Last weekend, 29 September to 1 October, the Severn Valley Railway hosted its Autumn Diesel Bash which turned out to be a great success with 3,660 fare-paying passengers visiting during the four-day event.
The numbers were swelled by additional pass-holder visitors such as shareholders, and was an increase of 28% on last visitors. As well as generating more revenue than it had expected, a very healthy secondary spend secured additional income, with extra income coming from two photo charters and an excursion day using locomotives from the event line-up.
The event was the railway's finale in its celebration of 50 years of diesels in preservation and focussed on former Western Region diesel-hydraulic types as well as a number of diesel-electric types that became associated with the Western Region of British Rail.
Later this year the railway is offering diesel fans the get rid of their post-Christmas blues with an an end-of-season Diesel Day on 29 December. Further information and booking details for the Diesel Day is online at svr.co.uk.
The Severn Valley Railway also has a YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/SevernValleyRailwayOfficial which provides a host information about the railway and gives the chance to go behind the scenes.
Jonathan ‘Gus' Dunster, the Severn Valley Railway Managing Director, welcomed the results and said “We've seen a great atmosphere around the railway, with a timetable that ran almost perfectly to time. A couple of minor delays were soon made up. All-in-all, I'm delighted with how well-planned and executed this event has been, along with its clear commercial success. I literally lost count of the number of people who've personally told me how much they'd enjoyed it.
“We wanted to present a really strong line-up. And to make sure we had something for everyone to enjoy. I think we got it just right. In fact, both this, and our Autumn Steam Gala earlier in September, have been strong commercial successes. This demonstrates very clearly that making the most of enthusiast events was the right strategy for us to take this year.
“This is something completely new for us, we've seen the popularity of diesel events in 2023, and we spotted an opportunity here that was too good to miss. For the first time ever, we'll have two diesels available to us that can provide steam heating. Our SVR-based Class 40 No 40106 will be supplemented by Class 46 No 182, which has stayed on following the Autumn Diesel Bash.”
In the Matt Wilson picture, the Class 50 and Class 37 are both missing a digit in the caption. What are they?
One is 50035 ‘Ark Royal’ cant remember what the 37 was didnt catch it whilst I was there
50035 & 37263
Fantastic event. Really enjoyable and well organised. Thank you SVR!
Really enjoyed the whole event many thanks to all , will be returning with the family the next diesel event , obviously very popular and good for the SVR as a whole ,
Yes was a brilliant event though surprised at the final visitor numbers. Went Friday and thought it was quieter than usual, but after the Saturday of the spring gala when l went it would do!