Llangollen Spring Steam Gala - 19th-21st April 2013

Credit where credit's due, I had a thoroughly enjoyable day at LR on Friday and thought the gala was one of the better LR Steam Galas in a long time. The timetable did slip at times due to the Railmotor struggling to keep to time working up Berwyn, but other than that there was very little wrong that I saw.

7822 sounds better than ever, the lads have done a good job over the winter that included some work up front as well as the tender retyre. The only negative comment I have was the lack of a timetable available pre-event. There was a few guys complaining about this to the station staff too, think the £1 for the diagrams was right but having no public timetable available beforehand wasn't. Cinemas don't say we are showing 3 films during the day with the first at 9am, but to find out exact times you have buy a programme so can't understand this approach, especially after the 6880 lads received a lot of stick for the same stance last year.

In reply to 8A Rail comment, from what I saw the Railmotor was full for most of the day Friday and more than justified the supplement charge. After speaking with the guys at LR this was also needed to help cover costs of the hire of R93 which was a lot steeper than I thought it would be. Nontheless though it proved popular and looked good seeing it in the flesh for the first time. Certainly something different, and it seems to have brought the punters in for LR.

 

Read my comment again, I have no problems with the £5 supplement charge but the fact you had to pay for a "Day Rover" too which added up to £50 for two people for one return journey from Glyn / Carrog to Bonwn. There is a lot people you attend who wish to do a single return journey on or part of the line where a "Day Rover" (& cost) is not applicable. The fact that the star turn was the "Railmotor" with Auto Coach therefore those same people are prevented from riding the vehicle's which is a shame.

 

Well that's a separate issue altogether, in that the railway is/was only selling Rover Tickets and not any single/return journey tickets. Llangollen though are not alone in this, and the subject has been discussed at length in numerous other threads when lines have done this previously.

Either way judging by Friday's passenger numbers it didn't appear to have too much of a negative affect this time around, though then again looks can be deceptive.

 

Well in that case the far more pertinant moan is the fact that they ARE advertising single return tickets on their website for the event!!

According to the steam gala web page, a single return gala ticket bought on the day costs £15, whilst a (one) day rover bought on the day costs £22.


I'd say it's a mighty poor show to advertise standard tickets on the event website, then to only sell rover tickets on the day :mad2:

 

Unless they were selling single return tickets but you were only allowed on R93 with a Rover and Supplement, and not a Single Rtn and Supplement?

As I had a Rover Ticket I didn't encounter this issue myself, was just trying to say that on Friday R93 appeared full the majority of the time and so whatever ticketing arrangement they had still seemed to be bringing in the punters.

 

The website says for travel on the railmotor you need a rover ticket + supplemental ticket = £22+£5 = £27

However the website also says that standard tickets are available for the gala, this contradicts what you'd just said is actually the case - where they aren't selling any standard single/return tickets, only rover ones.
I don't have a problem if a railway makes that decision and advertises the fact, but to my mind someone needs 'rollocking if they advertise a range of tickets will be available, but then not provide them on the day.

8A Rail's point seems to be that for him to have a single ride on the railmotor would require the cost of a rover ticket, thus costing £7 more than if the supplement could be used with the advertised standard single return ticket. As you've pointed out, if there were no shortage of passengers it's to the railway's benefit to go for the higher fare.


Incidentally, I notice they seem to have a double negative on the event web page when it comes to allowing dogs on the railmotor, "no dogs will not be allowed to travel on the Railmotor..." - err, so that means they're advertising that ALL dogs are allowed to travel on it then?! lol.

 

Congratulations to everyone involved with this gala! Has to be one of my favourite Llangollen events...well thought out timetable, locomotives sounded brilliant and an excellent guest loco to accompany the fantastic weather. Thank you!!


Railmotor 93 by Teenage Steam Photography, on Flickr


6430 by Teenage Steam Photography, on Flickr


80072 by Teenage Steam Photography, on Flickr


Railmotor 93 by Teenage Steam Photography, on Flickr


80072 by Teenage Steam Photography, on Flickr]

Thanks,
Lewis

 

Well just finished the 3 hour drive back to Bristol, first time I've been to Llangollen (And first time sleeping in the landy!). Had a superb weekend, couldn't afford two day rovers unfortunately so was just travelling on the saturday. Carrog station is beautifully placed in the valley (the fact we could camp in the field next door was great - getting up just in time to see 3802 come in - what a beauty in black!)
Had a shed tour this morning - we missed it yesterday but the station staff were really kind and let us buy tour tickets for the 11.30 one today - great to see three new builds in the workshop as well as a hefty dose of prairies, panniers and austerities under overhaul.
Sabina's favourite was the pannier - looked brilliant on the goods today, and a really nice match with the suburban yesterday.

The 4MT sounded good coming up the valley! Seeing it hammering non stop through Berwyn on the goods was a personal highlight.

The only down side for us was having to get a taxi from Llangollen back to Carrog rather than the train as the last 'up' train is at 5pm (and we wanted to eat before heading back) - it did make me wonder how full a later train on the saturday would be, but then again the world does not revolve around me. Maybe next time I'll ask if I can borrow a wickham trolley to get home....

Managed to ride behind the manor, pannier and the black 5, will post up the shots I took on Sabina's pocket camera later.

Amazing weekend!

 

Yes we do now sell a single return as an alternative to day rovers and it was advertised on the website and available on the day. I think we did only sell rover tickets but that put off people who turned up on the day to find it a gala and having to pay a rover price. The £5 supplement was a one off charge only available to rover holders and that enabled them as many trips on the railmotor as they liked throughout the day, from what I saw on my Saturday turn on the RM nobody minded paying the extra £5. Not only did this help us cover some of the hire fee of the SRM I think it also helps to prevent two overcrowded coaches during the day from everyone piling on, something I have seen before. Supplements for travel in certain vehicles is not uncommon, the P&DR is one prime example to travel in the observation car, and that's only one way.

Hope those that weren't put off enjoyed themselves, I think we slipped to 20 mins down at one point on the Saturday, this was soon recovered to 10 and by the end of the day were back on time, everyone I saw seemed to be smiling and full of compliments regarding the RM and travelled far and wide. As has been said previously it was probably one of the better galas (outside of the SSS events), seemed to be a variety of movements which even caught us out on the SRM on Saturday morning, hence the stop for a blow up just short of Carrog platform

 

No wonder no one else could not ride on the Railmotor they were full of "repeat" rover travellers! Hardly fair I think to those who just wanted a single or return trip for the experience without purchasing a £22 Rover Ticket. The reality of the situation, more people could of enjoyed the RM experience but the railway prevented such a thing and therefore took the "selective" approach instead.

Again I dont object to the £5 supplement charge, as it is understandable, that is not my point! For two people it would cost £54 in total just to do a return journey on the RM which is not value for money. Remember some people would like to do a one return journey on the Railway and do other things, not spend all day riding on the trains and riding on the RM as much as they like!

The point seems to be made that the railway needs to cover its cost (and more) but although they may have done well over the weekend (hopefully that was the case), they could of done better with more people without sacificing customer service.

Regardless, the railway in the main is operated by volunteers and we must be thankful that they took time out, worked hard and lots of patience too to provide and operate the Gala. I'm sure that is appreciated by all who attended.

 

They have the past run a RAT in the evening providing 2x return trips from Llangollen. For whatever reason it wasn't done this year, so hopefully something will be done for either the ASG or 2014.

 

Thanks to all for an enjoyable gala.
Here's my offering from Friday and Saturday morning

LLANGOLLEN RAILWAY Spring Steam Gala April 2013 - YouTube

 

Yeah that's what I had been hoping for, would even have been up for an evening dining train or similar (Rail Ale is my joint as well). Maybe SSS next year will have one - have been looking at the cavalcades from previous years with envy!

 

A few pics from the event

Helping out at the shed, I do my bit to help others



Correcting incorrectly spelled names



The 4MT hammers through Berwyn


Nice pairing of pannier and suburban


3802 resplendent in black

 

A couple more of 3802



'Thomas' formerly 'Jessie' was off to Denmark the next day


Also, for anyone visiting Llangollen I would heartily recommend a visit to the motor museum, it's located about 400 yards from the carriage sheds, £4 to get in and laid out nicely in the old garage, all the cars have info labels written by the owners of the collection which make for chuckles

 

Many thanks for the gen on the Pannier tank, thoroughly enjoyable climb out of Llangollen on Sunday evening.
A well run gala, everything went to plan and I had an enjoyable day. The only downside for me was, as others have commented it was a bit expensive. £22 rover, £1 for a timetable (these should always be included with a rover ticket!!) and the £5 supplement for the railcar, total £28 for a day with 4 home fleet locos and the railcar. If this fares policy continues it may well deter me from visiting future galas.

Anyway a couple of shots from a gloomy Sunday here:
Flickr: Bantam61668's Photostream

 

Just posted the first part of our film from the gala.

http://youtu.be/Kq_Cv2yL6GU

We had three excellent days, well done one and all at Llangollen.

 

Which engine is in the first photo (LMS) on post #75, minus wheels ?

thanks

 

45337

It is under repair at Llangollen.

Thanks,
Lewis