seasoNal steam
Kent & East Sussex Railway General Manager Shaun Dewey on managing seasonal peaks and maintaining high standards for visitors
It’s March already and the main summer season on the Kent & East Sussex Railway is rapidly approaching. So here are a few thoughts from Tenterden. A fantastic Santa-filled December and an empty January prompted me to think about two issues that face not all preserved railways, but certainly some of them: seasonality and quality. The summer season from May to October will be a very busy period for our entire organisation, with the wide range of fantastic value-for- money products we offer, and of interest to all age groups. The summer months will generate over 70% of our annual passenger numbers. Conversely, the winter months, historically referred to as ‘the low season’, have predominantly been a period in which our staff are able to catch up on restoration as they work on rolling stock and infrastructure, intermingled with a couple of events - the ever-popular December Santa season followed by the first of the ‘Day Out With Thomas’ programmes in February. Think about it like this: the most efficient level of production is a straight line across the year. By comparison, many preserved railways will be extremely ‘inefficient’, because of the big seasonal workload imbalances. Does it have to be so? The answer is no, but it does require lateral thinking in order to properly manage the problem of the peak seasons. At certain times of the year, our infrastructure is bursting at the seams, with every available volunteer gallantly making it all work. At other times the place seems deserted. Other industries have similar workload patterns, often referred to as ‘boom and bust’. So we have to ask ourselves whether we make our money from operating trains, or ancillary services such as selling food and drink, or selling items in the shop. As an industry, are we imitating the airlines, with millions in turnover, and a profit no more than the on-board duty free sales will allow? The more ancillaries we add for the high season, the more likely it is that the infrastructure will be inactive during the winter months. So the question now is, do we focus on developing our products for the low season, in the belief that the high season will look after itself? In our efforts to change this, we have been experimenting with a number of initiatives. Firstly, we have to always recognise that mum, dad and two kids fund the development of the railway, and without them we and most of the preservation movement would not exist. Secondly, we need to engage more with the local community, inviting
them to utilise our station facilities. For example, we offer dementia sufferers and carers a special café every Friday lunchtime, and the ‘Café Scientifique’ for monthly scientific presentations. Local club dinners are another source of non-core service revenue. This does not mean we’re ignoring our railway history, but enhancing it. Having a railway station in a town was always a source of civic pride and achievement, and it is still so today. Thirdly, we focus on education. The Kent & East Sussex Railway is operated by the Kent & East Sussex Railway Co. Ltd, a charitable company, limited by guarantee and not having a share capital. Its objectives are to preserve the Kent & East Sussex Railway for the operation and display of railway locomotives, rolling stock and other equipment for the advancement of technical and historical education and general interest.
EDUCATIONAL ROLE
So do we need to operate a train during the cold winter months in order to attract customers? Again, the answer is ‘no’ as we concentrate more on the tenets of the charity, for “the advancement of technical and historical education and general interest”. This year, from April 1, we are featuring for the first time ‘Bricks Britannia’, a display of 30 Lego models including an eight-metre model of Flying Scotsman pulling two cut-away Pullman coaches. (You can visit our website www.kesr.org.uk to find out more about it). This has generated tremendous interest from both railway and Lego enthusiasts alike, so much so that we will certainly repeat such educational displays during the winter months over the next few years. Fourthly - and this links with quality - we have to consider our customers when we talk about a preservation experience. I have already mentioned mum, dad and two kids and how important they are to us, but what they want to see is all the nice bits of history, not the nasty bits. Today, clean modern toilets are expected, whereas the true steam-era experience was more like “what toilets?!” So future infrastructure development is critical in ensuring that we, as a preserved railway, can offer both a consistently highquality experience, as well as infrastructure for various types of indoor opportunities with modern support facilities. But ‘quality’ doesn’t just mean building or improving facilities. It is as much a state of mind, on everything we do and how we do it, from our staff to our customers. Make life interesting and fun for the volunteers and they will stay. We are looking hard at how we can make it easy for our customers to both engage and book with us. The internet has transformed customer practice and expectations. The growth of social media is changing both the engagement and booking processes, and we have to keep up by being a preserved railway on the outside, and state of the art on the inside.
ROOM TO GROW
In my younger days, I worked closely with a Spanish hotel chain. Its plan was only to build seafront hotels and their rationale was very simple. In the good times, all hotel beds should be filled. In the bad times, the seafront hotels will be filled first. I have kept this rationale close to my heart, and I believe it is as true for the preserved railway sector today as it was for the inclusive tour industry then. The attractions which guarantee a consistent family-friendly quality product will always attract customers, and preserved railways have a fantastic product - we just have to develop that product beyond the six-month peak period.
The growth of social media is changing both the engagement and booking processes, and we have to keep up by being a preserved railway on the outside, and state of the art on the inside