Best value steam driving experience

Hi all, wasn't sure where to post this, please forgive me if this is the wrong place!

I was wondering what railway has given you the best steam driving experience to date, and why, as I may be being treated to one for Christmas, and would like some advice on which one to ask for!

Location isn't really an issue, preferably midlands/south west.

 

Depends what you want to achieve. Knowing what I know now, if I were going back to get a course for myself, or someone else as a present, I might start with the following questions:

- Do I want to drive an engine, or do I want to get a complete experience of driving, firing, being a guard etc?
- If driving is the main thing, do I want lots of experience in fine control (in which case choose a course with lots of starting / stopping etc) or do I want the feel of running a service (in which case choose a course pulling a realistic train the length of a decent sized line)?
- How physically fit am I? (firing especially is hard work; firing a complete 20 mile trip on a hilly line such as the WSR with a heavy load such as 5 or 6 coaches is a reasonable physical challenge if you haven't done anything similar before).
- Is the actual engine you get on significant, or will any engine do?
- Are you taking any friends / wife / etc? If so, what is on offer for them?
- Are there other factors that might play a part; e.g. scenery, closeness to home, price etc

and go from there.

With regard the second point: some courses basically involve driving (or firing) the whole of a line, or a substantial part. You get a feel for what it is like in service, but your experience on the footplate may only be about an hour or so at most, perhaps making two or three starts and two or three stops. By contrast, some courses involve a lot of shuttling up and down in a station area or on a short length of line: you'll develop a lot more of a feel for starting and stopping, and possibly have lots of shorter visits to the footplate with time between to assimilate and inwardly digest what you have learnt. I'm not saying one is better than the other, simply that the kind of experience you have is likely to be very different; one might suit you more than another.

Tom

 

I would recommend the SVR - the family are able to travel on the train you drive so it makes a good family event.

 

And it's done on a normal day so there are other trains on the line. Is there an option to take a full set out on a working day though? I know when my Grandad did it on the SVR there was only the one coach.


As Tom says it depends on what you want. On GWSR you tend to get a good tour of the railway as a whole as well, signal box, sometimes workshops etc. You can pull the whole rake of carriages or just a brake van depending on the course, but always on a non-operating day public wise.

 

The Swanage one used to be great.

Drive one way, fire the other no mucking about for £100. Now its about £250 like the rest

Having said that I have been to Wolsztyn many years ago & worked the controls on steam ships before that so I know the drill quite well.

Driver for a fiver can be great as well, had great fun with an 08, as did my then 12 year old son

 

Wolsztyn!
Get up at 03.30 in the morning
Drive commuters for 2 hours, 16 stops.
Turn and replenish engine. Lunch in the canteen.
Drive back for 2 hrs, 16 stops.

An unforgettable experience.

 

Churnet Valley we offer variety of courses -:

https://www.churnet-valley-railway.co.uk/train-driving

Regulator - £299
Drive LE along CVR for roughly an hour in the morning. Includes a tour of MPD, plus Certificate + CVR Polo shirt.

Top Link - £499
Drive 1x trip ECS, Fire another ECS. Includes a tour of MPD, plus certificate + CVR Polo shirt + 12mths membership NSRC. Family welcome to ride onboard.

Top Link Plus - £599
Drive 2x trip ECS. As per Above.

Cauldon - £999
Drive 2x trips ECS along both CVR & Cauldon Branch. Includes a tour of MPD, plus certificate + CVR Polo shirt + 12mths membership NSRC. Family welcome to ride onboard. Lunch also provided.

Call 01538 758498 for further details or to book.

 

I've had three driver experiences one steam and two diesel and in order of enjoyment and value for money :
1-kwvr four round trips with guests lasting all day including lunch-driving,firing ,guard and on cushions.

2-elr all day but half day site visit half day on train including driver and second manning .

3-svr half day no refreshments driver and second manning quarter of a trip each.

 

The joy of the 04.40 to Zabadanisk having come down the previous day on the overnight train to Poznan

 

Well, I did go a few years back (1993, 1999, 2000 and 2001) and at the time you were alone in the cab with the regular crew, both ways. I think since then they have drifted towards the UK way of doing it, i.e. sharing with someone else.

You can see my pictures on my Flickr site here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/73536293@N02/albums/72157641412466725

Happy days !

 

Romney Hythe and Dymchurch......closest you can get to British Mainline steam sensation on a heritage railway ... speaking as someone who has worked on mainline steam, narrow and standard gauge heritage lines.

 

Best driving experience?

Sign up to a preserved railway, start as a cleaner and work your way up through fireman to driver.
As well as making new friends, learning new skills and having a great social gettogethers, you end up driving a wide variety of steam and diesel locos

 

Hello,
Agree,yet slightly difficult if in any way impaired.

Nick

 

Have done 4 of these, 2 ages ago at Tyseley with 4472, up and down the exhibition line, which was good, as the loco was the attraction.

Then did a day at ELR, that started with a disappointment with one of IR black 5's rostered being failed, but, ended up with 71000, which had been out the day before, being brought back into steam for us.
We also had 40145 in the morning, and it proven to be a magnificent day all round.

Our second visit involved 44222 4F, and again was an excellent day out, but hard to follow after the first visit!!!

 

The WSR ones are excellent, I've done about six I think, last 2 were the King (which I've now driven several times as a support crew member) and 6430 with an autocoach. Stuart Nelhams is a very good instuctor, and it's quite serious when it needs to be but also fun. It's all added to by the WSR being a proper bit of railway with plenty of challenges.

Rob

 

I've only ever done a single- day course with Clive Groome using 323 and a brakevan on the Bluebell a few years back - not in the same league as driving a King on the WSR by a long chalk, but I still thoroughly enjoyed going to and fro through Horsted Keynes station. I'd love to have another go one day.

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence in the WSR.
This was how I started my volunteering career on the WSR after doing about 6 footplate experiences, on the WSR. You are right the Stuart is an excellent instructor, he has the right balance to give you confidence while driving.
The pick up goods is a great experience to work up to on the WSR but I found my first, the stage one course, equally enjoyable for all the railway background it provided.
My last experience course was on Braunton just after it was out shopped and was running in on the WSR. By then I was a cleaner. Oddly that day on Braunton came in useful as later on I found myself on it on a knowledge trip and for the first time I was able to contribute a little hands on knowledge to the crew.

 

That would have been the Introductory one which is a round trip shared between 6 people. The Intermediate is 2 round trips between 8 people (it used to be 1 rt between 4) on a 6 coach train, while the Supreme is 2 rts with 4 people (same train length as the intermediate). The Ultimate is for 4 people and is 2 days: 1 day on the auto + one day on a supreme. Overnight accomodation is also included for the Ultimate FE.
The diesel FE follows the Intermediate style.
See here: http://www.svr.co.uk/Footplate_GeneralInformation.aspx