Rail ale trail

A rail ale trail is a marketing exercise in the United Kingdom that is designed to promote tourism to a rural area, by encouraging people to visit a series of pubs that are close to railway stations along a railway line. Participants are rewarded for visiting the pubs by train. In doing this they increase the number of passengers on the railway and bring money into the local economy. The scheme is often supported by the Campaign for Real Ale. The beer is usually brewed locally and many of the pubs offer food as well.

Each trail is publicised by a free booklet that is distributed through stations and local outlets, and which is also available for downloading from the internet. Each time a pub is visited the booklet is stamped, provided a valid rail ticket is shown when a purchase is made. Once sufficient stamps have been collected, the booklet can be exchanged for merchandise specific for each trail, such as a T-shirt or badge.

On 1 October 1977 the first rail ale trail was run by Gerald Daniels, of Crookham Travel under the name "Rail Ale Ramble". A chartered train with 598 passengers ran from London to Bath, Somerset and Oxford. More than thirty years later Crookham Travel still run Rail Ale Rambles. Meanwhile, the term "rail ale" has been adopted by organisations such as the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership, who promote rural train routes in the English West Country. In the 1980s the local railway management had promoted travel to pubs close to stations using the tag line "Let us drive you to the pub". Some incentives were offered to railway passengers to use certain pubs.

The Tarka Line Rail Ale Trail was the first to be launched in 2002. The "Beer Engine" at Newton St Cyres railway station had pioneered the use of rail travel to bring drinkers to its bar. It opened in 1985 in the old railway hotel opposite the station and was soon offering a discount on production of a rail ticket.

The trail originally covered 16 pubs, and increased to a peak of 19, but one has since closed. There are five pubs in Exeter and four in Barnstaple, with one each at Newton St Cyres railway station, Crediton railway station, Yeoford railway station, Copplestone, Morchard Road railway station, Lapford, Eggesford railway station, Portsmouth Arms railway station, and Umberleigh. The collecting of 5, 10 or 18 stamps entitles the participant to claim Tarka Line Rail Trail merchandise.

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Wikipedia