The North East of England is home to some world class attractions telling the story of the birth of the modern passenger railway, and Bishop Line CRP wanted to deliver a tourism marketing campaign to increase awareness of how many attractions along their line are easily accessible by rail.

The campaign was executed through print, digital and social media, featuring spotlights on six different attractions and calls-to-action for interested visitors. Messages spread even wider on social media, with attractions not included in the campaign commenting on posts with their own offers and positive sentiment, showing an appetite to expand the campaign in future.

The campaign was well-received across all channels, and Northern Trains ticket data even showed an increase from summer 2023 for the stations featured in the campaign. In Rail Period 5 (21 July – 17 August), ticket sales to North Road Station serving Hopetown Darlington increased by 196% from 1,072 to 2,105, and ticket sales to Shildon Station serving Locomotion increased by 157% from 1,781 to 2,798. The two independent small businesses at Stanhope Station – the café on platform one and craft market on platform two – also benefited from increased trade over the summer as a result of the promotion.

Through the campaign, Bishop Line CRP established the positive impact community rail has to bring together local visitor attractions as a wider, regional tourism offer, showing the overwhelming appetite for, and positive benefits of, greener leisure travel options.

On Saturday 8 June 2024, Northern introduced the new Yorkshire Dales Explorer (YDE), a year-round rail service linking Greater Manchester and Lancashire to the scenic Settle-Carlisle line and Yorkshire Dales. Community Rail Lancashire worked with a host of partners, including Settle-Carlisle Railway Development Company, local authorities, Rail North Partnership and Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, to encourage visitors to use the new service for car-free access to the beautiful area, and to join other activities that promote health and wellbeing, such as guided walks.

The new rail service, programme of guided walks and other local events, attractions and accommodation have been actively promoted through social media, websites and by more traditional means such as press releases, posters and leaflets. Community Rail Lancashire also arranged group days out on the Yorkshire Dales Explorer, for groups such as Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise and Humraaz, an organisation which supports women from the BME community.

To date 1,300 passengers have travelled on the YDE up to Ribblehead for a day in the Dales, 53% of which have joined a guided walk in the Dales or Eden Valley, and 47% have spent the day visiting local towns, attractions, restaurants and pubs or going on their own walk. Through collaborative working between community rail groups, train operators and other partners, this project demonstrates just how much well-connected and accessible public transport options can boost the local economy and green tourism.

With 16 pubs closing in the UK every week, Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership and Blackmore Vale Line CRP teamed up for a revitalised promotion of real ale pubs along community rail lines. Together with South Western Railway, the partnerships created a new ‘Rail Ale Trail’ between Salisbury and Exeter, inviting visitors from near and far to visit pubs along the line, collect stamps and win a T-shirt.

The new trail expanded Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership’s family of existing Rail Ale Trails on the Great Western Railway network, uptake of which had started to dwindle, despite the initiative’s 20-year run. Tying in with the Salisbury-Exeter launch, the CRPs re-launched the existing trails with a photoshoot, website revamp, posters and social media campaign.

After launching in May 2024, the summer delivered the trails’ best results since Covid, with 75 T-shirts awarded - triple the previous summer’s total. Participants came from as far afield as London, Shetland and Austria. Together they made 688 pub visits and bought 53 pub meals, injecting thousands of pounds into the local economy as well as boosting rail journey figures. What’s more, this doesn’t include the many who part-complete the trails but don’t claim a T-shirt – meaning the real impact is even greater.