Vintage Trains 2025

‘The Mayflower’ is also being labelled as Bahamas’s last railtour before its ten yearly is brought forward. 5043 is still active, it’s done several Shakespeare Expresses and a run out to Scarborough this year.

 

I'm not sure I'd pay too much attention to those numbers. I've been on several VT trips where Fareharbour stated there were loads of tickets available, but the coaches (and there were plenty of them) were very full.

 

I didn’t know that, I suppose that the fact that it’s its last rail tour is a selling point for the tour.

Good to hear that 5043 is still active. It’s a beautiful engine and a real testament to VT who are, in my personal opinion, the absolute pinnacle of charter operators in the UK in terms of stock, appearance and the type of service they offer.

 

Okay, well when I spoke to VT they said that it will be load 10 inc. support meaning 9 passenger coaches in total which suggests that, given the last years run was 12 coaches, that it’s not that busy on board. I guess we shall have to wait and see.

 

Fareharbour will quote the maximum available. When it comes to the trains running, VT will knock off empty coaches.

 

It would be interesting to know at what point the number of coaches being knocked off would make the tour unviable financially. Seems like 10 is still profitable financially but it’s a real shame for VT that they can’t run at the full 12. Plus of course it’s better for us enthusiasts as it runs the locos harder.

 

The WCRC operated Bristol/Par Royal Duchy (before the Mark 1/CDL nightmare kicked off) in September 2023 ran as load 8 and was hauled by Bahamas. It was a superb run and was a sell-out.

 

Well in answer to the first part, purely from a curiosity/interest view point. The financial details behind charters are very complex and I personally find it quite interesting, same with heritage railways etc.

As for pushing locos harder, I think we can all appreciate Clun Castle on load 8 + GUV like she was back on the 1Z48 tour last May, absolutely fantastic hearing her under load which is something that you get less and less if these days on the mainline. Double heading slightly takes the edge off it but it’s still fantastic regardless.

 

It did indeed, I remember seeing it at Hemerdon bank. It’s a real shame this situation with the CDL and WCR’s as the Royal Duchy was a guaranteed unassisted run over the South Devon Banks. Let’s hope one day it’s resolved.

 

We can but hope but it must be doubtful as apparently enough folk are prepared to travel in the awful MkII Coffins with the diesel on the rear assisting from minimally to ridiculously to make the trains 'viable' to run. Be interested to know which carriages have been dropped from the consist. Last year we had 5 full TSOs and apparently. If there's less then sadly the day of the steam enthusiast paying to travel on Steam Hauled trains is rapidly coming to an end. The Mayflower is only the 2nd advertised unassisted train of the year so it ain't an expensive commitment to support them. With the Shap Mountaineer at the end of the month, the train costs for TSO travel amounts to around £500. I appreciate most of us incur addon costs of hotels etc that often double that. Surprises me that so many so called steam enthusiasts seem to prefer Vintage's top and tailed destination trains to genuine steam hauled trains. How times have changed.

 

I take your point, although I do personally think that the reason for low bookings on tours such as ‘The Mayflower’ is thanks to the fact Bahamas is on the train. Had it just been Clun Castle or Earl of Mount Edgecumbe as well then it would be different. This is a Western train and Bahamas doesn’t fit that. Last year both the 1z48 tour and The Mayflower were booked out completely.

Double heading as lovely as it is isn’t as good as single headed steam as they aren’t working as hard, you really can thrash a single header especially over the Devon Banks.

 

Cannot beat the sound of a Castle being 'worked hard' when running unassisted on a steep gradient with say load 9 - 10. Thrashing is a common expression.

 

Conversely, it's a trip with unassisted steam featuring two locomotives which are shortly to be withdrawn for overhaul (who knows how long they will be out of traffic, nobody really until they've been stripped down)
I'd have though that would be a draw for punters.

 

That is definitely something to consider. It is very strange that they bookings have been as low as they have been. I notice on FareHarbour that a lot of First Class tickets have become availible and less Pullman ones are not showing as unsold.

 

Having been on last year's run with the two Castles, I did consider booking this year's. From my personal point of view, the change from the second Castle to the Jubilee would have been a point in favour, but it doesn't make the trip as a whole sufficiently different from last year's to justify the cost and the hassle of getting to one of the pick-up points. (And as it happens other events now would have prevented me from travelling.)

 

Perhaps pricing is playing more of a role than I initially though. I am not too familiar with rail tour pricing but to me the standard class ticket price of £165 doesn't seem too unreasonable given other operators' pricing unless I am completely wrong.

 

£165 for the ticket for a day out, on top of ancillary costs, is a large lump - certainly moving railtours into a luxury bracket for me.