Elsecar Heritage Railway, loco driving experiences

[Justin Smith]

Has anyone on here been on an Elsecar Heritage Centre steam driving day ?
Are they any good ? How do they compare with days on other Heritage railways ?
It's pretty near to us and we're going on the PTG tours Cuba holiday in Feb/Mar so want to get some loco driving experience before we go.

 

[Justin Smith]

Has anyone on here been on an Elecar Heritage Centre steam driving day ?
Are they any good ? How do they compare with days on other Heritage railways ?
It's pretty near to us and we're going on the PTG tours Cuba holiday in Feb/Mar so want to get some loco driving experience before we go.

I have to say I'm a little disappointed with Elsecar Heritage Centre.
I have no telephone number to phone, none that are actually answered anyway, and all I've had are two E mails, one of which was telling me my original E mail (of the 14th of December, that's over two weeks ago....) had been forwarded to someone else. I sent my last E Mail on the 21st, that's 10 days ago, and since then I've heard nothing at all. As mentioned above, if we're to do this we want to do it within the next 4 to 6 weeks, so such a slow response is even less forgivable. And this is before we've even parted with any money ! Even if it is ever organised one cannot help wondering if it'd all go ahead smoothly anyway.
I accept it`s a small outfit, they're probably all volunteers, and it's Christmas, but at the end of the day this is hundreds of pounds in potential income. I thought Heritage Railways in general, and Elsecar in particular, were short of money ? ! ?
I could never run my business like this, not if I actually wanted to stay in business.....
Is this how Heritage Railways act as well ? The GCR, of which I'm a First Class Friend certainly don't. Is it purely chance that they're so much more successful ? What comes first, acting professionally, or growth ?

 

[ralphchadkirk]

The major heritage railways (GCR, MHR, Bluebell, KESR, KWVR etc etc) have a lot more staff and resources to deal with customers, and pay people to answer emails and the telephone. The smaller outfits may not, and may be relying on volunteers to do such tasks, and thus replies take longer.

 

[Justin Smith]

The major heritage railways (GCR, MHR, Bluebell, KESR, KWVR etc etc) have a lot more staff and resources to deal with customers, and pay people to answer emails and the telephone. The smaller outfits may not, and may be relying on volunteers to do such tasks, and thus replies take longer.

I get your point, but my question is, what comes first, dealing with customers professionally, or the expansion that that (should) bring ?
Logically the former has to come first.
In this case there isn`t even a mobile number to call. E Mails are all very well, actually they`re not, I`ve never liked them because people can just ignore them. People can`t ignore you if you`re actually speaking to them, and you know they`ve heard the message.
You can`t beat instant real time two way communication, i.e. the phone !

 

[ralphchadkirk]

This is the Elsecar Railway? If so, their number is 01226 746746

 

[Justin Smith]

This is the Elsecar Railway? If so, their number is 01226 746746

I've phoned that at least 3 times over the last few weeks and nobody's ever there.
To be fair, if they're all volunteers and it's christmas that's fair enough, but you'd have thought they could at least give a mobile number on the answer phone message ?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Ahh, progress !
I now have a mobile number (given to me by the Elsecar centre) so hopefully we can get on and sort it out.
They`ve quoted £400 + vat for three of us for most of the day, so that`s pretty reasonable.
If it all goes ahead I`ll get back on here and report how it went !

 

[E&W Lucas]

They've quoted £400 + vat for three of us for most of the day, so that's pretty reasonable.

Reasonable? - they're unlikely to cover their costs at that price! Think £250 daily steaming fee for an industrial, and coal at circa £150/ ton.