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You're getting a bit too clever for your own good. Stop nit-picking and try to open up the conversation.

You are missing the point entirely. I said, and I quote: "... there is the differentiation between a small museum line (I think that’s a fairer description than ‘hobby’) and a full commercial undertaking. This is an example of how length matters (sorry): you can’t have a ten-mile long line and...

In what respect?

You are misinterpreting my point. I was using the term 'museum' line in preference to the term that had been used, namely 'hobby' line.

Yes, absolutely. As I say, heritage railways rely on 'funny money' and this is, inherently, risky. Somehow, they keep going but, in some cases, for how long?

This thread is a fool's errand. The reengineering and recertification costs, combined with the infrastructure costs would make fitting ERMTS to the whole preserved fleet look like small change.

Ownership has little bearing on performance. To the best of my knowledge, no heritage railways pay a dividend but those that are PLCs are that because until comparatively recently that was the only way that shares could be sold to the public. One advantage of railways being PLCs is that they...

You are correct in your observation. From this leads two opposing threads: the cost base and the ability to generate revenue. These might seem obvious but consideration has to be given to how these work for heritage railways. From personal experience, the point at which a railway needs paid...

We’ll have to see.

Thank you! We hope to have plenty of steam opportunities next year, so we look forward to seeing you! Meanwhile, The Duke passed its hydraulic test today and is scheduled to have its steam test tomorrow. Neil

Things are getting rather exciting at Wirksworth. All being well, we shall have four steam locomotives in steam on 31st December and 1st January. Here we see The Duke in steam and ready for its formal inspection tomorrow, 19th December.

This is an interesting debate but there's one factor that trumps all discussion. What is available?

Al this comes down to management bandwidth. Certainly. I don't see running buses as well as rail vehicles as a practical proposition, while the combined ticket potentially has legs but as I said earlier, organising it will be quite problematic. I'll just never say never.

And here’s the problem. It gets messy in so many ways: splitting the revenue, dealing with multiple parties (remember: for the TOC it’ll just be a pain for them) and making sure everybody gets a decent deal. It’s very difficult to square the circle. Neil

Good question. I think we have lost our mojo a bit with respect to mainline connections but there were mitigating factors. For our core service pattern (sounds pretentious, but keep with me), we reduced from four to three round trips and, in turn, extended both the journey time and the...

Thanks for that, there are still a ton of challenges and, frankly, one can never take one’s eye off the ball but the numbers are encouraging. Regarding the joint gala with Peak Rail, it was a great success. For us, we were stymied by the landslip which meant we couldn’t run through to...

You raise a good question. I can't be specific because that would be for others to decide but I guess there are two factors to consider: We need sufficient so as to prevent our relying upon one or two units. From experience, this leads to our overusing vehicles which is neither good for their...

It would be great to go out in a flash of glory! :D 1695655305 Two examples of how children associate trains with steam. Randomly observed on TV this afternoon.

Thank you both. There is a paradox here. Yes, I agree wholeheartedly that diesels are relatable to many people, but ask a small child what noise a train makes and I can assure you they will say "Choo choo". Take for example the humble BR Mk.1 SK: a friend of mine (not an enthusiast) took one...

Hello everybody, As Chairman of EVR, I thought it worth giving you a bit of an update and try and answer some of the observations and questions raised over the past few weeks. First of all, as a relatively new heritage line, we have had to grow quickly. Our first passenger services, within...