Drip, drip, drip - and perhaps, eventually, it WILL become common place

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From Rail Advent

Environmentally speaking, rail is the optimum way to travel to parks such as Snowdonia, the Yorkshire Dales or areas of outstanding natural beauty like the Quantock Hills or the North Norfolk Coast.

Many small towns which are popular tourist hot spots such as Whitby or Swanage become overrun with traffic at high season.

Both heritage railways and national rail operators have a mutual interest in offering leisure trips by rail, especially as regular travel patterns have been altered due to the pandemic with this year seeing a trend in staycations.
 
Heritage railways have a totally different commercial need to that of national rail operators with both having different approaches and methods to managing and maintaining railways.

The study shows that despite the differing business models, a common interest has formed with the growth in the leisure travel market on rail.

The study shows that running heritage rolling stock on the national network does incur expensive modification, however, modern rolling stock working on heritage railway is a much more straightforward process.

The All Parliamentary Group on Heritage Rail study gives recommendations to actively encourage ‘public tourist transport’ using the incredible network that heritage railways provide. They also suggest that information should be provided via National Rail Enquiries of national network connected heritage railways services and raise the idea of protecting the route of earlier railways where heritage railway extensions may be of use and therefore needed in the future.

The Group also suggests that reflection on the role of heritage railways for new passenger service contracts with national train operators who could provide a link with national ticketing and information systems in a supportive role. It is also suggested that The Department for Transport should drive policy matters regarding heritage railways.

For this study, they have used information and evidence from the Minister for Railways, the Chairman of Network Rail, the Chief Inspector for Railways at the Office of Rail and Road, the Managing Director of Great Western Railway, the CEO^▸ (Chief Executive Officer) of the Heritage Railways Association and also from five heritage railways with main line links.

Drip, drip, drip - and perhaps, eventually, it WILL become common place to see through GBR^▸ (Great British Railways) services at Swanage, Bodmin General, Kingswear, Wallinford, Chinnor and even Minehead

[Bob_Blakey]

Whilst the provision of public transport to AONB^▸ (Areas Of Natural Beauty)'s, holiday resorts, etc. via heritage rail infrastructure should definitely be encouraged doing the same using enhancements to the National Rail network could be just as important.

The full restoration of the Exeter<>Okehampton service is being primarily driven by what I regard as an essential need to breathe some life into several towns, and the surrounding area, which have stagnated since their original train services were withdrawn. But is must also be used to reduce the destructive level of motor traffic which presently blights large areas of North Dartmoor. The 'summer sunday' trains, when combined with a decent connecting bus - which could now be electric - network, has previously shown how good this could be.   

[Electric train]

From Rail Advent

Environmentally speaking, rail is the optimum way to travel to parks such as Snowdonia, the Yorkshire Dales or areas of outstanding natural beauty like the Quantock Hills or the North Norfolk Coast.

Many small towns which are popular tourist hot spots such as Whitby or Swanage become overrun with traffic at high season.

Both heritage railways and national rail operators have a mutual interest in offering leisure trips by rail, especially as regular travel patterns have been altered due to the pandemic with this year seeing a trend in staycations.
 
Heritage railways have a totally different commercial need to that of national rail operators with both having different approaches and methods to managing and maintaining railways.

The study shows that despite the differing business models, a common interest has formed with the growth in the leisure travel market on rail.

The study shows that running heritage rolling stock on the national network does incur expensive modification, however, modern rolling stock working on heritage railway is a much more straightforward process.

The All Parliamentary Group on Heritage Rail study gives recommendations to actively encourage ‘public tourist transport’ using the incredible network that heritage railways provide. They also suggest that information should be provided via National Rail Enquiries of national network connected heritage railways services and raise the idea of protecting the route of earlier railways where heritage railway extensions may be of use and therefore needed in the future.

The Group also suggests that reflection on the role of heritage railways for new passenger service contracts with national train operators who could provide a link with national ticketing and information systems in a supportive role. It is also suggested that The Department for Transport should drive policy matters regarding heritage railways.

For this study, they have used information and evidence from the Minister for Railways, the Chairman of Network Rail, the Chief Inspector for Railways at the Office of Rail and Road, the Managing Director of Great Western Railway, the CEO^▸ (Chief Executive Officer) of the Heritage Railways Association and also from five heritage railways with main line links.

Drip, drip, drip - and perhaps, eventually, it WILL become common place to see through GBR^▸ (Great British Railways) services at Swanage, Bodmin General, Kingswear, Wallinford, Chinnor and even Minehead

With the change that GBR will bring to the commercial aspect of the railways the demise of the profit motivate franchised ToC's it could well make good business sense for GBR and for Heritage Railways to run sessional excursion type trains from the National Network onto 'heritage' lines   

[Rhydgaled]

With the change that GBR^▸ (Great British Railways) will bring to the commercial aspect of the railways the demise of the profit motivate franchised ToC's it could well make good business sense for GBR and for Heritage Railways to run sessional excursion type trains from the National Network onto 'heritage' lines

Perhaps, but (depending on whether issues such as linespeeds and PRM^▸ (Persons with Reduced Mobility) can be resolved) I think national rail services running 'seasonal in reverse' (ie. modern DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) running on the heritage line in the winter / 'low season') might be more useful. If a route such as Taunton-Minehead had, for example, a standard year-round hourly timetable (with the heritage railway running some/all of the trains in that timetable during the 'high season') it would have a number of benefits. One, it would potentially make the service a viable option for commuting and, two, the 'modern' rolling stock used in the winter would be available in the summer for strengthening national rail services on other routes. This would reduce the need to choose between having some national rail routes become standing-room-only in summer and having spare trains/carriages stored in sidings in winter.

[grahame]

Do remember that many of the heritage railways were late closures - those with a good enough case to have withstood the initial Beeching hit although they fell later. So perhaps they were and still include good cases for national network services.

The problem, perhaps, is you have an irresistable force in the heritage operators and volunteers meeting an immovable object such as Network Rail - reminds me of a very old song

When an irresistible force such as you
Meets and old immovable object like me
You can bet as sure as you live
Something's gotta give, something's gotta give, something's gotta give

When an irrepressible smile such as yours
Warms an old implacable heart such as mine
Don't say no because I insist
Somewhere, somehow, someone's gonna be kissed

So en garde, who knows what the fates have in store
From their vast mysterious sky?
I'll try hard ignoring those lips I adore
But how long can anyone try?

Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight it with all of our might
Chances are some heavenly star spangled night
We'll find out as sure as we live
Something's gotta give, something's gotta give, something's gotta give

Fight, fight, fight it with all of our might
Chances are some heavenly star spangled night
We'll find out as sure as we live
Something's gotta give, something's gotta give
Something's gotta give, something's gotta give, something's gotta give

[Lee]

Do remember that many of the heritage railways were late closures - those with a good enough case to have withstood the initial Beeching hit although they fell later. So perhaps they were and still include good cases for national network services.

The problem, perhaps, is you have an irresistable force in the heritage operators and volunteers meeting an immovable object such as Network Rail...

I personally think that the problem is all too often that both the heritage irresistable force and the Network Rail immovable object are opposed to national network services running on these lines, and they end up crushing suggestions that people like us put forward in good faith, but are seen as heretical by both.

I reckon both the heritage movement and NR^» (Network Rail - home page)/GBR^▸ (Great British Railways)/Whatever they will be calling it in future will both need to move on at least a generation before their respective thinking will truly align with ours enough to make such proposals a reality.