Gold Cup - a Winner for the GWR Steam Railway Once again we played host to race goers heading for the Cheltenham Festival meeting at the race course. This year the numbers of Classic Hospitality Clients traveling with us almost reached the 2000 mark, about 25% up on last year. We ran 2 trains on each of the 4 days with Tuesday being the only day with significant spare capacity. On Gold Cup day both trains were filled to capacity with a waiting list for any late cancellations. This event is very important to us as it brings welcome income right at the start of our operating season. Because the trains are chartered our income for train hire is not directly related to the numbers of passengers; however, our refreshments sales are and this year broke all records with champagne sales running at almost 100 bottles a day and 1000 cans of Guinness downed on the journeys to Cheltenham and back. The shop staff even opened a news stand to sell The Racing Post. In view of the number of stewards required to serve the customers on the train and man the champagne bar on the platform the On Train Catering volunteers were again ably supported by volunteers from many other departments of the railway. Without their help it would not be possible to provide the level of service required. Running trains into Cheltenham Race Course station when 100s of people are trying to cross the track from adjacent car parks creates lots of additional volunteer duties to ensure their safety. There is one spin off from this in that it allows us to rattle a few buckets for donations towards our cause from the race goers using the crossings. This year those collections raised £3000 so what might be viewed by some as an unglamorous duty certainly rewarded those who did a shift on the crossing. The income for the railway from charter fees, catering receipts and donations for the 4 days amounted to just over £40,500 with profits after deducting operating costs and stock purchases of more than £25,500. Numerous comments of appreciation and admiration for what we are doing were received from passengers and from Classic Hospitality. Well done everyone.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 20:13:42 +0000
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