Nat TaplinFirst published in Rail Magazine
In our series celebrating Railway 200, Good Journey founder Nat Taplin celebrates the birth of the great British rail holiday and calls for a renaissance in tourism by train.
Before the railways, only the bravest travellers attempted a holiday in Devon.
In 1828, the journey by horse-drawn carriage from London to Exeter took around 20 hours. In summer, the roads were dusty and bumpy. In winter, the mud was claggy and deep.
By the time you arrived at the beach, the thought of the journey home must have hung over you like the London smog you’d left behind.
Thankfully the railways then arrived, making holidays to balmy seaside towns such as Torquay and Sidmouth much easier and more affordable. On May 1 1844, the first train passengers from London chugged into Exeter, just five-and-a-quarter hours after leaving Paddington.
And it wasn’t just holidays to Devon that were transformed. Across the country, new railways allowed people to visit previously hard-to-reach places for the first time.
In 1847, the railway reached Windermere in the Lake District. People from cities such as Newcastle, Manchester and Liverpool were finally able to visit the landscapes of Wordsworth and Turner.
Upper and working classes alike arrived in droves, clutching their train tickets and eager to see the sights. The railways had arrived – and tourist honeypots were born.
The rise of the traffic jam
Today, many of these honeypots are still buzzing with tourists. But fewer now arrive by train the narrow stone-walled lanes of Beatrix Potter instead throb with the noise and clutter of cars. Together, we spoil the special places we’ve come to enjoy.
At Good Journey, we want more people to explore by train, bus, bike and foot. We know that 22% of UK households do not own a car. They deserve equal access to leisure, nature and culture. We’re working with visitor attractions across the UK – and organisations such as the National Trust – to improve car-free access.
A no-brainer
Choosing the train for a fun day out or a holiday should be a no-brainer.
The adventure starts as soon as you leave the house. Hop on board, then simply sit back, soak up the views, enjoy a good book, a picnic, or a snooze – just as our ancestors did all those years ago.
It’s also a planet-friendly way to travel. Rail saves more than 4.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions every year. We know that this matters to tourists – data from Booking.com shows 54% of travellers want to use more sustainable modes of transport.
However, many would-be passengers are put off taking the train by cost, confusing tickets, and poor reliability, accessibility and integration.
The 200th anniversary of the railways is an opportunity to look back and celebrate the rise of tourism by train, but also to look to the future. What can we do to support more tourism by train? How can we enable leisure-seekers to leave their cars at home and climb aboard?
Car-free holidays
Imagine a world where it’s cheaper to travel by train than by car. Where the bus is waiting outside the station when you arrive. Where there’s a food hamper ready at your holiday let, together with a free bus and train pass, and complimentary bikes for the week.
If we’re really serious about getting more people on board for rail holidays, that’s what we should be aiming for. We should start with:
- Simple, affordable train tickets. A car journey costs the same whatever time you travel and however last-minute. That’s what we’re competing with.
- Trains that run when people want them. Many routes are now busier at weekends than on weekdays. We need a timetable to match.
- Cycle carriages, such as on ScotRail’s West Highland Line, so that it’s easy to take a bike away on holiday (instead of wrestling with online reservations and heaving your bike up onto a hook).
- Buses that connect with trains. If they can do it on the continent, why can’t we?
- Fixed-price taxi transfers and baggage delivery from railway stations to holiday accommodation.
- Guest cards (like in the Alpine Pearls destination) offering all-inclusive public transport travel on your holiday.
- 2for1 entry for rail travellers at visitor attractions across the UK – not just in big cities.
- Remove VAT on car-free tourism packages – combining train and bus travel with attraction entry or accommodation.
No doubt there are all sorts of commercial and logistical barriers to this wish list. We’re not saying it’s going to be quick and easy.
But the future of railways lies where it began… with leisure travel. We need to make rail travel cheaper, easier, and more enjoyable than car travel.
And when evaluating rail, government needs to factor in the true costs of the car: road repairs; accidents; and the impacts of congestion and pollution on the economy, the health service and our environment.
I’m just old enough to remember British Rail initiatives such as Motorail, seaside specials on summer Saturdays, and ‘Kids for a Quid’.
The solutions might be different now, but that’s the kind of creative, inclusive thinking we need to bring back the great British rail holiday.
Sources:
- The Rise of the Devon Seaside Resorts 1750-1900, John F. Travis
- Rail Delivery Group: The Value of Rail
