TRIVIA: Community rail services on heritage railways

[AY1975]

I believe that a number of heritage railways have considered running community rail services for the benefit of local residents and commuters, but so far very few such schemes have come to fruition.

For example, the East Lancs has looked at running a Rawtenstall-Manchester commuter service, either using a tram-train running via the Metrolink line or a conventional DMU via Castleton. I also seem to recall that in its early days the Spa Valley Railway thought about running a commuter service.

The only example I know of that actually operated, is on the Romney Hythe & Dymchurch which runs (or ran until recently) a daily school train to cater for local schoolchildren.

Does anyone know of any other railways that have ever operated, or seriously considered operating, any form of community rail service?

I guess the difficulty would be finding the manpower and suitable rolling stock to operate such a service, particularly as the trains used would nowadays have to comply with the Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations and thus look out of place on a heritage railway (not that this would matter to regular commuters).

 

[Mojo]

In January 2011, Go! Co-operative planned to operate a Parry People Mover on part of the Mid Hants Railway to provide a commuter service, on a trial basis, connecting with Mainline services at Alton. The trial never actually started due to reported mechanical difficulties with the unit. Looking on their website now there is no mention of this, so I presume the idea has been binned.

 

[markindurham]

The KWVR initially wanted to run scheduled community services, back in its early days, using their 4-wheel railbuses. It wasn't successful.

 

[Paul Hitchcock]

It is a piece of wishful thinking that has affected several tourist railways, going back almost as long as such things have existed. As new generations get involved, seemingly they have to learn the painful way, as did their predecessors.

PH

 

[43096]

It is a piece of wishful thinking that has affected several tourist railways, going back almost as long as such things have existed. As new generations get involved, seemingly they have to learn the painful way, as did their predecessors.

PH

Quite. Unless there have been significant changes in local areas since the lines were originally closed, it's hard to think why such "commercial" services would be profitable now when they weren't before, especially given the way car ownership has changed since they were closed. It is also rather different running such services from a heritage operation - relying on volunteer staff is not going to be sufficient for a start.

 

[Journeyman]

Quite. Unless there have been significant changes in local areas since the lines were originally closed, it's hard to think why such "commercial" services would be profitable now when they weren't before, especially given the way car ownership has changed since they were closed. It is also rather different running such services from a heritage operation - relying on volunteer staff is not going to be sufficient for a start.

Absolutely. Heritage railways are an entirely different economic proposition anyway - they sell expensive tickets to leisure travellers who are doing the journey because they want to travel in a vintage train and enjoy the experience, often with a range of extras added, like catering, museums etc. Running a usefully-timetabled service at attractive prices for people who want to get from A to B is significantly more complicated, and requires volunteers at times they often wouldn't be available, or paid staff, which massively increases the cost.

Given that most heritage railways have a 25mph speed restriction as well, journey times are going to be very long and usually unable to compete with whatever other public transport happens to be on offer.

Would any rolling stock used on a regularly-scheduled, daily public transport service also have to comply with PRM-TSI standards?

It's a nice idea, but it's never been successfully, consistently implemented.

 

[duffield]

Would any rolling stock used on a regularly-scheduled, daily public transport service also have to comply with PRM-TSI standards?

Presumably not, given that some lines like the SVR already run regular daily services for about half of the year (which actually are used to a very limited extent by some locals as public transport - I've spoken to some of them).

 

[oddiesjack]

The Middleton Railway in Leeds began by operating goods services to various private sidings en-route, and did so for several years. The BR connection was at Balm Road goods, if I recall correctly.

 

[JayDee]

Presumably not, given that some lines like the SVR already run regular daily services for about half of the year (which actually are used to a very limited extent by some locals as public transport - I've spoken to some of them).

The GWSR apparently has had similar experiences of people using the railway to do their shopping.

 

[Edders23]

I believe the "bramley line" which has never got off the ground was originally intended to be a community rail project providing a service from Wisbech to March