Platform ticket prices

[ExRes]

Dropped in at Sheffield Park today to check car parking ahead of one of the Bluebell Fish & Chip trains next week, we walked up to the station and asked how much platform tickets were so that we could have a quick look around, £5 each was the response, No thank you was our response, is this a general price level on preserved railways or are the platforms at Sheffield Park paved with gold?

 

[Cowley]

That is certainly a lot of money.

 

[DavyCrocket]

As there are no further access controls to other public areas on the station such as museum and locomotive shed, that is the price.

how many railways with a number of other facilities or other tourist areas would charge less for access?

Platform tickets are also not zero VAT

 

[ExRes]

As there are no further access controls to other public areas on the station such as museum and locomotive shed, that is the price.

how many railways with a number of other facilities or other tourist areas would charge less for access?

Platform tickets are also not zero VAT

Thanks for that info, not something that I was aware of, just out of interest is there an alternative entrance to the shop? it seemed that it could only be entered via the platform which would surely have a negative impact on sales

 

[Titfield]

Swanage Railway platforms are free to access.

The SR Museum at Corfe Castle Station and the Purbeck Mineral and Mining Museum at Norden are free admission but a donation would be appreciated.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Thanks for that info, not something that I was aware of, just out of interest is there an alternative entrance to the shop?

Once negotiated "free passage" to the shop at Sheffield Park without having to buy a platform ticket (in order to purchase a book). Possibly helped that the station was fairly quiet at the time, i.e. no train arriving / departing or in platform.

Quite liked the pre-COVID arrangement at Embsay and Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire, where if you retained an old ticket used for travel, it then served as a "free" platform ticket for the next 12 months.

 

[zwk500]

Thanks for that info, not something that I was aware of, just out of interest is there an alternative entrance to the shop? it seemed that it could only be entered via the platform which would surely have a negative impact on sales

Given the number of people who drive to Sheffield Park without intending to buy a ticket (platform or train) is extremely low, I think the lack of a 'free' entrance to the shop would have a negligible impact on sales.

 

[Ralph Ayres]

I'd regard a platform ticket at a heritage railway as pretty much an admission ticket, unlike one for the National Rail network which (enthusiasts excepted) is more for seeing your granny off and the like. I wouldn't begrudge a fiver to spend an hour or so watching all that's going on, knowing that the money is helping to fund those goings-on. Other railways may have a different approach such as suggesting a donation or hoping for shop/refreshment sales but presumably the Bluebell find it works for them. Other tourist attractions don't normally offer reduced admission if you promise just to have a quick look. At least there's the option of a platform ticket rather than only being allowed access at all if travelling.

 

[30907]

KWVR is £1 at the main stations (people pay it to use the loos...).