Severn Valley Railway to launch £4,000,000 share issue.

I must admit to being a little confused over several earlier posters comments, which imply that present SVR policy does not see additional standard fare paying passengers as crucial for future financial success. Are we really being told the master SVR plan is to see fixed cost assets being run half empty.

Even in the sometimes crazy world we inhabit, I really can't believe this is SVR policy.

As several posters have made clear, additional income from where ever or whoever, should be the most pressing concern to the Railway.

 

Maybe the following, taken from the "Fundraising" section of the NYMR official website says it all:

" Whilst ticket sales, retail and catering outlets support core daily running costs, these cannot meet the additional cost of lots of projects which are one-off, but vital to the railway, such as major structural work (eg the successful appeal to fund Bridge 30 ): locomotive overhauls, refurbishment of carriages and wagons, or specific station based projects."

Perhaps the steam operated heritage railway as we know it, is running on borrowed time?

46118

 

I don't think the trains are being run half empty - what has happened in recent years is is that the number of trains and (I perceive) the lengths of the trains have been reduced so there is little spare capacity in the existing service. Certainly the trains I travel on (usually lateish morning from Kiddy) are always well filled as are the mid afternoon trains from Bridgnorth that I come back on.

 

It is truly on borrowed time if it listens to patronising dribbles like that enamating from Grosmont. I am not really here to comment on what my old colleague Benham is up to, and he has just had one of the big accountancy firms in, Grant Thornton I think, to try to draw a financial road map for him, but to call bridge renewals, locomotive overhauls, carriage refurbishment "one offs" is bloody farcical. They are part of the fixed costs of your network. They wear out at fairly predictable intervals and you depreciate them to reflect that. If you dont stay on top of it the bow wave builds up and up, and you end up as SVR did with a backlog of sub-scrapping tolerance running rail in the main line and passenger loops. You spend so much fixing that you end up hugely in hoc to loco owners wanting their worn out machines repaired as per the legal loan agreement, and you have to say sorry, we can't, the cupboard is bare, you'll have to wait. Possibly for ever.

A "steady state" SVR carrying out proper routine renewals and overhauls across all engineering departments needs 250,000 paying passengers, all of them buying an ice cream, every year, plus more members and benefactors. That level of cash income avoids the worst of the cost base potholes. To get (back) there takes committed, energetic and experienced leadership, talking to a family that feels engaged with their railway, not neglected in favour of contractors, consultants, paid yet unqualified managers. Cover the real running costs from revenue. Go to the shareholders if you want to expand or improve. It is not rocket science. Old SVR got it.



Best

GF-G

 

In the April 2010 SVR shareholders' newsletter the GM commented that a report, commissioned by (the now late) Advantage West Midlands, suggested the SVR's annual contribution to the local economy was £10.9m.

No

That would be income as in profit, rather than purely revenue, so as not to be "busy fools".

Patrick

 

Few if any heritage lines fund their activities from fares and associated spend alone. The majority have been running on borrowed time since the day they first started with a set of assets bought at scrap prices. Hence the endless streams of appeals for money to fund overhauls, new bridges engine sheds carriage sheds etc etc and the huge sums injected by the lottery and other grant giving organisations.

How long that borrowed time has left to run, I will leave to others to debate.

 

D1039 One would expect business income to result in profit, otherwise there is little point. The 'old men' of the SVR started with a 2500 pound deposit and left us with the wonderful legacy we have today. Have you considered how they did it ?

The general thrust of the comments posted here is that a SVR policy to increase passenger numbers, in all catagories, and therefore income, would be welcome. A tough choice agreed, and one that will require going the extra mile. The choice of making the easy, as apposed to the right decision, will only result in more problems 'down the line'. We have seen several years of unimaginative budget forcasts based on low numbers. Where is the vision in such targets ?

 

It is suggested by some regulars at Kidderminster and Bridgnorth that until all the old guard move on there will be little change. I had hoped the incoming chairman and other "new brooms" would have sufficient backbone and to change the shortsighted vision and overcome those that still view the world as it was 40 years ago. If those appointed to grow the business simply cannot; perhaps alternatives should be sought.

 

Marketing could be a bit more proactive and thought out, pass couple of years since John Leech died it's been very hit and miss.

 

Don't know about overall profile but the SVR seems to me to do very well in terms of regional TV coverage.

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Whilst nobody in their right mind would want to reduce the public's awareness of the SVR; the real object is to get them to go one further and actually visit in quantity (ideally, more so at the season shoulders) and to spend in quantity. Something is awry if that is not happening.

 

Well the latest SVR aim for passenger numbers for 2013 is down yet again. This would leave an operating profit for the Railway of 60,000 pounds. Less than many individuals earn in one year. I do hope there will be some upward revision, and thought given to ideas presented here for arresting the decline.

 

There is a lotof this Gung Ho and worrisome talk about how the ‘old guard’ at board level are a brake on progress, and that eliminating them hastens the dawn of some(imprecisely specified) glorious new day. Since the old guard are unlikely to be peddling this disparaging line against themselves, it must be emanating from elsewhere. And if that elsewhere is the new guard itself (who else would bother?) one might want to enquire more deeply into what they are suggesting,and ask why.

The permanently quorate new guard ofyoung-ish Chairman, Vice Chairman, General Manager, and Chief Accountant,operate with the active blessing of the biggest single private shareholder,himself not yet eligible for a senior citizen bus pass. They are known amongthe unwashed, without much affection, as the Ball & Ralls Show.

Some H board members are so old thata single harsh winter could easily create a vacancy, but there remains a need at the top of the Company for one essential ingredient – honesty. Before booting all the crusty old men into the wilderness in favour of new blood,remember that the old duffers who have been there since the 1960s share one virtue; honesty is in their bone marrow. David Williams will have to go soon because he edits SVR News as a miserably dull one man nostalgia trip which the new guard frantically want to get their hands on and, more fatefully, as G Chairman his signature is on the shamefully evasive internal inquiry into the Hampton Loade derailment. There is a further reserve of wrinklies on the G Board, which no longer operates the railway but crucially still provides the Director who runs Santa, the only bit of the SVR operation that makes a real profit (in the years when MPD don’t charge a £10,000 Black Five to her trains and provide a member of the home fleet for every diagram instead).

The duffers have traditionally had a strong GM to run the firm for them, so having a leadership vacuum at that level is challenging them, but there is scant evidence that the management misfires are the exclusive work of the aged.

Since 2008 when they got into theirstride, the Ball &Ralls Show seem to be a bit pants at stuff like financial control, sales development and safety management, or running anything without paid consultants. Perhaps keeping some of the antiquarians on board would be prudent for now?


Best hope for a mild winter, then...

GF-G

 

I watched this thread for some time as it was interesting and as a long term volunteer its nice to see what those outside the railway think, however this thread seams now to be more about saying what certain people don't like and being destructive about the SVR rather than giving any specific suggestions. If it is that bad Lingus and Geekfinder maybe you should either stand up in public at the Holdings board AGM or even better stand to be a Director.

What specific things do you think the SVR should be doing beyond the vague general comments you have made. What plan should they have?

 

Concentrating on making the public feel welcome, for one. Off the top of my head, there's the regular farces with Bewdley connections, of which certain members of station staff seem to be quite proud; a train last week being caped followed by all booking office and platform staff immediately disappearing somewhere rather than helping passengers facing a 2 hour wait (and in my case an unused ticket, as there were no further return trips to be made that day); I've seen passengers marched out of first class coaches when a simple explanation would've sufficed; and I'm sure there are more. Yes, it's volunteer labour, and you can't enforce or expect perfection, but most smaller lines are happy to go out of their way to put a smile of visitors' faces and ensure their repeat custom. You asked a simple question and there's a simple answer!

 

They are fair points Robert and sadly while there are lots who will go out of their way there are some who really let the side down. Hopefully Tigger will feed your comment back to the Holdings.

 

From what I have read most posters comments are meant in a positive way, even if some choose not to see or take them as such. The Railway will face a severe long term challenge if there is no change in its current direction.

The current management of the Railway, Bridgnorth redevelopment issues, long term falling passenger numbers, financial situation, and Loco availability should all be of genuine concern for anyone with the future of the SVR at heart. I would suggest that the general thrust of posters has been that new management ideas and approach are required to ensure the long term viability of the Railway.

Most of the posters have already stated that they are members, shareholders or volunteers, so its a little wrong to consider them as "outside the railway".

The real question now is how/if the Railway will try to address some of these, agreed dificult concerns.

 

I don't seek to avoid comments above re volunteers but from the front page of Trip Advisor (not censored):

“great family day”
such a privaledge highly recomend staff

“An excellent Sunday lunch with a difference”
The food and service could not be criticised

“Quality heritage railway experience”
Spoke to nine members of staff - all friendly, all helpful.

“A wonderful steam railway”
Staff are friendly and the River Severn Valley is stunningly beautiful.

“Superb Dining Train”
Had a superb Sunday dinner on the train, excellent food and service.

“A regular family Christmas event”
Staff are v courteous..

Where problems do occur the railway, in my experience, seeks details of time/train etc so it can address them. I'm sure someone will report back comments from here


Patrick

 

Patrick, old thing,

Responding to a serious public complaint - one where a paying passenger apparently did not get what he paid for, or much customer care either, is not a trigger to cut and paste eulogies from Trip Advisor. It helps no-one. There may well be an issue at Bewdley; at least one SM there is a professional railway operator on the main line, so it will be a place of slamming doors and blowing whistles - essential things if your long thin single line with not quite enough passing places is not to collapse like the Cambrian on a summer Saturday. Perhaps, just perhaps, the balance of chasing the right time railway through prompt train despatching is rubbing up against customer expectation. Or perhaps Bewdley staff are getting it right, with 40 years experience under their belt and maybe what looks like a connection in the public timetable is no such thing and should not be shown as one. And maybe SVR would not want to conduct its deliberations into that in a public internet forum. But don't fob experienced serious posters off with something they can see for themselves just by typing Tripadvisor into Google. Apologise to the customer and hope he will come back - because you need him and another 49,999 like him extra every year, or you won't have a train set to play with at all.

Best

GF-G

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All

Custommer service is very important for a service industry one bad experiance and most custommers will not come back. We know that ourselves we dont go back to a shop that treats you poorly.
There seems to be people suggest that the SVR is in severe financial trouble how true it is i dont know does anybody know how much debt they have still from the floods of 2007