Father Brown

I see this series is being repated early evening on BBC2 for anyone that missed it first time around.
Colin Fewell

Daily and Sunday Telegraph promotion

I've just agreed that we will be part of a major promotional drive by the Daily and Sunday Telegraph from 20th - 23rd June in association with the HRA and Visit England. There will be vouchers (2 for 1) and we will have a couple of photos and a small amount of text in the newspaper.
Colin Fewell

Tourist attraction assessment

You may know we were visited today by the senior assessor for the Visit England  VAQAS (Visitor attraction quality assurance scheme). This is an annual visit to determine whether we merit the "English Tourist Council" quality assured "rose" emblem which we display at our sites and on our timetable. It is an extremely thorough assessment  following which he debriefed me on his findings. I am pleased to say that in his words we " get better each year". He was particularly impressed by the friendliness and helpfulness of all the volunteers, the general cleanliness of the trains and buildings, the phone answering service, the website and the facility of being able to travel on different trains. There were a few minor issues which I will deal with separately but all in all, he was very impressed. A full report will be available in 2 weeks.
Colin Fewell

Improving the view from the carriage window

Dear all,

 

As you are probably aware, I am very interested in improving the view our customers get of our railway when they are riding in the trains.

I believe that our customers expect to see a nostalgic scene evoking the steam age and they certainly get this from our superb stations and well dressed and friendly staff. Where we need to improve is to enhance the view in the station yards and this can be done by sheeting down unrestored vehicles, by repainting those which need to be by the line side and positioning restored stock, mostly wagons, where they can be seen.

I expect everybody who has ridden the railway in the last month will have noticed that the very rusty coach at Winchcombe has been sheeted down and this was the subject of a blog posting last month.

The next job on the list is the steam loco department's mess coach and this was nearly finished in time for the Steam Gala. I hope you agree that the 'after' photo represents an improvement over the 'before'. 

I thought the freight train at the Steam Gala was the star of the show and I'm working to get the restored GWR wagons on the siding next to the steam loco department's mess coach thus evoking the spirit of a real GWR goods yard. I think they'll make a great sight as well as being potentially available for Fire and Drive activities.

As always your feedback is welcome particularly about any opportunities you have identified for improving the railway's presentation.

Kind regards,

Chris Bristow

Just plain incredible

We now have assembled the financial results from the Steam Gala. They are sensational.

The Budget for ticket sales was £90,000. The actual was £95,000! 

I had been so nervous and at times despondent. I should have had more confidence in Paul Richardson and his amazing organising team. They did a brilliant job.

But everyone did and I think we all enjoyed it. I was so proud at  comments by the Chairman of North Norfolk who just could not  believe that 99% was done by volunteers.

It was all epitomised when I saw a member of the station staff at Toddington clearing up a terrible mess of you know what in the gents. Not his job, horrible to do but he just quietly got on with it.

This result, and its better than above because they underspent on budget as well, really puts our Railway back to good financial health.

Other nuggets - Programme sales £507, Brake Van Rides £2,240, OTC £8,852

My and the Board's thanks and appreciation go out to everyone


Malcolm T

WOW!

Everyone is pressing to know how the Gala did overall in ticket sales

We are working on it and will publish here asap

Meantime a new GWR record

The ticket sales on the Saturday were the largest ever GWR take in a day - an amazing £28,240



MT

Following Crystal Palace

The following email was received today,

 

Dear Sir,

I just wanted to thank you and everyone else at GWSR for a sublime day out yesterday and not just for the wonderful footplate trip.

I am in the leisure business and so am well aware of the valuable interaction between customers and staff (volunteers). I have visited most of the ‘1st Division’ preservation railways over the past few years and can only state that the reception yesterday was of the highest quality and better than any other.

From your station master at Toddington to all the volunteers whether they be on car park, shop, station or train duties: hearty congratulations. All were courteous and helpful but above all pleasant and obviously wanting to make the passenger’s day out interesting and enjoyable. I have felt sometimes, that at other railways, staff are more interesting in talking to each other rather than interacting with customers!

The loco crew not only made me most welcome but were extremely knowledgeable about both the railway and its surroundings.

If I wasn’t working most weekends as well as being the best part of 100 miles away (plus my home, when I get there, is in Spain) I would be wanting to volunteer myself!

Please pass on my thanks to all concerned

Well done indeed.

 

Regards, John Bolsom