The Mayflower - 6/09/25

But if the rain is set in and he is of that persuasion, Through the Links at Tyseley and Through the Links at Southall and Old Oak Common are well worth reading. The former in particular has trenchant opinions on BR Standards vis a vis their GW equivalents.

 

So if the loco combination wouldn’t be a cause for lower booking then what in your mind is the cause then?

As for WCR I was simply saying that they seem to not be the fantastic company that they once were and, regardless of what you might think, many railway professionals share that view and are also concerned about their operating practice.

As for Saphos, I do wish they would run without a diesel on the back but other than that they run a sharp operation and always look very smart. I like Saphos just as much as I like all the other your companies but I just wonder about what’s going on behind the scenes at WCR.

 

Id say we are slap bang in the middle of a turbulent financial period for the country where secondary spend businesses are always going to struggle. It is unsurprising that this tour hasn’t sold out because of that.

Id also say the repeat itinerary doesn’t help to a degree. When VT did this trip last year it was something special, something not done for a while. Perhaps a once every 2/3 year trip, which is something to look forward to would be different.

 

In what way did GWR loose their way? Their early 20th century design (albeit improved on as locos got larger etc.) continued to perform well all the way through to the end of steam on the Western Region. Albeit not perfect, but a very good all round design that was the basis for other locos that followed.

I am simply stating my opinion, not being rude, disrespectful or unkind to anyone in doing so.

I simply believe the choice of loco to be the cause of the low bookings on this tour which is partly based on my own opinion of Castle and Jubilee’s and also fact as last years higher loadings prove.

 

It’s well known the issues that express locos faced regarding adhesion from other regions compared to GWR’s equivalent.

 

I suggest you do some reading, not just about locomotive policy. But the core of my comment is that a very advanced organisation at the time of Churchward's retirement became content not to develop further, and was left behind by developments elsewhere. It is not that the latter GWR designs were bad, but that they were no longer the world beaters that they had been

 

1: No, I don’t do mainline rail yours for 2 reasons, number 1 being the diesels on the rear on most tours and 2, the fact that you cannot window hang anymore which to me does detract from the experience somewhat hence why reason I have really gotten into the heritage railway scene but that’s just my opinion.

2: No, just a casual observer and views based on the number of failures of each operators locos, appearance of locomotives and stock combined with the number of cancellations or diesel substitutions.

 

It is?

 

As I have said before, I am open to others opinions and am not here to try and shoot them down. I will be taking a look at the reads suggest above by another forum member as they sound informative and are right up my street of course, Old Oak especially.

Yes I think so.

 

I shall take a look at both of these, something to read on the train next time I am on one. I do quite like a BR Standard so that should be of interest to me as well.

 

As much as VT are running their version of "The Mayflower" tour this weekend and the Castle and Jubilee may be considered an odd combination - its not the first time that this so named tour has thrown up odd combinations - I'm sure I remember a Nunney Castle and Bittern combination back in September 2011.
Edit - I was a year out - it was 2010 courtesy of Six bells
https://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/00s/100911rt.htm

 

And a great trip it was.

 

37.418 to possibly assist with the Birmingham to Bristol part of the tour? <BJ>

0Z37 06:50 Derby R.T.C.(Network Rail) to Tyseley Steam Trust - 37.418
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:U61864/2025-09-05/detailed

 

The 37 will be nice to see if it runs down to Plymouth as the support diesel. Running the 47 down to Plymouth with knows electrical issues is quite a risk seeing as a breakdown down here is about the worst place you can have one. To steeply graded of a route to attach it to the rear of the steam set to tow it back and no rescue locos for over 100mi unless you speak nicely to GWR at Longrock.

I have to say I did enjoy the two class 20’s last year as they are very rare down here, I believe
the last ones west of Exeter were in 2020 or possibly 2021?

 

37240 + 37418 on diesel legs

 

Interesting and colourful combination!
I wondered if the 37/4 was needed for ETH (but didn’t think needed?) - or maybe more additional grunt for Lickey on the return. Either way happy with that!