sn Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 Had a great day at the Llangollen railway and sss3 today Great event BUT the organisers missed a major trick in that we had hoped to ride just between Carrog and Bownm (Spelling?) on the extension. Would have been happy to pay £7 or £8 to do so BUT only all day rovers were available. Heard two other people bemoaning the same fact. The railway really missed a trick here today. Just on another note the parking signage at Glyn was on the poor side. These two minor crits aside. Well done ! What a line-up of locos! Wow! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium phil-b259 Posted April 27, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 27, 2012 Had a great day at the Llangollen railway and sss3 today Great event BUT the organisers missed a major trick in that we had hoped to ride just between Carrog and Bownm (Spelling?) on the extension. Would have been happy to pay £7 or £8 to do so BUT only all day rovers were available. Heard two other people bemoaning the same fact. The railway really missed a trick here today. Just on another note the parking signage at Glyn was on the poor side. These two minor crits aside. Well done ! What a line-up of locos! Wow! If most people thought as you have done and only paid £7 rather than the £20ish the all line rover cost, the whole event would generate much less revenue - and seeing as the whole point of the gala was to raise funds for the Betton Grange Society it doesn't strike me as unreasonable. OK you could argue that they lost out on some ticket sales by not having 'extension only' tickets but I suspect that were such tickets offered, you would actually end up raising less overall due to the number of people chosing to 'downgrade' if you like from the all line rover. In many ways the chance to ride the extension was simply an extra attraction if you like (i.e. the same as all the visiting engines they secured) and in any case when the Bluebell has done a similar thing in the past north of Kingscote you had to have a all line ticket and then pay an extra charge on top. On a different note I agree about the visiting engines they have got for this event, I was up there last weekend and had a good time in spite of the problems caused by the mismatch between the assumed and the actual water capacity / usage of the coal tank. Just a shame about the weather this week. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
edward66 Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 Had a great day at SSS3 today, sunshine too until 4 o'clockish. Tremendous lineup of locos, I think CR 828 was the star of the show in her pristine CR livery. Two small criticisms, I thought it was a bit greedy to make you buy the guidebook at £5 in order to get a timetable [unless it was available online] and in the afternoon the timetable got a bit behind and we were kept at a signal stop on the extension for over 20 minutes. Extension itself looks good, still very scenic all the way, great achievement. All in all the Betton Grange group and the L.R. are to be congratulated on a superb event. Edward Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Some railways will sell the time table separately but if you purchase a ticket it will be included in the higher than normal price. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hughes Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 I'm sorry to say that quite a few people were getting on to the autotrain for the trip between Bonwm and Glandyfrdwy without paying at all - there were apparently no ticket checks on that part of the route, though how they got onto the platform I don't know; many of these trains didn't stop at Carrog anyway but headed straight through. I don't think deliberate dishonesty was involved, though - I suspect they'd have happily bought a ticket if someone on the train had been able to sell it to them. But I can't say I blame the Llangollen people for stopping punters from diluting their revenue; this was a specific fund-raising affair for a very expensive project, though I'm not actually all that convinced about the logic of creating a new Grange. A great day out, but darned chilly! At least there were good coal fires in all the waiting rooms! And now on to Barmouth! Or possibly Rhiwabon! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve fay Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 I can see the point in re making a grange as one dose not currently exist in preservation. The fact that loco crew loved them and they where a great all round locomotive. The one thing that does bother me about galas is that people turn up & there only purpose is to take photos but do not contribute to the railway in any way & complain about a price of a time table. Without the fare paying passengers the railways couldnt put on these shows. The loco hire fees alone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DavidLong Posted May 3, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 3, 2012 My friend (P Copleston of this parish) and I attended SSS3 on Monday 23rd. We parked at Glyndyfrdwy and, after looking around at vintage vehicles and the model railway tent, we joined a train and went to Llangollen. As no-one had asked if we had tickets we went and bought them at the ticket office at Llangollen. We joined a train and went the full length of the line, including the extension, and then back to Glyndyfrdwy. At no point were our tickets checked on trains or at stations which doesn't seem to be a good form of revnue protection. Perhaps they could take a leaf out of the DfT's book and install ticket gates :nono: David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 .....And now on to Barmouth! Or possibly Rhiwabon! Trying to get to Ruabon would be far more entertaining, since road improvements have used some of the original formation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hughes Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Trying to get to Ruabon would be far more entertaining, since road improvements have used some of the original formation. Ditto in the Barmouth direction, with the additional obstacle of a certain 2' gauge railway... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Personally I think Ruabon should have been a priority in order to tap into the national network and possible through trains. But there we are. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1993 Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 One thing I found particularly interesting when taking the trip on the extension is that, whilst the work is still very new and still somewhat untidy, the effect of there being hardly large lineside vegetation. Having had them cut the trees back as much as they seem to have done really allows you to enjoy the scenery as compared with the rest of the line, and indeed most other preserved lines in the country! Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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