THE SWANAGE BELLE, Thu 16th June

The way things are going, I think a lot of people are going to lose confidence in steam tours. After all when you around £100 you don,t expect to get messed around. In this case it seems even the tour operator knows nothing about it. I don't think any recent or forthcoming steam railtour has passed without incident or change.

 

I think I've probably made my last advance booking for a steam trip. Maybe 35028 trips excepted.

If I want to spend the likes of 11 hours or more doing 292 miles in the future with an uncertain route and uncertain motive power I'll wait until the day. And if I can't get a ticket then there is plenty else I can do with my time.

And for those who say Tour Promotors can't operate like that, I'd say I'm in a tiny minority with that view.

I.e for me, the analogy I've used before, is the same as if I'd booked to go to a great steak restaurant with superb view over stunning countryside. Only to be told at the last minute I've gotta have beans on toast in a basement with no windows.

I guess lots of people like beans on toast in pokey basements.

LOL and Wink!

Except for Big Al who's booked on this one, who I guess does like steak, and for whom it's no joke. Told you Al, you'll get a storming run after all I've posted about it. 50 up Porton, 75 (ish) through Andover, and 70 over Enham bank.

 

Up until I read this, I was thinking of getting a ticket last minute.
Guess my insurance policy (wait and see) paid off this time.
I will be at Victoria plat 9 to watch the departure instead.

 

And so the vicious cycle of not enough passengers causing promoters to cancel tours or change from two steam locos to one steam and one diesel, then fewer passengers etc continues!

 

Who said it was "not enough passengers" the reason for all the various changes?

 

Absolutely - does anyone know the real reason for the change? Is 45305 unavailable for some reason?

Actually I think the alternative routing on the way back makes the trip a bit more interesting, although the downside of course is the diesel haulage as far as Southampton. Interesting to see that Steam Dreams are using this routing on 30th June but are planning to use the 8F for the Swanage to Southampton bit so it should be 100% steam.

 

Another question, why do all these various changes always seem to happen at the last minute? Basically when it is too late for the booked punter to do anything about it.

 

I think the cycle starts with the changes. Passengers have learnt to wait to see that it runs with the loco and route advertised. The waiting leads to a lack of advance bookings, run cancelled. Problem.... the changes from what was advertised.

I would have been on 4 tours by now this year. I haven't been on any of them. They either ran with the 'wrong' loco ( for me) or were cancelled due to a lack of bookings, due to people waiting to see if it runs as advertised........ It is called a self-fulfilling prophecy. Not our problem or our fault.

It is for the tour operators, loco owners and Network Rail to sort out.

 

Noone did!

 

I think we're missing the point here. I don't see too many railtours being cancelled due to low bookings - in fact the operator I use most (Steam Dreams) seem to be filling their trains well despite the tough economic times. The frustration is that there always seem to be changes, some of them at the 11th hour and that you are quite likely not to get what you booked and paid for. I can understand why some people feel they can't commit to booking in advance but I personally can't live with a "I'll wait and see what happens on the day" approach. I have to balance my railway enthusiasm with other committments and have to plan ahead!

Overall I feel rather uneasy about the state of mainline steam at the moment - it's been a bad couple of weeks what with last minute itinerary changes and a couple of failures on the main line.

 

What it needs is for people who want to see steam on the main support the tours.
If you dont say goodby to mainline steam.

Oh and dont wish it on NR to sort it out because they will and you will be saying goodby to alot of mainline steam...

 

Going back to this specific tour it would be good to understand the reason for the change. It sounds more like a case of last minute loco unavailability than anything Network Rail have done. The Swanage tours are always going to be a bit of a problem until they find somewhere to spin the ex-Old Oak Common turntable and thereby allow a single loco to take the train out and back.

 

twr12 in post #24.

 

I was victim of this twice even a few years ago. Both were with SD. The first was originally a trip to the WSR with 60019, I booked on this early doors & as per usual I found out there were issues only via this forum. It revolved around the fact that the turntable at Minehead was not fully commissioned. The trip was changed to go to Bristol with coach connections to the AVR. There was quite a heated discussion on here at the time. The second time, although not so bad, was a trip to Cardiff with 70013. In the event for some reason or other the trip was curtailed at Newport again with coach connections to Cardiff. Again I booked in plenty of time.
This brings me to another point, this forum is not the place for intending passengers to be informed of any changes, a lot of which starts out rumour based & hearsay. It is up to the tour operator to inform intending passengers direct giving them the option to opt out if they so wish.
Just to point out the the last paragraph is not in any way any criticism of this forum or members.

 

70013 is down to haul the fully booked West Somerset Explorer on Saturday. Will it be available then? I find it hard to believe that two locos have suddenly become unavailable.

 

The reinstatement of Tangmere vs. Oliver Cromwell is understandable, given that Ollie has a trip from London to the WSR on Saturday.

The fact that Tangmere is bringing the train back as well suggests two possibilities to me:
1) 5305 is not able to do it, perhaps because of an issue with the loco (repairs pending, support crew availabilty, etc) or with her ability to get home at a reasonable hour with the load (class 5, 60 mph limit), or something else.
2) It's necessary to get Tangmere back to London the same day, perhaps to fulfill some other commitment, or because the support crew are unable to stay overnight and go back later. Though UKsteam.info shows her next tour as 30th June, there may be other things in the diary.

As we've seen when Tornado has been replaced on tours, there can be some quite complicated knock-on effects following apparently simple changes of plan. Cause and effect are not always clear to the rest of us. Without knowing all the circumstances, we have to believe that RTC, WCRC and the loco owners have done their best to provide a tour that the passengers will enjoy. It's in all their interests that the passengers should wish to come back for more another day.

 

For information...
There is nothing wrong with 5305. There was a crew rostered for the trip. Cromwell was always doing the trip to Minehead and has been for some months despite the site saying that it was going to be 70000.

Tour operators obviously have their reasons... I do not know if there were timing issues. 5305 will go engine and van to Crewe at some point where it may be doing the 2nd July Coast to Coast, although things change constantly.

Also worth noting that 30777 has been withdrawn from the Weymouth trips this summer as they are planning to use air braked stock. I would think that with the current failure rate of other engines rostered in the pool, that is a massive risk, but I am sure the operator has valid reasons.

 

does anyone know the times through woking, had a look on uk steam web and on this rare time they are not showing, i dont mind whats on the front it, just be fantastic to see steam at woking again, be my first of the year