If you register, you can do a lot more. And become an active part of our growing community. You'll have access to hidden forums, and enjoy the ability of replying and starting conversations.

Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

Discussion in 'Narrow Gauge Railways' started by 50044 Exeter, Dec 25, 2009.

  1. Snail368

    Snail368 New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2013
    Messages:
    74
    Likes Received:
    123
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Invasive weed control and eradication
    Location:
    Daventry, Northamptonshire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    The only free business banking long term is (as far as I am aware) is with the Cooperative bank to members of the Federation of Small Businesses. Actually not a bad service for the most part, the website has been upgraded recently and works well.
     
    Greenway likes this.
  2. H Cloutt

    H Cloutt Member

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2018
    Messages:
    884
    Likes Received:
    1,329
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Battle
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I am Treasurer for a Charity and we have free banking and don't get charged for paying in Cash or Cheques. We only have to pay a small fee for operating our card machine or receiving online payments. It does depend on your Bank though.
     
    The Dainton Banker likes this.
  3. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2011
    Messages:
    25,485
    Likes Received:
    23,715
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grantham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    It also depends on the size of the organisation, and whether the bank see it as a charity or as a business. And banks are getting more and more restrictive.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
     
    H Cloutt likes this.
  4. Old Kent Biker

    Old Kent Biker Member

    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2007
    Messages:
    858
    Likes Received:
    1,308
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    ex IT Consultant
    Location:
    Kent UK
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    This is all fair comment generally, but getting back to the L&B I think the original point regarding the new 70p per transaction applied to website sales was that it was imposed in ADDITION to any transaction charges for banks and financial services thus adding to the cost of sales.
     
    Meatman likes this.
  5. 21B

    21B Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2009
    Messages:
    2,944
    Likes Received:
    6,303
    Are we sure that the number is accurate?
     
    H Cloutt likes this.
  6. Pete Thornhill

    Pete Thornhill Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Administrator Moderator Friend

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2008
    Messages:
    7,498
    Likes Received:
    5,455
    I think we subsequently proved that wasn’t the case.
     
    H Cloutt and Old Kent Biker like this.
  7. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2011
    Messages:
    25,485
    Likes Received:
    23,715
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grantham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Which was where I queried the real impact of transaction costs, which will depend on a number of factors.
     
    H Cloutt and Old Kent Biker like this.
  8. Snail368

    Snail368 New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2013
    Messages:
    74
    Likes Received:
    123
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Invasive weed control and eradication
    Location:
    Daventry, Northamptonshire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    A couple of news articles on the new website, one of which concerns the website update. All very interesting and informative.
     
  9. Old Kent Biker

    Old Kent Biker Member

    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2007
    Messages:
    858
    Likes Received:
    1,308
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    ex IT Consultant
    Location:
    Kent UK
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Snail368 likes this.
  10. brmp201

    brmp201 Member

    Joined:
    May 18, 2010
    Messages:
    558
    Likes Received:
    771
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    IT Director
    Location:
    Surrey, UK
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
  11. lynbarn

    lynbarn Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2006
    Messages:
    1,482
    Likes Received:
    482
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Working in the NHS as a Maintenance Electrician
    Location:
    Kent
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    H Cloutt likes this.
  12. Michael B

    Michael B Member

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2020
    Messages:
    400
    Likes Received:
    1,045
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Bristol
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I have just received my subscription copy of 'Trackside' Magazine which has an article on the Bluebell Railway which talks about it reviewing its '2024 off-peak operation to help offset huge energy cost increases' and the 'need to promote all our running days this year to ensure the trains are as close to full as we can get. This year is about maximising our load'. And there have been other articles on other lines, including the Festiniog, detailing the changes to cope with the results of the cost of living crisis. One on the Festiniog has demonstrated it's enhanced publicity to generate visitors with the income they bring.

    'Steam Railway' lists Enthusiast Events for the year - the L & B is not listed. Is this another example of an unwillingness to communicate ?
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2023
  13. Thomas Woods

    Thomas Woods New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2020
    Messages:
    88
    Likes Received:
    216
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Somerset
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    This year's events have not been finalised yet. Once they are, which will be sooner rather than later, they will be well publicised as per our previous events. The team at Woody Bay are still working out the kinks with the publicity side of things, we want to publicise everything as well as we can ofc but only once the details have been finalised.
     
    The Dainton Banker and mgp like this.
  14. Old Kent Biker

    Old Kent Biker Member

    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2007
    Messages:
    858
    Likes Received:
    1,308
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    ex IT Consultant
    Location:
    Kent UK
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Truth be told, no event is ever really finalised until it actually starts, and not always then!

    The L&B season is almost always top-n-tailed by the Spring and Autumn Galas, which are almost always (I think one year the Autumn Gala was moved by a week) the nearest weekend to the anniversary of the line's opening and its closing, and other key dates such as Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Remembrance Day and Christmas/New Year are all fairly fixed, so even without all the details being finalised, it should be possible to pencil in those dates at least a year in advance.
     
  15. Pete Thornhill

    Pete Thornhill Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Administrator Moderator Friend

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2008
    Messages:
    7,498
    Likes Received:
    5,455
    An interesting response from @Thomas Woods

    I have to agree with @Old Kent Biker as although I appreciate the details haven’t been worked out but the dates must be known otherwise why does the website show special events on the calendar?

    Admittedly it doesn’t say what the events are but the website calendar suggests they are pencilled in, how hard would it have been to send those dates to the railway press?

    Perhaps it’s an oversight, but does seem a bit of an own goal when some free publicity to what is surely a target audience who are reading the magazine instead of holding off for the detail to be worked out and then losing that potential exposure completely.
     
  16. Thomas Woods

    Thomas Woods New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2020
    Messages:
    88
    Likes Received:
    216
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Somerset
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Again as I've said, its all a work in progress and things are still being developed.
     
  17. Pete Thornhill

    Pete Thornhill Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Administrator Moderator Friend

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2008
    Messages:
    7,498
    Likes Received:
    5,455
    Maybe so but the reality is the dates are shown on the website, they could have easily been passed onto the railway press for some free press which you have unfortunately missed. Something to consider for the future maybe.
     
  18. Thomas Woods

    Thomas Woods New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2020
    Messages:
    88
    Likes Received:
    216
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Somerset
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    If in future the railway is in a position where it can advertise it's events with more than just dates then yes I'm sure they will do just that.
     
  19. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2013
    Messages:
    10,439
    Likes Received:
    17,937
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Cheltenham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Just advertising the dates with nothing else is still worth doing in my view. Particularly if everyone else has announced their dates, even if nothing else you risk the chance that people will start planning what events they want to do without yours being in the mix.
     
  20. Pete Thornhill

    Pete Thornhill Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Administrator Moderator Friend

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2008
    Messages:
    7,498
    Likes Received:
    5,455

    That was my point, which seemed to fall on deaf ears!!!


    But that still misses the point, you don’t need the details to get the event out there, just the dates and start getting them in peoples minds, you’ve managed to put them on the website is it really that hard to then contact the railway press with those dates and details to follow?

    As @flying scotsman123 mentioned there is event congestion. If you are competing with another event for visitors then you are effectively handing them an advertising advantage as if someone has decided to go to the other event, you have made your task to convince them to go to yours instead that bit harder.
     
    Old Kent Biker likes this.

Share This Page