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Post Lockdown re-opening dates for heritage railways

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superjohn

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The NNR are also being rather cheeky with the ”Prices from £1” claim on the return compartment section of their online ticket office. That is the one-way price for an accompanying dog! As @Roger B found, the minimum you will actually pay is £40 for one passenger with additional travellers being charged extra on top.

I appreciate the heritage railways are in a difficult position but that kind of Ryanair style trickery really isn’t on. It actually put me off booking a trip. The price is high but I would have swallowed it if they had been upfront.
 
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steamybrian

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Are tickets advance only purchased or can you turn up and buy on the day?
A new website is about to be opened giving full details on booking arrangements and instructions.
What I have heard unofficially is that due to social distancing the number of seats on the trains will be limited accordingly advance bookings are recommended. Any unsold seats will be available on the day.
I can confirm that last year that when trains were running between the lockdown periods many trains were fully booked in advance.
 

cav1975

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24 Sep 2010
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I did an Anglia Plus day ranger last Thursday, and while I was at Sheringham, I thought I'd take a trip on the North Norfolk Railway. I was astonished to learn that the minimum fare for a return to Holt was £40 - which was the charge for a whole compartment, because of covid. There weren't many people about - perhaps sufficient to occupy the compartments of at most two carriages of the five / six carriage train in the platform, so I suggested that perhaps I might pay the NNR additional adult fare of £10, and the railway might view it as £10 gained rather than £30 lost. No, minimum fare for a single adult is £40 was the reply. So I reluctantly gave up the idea of travelling, and asked if I might go on the platform to view the train's departure. Only with a valid ticket to travel came back the response - in other words they wanted £40 just for a platform ticket. Needless to say I didn't take him up on his kind offer. I would suggest that the NNR isn't doing itself any favours - it doesn't seem to be very welcoming for visitors. I'd have thought they'd welcome whatever revenue they could generate.
On the Isle of Wight we are selling all tickets at normal prices and booking each group (from 1 person upwards) into a separate compartment. Not many individual travellers but plenty of couples. Once all the compartments are sold that train is considered full and no further bookings are accepted.

This worked well last year and had the effect of spreading demand out more evenly through the day so we don't think we lost out despite the lower effective per train capacity.
 

david1212

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I did an Anglia Plus day ranger last Thursday, and while I was at Sheringham, I thought I'd take a trip on the North Norfolk Railway. I was astonished to learn that the minimum fare for a return to Holt was £40 - which was the charge for a whole compartment, because of covid. There weren't many people about - perhaps sufficient to occupy the compartments of at most two carriages of the five / six carriage train in the platform, so I suggested that perhaps I might pay the NNR additional adult fare of £10, and the railway might view it as £10 gained rather than £30 lost. No, minimum fare for a single adult is £40 was the reply. So I reluctantly gave up the idea of travelling, and asked if I might go on the platform to view the train's departure. Only with a valid ticket to travel came back the response - in other words they wanted £40 just for a platform ticket. Needless to say I didn't take him up on his kind offer. I would suggest that the NNR isn't doing itself any favours - it doesn't seem to be very welcoming for visitors. I'd have thought they'd welcome whatever revenue they could generate.

As each railway is different both the route, number of services per day and stock of course one size does not fit all other than maximising revenue.

For the latter the NNR approach is logical for book ahead, even if that is an hour before at the station rather than online, but once it becomes clear there will be a significant number of spare compartments for both outward and return legs surely better to sell to an individual at £10 or a couple/bubble at £18 than leave empty.
 

Aictos

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A new website is about to be opened giving full details on booking arrangements and instructions.
What I have heard unofficially is that due to social distancing the number of seats on the trains will be limited accordingly advance bookings are recommended. Any unsold seats will be available on the day.
I can confirm that last year that when trains were running between the lockdown periods many trains were fully booked in advance.
Ahh thank you, I've got my eye on your Battle of Britain loco I would like to have a ride behind once it's possible that is as well as your Class 73 in NSE livery.
 

C37

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24 Jan 2019
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As each railway is different both the route, number of services per day and stock of course one size does not fit all other than maximising revenue.

For the latter the NNR approach is logical for book ahead, even if that is an hour before at the station rather than online, but once it becomes clear there will be a significant number of spare compartments for both outward and return legs surely better to sell to an individual at £10 or a couple/bubble at £18 than leave empty.
Agree it is up to each railway to set their prices, but I can't see how making it so expensive makes business sense.

For example, last week my family stopped in Norfolk and I considered a trip on the Poppy Line, but living in the Midlands, I just couldn't get my head around the price.

For two adults and an under 3 to travel from Sheringham to Holt and back would have cost £40.

On the GCR the a trip from Quorn to Leicester and back costs £22.

In the event, we drove a few miles north of Sheringham to watch the train go by and will probably visit GCR in the next few weeks.

I'm not bitter about it, just can't justify paying nearly double the fare for a comparable experience.
 

Solent&Wessex

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9 Jul 2009
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The KWVR is back to normal operations, with all turn up and go tickets and normal discounts available again.

Oakworth station is currently closed due to filming and Oxenhope station is pedestrian access only with no car parking available also due to filming. That aside it is pleasingly normal.

Covid service style reserved private compartments are still available to book ahead (or on the day if available), as they were last year and earlier this year. They are available with boarding at Keighley or Haworth. There are 2 coaches on each train for this.

The remaining 3 coaches are available for all ordinary tickets which don't come with seat reservations. These unreserved coaches are currently 2 x TSOs and 1 x CL. The seating works the same as the mainline network in so far as there are no seat reservations in place and there are no social distancing markers and as such passengers are free to choose their own seats considering other passengers and who they are travelling with.

So far this mixed approach has been working well with different passengers happy with the arrangements and ticketing as they can choose which best suits their needs and desires.

The KWVR has long been a railway more akin to a local train service, with many visitors breaking their journey at Haworth for the day, or often just going walking and using single tickets for sections of the line.
 

Vespa

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20 Dec 2019
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The KWVR is back to normal operations, with all turn up and go tickets and normal discounts available again.

Oakworth station is currently closed due to filming and Oxenhope station is pedestrian access only with no car parking available also due to filming. That aside it is pleasingly normal.

Covid service style reserved private compartments are still available to book ahead (or on the day if available), as they were last year and earlier this year. They are available with boarding at Keighley or Haworth. There are 2 coaches on each train for this.

The remaining 3 coaches are available for all ordinary tickets which don't come with seat reservations. These unreserved coaches are currently 2 x TSOs and 1 x CL. The seating works the same as the mainline network in so far as there are no seat reservations in place and there are no social distancing markers and as such passengers are free to choose their own seats considering other passengers and who they are travelling with.

So far this mixed approach has been working well with different passengers happy with the arrangements and ticketing as they can choose which best suits their needs and desires.

The KWVR has long been a railway more akin to a local train service, with many visitors breaking their journey at Haworth for the day, or often just going walking and using single tickets for sections of the line.
I've just come back from there having spent a few days staycationing in Haworth, rode the trains on Sunday 7th June, its as you said reserved carriages and open carriages, seemed to work quite well, there is a lot of people using it.

Beer, sun and trains, what's not to like ?
 

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Peter Mugridge

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8 Apr 2010
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Epsom
One of the other lines - I've forgotten which one; might have been the Spa Valley? - tweeted this morning that it's back to normal operation, i.e. you can get on and off at will during the day.
 

Bessie

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30 Oct 2017
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I'm going to the Spa Valley Railway next Thurs (17th). It's £10 for a return ticket and I get to enjoy steam and diesel travel for that. Tickets valid all day with intermediate stops allowed. Their Class 33 will be in operation. Their Thumper unit takes over on Thursday diagrams from 1 July.
 

Ianigsy

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12 May 2015
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The KWVR has long been a railway more akin to a local train service, with many visitors breaking their journey at Haworth for the day, or often just going walking and using single tickets for sections of the line.
Indeed, on occasion it’s the only public transport in the valley when snow keeps the buses off the road. Depending on the timetables, the first train from Oxenhope on Sunday mornings is sometimes earlier than the first bus.
 
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