Steam Dreams 2024

To add some balance, apparently SD text the passengers so there is at least some updates.

 

I've not been with Steam Dreams so far this year but I've done a couple of Saphos ones, and they've started sending text messages to mobile numbers about any updates. For example, on the tour around Kent which ended up being diesel and missing several pickup points they were sending us text messages. Presumably Steam Dreams has the same capability, as it's the same company and the same staff.

 

Even for the station staff to tell the passengers that it has been delayed en route and we will tell you more when we can, would, it seems, have been a step up from what happened. It doesn't take much to look up a contact number on line and make a call - surely the prospect of hundreds of disgruntled passengers hanging around would prompt some sort of initiative? I have encountered the same lack of effort or initiative from Southern (and other TOCs') staff at many stations before - keeping passengers informed has become a luxury. Yes, of course, much of the blame lies with LSL too, who should have had a contact number for Horsham station staff available to relay information to them. Just as relevant though, is how the train encountered a planned engineering possession en route. No-one comes out of it very well.

Perhaps a general lesson is to have tours' starting points closer to the stock's origins - to have a tour start so far away that a water stop is needed even before any passengers board seems risky.

 

Total outward leg steam miles yesterday Southall to Bristol via Horsham & Eastleigh was probably less or similar than other day trips from Victoria, just running empty for a while and then 3 or 4 picks ups reasonably close together.

 

Why is a water stop on an ECS move more risky than a water stop on the actual passenger legs? I do not understand the logic of your argument, if the tour had say had a pick up at Ealing Broadway then why would that scheduled water stop been less risky? It was fortunate the NR error (if that indeed is what it was) was around London where there were actual alternatives, rather than say somewhere like a Sellafield on a CCE.
All water stops have an element of risk, tankers get stuck in traffic, or break down, or an NR MOM does not turn up to unlock a set of gates. I have even been on a tour where we turned up at the water stop to find (eventually) that someone had forgotten to order the tanker.

 

If the tour had started at Victoria but still gone the same way anyone joining later on still would have had a long wait to be picked up. Could just as easily have had an issue between Southall and one of the London Termini (and I am sure some trains have).

 

In that, if no stewards are to be provided at the start station, then a severely delayed train like yesterday's will have passengers waiting who don't know what is going on. My point was not about the distance per se, but the time scheduled to run before passengers are put in a position where they can be informed about problems. Having such a long/complex route before embarking passengers (i.e. so long as to need a water stop) adds to the likelihood of stuff like yesterday's lack of information to passengers happening.

 

But issues can arise anywhere. Both LSL and WCRC come out of Southall and normally up around Willesden, either to a London Terminal or like yesterday elsewhere. The line into Paddington and the North London Line are not exactly unknown for major issues, neither is the Overground line though Kenny O and West Brompton.
It may not have started at Victoria yesterday, but they would have been in pretty much the same mess if they had a routing through the Wimbledon TL lines.
Of course if we stopped steam tours no issues arise.

 

Of course issues can arise anywhere, but my point was that from Southall, the ECS was close to London termini before it travelled out of London altogether to reach its start point at Horsham, via quite a complex booked route. I can't be bothered to work out the mileage but I would guess that it was about three times that covered by ECS going from, say, Southall to London termini to commence their passenger-carrying sections. So - an ECS journey of three-ish times the length of that to reach London termini will inevitably lead to an increased risk of things going wrong and with no-one at the start station to spread the word. Of course, the key issue is to have a reliable means of spreading information in cases like this, and I would have thought the simplest would be to get the local TOC's staff to announce, having been contacted by the steam operator's staff. If the train has stewards aboard surely at least one of them could phone the station staff? Texting is fine as far as it goes but it doesn't necessarily cover everyone, whereas P.A. announcements do.

 

But what's special about the starting station? Presumably those boarding at Arundel and Chichester were just as much in the dark. With any train with multiple pick ups unless you have a steward at every station it's a problem. I have been at Preston waiting for a CME which encountered a problem and was unable to pick up. I'm afraid expecting a busy station like that to know what's going on when they have say twenty trains per hour to deal with is asking a lot. On my last trip, boarding at Warrington, the station staff didn't know there was a charter although it was on the board.

I don't know the joining instructions with SD, but I'd have thought an on the day phone number/email and good comms between the train manager and the SD point of contact back at base might be a possibility.

 

The only "special" thing is that it now seems to be the first point of contact betwen the steam train's staff and the station's operating staff - i.e. the first interaction between them in the absence of earlier contact. In this case, then, the staff at Horsham will have/could have been told on arrival by stewards, etc., what was going on and relayed a message down the line to further pick-ups. Whether that happened I have no idea. However, it is clear that there is a missing link in the communications system when passengers at a station for any train are not informed adequately in real time about severe problems such as yesterday's.

 

Evening all.

So I was onboard the trip yesterday & trying to keep my fellow passengers in the loop with what was going on (with the help of 2 friends from Railcam and from the website diagrams) I initially drove to Warnham in the hope of seeing the loco (less crowded than Horsham but still about 20 or so people there). Soon found out from the waiting water tanker driver that the train was currently unable to travel on it’s booked route due to engineering issues, and the train wouldn’t be at Warnham for at least 90 mins - 2 hours.

Got to Horsham and no sign of any SD staff/stewards and a the station staff saying they didn’t know what was happening. Soon the texts came through (5 in total) and Mayflower eventually rolled in and off we went.

Got a very brief apology from the train manager onboard and when I asked him why no stewards were present etc, he simply stated he thought about sending some staff down on service trains and then thought against it. That was that, and he wasn’t seen or heard from again until a brief reminder about the departure time when we were coming in to Bath Spa.

Some passengers (myself included) heard members of footplate staff moaning about passengers getting off the train when it was taking on water at Salisbury, this was despite no message from any onboard staff saying no-one could get off during said stop..

Return journey was fairly quiet with only the catering staff bringing tea & coffee etc. Other than that nothing else was said by any onboard members of staff.

All in all I can’t say I was that impressed & I can’t find much to be positive about (apart from the weather in Bath being excellent during my time down there)

Ben

 

Thanks for this, always good to hear from those on board.

For a company that has prided itself on excellent customer service that is a pretty damning post. I hope yesterday was a blip. Reputations can be long earnt and quickly lost.

 

Personally I do not believe you can beat having a human presence at the station. SD may have dropped the ball there a little.
In the past as an out stationed steward, or talking with others on various trips there are a myriad of issues that can be addressed that the station staff may not have the time to get involved with, or want to. Let's be realistic to many station staff railtours are a bit of an annoyance, and from my experience even the London Terminal stations TOC staff do not or unable to get involved. I have even experienced one station where the TOC staff even refused to engage with us at all, although I would stress that was unique, and seemed to involve history from a previous tour.
The railway is as we know far from joined up and often messages do not get through. As an example as a steward joining a tour that was due to reverse at Westbury being T & T 47's to Bristol a TPWS issue (from memory) on what would then have been the leading loco meant the tour did not call. Arrangements were made with GWR to take pax to BTM on a Cardiff service, and I stayed behind in case of late arrivals to take them to Taunton. However neither the guard on the Bristol service or the T.M. on the service to Taunton had got any message regarding the agreement. So I had to explain it all, and make sure none of them got done for ticketless travel. I was not surprised at all the message never got through, even to Westbury Station staff. Add things like late platform changes, often due to late service trains and a few pax with strollers or in chairs and texts do not work to well. Basingstoke on a DCE used to br a regular late platform change. At one point, some years back now, there was even someone (staff) at Woking who used to tell pax the tour was cancelled, even when I had spoken to the T.M. and checked on their progress.

 

Sadly the lack of staff at stations for either pick up and destination locations is LSL's Achilles' Heel. This isn't the first time I have either read or experienced this with them. On a trip to Shrewsbury last year the TM had to get a lift in a Network Rail MOM's van from the depot to the station to inform us there would be a 90min late departure.
LSL's customer service which I thought they prided themselves on is severely lacking in this respect. Other operators including the previous Steam Dreams staff were always on the ground when you needed them.

 

The tour promoter (whichever one) might be expected to have mobile numbers for a few of the passengers, so should be able to call one or other of them at each pick up point to tell them what's going on: then that person could spread the word. Not as good as having one of the stewards there, but still a lot better than leaving customers in the dark.

 

Yes you could, but I am sure you would have to ask before you did that. From my experience many passengers have virtually no experience of the rail network hence their continual questions about which platform when it is displayed on an indicator. Then would you believe some random person with no identification to the company telling you you could go and have a coffee for an hour as it is delayed, or go home as it is cancelled. Fraught with potential issues I think.

I can see why the footplate crew may have wanted pax to stay on, very late running, hope to shorten the stop etc. But that seems the front end was not talking to the back end. Either announce sorry you cannot get off today because we hope to leave quickly or hey you have CDL, do not unlock the doors.
Having said that if you have made your pax wait 2 hours (even if not your fault) they may like a look at the loco and a picture. Yes it was due and did in the end have 30 minutes at BTM, but no guarantee of that as late, and was of course a one way steam section.
LSL my have suffered from someone's issue, but it is no different to trying to say to an airline pax that an ATC delay is not the airlines fault fault. Pax will always blame "the carrier"

 

In the background to all of this, of course, is the failure to plan for the engineering block. I wonder what will come of this - the usual trite 'lessons will be learned' will be trotted out I expect...but will they?

I also wonder how hard it would be to come to an arrangement with whichever TOC runs the origin station for each tour, for their staff to make announcements to passengers waiting? I know the staff may be busy but all it would take would be to announce information fed to them by the tour's staff, wherever they may be. All that would need would be a phone contact number at the station so that a message could be texted and then read out. I know that sounds easier than it would probably be, but surely any TOC won't want needlessly uninformed, and therefore angry, passengers milling about? It is common for staff to announce steam tours' progress at, for example, Woking, and that is a very busy station. Surely proper 'Open Access' means that every train should be treated equally regarding passenger information and therefore the TOC that happens to run the origin station should not be able to refuse to pass on information? Equally, that same 'Open Access' responsibilty sits with LSL, or whichever 'heritage' TOC is involved, to ensure that it fulfils its duties to its passengers regarding the provision of information to wherever/whomever it can be disseminated.