50 not out for Seaton Tramway

Chief Executive Jenny Nunn on the challenges of the last 12 months and the delayed birthday celebrations

The last year will be one most people will want to forget, particularly those working on heritage railways. Timetables have been thrown into chaos, with services forced to stand still for several months because of the coronavirus pandemic.

With incomes decimated without services, heritage railways have worked around the clock looking into support and new income streams, whilst keeping updated to make sure everything is in place ready for re-opening – not just for the sake of jobs, but to secure the future of the railways themselves.

“For fear of using a cliché, it has hit everyone hard and we’re not alone there,” said Jenny Nunn, Chief Executive of Seaton Tramway, a three-mile route through East Devon’s Axe Valley. “In March, as we entered the previously unknown territory of lockdown, we were watching every news bulletin and daily briefing from the Government to try to glean a bit of light at the end of the tunnel as to when we could reopen and salvage some of the season.

“We were working through copious amounts of information, looking at all the various legislation and guidance that was coming out for the hospitality industry and passenger transport and piecing it all together, so when tourism and leisure businesses could re-open on 4 July, we were ready.

“We’d lost some of the key trading months so it was a really difficult time, but everyone was in the same boat. Our priority all along was to reopen as soon as permitted, not just from a cash flow and income generation point of view, but it was also important to get the staff and volunteers back. Initially it was a tough time getting everything together, with the extra risk assessments, staff training and additional COVID-19 measures; but with all that in place, it meant we were, to an extent, ready when it came to the second lockdown, although unfortunately we had to cancel our popular The Polar Express™ Tram Ride.”

Jenny Nunn

Seaton Tramway

90,000 passengers

It was certainly not what Jenny and the team had planned. 2020 was the year Seaton Tramway was due to celebrate its 50th anniversary of operation in Seaton, following the acquisition of the closed railway line. The first tram, No. 8, departed Riverside Depot on 28 August 1970. Now, in a normal year, the service carries 90,000 people.

“My mantra is that cash is king, and obviously without cash you can’t operate for very long,” said Jenny. “In March, when lockdown was announced, we’d just come out of winter having done various projects, but the bills were still coming in, so even stricter financial controls had to be put in place.

“We’ve basically been managing the cash flow day to day. That’s what we’ve had to do to get through this. And obviously the detailed information from the announcements on the various job support schemes and funding packages have always come later on, so you’re forecasting ahead and not knowing the finer detail until days, if not weeks, later.

“All of us have learnt a lot. You’ve got to be flexible, got to diversify and you’ve got to be able to rip up one business plan and start with another, moving with the times and being able to take the staff and volunteers along with you. That is the key – being up to date with everything, trying to get ahead of the curve, pre-empting a lot of the Government announcements and applying for all available funding.”

Special events postponed

She said: “As for our 50th anniversary celebrations we had lined up, we realised early on that we wouldn’t be able to do those because of social distancing requirements, so we’ve postponed the special events until 2021, when hopefully we can go ahead with the celebrations.”

Keeping a close eye on the Government’s announcements and guidelines, Seaton Tramway was ready to re-open on July 4, with everything in place to keep both staff and passengers safe. In a bid to increase the revenue, staff also organised a Tramathon fundraiser – a 24-hour event running trams with wall-to-wall commentary.

Jenny said: “Of course the last 12 months have had an impact on trading figures, but it was imperative we re-opened on the 4 July. It was slow to start with, as businesses needed to build confidence with the public to come back out after lockdown, but in September and October we had really good visitor numbers that beat previous records for those two months. October, for example, was better than July, which we probably won’t see repeated in future years.”

Jenny, who has been involved with Seaton Tramway for 16 years, is full of optimism for its future, and so she should be. In recent years the attraction has been boosted by the completion of a new £3 million station in Seaton to create an allyear-round facility, café and gift shop.

Plans also remain on track for the opening next Easter of two new halts as part of the Travels through Heritage and The Axe Valley project. Work will also take place in January at Seaton Tramway’s level crossing at Colyford with the removal of the existing tramway tracks, to be replaced with new rails and foundations under and across the carriageway.

Heritage Lottery project

“My time at Seaton Tramway has very much flown by, with something different every day, and the flexibility to try new things,” she said. “Despite the challenges of 2020, none of the projects has been shelved. We are really fortunate to be midway through our Heritage Lottery project, which will see two new halts going in, so we’ll have a total of five.

“The two new ones are one at the Riverside Depot – giving people the opportunity to alight and view the river with all the wonderful wildlife and see the workings behind the depot – with the second stop at the Wetlands – which is run by the local authority and there’s lots of trails and boardwalks. There are lots of spin-offs from this, with educational and community projects bringing with them many benefits.

“So overall looking to the future I am cautiously optimistic. We are working from a very consolidated basis and we’re looking forward to 2021. There is still the same degree of uncertainty and caution, of course. But there will eventually be an upturn in demand and there is the still the potential of future staycations.

“Whatever happens, there are always ways to carry on and we’ve always had the philosophy here in which we will do our utmost to open and give people the high-quality service they know us for. It’s a question of carefully monitoring every eventuality and embracing each opportunity that arises.”