Spa Valley Railway - Latest News

I sent three reports during the event: one on Saturday morning, one on Sunday morning, and one today. The two below are from Sunday morning (reflecting on Saturday, but I did recap Friday) and today. These reports went down incredibly well with the volunteers and greatly drove the enthusiasm and motivation. Our volunteers working the beer card and glasses bar have access to the PayPal system we use at this event so they could see live data, and that too encouraged them greatly, and either I or our Customer Services Manager, Mark, had access to vTicket on our phones to let volunteers know the EPOS takings and passenger train ticket sales.

I am very proud of the Spa Valley Railway and have had the pleasure of being its General Manager for 12 years so far. For personal reasons, I took a 3-month period at the start of 2026 to work remotely and be less physically at the Spa Valley. Something I learned back then was that mental health, anxiety and depression are real things, and they hit me hard. Generally, I tackle most things and put on a brave face, but back then I needed support, so I reached out through the right channels and got the help I needed. I took up running regularly and have now completed 6 half marathons, three for charity (Cancer Research UK and Pancreatic Cancer Action in memory of my Dad), and finally achieved a 01:55:38 half marathon on Sunday 11th October around London. I then got the train back to Spa Valley to carry on with Beer Festival set-up!!! My next running challenge is the London Marathon on 24th April 2027...

I have also been concentrating on my marriage (my husband and best friend Stu is also a Director of the Wealden Railway Co. Ltd) and the Spa Valley harder than ever. This event was the first 'big' event I'd done since my period away, and honestly, it was the volunteers, many of whom are close friends of mine, who motivated me to do it, and I'm so proud of them and what we have achieved. If you don't already follow me on Instagram (@jonniepay) or TikTok (@jonnie_pay) and want to see what life on a heritage railway is really like, drop a follow; I post behind-the-scenes content daily.

Anyways, read and enjoy.

Report sent Sunday, 18th October, that references Friday and Saturday.
Good morning, everyone,

Yesterday was nothing short of phenomenal.

Towards the end of the day, the beer cards and glasses desk at Tunbridge Wells West broke through the £40,000 mark, finishing Saturday with an incredible £40,042.11 in sales! Combined with 1,470 passengers generating £28,032.20 in train fares, and a further £14,959 from the RMB, Kate, Groombridge and Eridge, our total revenue for Saturday 17th October reached a staggering £82,669.30.

This made Saturday the Spa Valley Railway's highest revenue-generating day.

To recap, Friday was equally impressive: 863 passengers generated £16,591.50 in train fares, £29,882.89 in beer card and glass sales, and a further £9,341.80 from the RMB, Kate, Groombridge and Eridge. Friday’s total revenue came to £55,816.20.

Including Thursday’s Preview Evening, which performed on par with last year, our total revenue so far stands at £141,704.00!

We already have 114 visitors booked to travel today, generating £3,056 in advance ticket sales. Our total passenger numbers, including today’s bookings, currently stand at 2,447, already exceeding our 2025 figures. We’ve also worked with some excellent influencers this year, including YouTubers and Instagram content creators, who have helped us spread the word and reach a wider audience.

The last 72 hours, and indeed the entire week leading up to the festival, have been incredible. Stu and I have been involved with this event since its earliest days. Back in 2011, our first Beer Festival featured 25 beers and 3 ciders on a single rack at Tunbridge Wells West. Fast forward to 2026, and we’ve offered 240 cask ales, including 36 Kent Green Hop beers, 14 craft beers, and 81 ciders, alongside live music, food stalls, and, of course, our steam and diesel trains.

I don’t think either of us could have imagined back then just how big this event would become. What has struck us both most this year is the extraordinary level of volunteer support. From those who spent days preparing the railway, moving stock, erecting marquees, setting up bars, and getting everything ready, to those who worked tirelessly throughout the festival serving customers, operating trains, keeping everything running, and making our visitors feel welcome.

You have all gone above and beyond, and we are both genuinely grateful to every single one of you.

Events of this scale don't happen without enormous hard work, commitment, and teamwork. Much of that work happens behind the scenes, often unnoticed by the thousands of visitors who come through our doors, but please know we all notice and appreciate it.

The Spa Valley Railway is incredibly fortunate to have such a dedicated, passionate group of people who give up their time to make things like this possible. You should all be immensely proud of what you’ve achieved.

I also want to remember the late Ian Dalgleish, former Chairman of West Kent CAMRA, who first envisioned bringing a Beer Festival to our railway. We must also extend an enormous thank you to Stephen Woolven and Terry Mosley, who worked alongside Ian to turn that vision into reality. Without their determination to give this idea a go back in 2011, we simply wouldn’t have the festival we have today.

On a slightly lighter note, we’ve almost emptied the railway of cider, so we're taking a quick trip to Biddenden this morning to replenish our supplies! There’s still a decent selection of beers available, too, although we suspect we’ll be down to the last few pints by the end of today!

We might not have double track, glamorous freight trains, a huge fleet of locomotives, or access to all our original stations, but we do have something very special. We have people who care passionately about this railway, are willing to work together, embrace new ideas, and put on events thousands of people genuinely want to attend. We should never underestimate that. The heritage railway world is changing. The world around us is moving quickly, and we cannot simply rely on what worked in the past to secure our future. We have to keep adapting, finding new audiences and giving people reasons to visit.

Events like this demonstrate exactly what the Spa Valley Railway can achieve when we all pull together. The feedback I’ve received over the last few days has been overwhelming. From wonderful comments on social media to conversations with visitors across the railway, people have praised the event, the atmosphere, the friendliness of our volunteers, and the welcome they’ve received.

People can come for the beer, the cider, the music, or the trains, but it’s the people they meet and the experience they have that will make them want to come back. That is down to all of you. After 15 years of this festival, I can genuinely say that I have never been prouder of what we’ve achieved together.

To everyone who helped make this festival happen, whether you gave an hour, a day, or an entire week of your time, thank you and thank you for checking in on me throughout the event to make sure I'm alright too. It is very much appreciated. You helped us make history this weekend, and I hope you feel as proud of it as we do.

Thank you, everyone.

Best wishes,

Jonnie

Report sent Monday, 19th October, that references Sunday and gives an overall picture of the event:
Hello everyone,

Yesterday was another incredible day for our Beer Festival and brought to a close what has been a truly phenomenal four days at the Spa Valley Railway!

Sunday saw £5,241.50 taken at Tunbridge Wells West, up from £4,981.50 in 2025. Across the event, sales at the Tunbridge Wells West cash desk rose from £69,127.90 in 2025 to £78,384.44 in 2026, a 13.4% increase.

We’ve also had an opportunity to review the beer and cider sales figures, and they are equally impressive. Real Ale: 16,560 pints available, with 84% sold and 16% remaining. Cider: 3,096 pints available, with 95% sold and just 5% remaining. Craft Beer: 700 pints available, 90% sold, with 10% remaining. That means, across the four days, we sold approximately 17,481 pints of beer, cider and craft beer!

Our final passenger numbers and revenue figures are now in too: 2,606 passengers travelled on our trains, generating £50,044.20 in ticket revenue. £78,384.50 was taken at the Tunbridge Wells West cash desk. Our other sales outlets and activities across the railway generated £ 26,365.20.

This brings the total revenue for our 16th Real Ale & Cider Festival to an astonishing £154,794!

To put that into perspective, we’ve just delivered the highest revenue-generating event in the history of the Spa Valley Railway. While it will take a little while to confirm the final profit once we've received and accounted for all invoices, there's no doubt this has been our best-attended and most financially successful event to date in terms of revenue.

The time, effort, and commitment that went into delivering this event, not just over the last four days but throughout the weeks and months leading up to it, cannot be overstated. From those working behind the scenes to those on the bars and at stations welcoming and looking after our visitors, everyone has played a part in making this festival such an extraordinary success.

The feedback we’ve received has been overwhelmingly positive; three people were so determined to get our festival from Denmark to try the green hop beers that they flew to Gatwick on a whim and walked from Gatwick to Tunbridge Wells West! We also had visitors from France, Norway, Belgium, and other European countries, plus one couple who’d flown over from the USA for it!

Everyone should all be incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved this year. It has blown all previous festivals out of the water!

The Spa Valley Railway might not be the biggest heritage railway, but this weekend has shown once again what we can do when everyone pulls together. We have something very special here, and that’s because of the people who give their time, energy and enthusiasm to make it all happen.

Thank you, sincerely, to every single one of you. You have done your railway proud.

Best wishes,

Jonnie

 

Is that a new fitting, or replacement for an existing one? If it is entirely new, it seems like a reasonably significant job to fit mid-service, rather than waiting until the next overhaul - can you fit it without a boiler lift?

Tom

 

So pleased to see that Jonnie still holds the title of General Manager as befits the leader of a Heritage Railway. None of the pomposity surrounding the current trend to call such leaders CEOs. Maybe it is just me but I get the impression that CEO led railways seem to be in a far more precarious position than the ones that are run by a good traditional sounding General Manager. Heritage Railways are not multinational corporations after all.

Keep up the good work Jonnie and keep looking after yourself.

Peter

 

It’s a new fitting going where a washout plug is currently located. The boiler smith and boiler inspector have approved it and the valve itself, it’s been discussed for quite sometime now. The method in the fitting isn’t as complicated and what is perhaps first realised.

 

It was an excellent event. I was in dark beer heaven but I did try a couple of green hopped ales. Roll on your spring festival.