A lovely railway. When I visited in May I felt the timetable was less than optimal for a day out. Also the trains were surprisingly long and therefore expensive to run.
Plenty of staff around who were friendly and helpful. The restoration of HK is superb. I left with the feeling that with more interesting marketing and a slightly better timetable more people would visit.
I am a new volunteer on a railway in my area. I visited the Bluebell on the first day of the summer holiday timetable (ie the 2-train service), not having been for many years.
The trains were immaculate (the restored SR set particularly), the locos (Q and BR5) authentic to the region. The BR5 is, I suspect, quite economical to operate, despite being over-large.
Loads were moderate, and could have been accommodated in shorter trains.
However, from limited experience in my own setting, loadings through the week vary enormously, depending on the number of tour groups, and "we" tend not to go for attaching and detaching coaches during the week, which is time consuming. Part of the attraction of a midweek train is not being cramped IMO.
Operating a more intensive timetable, even with shorter trains, is enormously expensive on resources, which is why many lines operate a one-train service in low season.