kje7812
Member
The first two weekends in March are Kidderminster to Highley only due to infrastructure work at Bridgnorth and in the Alveley Woods. Full line running should be 18th March onwards.
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Severn valley railway news and updates.
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william.martin
On Moderation
What a shame, 4/3/23 happens to be the day after my birthday and the plan was to ride the line from Bridgnorth (my nearest station) and travel to Kidderminster and back.
Thanks for telling me though as it would of been a nasty shock when I got there!
On Wednesday the Severn Valley railway anounced it's vintage Transport extravaganza shall return this year (date unknown)
Here is where you can find the article they released on their website.
Last edited:
kje7812
Member
12th/13th August (it's on the events page).
william.martin
On Moderation
Didn't see that bit, thanks!
Times are hard for heritage railway operations with the Severn Valley Railway revealing a voluntary redundancy plan:-
Severn Valley Railway reveals voluntary redundancy plan
Severn Valley Railway reveals voluntary redundancy plan - BBC News
Severn Valley Railway reveals voluntary redundancy plan
Severn Valley Railway reveals voluntary redundancy plan - BBC News
william.martin
On Moderation
Strange, when you think about how popular all of the galas have been.
kje7812
Member
You'd hope that galas are busy, it's normal days that are more telling for the railway. Also I know that some of christmas services weren't that well filled.
Alanko
Member
I gather that some railways barely make anything from galas once the outlay for guest locos is taken into account?
Trainfan344
Established Member
- Joined
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Helen Smith is to leave the SVR in 2023
www.railadvent.co.uk
Severn Valley Railway Managing Director, Helen Smith, is to leave the role in 2023, the heritage railway has announced.
The railway says that Helen is leaving to take up another role after three years as Managing Director.
Helen is to remain at the railway over the next few months to work with SVR Chairman Mike Ball, and Vice Chairman Jonathan Dunster, to allow for a smooth handover.
Severn Valley Railway Managing Director to leave role in 2023
Severn Valley Railway Managing Director, Helen Smith, is to leave the role in 2023, the heritage railway has announced.
www.railadvent.co.uk
Severn Valley Railway Managing Director, Helen Smith, is to leave the role in 2023, the heritage railway has announced.
The railway says that Helen is leaving to take up another role after three years as Managing Director.
Helen is to remain at the railway over the next few months to work with SVR Chairman Mike Ball, and Vice Chairman Jonathan Dunster, to allow for a smooth handover.
Though this is pretty much parroting an opinion from a Chris eden Green video but i reckon this year if people are going out to just spot the locos on a heritage railway during galas, i do think that the least we can do is to get a coffee at the nearest station just so that they can get a little bit of revenue -especially during gala events and the with the cost of living crisis atm.
Yeah it might be a couple of quid and maybe more than your highstreet depending on which line and what rates, however your favourite high street coffee chain isnt going anywhere and wouldn't miss your custom for one day. Meanwhile heritage railways are near all charities and honestly getting a coffee there instead during the gala is a neat, inexpensive way to donating to the line of choice and you get a drink or cake out of it - everyone wins
.
william.martin
On Moderation
I wonder who will take on her role.Helen Smith is to leave the SVR in 2023
Severn Valley Railway Managing Director to leave role in 2023
Severn Valley Railway Managing Director, Helen Smith, is to leave the role in 2023, the heritage railway has announced.
Severn Valley Railway Managing Director, Helen Smith, is to leave the role in 2023, the heritage railway has announced.
The railway says that Helen is leaving to take up another role after three years as Managing Director.
Helen is to remain at the railway over the next few months to work with SVR Chairman Mike Ball, and Vice Chairman Jonathan Dunster, to allow for a smooth handover.
kje7812
Member
Some railways, probably (and I've heard a few people); the SVR galas are generally profitable.
Russel
Established Member
The prices being charged for these Christmas services would probably explain the low patronage.
I looked at a couple of lines to take my little boy to and I just couldn't justify the cost.
Quite a complex issue really with many factors affecting the outcome.
(1) The costs of operating have increased quite significantly in 2022 but events that relied upon third party suppliers (for example entertainers) seem to have been hit by even greater cost increases.
(2) The pricing of events such as Santa Specials is based partly on previous years pricing plus a margin to cover (possibly only in part) the additional costs faced in 2022.
(3) For a number of years Heritage Railway Santa Specials was the go to event for young children (and especially for grand parents to take their grandchildren too). It seems as if in 2022 there was much greater competition for the "childs entertainment" pound and many of these were considerably cheaper. Anecdotally I think a lot of venues have woken up to the size of the Christmas market and have put on events or put far more effort into events than they did in previous years.
(4) Santa Specials have always been "quite expensive" and arguably / debatably not always good value for money. Perhaps in Xmas 2022 the tipping point was reached where many previous / potential customers thought (as you said) "I just couldnt justify the cost" and did something else instead. As an example Bournemouth ran a Christmas Tree Wonderland which was free admission and quite frankly very good. Who wouldnt take their kids to see that and then possibly buy hot chocolate or go to a well known burger chain afterwards for a much smaller outlay? https://www.bournemouth.co.uk/whats-on/bournemouth-christmas-tree-wonderland-p2613653
(5) The HR closest to me, which I do support, has not run Santa Specials for the past few years, running the Train of Lights (TOL) Instead. A number of reasons have been given for this: difficulty mobilising sufficient volunteers post covid, TOL was less resource consuming, TOL was very well received the first year it ran. Will this though be the start of a retrenchment of Xmas services / entertainment?
I genuinely wonder if across the HR sector as a whole we are now starting to see an unfortunate combination of less demand and higher costs which will put many HRs in financial jeopardy to one extent or another. Many HRs have always been financially close to the edge and I wonder if the edge has become much closer, a thought which greatly concerns and saddens me. The cost of employing staff has taken another kick upwards and again there has to be a tipping point where as an employer you have to wonder if these staff are affordable?
Alanko
Member
Though this is pretty much parroting an opinion from a Chris eden Green video but i reckon this year if people are going out to just spot the locos on a heritage railway during galas, i do think that the least we can do is to get a coffee at the nearest station just so that they can get a little bit of revenue -especially during gala events and the with the cost of living crisis atm.
Yeah it might be a couple of quid and maybe more than your highstreet depending on which line and what rates, however your favourite high street coffee chain isnt going anywhere and wouldn't miss your custom for one day. Meanwhile heritage railways are near all charities and honestly getting a coffee there instead during the gala is a neat, inexpensive way to donating to the line of choice and you get a drink or cake out of it - everyone wins
Hard to disagree with any of this. I was at the Bo'ness winter diesel gala, but the only ticket option applicable was the £30 adult day rover. I would have paid £12 for a return and gone for a trip behind the 37s, but only offering a ticket for the whole day appeals only to the core veg/gricer/basher elite.
Coffee and sundries were purchased in the cafe however!
satisnek
Member
Hopefully someone from a railway background.
But given that a very significant proportion of a heritage railways costs are fixed (ie are not influenced by running or not) what can be done?
For example if you run fewer days then yes that will be less coal, water and lubricants consumed but the year round paid staff still get paid, the rent (if applicable) still has to be paid as do the rates / council tax, insurance, maintenance of the buildings, marketing etc etc.
I suppose you could reduce the number of locos that are "hired in" (for example Swanage Railway hires all or nearly all of their passenger hauling steam locos) but then an action such as that would disappoint (if that is not to light a word) the volunteer community the railway relies upon.
If you reduce the number of paid staff will the railway still be able to maintain its compliance obligations not just in terms of railway operating, but HSE, employment, pensions etc etc?
YorkshireBear
Established Member
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- 23 Jul 2010
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- 9,078
It's a fairly horrendous balancing act.
I think most railways are either losing volunteers or keeping volunteer numbers static but family expectations have changed so they give less time.
GWVillager
Member
As a few others have said, it's not really about the galas. Ordinary operating days are running noticeably quieter than pre-pandemic, with loads concentrated on just a few trains in each direction.
Just a reminder that this thread is for discission of Severn valley railway news and updates.
If anyone wants to discuss anything else then they are welcome to start a new thread in the appropriate forum section.
thanks
If anyone wants to discuss anything else then they are welcome to start a new thread in the appropriate forum section.
thanks
Intriguing isnt it that ordinary operating days are quieter and yet according to the Govt and employers a very large number of mature adults have not gone back to work post the COVID pandemic.
Mature adults are the core market for both visitors to Heritage Railways and for volunteers so one wonders just what is going on? Why arent they visiting or volunteering?
It surely cant be the cost / money factor because if they were short of money they would have gone back to work.
That's not true for my railway and Id suggest the SVR as well. The core market is family days out. The enthusiast mature adult market has always been tiny.
The biggest mature adult market has always been coach parties and cruise ship excursions, both markets significantly down on pre-pandemic.
I think the heritage railway industry concensus is that most railways are currently in survival mode, crunch time will be end of the 2023 season when if nothing has changed you will start to see sites closing/ consolidating.
If the core market is family days out then it stands to reason that the days to operate are weekends and school holidays. At my local heritage railway the other core market has been mature adults coming by bus (using the NCTS passes) or by car. The day trip coach market has always been quite small. (see below). It doesnt have much in the way of cruise shop excursion traffic as few cruise ships come to the nearby port (but there are some).
The coach industry has been in structural decline for many years but COVID certainly seems to have caused, whether directly or indirectly, a significant number of coach operators to close their doors. The days of the WI trip to the seaside are in the main long gone. In fact many coach operators are not really coach operators but operators of school bus services who happen to use coaches for this activity and top it up with a small amount of private hire and excursion traffic.
I agree with the consensus that most heritage railways are in survival mode. I can see far more appeals along the lines of "we need £xxK" or we will be closing. I am not sure just how much consolidation can be done given, as I referred to in my earlier post, the level of fixed costs in the business.
As regards the SVR, they have built up a broad based tourist attraction using the heritage railway as the hook to draw traffic in. I surmise that this was why Helen Smith was appointed as she is experienced in many facets of operating tourist attractions. Surely one of the, if not the key, responsibility of being a GM, being supported by a motivated team of functional experts (for example operations, engineering, marketing, finance etc) is to manage the collective out put in accordance with the agreed business plan.
Volunteers are the core of nearly all heritage railways (I would say all except for the Paignton and Dartmouth) and they have worked miracles to get the heritage railways to where they are today. The challenge is the environment has changed: costs have escalated, regulatory demands have increased and, one gets the impression, that competition for the leisure pound has increased resulting in fewer visitors. I fear that attracting customers to get back to pre covid levels is much much harder than previously supposed and that a major part of the solution has to be cutting costs. The worry has to be that cutting back operating days and the number of services on operating days will cut revenue just as much or even more than the savings in direct operating costs.
Many volunteers will undoubtedly feel disappointed that plans for this loco to be restored (or hired) or for that rake of carriages to be repainted or for a new lathe for the LCW department have been shelved especially when the item is a "pet project" they have been working towards for many years, and indeed may have been told dont worry your turn will come, but sadly difficult decisions have to be taken. I dont doubt that volunteers understand the commercial imperative but it does leave a bitter taste in the mouth after sometimes spending years for "our project to get to the top of the list" for the project to be shelved or cancelled.
birchesgreen
Established Member
Anecdotally from a few elderly people i know, they simply lost the habit of going out during lockdown and don't feel like, or have the energy to resume the old life.
bramling
Veteran Member
Maybe all the pre-booking that was required has been putting people off?
william.martin
On Moderation
It's not required but it is advised.
kje7812
Member
I think bramling is referring back to 2020/21 when it was (sort of) required.
bramling
Veteran Member
That’s exactly what I meant. For too long there has been this push towards pre-booking, across the heritage railway sector in general, and it may well be the case that people think it’s still like that everywhere - especially as some places are still sticking to it to greater or lesser extents (Ffestiniog being one of the worst).
Speaking personally we’ve made a few visits to heritage railways since March 2020, and being brutally honest most have been fairly negative experiences due to the whole thing being too curated for our liking. We were going to do the Chinnor Railway late last year but the whole model put us off.
GWVillager
Member
The Severn Valley has relaxed significantly though, the offering is very similar to pre-pandemic with a few extra booking possibilities.
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