The Royal Wessex 12th November

Any news on this? Is it going to run? Is 34046 fit?

 

Hope so would be nice to see Braunton,
But has been quiet since its trip to toton, but its ment to be back on southall now so who knows,
Gonna have to be the case for mainline steam past few years of wait and see,

 

As the RTC are offering discounts for the excursion with Braunton they clearly would like it to. Whether Braunton out and diesel back makes it sufficiently attractive is, of course, debatable.

 

that depends how you look at it,

Is it not being 100% steam going to bother you,
or are you just doing it for a day to the coast,
or a day to a coast and it doesn't matter what's on the front as long as the foods good you get it on time and get to the coast ?

These trips aren't purely aimed at enthusiasts now, I mean the number of standard on most of the tours I've seen this year , Has been no more than 3 coaches,

The promoters can't rely on fickle enthusiasts anymore they are having to branch out to the normals who see any steam on the mainline as a novelty .

Its the harsh reality of the situation, mainline steam finds itself in,

 

As I wrote, "of course,"!

 

RTC are admitting that its DL hauled on the return. I have booked anyway as there's some quite rare track with steam. We will return home via SWT and SR (hopefully).

 

They've been up front about it so if standards on the front leaving Weymouth, not alot they can do about it, least with extra 15-20 mph might get home a little quicker....

 

I hope Braunton makes it. Not seen her as 34052 yet and would be nice to see something different at Haywards Heath.

 

I don't know. The charity trip from Derby-Skegness had plenty of empty seats on it. Whilst you could argue that this was because it wasn't sufficiently publicised amongst the enthusiast community, it also suggests that you cannot rely on normals alone to fill a train.

 

The benefit of standard class on the back is that I will be able to hear when the DL is working. It shouldn't need to at all of course but that climb out of Fareham is quite steep and initially on a sharp curve.

 

Never suggested trying to fill the trains on normals alone,
Not really any need to twist what I said to fit your own agenda is there,

 

We all know that enthusiasts are in the minority though RTC are better than some at recognising that they are fussy about DL involvement. I suspect that there may be empty seats on this one in all classes.

 

A bit of a tetchy response to a mere statement, Templecombe. Never said anything about filling trains with normals alone myself, either. There isn't really any need to bite my head off. Can you remind me what my agenda is, by the way?

 

Now children calm down!

 

He started it!

 

Might this also be that the earlier the start, the larger (in population terms) the catchment area of potential customers - both enthusiasts and normals - needs to be to have some prospect of decent loadings? Early London starts may be able to achieve this condition. But whether the various Sussex joining points for this tour, and places reasonably adjacent, could muster such levels of support at such early hours might be a moot point.....perhaps ?

Last week's Cheshireman may have been a similar example, featuring a pre-7am start from Norwich (not to mention a scheduled return arrival at 23.54 pm) that would have presented quite a challenge for potential participants who would be joining from a home base outside the immediate Norwich-Peterborough corridor of joining points. One post in particular did comment on the apparent lack of custom for this trip.

Again, the point has been made before in various threads on this forum relating to Vintage Trains outings that even Birmingham, with its extensive hinterland, is difficult for those not living in the West Midlands where the start times are much before 9 am (and I believe that Vintage Trains try hard to address this issue where they can with customer-friendly start times).

Obviously this view is a bit generalised - dedicated people who really want to participate in a particular excursion for specific reasons can, and do, drive through the night to do so. But maybe any debate about empty seats doesn't have to be confined to a regurgitation of all the standard stuff about DL involvement when it seems to me that there could be equally compelling issues of geography and accessibility at stake that would be relevant to the populace at large.

 

Quite agree, Al. This has been a regular gripe of mine for some time now - these tours are just too long, especially if, like me, you want to travel with your non-enthusiast wife. The late 90s/early noughties steam trains run by Hertfordshire Railtours and Steam Dreams got it just about right. Even now, there are a few sensible-length (and often repeat itinerary) excursions on offer e.g. the Torbay Express and the Jacobite, but RTC and SD in particular seem to favour these marathon days out. No thanks. For me it's sensible starting time, two hours out, interesting destination, two to three hours back (and no diesel on the back!) Any other takers???