Steam Dreams 2015

SD are about the most expensive charter company around. I rarely travel with them unless it's really something I want. I'm on the VT Tyseley to Oxford train that day and it's only £49 in standard. can't beat VT for value.

 

I also only tend to use SD if they do a trip I want to do, such as Inverness-Kyle of Lochalsh last year, which was worth £99 for its rarity value. If they happened to do a Inverness-Wick as part of a lengthy tour and allowed enthusiasts to book it, I'm sure it would fill quite quickly. However, the general run of trips aren't really my cup of tea, and would either require a trip to London or necessitate paying over the odds, as Windsor suggests. In fairness, they are one of the few operators to graduate their fares according to distance, however, boarding this trip at Woking should be around £59 max.

 

I do not claim to be an expert on pricing of railtours, but don't the locos get paid per day? same with the crews, etc? Thence a 100 mile journey will cost the promoter the same as a 300 mile journey as long as it stays within a 12 hour shift.

Yeah yeah - might use £400 less coal, but in the big scheme of things....

I cannot imagine that any promoter will have an issue filling a Valentines steam train on Valentines day. It's about the loving couples sharing a romantic moment and not about track bashers, timers, etc.

 

They do seem to be a rip off these days. I am on the Valentines lunch trip but only because I was offered a big discount for this trip. Want to travel behind the B1 so I took up the offer. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. The price is far too high for the short circular route.
The MHR used to do similar circular trips on Sundays when they operated Daylight Railtours but the price never went over £45.00.
SD lost the plot a long time ago with their silly prices. The Valentines trips don't appear to be filling well due to the offers that were sent to me as a SD member. The MHR trips were always full.

 

VT own their own locos and stock so no third partys overhead and profit to pay.

 

It was stated in one of the magazines by one the other promoters, that the fixed costs are high so the longer trips will always be better value for money.

 

The trips I have been on since they introduced permium standard have always been well loaded. Apart from the Tornado trips, the February ones have generally been quieter. The White Cliffs circular in December was very well loaded with a lot of regulars. One window hanger got the sandwiches he ordered ( made on the train) delivered to him at his window.

 

Does anyone know when timings for the two tours on the 14th are likely to be finalised?

 

An all LMS month in September. 6233 shall be going to Bristol 3 September and Cardiff on September 10. Then the Lakes Express 6233,46115,6201. Than Lizzie has tours on 24 September to Worcester and 29 to Kingwear.

Still no word on Mayflower's readiness

 

Yes, it's getting close. Eight days now until the Windsor trip and then a busy three months. A big ask for a relatively untried loco, but then it has been well cared for in preservation so should be in pretty good nick.

 

From an a email today:

St David's Day Trip to Cardiff
Sunday 1 March
Celebrate St. David's Day with a wonderful trip along the Severn Estuary to Gloucester, Lydney, Chepstow orCardiff. It will be B1 Mayflower's first full trip on the mainline in over 50 years, and it is planned to be heading the 10 coach train without diesel assistance. Having received the estimated timings from Network Rail, we expect to depart Paddington around 09:00 and return around 22:45.

You can join the train at London Paddington, Slough, Maidenhead, Twyford, Reading, Goring & Streatley*, Swindon, Gloucester, Lydney or Chepstow.

*will be escorted to Reading



Note remark about lack of diesel assistance,can't recall having seen that before.

 

Just received an e-mail from SD including a link to an updated 2015 brochure. For those that are interested, here is the link:- http://issuu.com/clearsite/docs/brochure_v12singles?e=1279143/11175707

Of the new tours, there are a couple with the Duchess and a lot more with Mayflower. I was hoping for more use of 35018 British India Line, assuming it wil be ready by then. The tours go up to Christmas, although the latter are only mentioned in summary form.

Just in case the link doesn't work, the revised list from September goes like this:-
3/9: Rugby- Bath & Bristol 46233
10/9: London-Gloucester-Lydney- Cardiff 46233
24/9: London- Cheltenham- Worcester 6201
29/9: Banbury-Kingswear 6201
8/10: Cranmore- Bluebell Railway 61306
10/10: Warminster-Basingstoke-Ely 61306
18/10: London-Warwick-Stratford 61306
24/10: London-Norwich (diesel return) 61306
4/11: Surrey Hills- Bluebell Railway evening train (no loco specified)
11/11: London- Dover- Canterbury-FAversham (no loco specified)

Then comes the Christmas programme. I wonder if it will be the Riley Black Fives. Their now annual appearance down south is a bit like the arrival of the fieldfares: - when they turn up, you know winter is imminent! As it stands:-

21/11: London-Lichfield-Chester
26/11: London-Dunster-Minehead via the Surrey Hills
29/11: London-Bath
2/12: Horsham-Oxford
5/12: London-Norwich
9/12: London-Cheltenham-Worcester
12/12: Ashford-Salisbury
16/12: London-York (Can't see this being a "Black five" job!)
19/12: Southend-Winchester
22/12: White Cliffs luncheon

 

My highlight in red is interesting. Does one take that as Mayflower won't be hauling the trains before St Davids Day then, or does it mean no diesel legs?

 

Or that the trips on the 14th aren't being regarded as "full" tours but as a lunch and an evening "half-day" event?

 

With this being for Fireworks at Gravetye Manor, which happens to be owned by Jeremy Hosking, 34046 or 70000 seem the most likely motive power.

 

Looking through the new brochure it's good to see SD seem to have reduced the amount of diesel haulage on their tours to a minimum, and only where really needed. Last year's brochure featured that diesel symbol on pretty much every tour featured if I remember rightly.

The mention of "no diesel assistance" is an interesting one. Considering we have concluded many times on here that SD do not consider their core market to be enthusiast, but more a slightly less affluent version of that that Belmond enjoys, it's interesting they include the no diesel assistance comment, which unlikely to be of interest to that market.

I'm afraid, like others on here, I have become somewhat dismayed by SD in recent years, although I do admire their innovation in using regional starting points which continues to add variety. Just a shame they can't do something about their prices. In the same way VT introduced a "frills" upgrade to their standard class, why can't SD offer a "no frills" version ?

 

I travel from time to time with Steam Dreams and I see plenty of enthusiasts. (Happily ensconced in premier dining as well!)

 

When I lived in the South East. SD was the company I patronised the most, right from their first year of operation. I usually travel with my wife and we prefer to take a train from somewhere within reasonable reach of home, so no overnight stays are involved. I have to say, my experiences have been very good, although, along with some other operators, the itineraries unfortunately seem have become a lot longer since the company first began. However, I've only had one disappointing run, due to bad coal, which was hardly the tour operator's fault, and only one trip involving a diesel - and even this was just from Weymouth to Dorchester South as a banker.

I'm certainly open to booking with them again (we are shortly moving back to Sussex after three years in Gloucestershire), but I would need to be assured that there is no intention to use a diesel, so the flagging up of "no diesel assistance" in their recent brochure is a welcome development. The Preston Park-Sherborne trip in May would have been one to consider were it not for being diesel-hauled back from Salisbury.

While I appreciate that the company has had to evolve from its earliest days of just running from London to Salisbury or Canterbury with Bodmin (and I do think that starting the trains at a place other than London is a very welcome development), I do feel a bit sad that the company seems to have moved so far from its Southern roots. Of the 2015 schedule, only the 9th July run is diagrammed for a Bulleid Pacific. To be honest, I was rather disappointed to see Mayflower having another long stint in the second half of the year (although it's not confirmed on the website - only mentioned in the brochure). I was hoping for British India Line, which, one hopes, ought to be ready by then. Furthermore, Braunton should be back too and Tangmere, after a rather mixed 12 months, ended 2014 on a pretty good note. It would also be good if Marcus could persuade West Coast to paint one of its rakes of coaches in green. I'm not just saying this because I am also a photographer. Somehow, if you're boarding a steam train at Bromley South, East Croydon or Woking. the carriages really ought to be green! Oh - it would also be good if the "pullman style" carriage was a real Pullman - even if it was only one of the Met Cam ones which you do see in West Coast Rakes - and painted chocolate and cream. I know we can't recreate those last years of Southern steam which instilled a love of trains into Marcus when he was a child, but it would be good at least to see Steam Dreams running something looking a bit more like a 1960s BR(S) express train.

 

The problem with altering the livery of a set of coaches is that it could lead to mixed formations for years. Although it was not a West Coast rake, I well remember the 'Rainbow Set' from a few years ago .....a dozen coaches and a dozen liveries. Does it still exist? <BJ>

 

I would be surprised if West Coast will be taking bookings for 35018 until its ready. We do not know how close to completion it is. We will just have to wait for its test run.

SD plan to run at least 2 trips later in the year to mark the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain hauled by 34046 Braunton as 34052 Lord Dowding.

Tangmere is booked to haul trips by Statemans Rail in May and will probably be hauling the Royal Wessex, and a number of Royal Duchy's , DCE'S and WSSE'S for RTC.