MAINTAINING A VISION
OUR HERITAGE railways are now coming to terms with the realities of the new cost base that they all face. Some are ahead of others in reshaping their organisations, and we are now beyond tipping point where acceptance of the need for change has replaced the painful denial stage, hoping that things will get better of their own accord. Efforts to create operations which bring a surplus rather than unsustainable losses are evident, and prompting conversations all around. Many directors and trustees of railways are working to avoid running out of cash, with horizons set at months rather than years.
So what does it take to reshape a heritage railway? Like most business planning exercises, it is an iterative process balancing costs and income. It starts by asking questions around what is really still relevant and important to those involved. Focusing on what is important is crucial, and there needs to be agreement on what is important in order to move forward. Lots of different parts of the organisation all wanting to head in different directions really isn’t going to work right now (did it ever?).
Then it must be asked what does it costs to maintain the vision. These are the kind of discussions which may not have really happened in the past, because with strong income comes flexibility and choice. While our railways may not have felt ‘well heeled’ in the past by comparison with where we are now, we can see that perhaps they were.
As a vision is shaped, it is likely that some things will need to be left behind. Things that only drain cash will require careful thought.
Then, of course, the big question is: can the vision be afforded? For many railways, the business model relies on selling tickets to raise the funds necessary to pay for the hobby that the members and supporters enjoy. Some rely on subscription income, some rely to a much greater degree on volunteer input. Some rely more on commercial sales and some build a blend of income streams. There can be many smaller streams or, for some, just one. Each stream needs to be scrutinised. Is it secure? Is it having a positive effect? What might change in the years ahead? Can that income grow?
One of the most difficult challenges is to ensure that the train services themselves make a small surplus. I have held court on this subject many times so I won’t rerun the subject here, other than to say that for every mile a standard gauge passenger train runs it needs to generate £100 per mile to generate a surplus.
How to move on then? The key word in our minds should be ‘relevance’. We should ask ourselves if what we’re doing is relevant to the people we want to reach. For a long time, nostalgia was a big reason for visiting a heritage railway. Most people now have no such recollections and, as such, a heritage railway becomes much less relevant.
We have to tell a great story to attract the visitors in the first place and then continue telling the story. We can no longer presume that big name locomotives, for example, will draw a crowd. Outside the readership of this magazine, the number of folk to whom Caerphilly Castle, City of Truro and Royal Scot etc mean anything is diminishing. It will be our job to tell the story of our railways, building relevance to our audience as we go. If we fail to do this, our history will slip away. You may think that history is based on facts, but I know that it is based on perceived importance of particular things, and the perceived importance is created by how well things are explained and stories told.
So we can see that we have to ask tough questions around who is paying for our hobby. Perhaps we are looking at the so‑called ‘golden age’ of railway preservation in the rear view mirror now. Equally though, there is every possibility that by squaring up to the problems we face a different, better movement could emerge, but one thing is for sure: if we need income from commercial activities then we will have to learn to appeal to a much wider audience.
AS A VISION IS SHAPED IT IS LIKELY THAT SOME THINGS WILL NEED TO BE LEFT BEHIND