Clan Line in 2021

Otherwise known as being over cautious. One reason why I won’t have the wretched App on my phone.

 

That seems a very odd reason. Cancel a tour 16 days away, but not one 6 days away?

 

The crew for 18th have been secured but not for 28th. I guess it’s to do with workload and area. Big Al may be able to add to this

 

Not if you think what the one in 6 days time is all about!


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Booked the merchant of norfolk hoping to cop 35028 Clan line on the mainline and even booked a hotel today before I received the cancellation notice off U.K.R.T. for the following night for when the tour was supposed return to London kings X so I could get home to Leeds on Sunday morning due to L.N.E.R. trains not running after 8pm due to engineering works on the 28 August.
It did say on the cancellation notice from U.K.R.T. a tour with 35028 would be organised in spring 2022 and passengers booked on the Merchant of norfolk would be given a alternative to switch their bookings to the new date or a full refund but U.K.R.T. dident mention where the new tour for spring 2022 would be going.
Davo 56F

 

Basically Charters are lower down the pecking order than their other work

 

Would imagine it being the Bank Holiday weekend didn't help with resourcing either.

 

The Merchant of Norfolk had already been postponed three times, so seems to have been fated not to happen: that is a pity, because a MN out of The Cross is surely a very rare event. We wait eagerly to hear what may happen next spring.

 

Yes I was booked on this, so having lost the Inverness trip on Wed that's two cancellations in 2 days. Still have half dozen trips booked, don't want to jinx any more by saying which ones!

I did the Clan Line trip to Lincoln, which made a fine climb of Stoke, around 70 mph with load 12, from a re-start in the sidings north of Peterboro.

Whilst Norwich would have been fine, a proper leg stretch up the ECML would be preferable!

 

You mean the regular work that pays the bills?

 

Very difficult to say to NR we are unable to crew your engineering train because we are manning a steam tour.
DBS will be wanting to look after their major customers and with the best will in the world (with the exception of Belmond maybe) that will not be a tour company.
Bigger issue is if DBS see steam as core business. I think they still do, although may their FD would have a differing view.
On a slightly similar heritage vein when there was all the suggestion that a Concorde should be kept flying, apart from Airbus being uninterested in spares and technical support, BA were no way interested in the engineering costs or the crewing costs to keep one flying, however much PR they may (or may not) have derived from it.

 

The cancellations seem to be confined just to their steam crews at present, rather than all charters in general. I'm on a DBC operated diesel charter next week which is still going ahead.

 

Of course they are. Steam Charters are a tiny part of DBCs business and we should be thankful that they are still prepared to spend the management time on keeping up steam crews competency.
They now only have one loco they regularly work and we are fortunate to have enthusiastic DB crews to man it, several of the regulars are MNLPS members so they are driving and firing their own engine.
Don’t let this thread degenerate into a DB knocking campaign

 

Out of interest do DBC still hire out their steam drivers to other operators (e.g. LSL or Vintage Trains) or do those companies have enough drivers of their own now?

 

To widen this I would like to highlight another problem with the current operating framework. When I ran my coach company many years ago now we were sometimes short of a driver to cover a private hire. We hired in another company to cover the work as all work was treated as equal, long term contract or a one off hire so we never let anyone down. DB of course do not have that option so they prioritise.