Heritage Railways in the Republic of Ireland

[Mol_PMB]

It’s worth noting though that the ‘running costs’ of a large old building can be very high, especially if it’s past its best and you’re trying to keep the internal environment suitable for the conservation of historic artefacts (e.g. moderately stable temperature and humidity)
Most museums don’t make money, even NRM York has become more of a food court than a museum in an attempt to cover its costs. 
To achieve an income with any hope of covering the costs you would need the museum to be open most days. A few special events per year won’t cut it. 

[Galteemore]

Yes, TFL manage it as effectively a store for big items. Museum money, if money there is, comes from the main show in Covent Garden. I did have a look at visitor figures from Bord Failte. A fair comparison of how much interest there is in railways might be to take two sites which are geographically contiguous. One railway related, one not. So here goes: two attractions a 4 minutes walk apart. 

Donegal Castle 63072

Donegal Railway Heritage Centre 7000

Now we can cavil over stats but that’s got to be interesting….the Donegal museum is a very slick and attractive operation but even that struggles. 
 

Most attractive thing in the country is apparently Phoenix Park visitor centre with 1.9m recorded.
 
I also had a look at the UK. Biggest heritage railway is NYMR which pulls in about 350,000 punters a year. Even so, that makes it rank about 150th on list of top UK attractions. 

Edited 13 hours ago by Galteemore

[David Holman]

It was my birthday yesterday & my wife organised a day out for me on the Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway. Considering it was a Wednesday in term time, there were reasonable numbers of visitors & an hourly train service to Dungeness. OK the Romney is 15" gauge, but is very much run like a real railway. Indeed, at Romney itself, I doubt there are many preserved lines in the whole of the country with that amount of track and points, to say nothing of the multi platform station with its overall roof. 

 There were four trains and five locos in action to operate the service, while a day rover ticket was about £27.00

 Our loco, Northern Chief, is 100 years old this year!

 Not sure what this has to do with preserved railways in Ireland, other than with half a dozen other preserved lines within an hours drive, it shows how lucky we are this side of the water. We had a lovely day out, so long may they prosper!

 

[Galteemore]

Fab. Love the RHDR. Although in this context of resourcing, I suppose the point is that it was built by two millionaire playboys and nearly shut down completely when they disappeared from the scene! It’s a fabulous set up. Main line in miniature 

Edited 11 hours ago by Galteemore

[Mol_PMB]

That is a good example of the challenge. It doesn’t just need a vast amount of money and commitment to create in the first place, it also needs an ongoing commitment from many other people to keep it going long term. 
 

[StevieB]

I believe I read recently that the RHDR needs to spend a considerable sum of money to ensure its long term future. It is truly a mainline in miniature.

Stephen

[jhb171achill]

Several comments above relating to money. With the exception of (from memory) some 6 or 7 individuals, Irish railway preservation has never benefitted from the financial largesse of super-wealthy people as it has in Britain; and within the low numbers we HAVE had, the single most generous one I've been aware of in the last 35 years would still not be of the ilk of Alan Pegler, or the Rampton Trust with its seemingly bottomless pit of money. 

Time and time again, arguments are put forward here which sometimes come from within the enthusiast community, sometimes outside it, for example, well-meaning people who take the view that various long closed lines would be an absolute boon to tourism if reopened, with an attendant implication of financial self-sustainabilit, or better - as a result.

We need to get this quite straight: (a) any cost of any such thing will be astronomical. Neither private individuals nor local authorities, still less central government, have ever been prepared to put up the money needed for such things, be it a reopened IE line or a preservation operation. (b) As stated before, there isn't the interest.

This is how we differ from Britain, which we can but envy. 

In summary, England alone has something like ten times the population of all of Ireland. Ireland has a single standard gauge preserved line, and a total "main line" 5'3" gauge mileage of about 5 miles.

If the English, specifically, had similar levels of interest, there would be perhaps nine or ten lines there, with a total mileage of about 45. As we know, there is very considerably more than that, both in mileage and in terms of actual number of preserved lines. Instead of about 9, England has OVER 200, plus endless museums.

Have a look at the narrow gauge. Excluding WSVR, which to be fair is more of a pleasure ride than an actual preserved railway, we have the C&L & Finntown (which is so impossibly remote that it's hard to see its long term future) which together total about three miles. Look at the Welsh narrow gauge; and Wales has a smaller population than Ireland! I can think offhand of 12 lines there with 130 route miles. There is simply no comparison.

As stated before, we must nurture what we have, and help where we can. Be content with reality!

[Mayner]

In was estimated in 2001 that £ 10 million was required to establish the  proposed National Transport Museum at Mullingar Station.  https://www.irishtimes.com/news/preservation-is-train-of-thought-in-mullingar-1.334938 . Apparrently it was expected that Central Government & possibly EU would fully fund the project, the article speaks about the Muesum Group expecting to meet the Minister of Arts, Culture, Gaeltacht and the Islands to request  £1 million in funding for immediate conservation work (urgent repairs). 

It looks like the museum was proposed by a local group which may not have given up on the hope of establishing a museum despite serious setbacks https://www.westmeathexaminer.ie/2014/03/19/dreams-of-a-rail-museum-in-mullingar-dealt-a-blow/

I wonder are the museum group still about or have considered other sources of fund raising?