Is there any paid operations staff on heritage lines?

The SVR runs daily May - September, every weekend throughout the year & other times such as half term weeks. All operating staff are volunteers with occasional cover by full time staff if a volunteer is unavailable.

On operating days 3+ steam locos are required most of the time with 6 or 7 signalmen, 3+ guards etc etc.

Quite a large core of regular, trained volunteers is needed to be able to operate the railway on this scale but whilst a number are retired/semi retired many are in full time employment elsewhere.

To keep the railway in good order & run the commercial & engineering side a substantial full time staff is employed.

 

In theory though if you volunteered every wknd then there are 52 weeks in the year so this would be 104 turns, then you have 3 bank hols and a week of for holiday to do some turns over Galas etc, then you have 114 turns, obviously not everyone does every wknd but you can also do weekdays as well and still accrue the same figures.

Just a thought :-k :-k

 

I get in well over 100 days a year at the SDR, whilst going to school, and during the summer am proably there more than the full time staff! Must admit though that having admin/workshop people passed out in operating posistions as well has seemed to be useful in the past, especially when floods have prevented people from getting in! It's nice on our line as there is absoutley no aggro between any paid staff and volunteers as I have heard of on other railways, probably due to all the paid staff being devoted volunteers too! =D>

 

I don't think 50 -100 turns per year is unusual for most unpaid staff on the WSR. Yes a lot are retired or semi retired. I know one or two of our drivers also drive on other preserved lines as well and I think the same may be true for some of the firemen.

 

[quote="
In theory though if you volunteered every wknd then there are 52 weeks in the year so this would be 104 turns, then you have 3 bank hols and a week of for holiday to do some turns over Galas etc, then you have 114 turns, obviously not everyone does every wknd but you can also do weekdays as well and still accrue the same figures.
[/quote]

And of course the hidden hours have to be counted too - as the railway's press officer (voluntary) I do a lot of hours on press releases etc from home, and I know many volunteers have 'homework' projects.

Andrew C
W&LLR

 

Hello,

Agreed. I never did that calculation. Taking this further, I end up with 136 possible turns a year, if someone decides to spent all days off work at his or her railway.

As an interim summary, is it fair to say that most railways use volunteer operations staff with paid staff who normally work in other departments substituting only if no volunteer is available?

Personally, I still find this very remarkable. What I find even more remarkable is the fact that there seems to be a fair number of volunteers out there who do more than 100 turns each year. What makes volunteering at "their" railway so attractive that they put in this commitment? Why does the novelty not wear off? Personally, I am volunteering at three places (one at the insistance of my wife and it is a railway museum!) but I note that my own pleasure and time devoted has and had its ups and downs in the past fiveteen years.

Kind regards

Christoph

 

It's a good question. why would anybody want to stand under a steam loco in a pit with paraffin dripping down onto them for fun. Mind our CME says that only happens because we use too much paraffin and that if we got the quantitiy just right it would not drip. I wonder when he last cleaned the motion of a locomotive? :-k

 

I would suggest that its NOT the "big players" that have the difficulty in attracting and retaining volunteers.

Incidentally, the Bluebell Railway operates daily 7-days a week, staffed by volunteers, from the beginning of April right through to the mid-November. My other railway, the smaller and newer Lynton & Barnstaple is not so well off for volunteers. The result is that paid staff have to cover many of the driving and guards turns, despite the line being only about 20 miles from the West Somerset Railway at Minehead that has no volunteer shortage.

Chris

 

Do any paid staff on the preserved lines get discount travel on the big railway?
Some lines do offer discount rates on production of travel cards to Network / ex BR staff.
Just wondered if reciprocal arrangements are in olace.

 

In pre-privatisation days it was common for most of the heritage railways with paid staff to have reciprocal agreements with BR for their own paid staff. I think that these grandfather rights still exist for those that had them before this time but I have no knowledge of what happens now with staff taken on since.
Some heritage railways have their own arrangements for reciprocal privilege/free travel for staff and volunteers and there is the HRA scheme, which covers most of its member organisations.

 

K&ESR paid staff still get priv rate travel on the big railway in return for cheap rate travel for participating railway companies. The K&ESR also offer free of discounted travel to working members of several other lines with which we have a reciprocal arrangement

 

The K&ESR employ an Operating Manager and a full time assistant, also a one day a week person for administration and a casual steamraiser/yard foreman in the summer months. Although between the Ops Department and loco department maintainance paid staff there are several of us that can drive, fire and Guard trains, we try to keep the use of paid staff to a minimum, only doing turns when it proves impossible to find volunteers, which isn't really all that often. All but a handful of our trains are operated by volunteers

Having paid staff available means we can always cover things like last minute sickness or failure of a volunteer to turn up for whatever reason, as wel as take on charters/filming etc at short notice. The majority of our time is taken up managing traffic requirements, maintaining infrastructure, shunting, tons of paperwork and all the hundreds of other things that are needed to keep a railway running.

 

Hello,

thanks for the clarification. What about the Welsh Narrow Gauge lines?

Kind regards

Christoph

 

See my post earlier in this thread...

Andrew Charman
Press Officer
Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway

 

A bit OT but the Snowdown Mountain railway is owned by heritage great Britain PLC, does this company give out dividends like a proper money making business or is it a non for profit?