railfan99
Established Member
One person can 'visit' a website multiple times every month, so the number of 'hits' a site receives can be deceptive.
However with April 2023 including Easter and perhaps in your country signalling the start of a hoped-for (and much needed) 'rush' of paying travellers on heritage railways, a comparison of hits might be interesting.
I've selected a few preserved railways that come to mind.
The ones quoted are not exhaustive (given your c.174, that'd be a mammoth task) but gives an imperfect clue as to relative popularity".
For simplicity, I've kept the list to English ones only, so the Welsh and Scottish ones aren't featured.
Bluebell Railway 123,000
Bodmin and Wreford Railway 13,500
Chinoor and Princes Risborough Railway 9,300
Churnet Valley Railway 24,300
Dartmouth Steam Railway 47,300 (commercial operator)
East Lancashire Railway 82,100
Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway 48,400
Keighley and Worth Valley Railway 65,000
Kent and East Sussex Railway 37,600
Mid Hants Railway 51,100
Mid Norfolk Railway 13,200
Nene Valley Railway 64,100
North Norfolk Railway 55,500
North Yorkshire Moors Railway 136,500
Severn Valley Railway 101,100
South Devon Railway 27,300
Spa Valley Railway 44,600
Swanage Railway 56,600
Wensleydale Railway 10,700
Weardale Railway 9,600
West Somerset Railway 65,900
Some like Nene Valley Railway, West Somerset and Swanage Railways had big increases in 'hits' since March 2023: others a negligible rise. Good news for Swanage's railcar services ex and to the main line Wareham station. Also great for WSR as it's just had its Steam Gala that seemed to be reasonably successful if YouTube videos are any guide.
Mid Norfolk Railway only recommenced partial operations on 29 April, so low 'hits' can be explained by that. IIRC, when I checked a few weeks back, the website stated that trains were 'suspended' but I don't know from what date the better news was publicised.
Weardale and Wensleydale were only operating over part of their lines when I last looked them up.
Some like Kent and East Sussex Railway apparently attract many group tours (from cruises in its case) so the number of hits is not necessarily reflective of the number of annual patrons.
The Chinoor & PR Railway had a further drop in April from an already small number of March 2023 'hits'.
We don't know the conversion rates of 'hits' to buying a ticket.
Note how Bluebell, being much closer to London, is snapping at the heels of ever-popular and well publicised North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
East Lancashire Railway appears to have been unaffected by the discussion featured in these fora, although its March to April rise wasn't many more hits.
Severn Valley Railway did well in terms of hits to its site, so let's hope given its highlighted financial difficulties that some extra revenue resulted.
Apologies if your favourite line, or one at which you volunteer or are on staff at, has been omitted. It was just a few minutes' pleasant activity on a chilly Melbourne late autumnal evening to try to keep my brain from atrophying.
However with April 2023 including Easter and perhaps in your country signalling the start of a hoped-for (and much needed) 'rush' of paying travellers on heritage railways, a comparison of hits might be interesting.
I've selected a few preserved railways that come to mind.
The ones quoted are not exhaustive (given your c.174, that'd be a mammoth task) but gives an imperfect clue as to relative popularity".
For simplicity, I've kept the list to English ones only, so the Welsh and Scottish ones aren't featured.
Bluebell Railway 123,000
Bodmin and Wreford Railway 13,500
Chinoor and Princes Risborough Railway 9,300
Churnet Valley Railway 24,300
Dartmouth Steam Railway 47,300 (commercial operator)
East Lancashire Railway 82,100
Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway 48,400
Keighley and Worth Valley Railway 65,000
Kent and East Sussex Railway 37,600
Mid Hants Railway 51,100
Mid Norfolk Railway 13,200
Nene Valley Railway 64,100
North Norfolk Railway 55,500
North Yorkshire Moors Railway 136,500
Severn Valley Railway 101,100
South Devon Railway 27,300
Spa Valley Railway 44,600
Swanage Railway 56,600
Wensleydale Railway 10,700
Weardale Railway 9,600
West Somerset Railway 65,900
Some like Nene Valley Railway, West Somerset and Swanage Railways had big increases in 'hits' since March 2023: others a negligible rise. Good news for Swanage's railcar services ex and to the main line Wareham station. Also great for WSR as it's just had its Steam Gala that seemed to be reasonably successful if YouTube videos are any guide.
Mid Norfolk Railway only recommenced partial operations on 29 April, so low 'hits' can be explained by that. IIRC, when I checked a few weeks back, the website stated that trains were 'suspended' but I don't know from what date the better news was publicised.
Weardale and Wensleydale were only operating over part of their lines when I last looked them up.
Some like Kent and East Sussex Railway apparently attract many group tours (from cruises in its case) so the number of hits is not necessarily reflective of the number of annual patrons.
The Chinoor & PR Railway had a further drop in April from an already small number of March 2023 'hits'.
We don't know the conversion rates of 'hits' to buying a ticket.
Note how Bluebell, being much closer to London, is snapping at the heels of ever-popular and well publicised North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
East Lancashire Railway appears to have been unaffected by the discussion featured in these fora, although its March to April rise wasn't many more hits.
Severn Valley Railway did well in terms of hits to its site, so let's hope given its highlighted financial difficulties that some extra revenue resulted.
Apologies if your favourite line, or one at which you volunteer or are on staff at, has been omitted. It was just a few minutes' pleasant activity on a chilly Melbourne late autumnal evening to try to keep my brain from atrophying.
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