PRESS
RELEASE ** Press Release ** PRESS RELEASE
SOUTH
DEVON RAILWAY BUCKS THE RECESSSION!
STEAM
LINE HAS THIRD RECORD BREAKING SEASON IN A ROW AND CARRIES OVER 112,000 PASSENGERS
Record – 1 31 December
2011
Whilst
2011 was yet another grim year for many UK businesses, the picturesque
steam-operated South Devon Railway (SDR) bucked the effects of the economic
recession by chalking up its third record breaking season in a row and carried
over 112,000 passengers for the first time -- an appropriate finale for the
SDR’s 20th anniversary year.
After the last Mince Pie special train ran on New Year’s Eve, the
seven-mile line, which is run as a charity, had clocked up its best ever
operating results by beating the three highest previous season’s figures that
were achieved in 2007, 2009 and 2010.
In December alone, some 10,000 passengers
rode on the line’s Santa, Carols and Mince Pie trains, a figure which is now
the norm for Winter traffic.
And, when the railway’s managers totalled up the year’s final passenger
figures, they showed that 102,021
adults and children, plus another 10,379
children aged under five, rode the line in 2011 bringing the total carried to 112,400. This was an increase of 853
(0.84%) on the previous record set in 2010 of 111,989 (101,168 excluding
children under five) and also beat the 2009 figure of 107,895 (99,591 excluding children under five).
More follows
Record – 2
Achieving over 100,000 passengers for the fourth time in five years,
especially during a severe economic recession, is a major milestone for the
largely volunteer run line. Using like for like statistics, the 2011 passenger
figure of 102,021 represents an increase of around 1.5% on the first 100,000
plus record season figure set in 2007 of 100,449 visitors.
The impressive figures show that the former Great Western Railway branch
line is going from strength to strength as one of Britain’s oldest heritage
steam railways having first opened 42 years ago at Easter 1969.
The SDR has painstakingly recreated the ‘Golden Age of Steam’ across the
full length of the railway which was first closed to passengers 54 years ago in
1958, just before the infamous ‘Beeching axe’ swung in the 1960s and shut down
many much loved rural routes across the South West
The highly scenic railway line, which runs down the glorious valley of
the River Dart from Buckfastleigh to Totnes, was sold off by the Dart Valley
Railway company to the SDR in 1991 as being ‘uneconomic’, but the SDR, a
registered charity, is now proving otherwise with volunteer workers and
investing heavily in the fabric of the railway to help keep steam trains alive
in the West Country.
The SDR has now chalked up a grand total of 1,768,343 passengers since it took
over the line 20 years ago, increasing passenger numbers almost every year.
Passing
through some of the West Country’s most delightful and unchanging rural
scenery, the SDR prides itself on the quality of its heritage experience and
literally transporting visitors back in time to the heyday of the old GWR and
British Railways Western Region.
More follows
Record- 3
South Devon Railway Trust General Manager Dick Wood, who became the
line’s General Manager in November 2008 and also has been a regular volunteer
since 1972, said: “Naturally, everyone on
the SDR can feel very proud of achieving our best ever results with a record
number of passengers carried in 2011. I hope that we can continue to beat the
recession in 2012 too by offering our visitors a great day out.
“Our success has been
achieved by not only broadening the SDR’s undoubted nostalgic appeal to people
of all ages but also by providing better visitor facilities and investing in
our future year on year.
“Also, we now promote the
railway as a great value-for-money day out for families under the ‘Three Great
Attractions, One Amazing Day’ banner alongside our linked attractions at the
award winning Totnes Rare Breeds Farm and Buckfast Butterfly & Otter
Sanctuary.
“We know that our visitors come back again and again to not only enjoy
the sights, sounds and smells of steam in the Devon countryside and to soak up this
nostalgic and most relaxing form of transport, but also to see the varied
animal attractions at both ends of the line.
“The SDR now operates nearly
all year round and trains will run on 259 days in the 2012 season when we will also
have a number of great special events. The coming year marks the 140th
anniversary of the line being built in May and suitable celebrations are being
planned.”
Press Release prepared and issued on behalf of
the South Devon Railway
by Dick Wood tel (01364) 643536, mobile 07711 552947,
e-mail: DickWood@southdevonrailway.org