SVR General Discussion

Agree, both positivity and negativity are contagious. The entire heritage industry, not just railways, face the same problems of attracting a more discerning audience. Compare the doom and gloom at the Valley with the attitude at the Kent and East Sussex, hardly a day goes by without a Facebook post with pictures of what the K&ESR are up to, the last being a coach full of happy smiling passengers. I think there have been some good coverage in the local press too. That sort of publicity costs nothing and projects a positive image of a place worth visiting. The only recent news I’ve read about the Valley related to 18 redundancies.
I will visit the Valley for the Gala as a linesider, will I do my usual, buy a ticket that I won’t use and buy the books I have lined up in the shop at Kiddy? No, I’ll do that for a more worthy cause, probably at the K&WVR Gala in March. Like you I’m not poor but it’s not a bottomless pit and there are other calls on my cash.

 

Whatever the rights and wrongs of what the Valley have done or are doing what you are effectively saying is that you value the “product” sufficiently to partake of it, but not enough to pay for it in any way. If you must protest or don’t want to give the SVR your money then do so and don’t. I think it is dodgy ground though to set out to enjoy something with a specific intent of not contributing. How is that supposed to help?

 

How you dispose of your money is obviously totally your choice but at least two of those lines you mentioned DFR, WSR, are only offering a 3 or 4 train a day service well into the summer and high season on the WSR just adds a diesel service. GWSR has a mix of steam and diesel which only gives 3 steam trips most days again until well into the summer. WSR is not even daily in the high season.
So I am not seeing a much differing option elsewhere, but maybe I have already accepted that what I knew in the past will not return any time soon if ever.

 

I did actually say it’s not a bottomless pit of money, I help financially with a railway I think deserves it and I don’t think they do. They have had a fair bit out of me and practical help in the early days. When it comes to membership of preservation societies three locomotive owning groups and two railways is about as far as I can go present

 

GWSR has a 2 steam service most operating days from the beginning of April onwards.

 

I can see that now, but the timetable page before my last post would only show me Blue and Pink, refused all my attempts to see Purple. Not sure it is the easiest timetable page I have seen but maybe that is for another thread.

 

wow.

 

The big difference though is that both the WSR & GWSR offer a 2 steam loco service much of the time whereas, special days aside, that is not part of the current SVR offering.

Whether or not you view that as a game changer could be debated at length but the offering has to be attractive and steam is clearly still important to a big section of the market.

 

It is probably important to the likes of us, but to Mr & Mrs with their kids or the coach tour passengers I am not sure it is to them For example I never see armies oF people changing trains at Crowcombe, Williton or Blue Anchor except on gala days. My last visits to the SVR and GWSR on a normal operating day seemed to follow the same pattern. People chose a train and rode on it, did not swap half way through the journey to the one with the other loco.

 

I did'nt suggest that many "normals" want to hop on & off.

 

Not bitter, I really hope the SVR get back to doing what they do best, I was just trying to point out that they need to motivate people to support them and losing touch with their roots and going into a downward spiral is not the way to do it. I only have so much disposable income to spend on heritage railways and the SVR is now off the list, I'm not the only one.

 

The problem with such surveys is that you are asking the folk who have turned up to ride. What is pretty well impossible is asking the folk who thought about visiting but decided not to.

There is also the British problem that when, for example asked in a restaurant whether "everything is alright" they will give a meek affirmative even when it is'nt and then go away & tell their friends how bad it really was for them.

 

The SVR's marketing information, both on-line and in print, contains mainly images that feature steam locomotives. Non-enthusiast visitors thus have a reasonable expectation that their train journey should at least feature some steam haulage and the opportunity to see, hear and photograph a working steam locomotive. Where there is a choice, the majority of non-enthusiasts seem to prefer to travel behind steam, hence the imbalance on passenger loadings between steam and diesel-hauled trains that are regularly observed at the SVR. Before anyone jumps in and accuses me of being anti-diesel, that is most certaily not the case. However, I believe there needs to be a certain amount of honesty with regard to the product that one markets.

Andy

 

The vast majority of casual visitors to the SVR are expecting a steam loco. You might get away with a diesel if its the difference between travelling on the line or not but I'd suggest that those visitors who are disappointed to not be hauled by steam need to be given a clear opportunity to at least see the loco that is in steam. Perhaps the SVR can give some thought to making that possible for visitors without them having to work out how to do it from the timetable. Also maybe some more effort to display out of steam loco's in photogenic locations? As it stands you get to see many diesels at Kiddy, maybe some steam in the sidings at Bewdley then Highley aside thats it until Bridgnorth.

 

There are always locos on view at Bewdley. The problem with towing them around is cost. Highley is not secure against the lowlife metal thieves but the Engine House is located there.

 

At Bewdley they arent always ideally posed for photography - it would cost nothing to leave a wagons length between each loco. Highley more difficulty then though it would add a lot if something could be displayed outside. I'll agree that might be more difficult for practical reasons. I hope The Engine House is better presented this season than it was at the end of the last with the entrance looking like a closing down sale. The true gem of the SVR is of course Kidderminster Museum - I always buy my books there or from the EMF or 813 sales outlets at Kiddy - the SVR 'official shops' ceased stocking anything of interest a couple of seasons ago.

 

Pete, I find Johns comments on here very similar to various conversations I’ve had with other people who have done their time down the Valley.
Without naming names I think certain people have (how do I put this?)
Backed the wrong horse and continued to back it when others have asked them questions and they’ve found the answers a little uncomfortable.

@Sidmouth on here has said he’s found the former GM to be rather approachable, that may well be the case regarding himself but it’s not something I’ve heard from other people who have tried to get in touch with them about certain matters before they left.

I have no doubts that being the GM of an organisation the size of the SVR isn’t an easy job at the moment but there are some things that are going on there and I do wince inside a little when I hear about them.

As I’ve said before some people need to have a look in the mirror and ask themselves ‘Am I doing what’s right for me? Or am I doing what’s right for the greater good?’