Having created Swanage Railway’s existing website back in 2014 it was well overdue for an update to make it as user friendly as possible.
We worked with them to create a new site to match their new requirements, allowing them to present customers with information as clearly as possible, aiding return customers and encouraging new ones.
Our first priority was to make it as easy as possible for customers to find out the train times for the current day and when the next train would be running. To do this, we developed a custom widget to appear on the homepage showing upcoming departures, the route which the train would be taking, and the stations it would be stopping at. We also built in the ability for the customer to choose which station they wanted to board the train at and their direction of travel. This made it much simpler for passengers to plan their journeys, as well as ensuring that the times the train would reach each station were easily accessible.
Alongside this, we also created a timetable and calendar layout which can be fully managed via the CMS. This allowed the Swanage team to colour code dates on the calendar to display different services and events, as well as to link the run-time details to the relevant days to provide a clear and friendly guide for planning future visits.
Of course, no heritage railway website would be complete without the ability to showcase the various locomotives and rolling stock on site. With this in mind, we built the ability to display these in all their glory, complete with the option to show pictures, stats, and interesting facts, to allow even those customers who couldn’t visit the railway the opportunity to enjoy them.
With the website now live the railway has been able to reap the rewards, with the customer experience significantly improved and the CMS management simplified and streamlined. We’re excited to continue supporting them and look forward to seeing what the future holds!
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