The Strathspey Railway

A restored steam railway, running along the original Highland Mainline from Aviemore to Forres, The Strathspey Railway was founded by a group of railway volunteers. This tradition has long continued, and the attraction is primarily run with the help of volunteers.

For many, Heritage Railways have a true place in the heart of the UK’s tourism industry. Taking families, friends, couples, and enthusiasts back in time to a bygone era, this is often a unique day out for all and a chance to explore our heritage.

After extensive scoping with the DigiTickets Business Development Team, it was time to begin building! Starting any project can be both exciting and daunting, especially if you’re moving to a brand-new system. Understanding how an attraction operates is key, and what makes them so great – they are all different! We like to think our initial project introductions are pretty unique; we’re a software company with a difference because we have a passion for all things tourism. 

After initial discussions it was time for the exciting bit, working with our Project Management Team to get down to the nitty-gritty. In this case the set-up was particularly complex and meant that the build needed to be exceptionally detailed, ensuring that the ticketing set-up reflected the on-site operations.

One of the most interesting parts of this project was utilising so many different features and modules within our system. A key objective, outlined from the start, was to ensure that the site was mapped effectively so that all categories and ticket types were clear and easy to find. The plan was to outline the customer journey and to present it to the Strathspey team - this included first-class, private compartments, standard tickets, singles, and returns; the capacity management needed careful planning!

This, of course, was the easy bit. We then worked on an extra layer of complexity, adding additional meal packages and dining trains. Finally, capitalising on the UK's growing experience market, we created gift vouchers for each ticket, ensuring that additional sales were utilised in every way possible. 

Finally, The Strathspey Railway team also took advantage of our API to ensure that the bespoke reports they wanted were created and sent to the relevant stakeholders. Since using our API to generate these reports, they have been able to streamline their operations and have therefore seen a 7.25% increase in daily sales. 

We like to think that we're experts at consulting on all kinds of ticketing set-ups, but railways are always a particularly exciting challenge! Supporting many of the major heritage railways in the UK means that we are able to provide a consultative approach to ticketing - in fact, it's what we pride ourselves on. We'll be working closely with the team at The Strathspey railway to make sure they're getting the most out of ticketing now.