So what makes a good/sucessful gala?? Questions Questions!!

I think the answer is to give out the working timetable for free to those who buy a ticket, rather than to make it available for nothing on the Internet.

 

I tend to meticulously plan my day at a gala before hand using a timetable printed out from online, I don't just turn up knowing that there will be lots of trains, I want to work out how I can see as many engines as possible, visit as many stations as possible if they have things going on, and sometimes work out which stations have a good footpath between them to walk the dog!

 

I fully support charging for WTTs as some people turn up and don't pay a penny to the railway sadly. The WSR have got it right charging less to paying passengers imo.

 

I don't mind paying a quid or so for a loco roster in advance. I've bought some in the past and not even visited the line after seeing the roster. What I don't like paying for is something over-complicated (SVR WTT) or over-priced (Bluebell's £3 single sheet of A3, just so you can find out the timetable!). If a loco roster for MHR gala this weekend appears soon, I may consider going down. If it doesn't, chances are I won't. I don't want to go down there and find half the trains are double-headed pacifics on half a dozen coaches.

 

It's worth remembering what works at one line can be a total disaster for another as the characteristics of some can be very different, for instance, the Great Central is a very different beast to the West Somerset.

 

So long as a public timetable appears beforehand! Some Galas have even failed to provide this beforehand, which is a big no-no.

I do agree with the charging of a reasonable fee for the diagrams, for reasons as given above (mainly to get a contribution from possible freeloaders, which does happen as I learnt at SSS1 & 2 where a few individuals sat in the various fields refused to even donate a couple of quid)

 

An appreciation by the railways that a lot of those enthusiasts that attend galas are also 'b....y spotters' and would like the opportunity to see all the locomotives and rolling stock resident on the railway. Thus, yard and siding tours at advertised times should be available to those suitably equipped (hi-vis, safety shows etc).

A good example of this was given by the Chinnor & Princess Risborough over the last three weekends.

 

On the subject of programmes: each railway will have a budget for the gala, to which the income from the programme will contribute. So if there is a cut in the price of the programme, that shortfall in income will inevitably have to be made up somewhere else, probably through ticket prices. That is not an argument for overpriced programmes that offer poor value for money, but simply a reality check to be careful what you wish for!

With regard what goes in a programme - my own view is that the public timetable of trains that are available to anyone in posession of a valid ticket should be freely available in advance, for example on a website. Charging for anything extra - for example, times of non-public services such as goods trains, pre-booked dining trains, light engine moves, positioning moves etc - is fair game. Each railway would come to its own decision about whether it is better to charge for such info to deter freeloaders, or to make that additional info freely available to try to convince people to attend the gala - everyone will come to a different conclusion about that.

The last point is about the level of detail. One or two people have said that the full info, with all the shunt moves etc, is over the top. On the other hand, I'm sure some people relish such detail, so you can't win! Looked at from the railway's point of view, they will have to produce a very detailed plan with all the shunt moves, platform allocations etc, for their own internal operational purposes, distributed to all operational staff. (On the Bluebell at least, such documents are produced weekly, not just for galas). So allowing enthusiasts to have access, either paid for or free to download, is relatively free from extra administrative burden. Whereas producing a third kind of timetable for inclusion in a programme, more detailed than the public train running, but less detailed than the full Special Traffic Notice with shunt information, is of limited internal operational value to the railway, and therefore could only be done by additional administrative effort. Not out of the question, but potentially problematic especially if the details only get finalised quite near the actual date of the gala.

My own personal views, as always...

Tom

 

Copy & paste the public timetable, add a 'locomotive' row - 5 minutes' work for anyone who can work a spreadsheet!

 

But when you're already working to breaking point in the build-up to a gala, its 5 minutes that could really be done without!

 

It's not so much the level of effort to produce, it is maintaining version control between three different levels of detail of timetable, and then between web and print and distributed versions of same! Also, i don't think that would necessarily be the detail many people seem to want; for example, it wouldn't include LE moves etc.

If people want more detail than the bare public timetable, I'm not sure what the problem is with having the full working TT all the shunt notes. After all, the basic timetable is there including all the "extra" moves of interest, and all the notes are just footnotes. If they represent overkill - just ignore them!

Tom

 

Well that's up to the gala organisers to decide whether it's worth it...

 

Indeed, and at Swanage it is something we have traditionally done, and intend to do for future galas.

What I can say though is that I wish it was simply 5 minutes to input the data into a precedent timetable; its then getting someone else to proof-read it (its very difficult to proof-read your own mistakes, as you know which loco you meant to put on the 14:00, even if that's not what it says on paper!), then sending it onto the webmaster who is already being bombarded with e-mails ranging from what loco is on what train, to which way everything faces, to whether they can put a trade stand on the platform and so on...all in the meantime while you're shunting virtually everything on the entire railway, working your way onto version Z of the crew roster and dealing with X number of people who want a go on the visiting engine...not that I've been in that position...

One thing can be said for almost all railway tasks...there are very few 5 minute jobs!

 

Problem with diesel galas and charging for wtts,on the day is many people are fickle and if they don't have chance to plan theyre moves,wont bother turning up.
Id like to put on record as regards to diesel galas a few railways wont go far wrong from spending time at swanages diesel gala and taking ideas from that, Swanage was the best gala I've been too in years i regett not making more of an effort to go there before seeing as Swanage is on my door step,the line up of locos was right even with the usual regrettable no show,the late night running was well received specially the very last train to nordon for those of us who visited the beer tent at corfe,there were no silly double headers or steam out on any day,,i can not praise Swanage enough, cant wait for next year, the same goes for mid Hants they set the bar very high even when the timetable went up the spout slightly,
I've got my tin helmet on now I've mentioned diesels.....



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No need for a tin helmet IMHO; take away the words 'Diesel', 'Steam', 'Spring', 'Autumn' etc and we're still talking about galas. Certainly our Steam Gala has picked up quite a few ideas from the development of the Diesel Gala, and there are still many more to learn.

 

I though the general consensus was that diesel and steam galas were different due to the different enthusiasts who turn up? diesel people just like to have as many rides as possible behind as many different locos as possible, whereas steam people like that plus the information on all the manoeuvres, and all the extra attractions we are all so used to seeing. having never gone to a diesel gala, I don't know how much of that is true, but I can see that surely, steam and diesel galas would be different?

 

Agreed - I go to my fair share of diesel galas, and it's instantly apparent which are run by diesel groups and which are run as steam galas using diesels!

 

A lot of diesel enthusiasts want travel behind one particular loco or class, and will avoid, or at least try to, travelling behind anything else. For example, at the West Somerset galas, if the Western arrives at Minehead and the next train out is the 47, people will go to the pub or go for food; anything to avoid travelling behind the duff! Steam galas don't seem to attract the same sort of clientele, but people still have different ideas of what they want to travel behind. Hence I won't be going to MHR this weekend. I'd like a run behind 34046 down there, but on its own and not double headed, like it is on 5 out of 6 journeys per day! Double headed light pacifics on 6 coaches does nothing for me, sorry.

 

While there is a major element of knowing your market, the basic matters of a gala (timetable, sensible diagrams, opening hours, getting information out in advance, marketing etc) apply equally to both steam and diesel galas. To me, to assume that because they are different, feedback for one cannot be applied to the other is an erroneous assumption to make.

For example, yes, some diesel enthusiasts will not travel behind particular classes and will plan their moves to avoid those. But equally, at steam galas many people will do likewise. For example, avoiding GWR locos, or those that they perceive as not making any noise. As a practical example, for this year's Swanage gala I avoided diagraming 6695 double heading with either of the Bulleid's, as its neither an authentic pairing, nor one which would particularly interest enthusiasts. Where is the real difference, other than making sure you know who you're aiming the gala at?

 

Good weather for photting (cold and sunny).

Anything else is secondary really.

If this can be arranged, great.