Why cant they be a Heritage railway with a posh dining train?
Why is it always one or the other!
It doesn't have to be one or the other, and indeed most railway (including the GCR!) manage it just nicely. Most complaints (in that respect) seem to be against the insensitive sponsorship that's evident all over the train, one of the locos and elsewhere on the railway. Even that, though, is just a sympton of the current culture there, rather than the main cause - it's all about money, money, money...and not at all about the heritage which is very much under threat.
I do agree with you there. The GCR seem to be obsessed by food and the bistro at Quorn has provided me with awful service every time I've been there. I tend just to use the cafes on the platforms at the three stations. On a previous gala I enjoyed a breakfast in the Gresley buffet car only to find a rivet. Three were found to be missing from the cooker hood!
The refreshment rooms on the platforms (except at Loughborough) are run by volunteers at their respective stations, and are a much more tempting prospect for hot drinks and snacks. The homemade cake at Rothley is particularly excellent! Ellis', the other outlet at Rothley, was pretty good too in its early days, until it was brought under the umbrella of the railway's catering services.
The turntable, in my opinion would have been better at the end of the line at Leicester North. I have not seen the new proposal for Leicester.
Agreed - although, even at Leicester, it'd have little operational use without another one at the opposite end of the line, it'd be rather more appropriate there, and quite an attraction in the museum. It's totally out of place at Quorn though, otherwise portrayed as a typical country station with a basic goods yard - and it takes up a substantial part of the railway's largest exhibition space, parking area and bonfire site!
As for the SVR, it was only after the necessary but unsympathetic facilities went in at Highley that the railway got its act together. There had been some disapproval at the kidderminster additions too, I understand.
The Festiniog developments at harbour station sadden me, but talking to my father he had similar feelings about the expansion in the 60s, so maybe it will bed in.
I don't really know about the Ffestiniog's developments, but it all seems reasonably 'heritage', although the changes have been quite radical! It'll be interesting to see what happens with the Leicester development, as the situation does seem very similar to that on the SVR previously - we're still getting used to the monstrosity of a carriage shed that's completely destroyed the atmosphere being so carefully created by the S&T at Swithland, and there's other little details such as ugly palisade fencing recently installed at Beeches Road (one of the railway's most photogenic locations).
There's a small taster, in the form of an artist's impression, of the proposed development on the GCR's Facebook page. There's also an alternative proposal that's been put forward - very well researched - by one of my colleagues, hidden in a reply to one of the comments. I'll try to post both here when I get chance.
