Clash of Galas

I am pleased to be able to note that one of the regular clashes of the Autumn season isn't currently planned to happen next year.

The NYMR Autumn Steam Gala will be 28th to 30th September 2012. The Severn Valley is the previous weekend, and the West Somerset the following weekend and not the same as has been the case for a few years.

Not sure how that lies with KWVR and GCR mind!

Steven

(You are not far wrong, pennysteam - looks likely the same 7 locos will be running Wartime Weekend as Steam Gala, and there will be a goods train. Only the diner to Battersby on the Synday though.)

 

Yes, moderators are allowed to have an opinion, but the choice of words seemed to me to incline to a wind-up. 'Survival of the fittest' indeed! He might regret those words when railways start to go under, as they might in a few year's time.

On the subject of the 'product', many of the railways are very much the same - BR liveries for engines, BR Mk1 coaching stock - and they have much the same guest engines too, just because the pool of visitors is limited. Because of cost inflation I can longer go to as many galas as I used to and I definitely make a choice based, in part, on how many times I've seen a loco recently. Other factors include how appropriate the visitors are to the railway, the choice of photo locations and how clean the loos are. Not all are as clean as they should be and the KWVR's are quite often horrendous.

I shall be going to the WSR next March although I've yet to book the B&B, but I wish the SVR well.

Regards

 

Orion I am sorry if you don't like Charles Darwin, but it is a fact of life, and so far the theory of evolution has stood the test of time unlike any other theory (Even Einsteins' relativity is being questioned).
Inevitably some railways ARE going to fail, some already have, i reckon some are borderline now, to prepare for this is better than to ignore it. Flip side some new railways may rise, and the subsequent collapse of one railway company could lead to a new and better beginning of another operating the same trackbed, personally I think some lines would benefit from a rebirth.

Gala clashes alone aren't going to shut down a railway, it will most likely be those with limited money and an ageing or demotivated volunteer base, (ageing is accepted, but if you annoy your volunteers enough they will leave too, many lines have empires, egos and other dictatorships which will be just as destructive), regardless of size, length or locomotive fleet.
The railways closest with better facilities, better finances and dare i suggest; democracies (either by voting or by shareholders) and business plans with shared vision, will benefit...

Your own post even demonstrates that by pointing out whats important to you. It's the visitor experience which will dictate finances (assuming no benefactor), if the visitor doesn't like it... They wont return, if the advertising or the attraction is poor.. People won't even go the first time, in fact word of mouth will make it undesirable regardless. (remember how everyone made fun of BR in the 1980's?). If a line has a "my way or the highway mentality".. Many volunteers will take the highway, which is why preservation has conflicts and resentment like i have never seen in any other industry. How many people are on this forum who said "I had it with railway x because of situation or person y?"

Equally no other industry, including other preservation has had the success and achievements that railway preservation has accomplished in the UK, in size or quantity.... When was the last time a Dehavailland Comet carried passengers, or an ocean going steam ship restored ?, what was the last medieval castle rebuilt to original form ? Even the Cutty Sark is being completed with government money as there's no way there's enough motivated volunteers that could be mustered to do the job..forget it ever to sail again, yet railway preservationists are giving there pensions to build not one but 30 new build steam locomotives... Or the equivalent cost of an Airbus A320 jet ! ( the Australian government spent the equivalent of Tornado, to buy, paint and restore to flight it's first Boeing 707, then flew it to Australia from Southend!), we couldnt even pay to dismantle and move BOAC's 707 already preserved at Cosford, so now the only remaining BOAC 707 sits gutted in a field at Entebbe airport in Uganda.

Now on the subject of toilets... I have to say the toilets on my 1st class coach, on the WCRC tour of hope trip, where quite definitely the nicest loo I have ever seen on a train or railway station anywhere in the world...everyone, including the national TOCs could learn from that. I could propose a Rate my railway's loo thread, but i wouldn't want to encourage people taking pictures of their railways lavvies. No matter how you tried to explain it, some one will end up in trouble

Now what's that to do with galas... A gala is a self inflating self celebrating demonstration of success aimed to attract (investors [volunteers or passengers] and money) and to raise/reward moral and motivation (like a bonus). It is Possibly a symptom of health that reflects Marketing, attraction, motivation, finances and perception...all of which I rambled on above...
Put it out of context...

If you held a party and no one came, how would you feel ?,
If one friend put on a BBQ and asked you got to chip in a tenner to empty their fridge, but the same day another friend had a celebrity chef coming to cook, but asked for £15 where you most likely to go ?,
Would you still go to both if they were different weekends?
Would you keep in close contact with the friend who wanted you to pay for his leftovers ?
If that friend said his fridge is great, it's everyone who is wrong, Does it raise or lower your opinion of him?
If the friend who hired the chef said, it was a bit expensive, hard work, but fun, do you feel more or less positive about them ?

Finally.. The Darwinian bit..

If your fridge friend got annoyed, shouted and left town, your friend with the chef could buy his fridge cheap to have a better BBQ next time.
That is life.

 

Now I know it's a wind-up. In addition to this rant he's sending me private messages too!

 

Ironically, the Ribble Steam Railway Feb 2012 Gala clashes with a much bigger Railway's gala, however a Holiday Operator is currently planning to offer a weekend do, to include both.

FR20 has already been booked & confirmed for the Feb 2012 gala at Ribble Steam Railway, & for all the operating days in April 2012, followed by a short Tornado.

 

Due to NR work on the Stourbridge - Droitwich section of the DCL in August. It was suggested that the Spring gala will be the big engine/ big gala rather than risk NR over running with its commissioning on the mainline with risk of not being able to receive any mainline locos.
The SVR ASG will also be something to look out for as it will be a smaller but as intensive gala as previous years.

 

Everyone's allowed an opinion, so long as that opinion is 'everything any pres line does is perfect and cannot be criticised'...


As for

I would argue that, if and when that happens, he'll have been proven right!

 

Listening to some here you would think so !
Head and sand comes to mind. :frusty:

Feel free to disagree, but I suspect we may not have to wait years, after all several commercial operators have already gone...

 

Why on earth would you want CLEAN engines?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

 

The sentence was about clean loos. The KWVR's loos usually stink.

 

Oh lord, I pray for the return of a livery debate. :help:

 

Sometimes it works well having two together sometimes not. I have been able to combine Mid Hants and Swanage over a weekend before, with an overnight stay around Portsmouth. However at the end of this month I really want to go to the Mid Hants Gala and the Spa Valley Gala but I only have one day off work so I can only choose one!

 

Could think of other places to stay. In fact many many other places to stay...

 

Should of added, it goes by what places I can get cheap on the Travelodge/Premier Inn sales that they offer a few months in advance! I usually end up only paying about £10 for a night.

 

That will be nice - I always enjoy Branch Line Gala's at the SVR because they have authenticity .

 

That's good - £19 is usually the best I can get.

 

With reference to the KWVR Gala clashing with the GCR we have looked at moving it, however when you consider that this year ours was:

7th,8th & 9th October
Weekend previous was the NYMR
Weekend previous to that was the SVR

If we were to move it to the weekend after it wouldn't clash with another Gala (or would it as it is the NYMR war weekend and the Festiniog have an event?) and also it would come too close to our Beer & Music Festival the weekend after which happens to also clash with the ELR Gala.

We can't swap the Beer & Music & Autumn Steam Gala because the Beer & Music festival relies on outside equipment from CAMRA that isn't available on the previous date.
Nothing is ever simple in life!

I'm not even going to comment on the toilets! Most of them are original - and as preservation is the name of the game ?

 

MHR and Swanage held their Autumn Steam Galas on the same weekend a few years ago. It was a co-incidence, but they co-operated and promoted the events jointly. IIRC, it was a mixed blessing. More people came from further away than usual, and made a weekend of it, visiting one on each day. However, quite a few locally-based visitors chose one or the other when they might have done both if they'd been on successive weekends.

Another year, I went to an event at Bodmin on a Friday & Saturday, stopping off at the WSR Autumn Gala on my way down on Thursday and back on Sunday. That made a lovely weekend!

Since the WSR gala runs over two weekends, and a few weekdays, too, the overlap with the SVR is probably not such an issue.