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Most preserved railways have a fairly small office staff and running an online booking system is a complex operation so it makes a lot of sense to outsource it. The business model of nearly all of the providers we looked at is based on an added booking fee.

There is still a very large 'to-do' list in the wake of the failure of the PLC two years ago. Further extension of the line could not be further from our minds at the moment.

We use Fareharbour at Llangollen. Like any IT product, spend some time specifying your requirements so you can be very clear what you are after (and what you are not).

Don't leave your brew in the wrong place though or it'll end up on the deck :D

I don't think their projects are going any further than Facebook.

The English Electric CSVT engines used in Class 50 and Class 37 drive their camshafts via a chain. If the chain is worn or stretched, this, coupled with cam wear, can produce very obvious 'hunting' around the idle speed, especially as you say when cold. Not sure about the 43 engines as I've...

Retention tanks might not become mandatory but the health risks to track workers are such that I would expect it to be necessary if lines want to hang on to their Pway staff. I would expect the central /secondary door locks issue only to be forced on us if there were multiple incidents that...

The applicable part of UK law is ROGS and the speed limitation basically comes down to this (from ROGS guidance notes on ORR website): "Most minor, heritage and leisure railways are not required to have a safety certificate and/or safety authorisation on account of operating at a permitted...

Ah yes, brain fart.

DMU to Berwyn until the end of June. Essential works in Berwyn tunnel and Glyndyfrdwy to be completed before the line reopens any further, hopefully that will be early August.

The Llangollen Railway Trust are pleased to announce that the railway will be re-starting a limited train service between Llangollen and Berwyn this coming Friday, 9th July. Trains will run on Friday, Saturday & Sunday departing from Llangollen at 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00 & 16:00. On...

Looking at the documentation the new group have published it appears considerably more professional, but they don't appear to have much collective experience of preserved or mainline railway work. Given the focus by ORR on competence in operational and technical matters they might have a nasty...

I'm pretty sure the trackbed at Llangollen is owned by Denbighshire local authority and the railway (not sure if it is the trust or PLC) have a very long lease on peppercorn terms. One of the conditions of that lease was that the Corwen extension was completed by a certain date, with the...

There are a number of companies offering convincing-looking pretend gas lamp fittings based on LEDs. I would have thought they would be a more sensible long term investment, and generally indistinuishable from the real thing.

I doubt it will be that extreme. Where the charitable portion is seperate from the commercial portion, for example a trust working alongside a PLC, the PLC may well go under. In many cases the major assets will be protected as they are trust property or rental agreements with local authorities...

It's a bit more complicated than that. A bit of digging very quickly reveals that several larger railways consist of a Charitable Trust and a PLC. This allows, for example, the PLC to own the infrastructure and assets, but the PLC runs for-profit operations like passenger services or an...

Please share some statistics that support your assertion on accidents. There are more current employees of TOCs and Network Rail on the line I volunteer at than retired ones. Their attitude to H&S is exemplary.

Llangollen have a license to take water from the River Dee, which avoids the need for treatment.

I daresay the owner had a sincere intention to get at least one of them running. Locos are so expensive to move that if a restoration/preservation plan stalls then stuff will just sit there until it rots or someone with deeper pockets decides to take them on. Most preserved railways don't have...

There's a 'dead mens shoes' effect at work here too. While older volunteers are either reducing their hours or packing in entirely, they're not doing it that quickly, and it's important for a steam department to have the correct numbers of drivers, firemen and cleaners to meet rostering...