Swanage Railway General Discussion

I was on duty at CC yesterday and the 1st & 2nd trains looked as if they had good loadings but the 3rd had 2 empty coaches

 

Any form of repeated Christmas related event e.g. Santa Special / Polar Express is more challenging to fill the further away from Christmas it is.

Likewise the last trip of the day especially when the following day is a school day is also more challenging to fill.

 

Following on from that, the first train during the week is no good because the children are still in school.
Its an interesting commercial debate, Santa specials appeal to those that believe, swallow up a lot of volunteer person power but good profit.
Whilst Polar Express excite a wider audience.
The railway gets paid to run trains with no fear of loss.
Less profit, less risk.
I'm intrigued by the railways that have santas grottos.
Who wants to leave a warm carriage and stand on a freezing cold or rainy platform to see Santa in his hideaway.
Discuss

 

My personal impression is that the Polar express and train of lights type operations do give more of a lasting impression, and appeal to a wider, family audience who might think they are too old for a visit to santa, I took my niece and nephew age 6 and 10 on the MHR train of lights last year, the girl, loved it, and the boy who says he's too old for that santa stuff, sat there spell bound by the experience

 

It would be interesting to know profitability though, given that things like light trains have a comparatively high cost to deliver.

Probably the ideal is to offer daytime Santas and night time trains of lights, giving you two different markets while only having to steam one loco - if you can arrange the timetable correctly.

Tom

 

I think there are two models for the Polar Express; one where you lease your railway to an operator which supplied the actors, does the publicity and organises the externalities. No risk to the railway and less work but less profit. This is the route the Swanage are taking, and the Cholsey & Wallingford did until last year.

The alternative is to operate it all yourself, still needing agreement from the copyright holders, taking on all the risk but getting a greater share of the profit. This is what some railways, such as the Caledonian Brechin, are choosing to do.

I have no idea about the costs involved in either scenario, I guess that’s for the boardrooms!

 

I'm not sure how commercially sensitive this is, but the production company who bought the rights, remortgage their house in Avon for £1.2 m to start the process

 

Three main points spring to mind:

1. Space. You can do more and create a "Santa Land" with station buildings and marquees which, with the best will in the world, will be harder to do on the train, which is essentially a 9 foot wide tube that's primarily seating.

2. It can give a better impression of value for money. Entertainment "in the aisles" on the train which forms the "journey" with a stop and visit through the grotto can extend the visit and give two distinctly separate theatres in which to entertain the visitor. If folks stay in their seats the entire time, you have to work harder to add meat to the experience.

3. Flexibility. If the Santa train is tastefully decorated but hasn't been completely re-engineered for Santa use, then the same set of carriages can be used for other jobs, such as evening lights trains for example.

At my railway, visitors exit the train, use the platform briefly and then enter the building, so there is no requirement for standing around on platforms if weather is inclement. That's not to say they can't hang around and see the engine if they want to!

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Interesting, thank you for replying. Do customers rejoin the train or leave after having their santa experience?

 

Rejoin the train - Santa is at an intermediate station!

 

I know the railway I’m a member of had to make huge up-front investments in all sorts of areas when they decided to switch to Polar Express from more traditional Santa trains. Effectively they had spent the profits before the first train ran. It’s a big gamble because if you have an issue like weather or mechanical failure that means you have to cancel, that’s a huge amount of revenue lost. Thankfully in our case it paid off handsomely.

 

I would have thought that there was an important aspect to have in mind for decision making.
Swanage Railway, like some other heritage railways I suspect, has suffered a reduction in the number of active volunteers and several of those are now somewhat older than the young ones from 1972 when the project started. I wonder if it is possible that considering last year's experimental Polar Express operation meant it had really no alternative but to let a franchise operator organise and staff it.
I understand (lack of) staffing was one aspect when the railway considered continuing Santa Specials or not.

 

Presume you mean PNP Events? From Companies House (although have not checked all the accounts details), and other websites, seem to have been going for a few years, now in Telford, with several types of events and good reviews

 

Surprised with WB in the mix railways are even allowed to consider the second option you list there.

 

PNP are also involved with Polar Expresses out of Euston, operated by WCRC: https://londonthepolarexpressride.com/
Tickets for the Polar Express at Swanage are selling well I think with some trains sold out (or close to) already: https://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/events/view/polar-express

 

Really too dark, not helped by a forecast that was better and some slightly late running.
The first of today's 3 trains on the way back at School Crossing. Quality not great but some interesting effects with the lights, especially reflecting off the Dogfish wagons which I did not know were parked there.

 

The second train was quite late. Presumably they don’t leave until those booked are aboard. Neither train looked very well loaded

 

When I checked the booking site earlier the 2nd and 3rd trains only had about 80 seats each shown as available, which I thought was quite good for a Thursday in November.

 

Proving that if something can go wrong it will, today was forecast to be the best day of the four days of running, with sunshine. So that implied if on time there may be enough light on the common when the first train returns and maybe even a going away silhouette possibility. How wrong you can be.
So on the way out I notice the sun is about to go behind a bank of cloud that has appeared over Kingston, so the both the glint when Manston is on the back, and the silhouette have gone. Checking the wind, which was stronger than forecast, meant I needed to be on the west side of the line to avoid any steam or smoke.
Unlike yesterday train on time on the way out, light still quite good despite cloud. Train then spends an age at Norden, as of course the light fades and then nearly catches me out as I heard no whistles for the crossings before it appeared. Do not know if Manston had a slight issue, as the 33 seemed louder than normal but not really sure.
Oh and of course the wind had changed direction as well. Still there is always another day (maybe).

 

Late decision to go out this afternoon, after it brightened up briefly, and I changed my chosen location on the drive out as it got darker again. Glad I did.
As the train disappeared around the curve to Townsend Bridge slipped and then again I assume approaching the bridge. Sounded good on a reasonably still evening.