Something I keep finding myself repeating - "reality check".
strang steel wrote:
Yes, I do agree with your sentiment. I dont like a number of the preservation sites, so I dont go. I save my money and spend it on dvds of railways pre-1968 and wallow in nostalgia that way.
Fair enough. Your choice.
There are some preserved railways that I consider better than others, but I will keep my choices to myself for fear of disturbing the hornets nest that seems to be those who cannot cope with others having (a) a minority opinion, and (b) an opinion which differs from theirs.
If you post contentiously about preserved railways, when you know there are preservation volunteers on the forum, you should not be overly surprised to get a retort from said people in response. Cause, and effect. As for opinion - we are all entitled to one - it does not mean to say that every opinion is on an equal footing.
My other main gripe concerning preserved lines, is the one engine in steam policy. I realise that this is due to costs, but I find it really boring, and I wonder how many people are put off by the lack of any activity except when the timetabled train is in the station?
You said it yourself - costs!
Sometimes the lack of activity is unavoidable. If they can't afford to run more than one engine in steam, surely that is understandable and not to be derided?
Once the train arrives, the loco gets uncoupled, runs round the train/fills up with water, and couples onto the other end of the train and waits for the departure time. Otherwise, nothing happens.
You have essentially described almost every single preserved steam railway in Great Britain.
In steam days, many stations had a pilot whose job it was to shunt stock into different platforms and make up trains. Would it really be beyond the finances of certain preserved lines to have an 0-6-0 loco (or similar), that pottered around the station area shunting empty stock and parcels vans all day? There may be no point in it operationally, but it comes a little closer to realism and gives the average punter something to look at between the arrival and departure of scheduled trains.
That however, is a good point. But they may not have an 0-6-0 in the first place, nor the funds to keep both the main attraction and the shunter in steam at the same time. Further, although there are several railways which have a plethora of stations and platforms with which to do this maneuver (my own GCR comes to mind), most of the preserved (standard gauge) railways in Britain are single track for the most part - I'm not sure the infrastructure is there for this to be an economically viable proposition. Now I could see the GCR Jinty doing this at Loughborough Central, or pottering about in the yard at Quorn & Woodhouse...
With a bit of imagination, this could be extended to a non-timetabled 'parcels' or empty stock working along the line, which could even load and unload fake large crates or boxes at each station, to give an impression of what certain station work involved.
John
I like the idea John, I really do. Several of the "big players" in preservation - GCR, Severn Valley, and similar, could well do this - a demonstration parcels train arriving into Loughborough to be unloaded would be a great sight. But it's not just cost - it's finding the extra volunteers to work the station to make the event. You can't draft in people anymore who would otherwise be doing another job on the platform - H&S making sure everyone knows their place, job and time of executing it too.
). BUT each to there own guy's the preservation movement in this country has done MAGNIFICENT WORK over the last 40-45 years well done to everyone involved. 
