focusing on discounts - value and price are two different things

 

I think you also need to ask what the locals regard as "acceptable"
I know during the Wareham trial many locals we chatted to seemed to think the return fare should have been in the £5 to £10 range because they were "locals"

 

I’d be interested to understand the logic in removing the previously-operated local residents discount scheme. I hope there was some research into likely effects rather than a ‘fit of pique’ as has been the basis for so many WSR decisions taken over the past decade.

Many heritage railways run similar schemes which bring in useful revenue and engender much goodwill.

Robin

 

Perhaps the concept of restructuring the organisation where there is an overarching charity can be revisited. Gift Aid would add 25% to the takings which could be used in part to reduce fares by say, 10%. It also makes a great marketing line in that the railway can say "We have listened to our customers" etc. etc.

The concept was voted down a while back but times change and the balance sheet doesn't lie. Financially, it may be the last chance.

 

I’m happy to be corrected, but I don’t recall there having been a vote.

Robin

 

The issue I suggest with proposals to obtain charitable status is over accountability, ie those running the railway MAY be more accountable to the membership than in the past.

 

‘Back of envelope’ accounts here again.

In the last year for which we have figures, WSR revenue was ca. £3.8M.

If we assume that 75% of that is gift-aidable travel, 75% of those passengers qualify (UK tax payers) and the Railway is successful in getting 75% of them to sign the gift aid form, providing a 25% uplift, that would be a

£400,000

contribution to both the P&L bottom line and year end cash.

Robin

 

It was some time ago however IIRC there was a vote of sorts on whether the idea should be discussed. The recent numbers will unfortunately, do much of the heavy lifting.