Nice......

I have received an excellent message from Nick Jones FD of loco 5542 in connection with a special train run for the owning company on the evening of Saturday 15th June:

"We just wanted you to know how much all who travelled on our special train last evening on the extended line enjoyed their trip!

There were very many compliments to the railway from amongst our 120 or so passengers, many of whom are not railway enthusiasts. The turnout of our loco. the coaches and the whole railway. together with the friendly helpfulness of the volunteer staff were greatly appreciated."

MT

Shedding the delay

Back from Florida to learn we have good news on the Paint Shop construction:

The present block work build will continue on most days until complete

The first floor and stairs are being delivered on Friday 21st June. There will be no vehicle access beyond the signal box on that day

Cladding will commence on 12th July until completed and will be followed by window installation

C & W and B &S will have access from early August to start interior works and painting

MT

What the public think of us

Have a look at Tripadvisor.
Last Thursday I spoke with a number of visitors, and comments ranged from "by far the best heritage railway" to "a vast improvement" to "clean trains" to " friendly and helpful staff". No negative comments at all. Trouble is - it can't go on like this!! Are we riding for a fall??
Colin Fewell

The view from the carriage window - part 2

Dear fellow volunteers,

My previous posting on 'the view from the carriage window' inadvertently stirred up some controversy and I want to answer Bob Mac's points.

Firstly, however, I note that the photos of the steam loco department's mess coach I intended to attach were not included so I am attaching them here.

 

 

Another small project which the Wednesday gang from the steam loco department undertook was to sheet down the derelict LMS coach at Winchcombe pending its departure from the railway. The group in the photo had just emptied Andy Goodman's brake coach of seats and stored them in another vehicle so that Andy's vehicle can leave the railway in the next week or two.

 

 

I think these three actions improve the view our customers have of our railway and seem to me to be an example of the three things we can do, i.e. restore, cover up or remove.

 

Bob,

 

Without wishing to stir up further controversy about the Rbr I do feel it necessary to say here and now that its sale was never anything to do with my efforts to improve the view. This was confirmed in an email from the Chairman to Richard Johnson in which he attached the relevant board papers and board minutes. Anything else to the contrary is incorrect.

There seems to me to be lots to do at Winchcombe which could improve railway operations, make things easier for carriage and wagon and, yes, improve the view that our customers get. Perhaps you would email me at cdbristow51'gmail.com and we can meet at a day we are both on duty and discuss.

 

Kind regards,

 

Chris

 

 



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