45699 - Cathedrals Express - Padd to Stratford Upon Avon - 23/04/16

I'm afraid I have no confidence in them either -which is a shame as I have enjoyed some really good trips with them in the past. I haven't actually had a bad experience myself but have read about too many tours that have gone wrong on here to make me want to return for the foreseeable future. As for the management, I think we can trace the beginning of the problems to Graeme Bunker's departure. He had a way of making things happen and it doesn't seem like anyone else has that sort of clout.

I'm not sure we can blame them for gauging problems but the fact is that there have been far too many diesel substitutions of late. The worst thing is the misleading information given - I was tempted to book on the Stratford trip as I've yet to have a mainline trip behind a Jubilee but somehow I just didn't believe it would happen.

 

It's a real shame the company is a shadow of it's former self. Had some of our best Railtours with SD but we have totally gone off their trips over the last couple of years. The last few I have travelled on have been pretty miserable experiences to be honest. The staff on the train used to be very helpful. Now they just seem to be concerned with flogging tickets for uncertain diesel, er sorry steam tours or DVD's which are very out of date. When anything goes wrong the SD staff magically disappear. And the "free drinks" have been reduced somewhat in number on the last few trips I have been on.
The last straw for us was sitting in the pitch dark for over 30 minutes on the triangle between Aldershot and Guildford after the light in the carriage had gone bang. My Father turned and said to me "why do we put up with this anymore?"
I have also suffered the staff suddenly changing the rules about their membership discount options when I phoned up to make bookings.
We were tempted to travel on the Surrey Hills trip on Thursday as it is hauled by 45699 but after the nonsense with the info they gave me about gauging I wonder if the Jubilee will even be on the train.
We won't be travelling with SD again soon.
We have booked two trips with RTC for this year though as we have never had any problems with them.

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Same here. I almost booked but stalled at the final stage of the process and I'm so glad I did. Shame as it would be good to have a Jubilee working down south again.

 

I nearly booked on this and the Surrey Hills trip. My Father really wanted to go on the Stratford Run but by the time I found out the Jubilee had "passed" the gauging check Std class was full.
Second option was the Surrey Hills tour but we held back on this after finding out about the gauging problems. It's a good job we did as now the two tours tommorrow are Diesel hauled due to 45699 failing at Carnforth

I do hope the gauging problems don't stop other Jubilees coming to work in the South. I would love to see both 45596 and 45593 down this way.

 

I do find it a little surprising that 45699 was considered for this trip after she was found to be out-of-gauge for the Stratford line a few weeks ago, and so came off the Spirit Of The Lakes tour at Saltley. Was there a possibility that the restriction could/would be eased in the meantime?

 

Answer NO, were told last week that if it was steam it would come off before Stratford.

 

Interesting. Thanks @maureen. I can see how that might have been difficult to arrange. Loco changes used to be commonplace at Banbury or Leamington, but not any more...

 

Thanks for that Maureen.

So they had,and still have, plenty of time to cancel, but decided to run with a diesel. Do passengers already booked get the option to cancel? Surely every time they do this they are destroying a little bit of their reputation. Dark days indeed for SD.

 

You can spend endless time demonstrating that a Jubilee isn't bigger, fatter or taller than a Hall or a Castle. If a Jubilee hasn't been gauged for the route then the NR computer says "No".