Should Steam railways employ more people ?

but if there's a shortfall of staff, the alternative is not to run some services perhaps which would hit operating revenues worse.

 

There are obviously always exceptions which prove the rule!

C&W is what came to my mind as projects waiting for some love from the C&W department at a lot of lines are almost as iconic as the steam engines clanking back and forth themselves.

Didn't the NYMR report it saw something like a 40% loss of revenue from having to cancel steam services/replace with diesels just the other year?

 

I am sure about the assertion that 'railways exist so their members can play trains'.

Back at the beginning, may if not most (or even all) railways were founded to save a section of line from being lifted, and to give somewhere for steam trains to run. Yes, members enjoy these whether working or not but so do the passengers and the local areas benefits.

If I had to identify a 'primary reason' for a preserved railway it would be preserving the line, the stock and the method of operation. This enables the working members to undertake operations ('play trains' if you must) and the members to enjoy the operation but plenty of members do neither, so it can't be their aim to 'play trains'!

Steven

 

The part of the equation which is periodically but never conclusively discussed on various threads is the market for such services.

It would be interesting to see data on the extent to which potential customers can be enticed to visit on specific days and the cost benefits of running better loaded trains on fewer operating days. Some lines seem to run very infrequent and not very appealing single train services on many days others concentrate on fewer operating days but with more happening on those days. Assuming that like any business the objective is to maximise revenues at lowest cost one wonders what sort of services best meet customer desires whilst giving the volunteers satisfaction.

 

I agree. Many lines are not worth bothering with at times as the service is so sparce and predictable. That's where lines like the SVR with the Magic factor really score. For smaller lines to get into the super league is not at all easy. I've visited some on a saturday and found them not operating which was a surprise and a disappointment.

 

The problem though is this, Are you employing someone because you can not attract enough volunteers to cover a duty, then you have to ask your self why , Why is it what could you do to improve the situation ? in a nut shell if you can't get a volunteer crew to operate the service you must be doing something wrong.
So i would ask several questions,
1 are you being voluenteer friendly ? are you making them feel valued or just in the way, are you attracting enough people to the railway, and keeping them?
2 are you making best use of someones skills, or empire building, ie, this is MY department, i will run it my way, even if its the wrong way to get the best out of everyone .
3 is internal politics getting in the way, poor management upsetting peoples willingness to do anything than their paid duties?

In many cases an paid employee will do far more than their paid hours, i certainly did, i did as many voluntary hours as paid, yet never felt valued by the upper management but that was down to the personality of the General Manager at the time A poor man manager, is always a poor man manager no matter how you dress it up an railway at war with its self is never a good place to work either, So employing a paid member of staff has always to be based on a need , as for every paid staff, someone has to generate that income .

And can we get away with the notion of playing trains, i never viewed learning to fire as playing, i took it seriously, i wanted to be professional , i took it as a matter of pride that i kept my footplate clean, that i could give my driver the steam when he needed it, and not blow off when he didnt, that i knew the rulebook, I was lucky with one railway that i was supported in this, that we as a department worked together with one aim the railway, at a time when the press were expecting us to be torn apart.

 

For most medium to large preserved lines, Paid staff should really be restricted to Admin, managerial (At a certain scale you really need a full time general manager), catering and engineering. Besides from the very top level of command, every person on the footplate, in the signal box, on the platform and on the train should be a volunteer on a running day. Otherwise, paid staff act as a drain on resources, resources which could be better spent recruiting skilled volunteers and getting another engine in traffic.

 

You have just described the vast majority of Heritage railways