Standees on heritage railways

[talerddig]

Out of interest, is it the idea that preserved railways tend to be busier on days with bad weather? This is something which has been suggested a couple of times. Personally I find it a bit of a strange idea as it takes a special sort of person to be on, say, the Ffestiniog on a cold windy and wet day, but is it perhaps the case that in “holiday” areas people will be looking for something indoor to do and a railway simply ticks that box? Whereas a railway in a less touristy area might find people just stay at home?

People will still crowd out something like the Snowdon railway on a bad day, then complain that they got no view! We were fortunate that we ensured a fine day to climb Snowdon, then did the railway on a separate day to tick it off the track list, and by coincidence we struck lucky with the weather there too. Judging by some of the reviews we were rather lucky.

Needless to say on many railways the cafe often seems to be the star attraction more so than the trains!

From experience on the VOR, the beach does tend to draw people away on balmy days, but our busiest day is normally a Wednesday. Two perceived reason a) people naturally expect weekends to be busier b) people tend to start holidays on a Friday or Saturday and take time to settle in or assume point a)

 

[talerddig]

Agree that the VoR manage to add an extra coach when needed, but that is helped because they start from where their coaches are stored and there happens to be a shunter available. That isn't the case everywhere.

We do run a standard service of between 4 and 6 coaches, depending on historic precedence to guesstimate numbers - which you can only do when people tend to turn up on spec in the last 30 minutes (as many do). The Rheidol tanks will take 7 full comfortable, giving us that flexibility and there are trains in the summer which start with 7. However, even that sometimes is not enough and the infrastructure will not lend itself to carrying more. It's hard telling people you may not be able to sit together but sometimes you have to.