Cathedrals express - 21 July

Does anybody know how close 45407 and 4492 will pass in York?

 

I had a look the other day for times for previous mid-week King's X - York tours, and the only one this year was 6201 on 28th April. 14.16 arr York, 17.48 depart. SSE depart 12.46 and 18.21, so will miss it by quite a margin if the Cathedrals times are the same as April.

 

The Cathedrals Express on 21st is cancelled.

 

Where did you hear that? Still showing on uksteam, nothing on the SD website. Actually it looks as if it is almost fully booked "limited availability".

 

Sometimes they put " Limited availability " prior to a tour being cancelled or a date change, to stop any further people booking. The train availability leaflet handed out on yesterdays trip showed availability in all classes except Superstandard which was full, and no tables for two were available in Pullman & Premier dining.

 

Email from SD to passengers who were booked on the train.

 

Sounds like quite a busy train, any ideas why it was canceld then?

 

Seems to becoming the norm, even well booked trains are being cancelled. Isn't the TE next week (24th) cancelled? Understand that was well booked as well. Does not inspire confidence for people to book on tours, especially Joe public/families.

 

Not just Joe Public's confidence being knocked. I'm keen to do a couple or so this year but I'm strictly limited as to the days I can do them so I'm loath to commit precious spare time to a tour which may end up being cancelled.

Edit : have just been told that the trip from Aylesbury on 29th has been caped due to engineering works.

 

What trip was that? The only one I can see on that date is The Scarborough Flyer.

 

My mistake, missed out the word August so it's the Aylesbury - Norwich trip on 29/9 that's been caped.

 

I understand that Network Rail have said that there are now no path's out off the cross during week days,could Grahem or James comfirm this.

 

What's changed then?

 

Yet more Network Rail incompetence. I think it is time all the tour operators got together and make a complaint to the Office of the Rail Regulator that with all the recent, last minute alterations, cancellations and problems that Network Rail are denying the Charter Operators open access as required by law!

Having said that Network Rails whole stewardship of the Railway is less than brilliant. My local Station, on one of the most heavily used commuter lines in the south, has more grass and shrubs growing across it than the Royal Horticultural society @ Wisley!

There is even Japanese Notweed growing, which a landowner has a statutory duty to remove, but they won't even do that. Network Rail seem to think that the law does not apply to them!

 

According to a friend of mine who was booked on the 21st, SD have informed him that the cancellation is due to NR declaring that there is no path for the train in the new ECML timetable. Fair enough but why has it taken NR until less than a week before the tour date to decide that? SD have been advertising this tour for months and must have had some agreement with NR to warrant the advert.

 

I think RalphW's post may hit the nail on the head - there are some excellent railwaymen "on the ground" in NR who know how to run trains and can come up with solutions based on a wealth of operating experience ... and then there are the "suits" sitting in their offices - need I say more?

As SpamCan81 says, the reason for the cancellation of the trip on the 21st was because there are no mid-week paths in the new timetable (and the e-mail from SD does not disguise their displeasure that was only discovered 6 days before the trip was due to run). Having travelled on the ECML behind steam on a number of occasions where the signallers have made sensible decisions and let the train run rather than adhering strictly to the schedule, I've no doubt that, had 60019 been sitting on its train at KX on Thursday morning ready to leave, with the right people in the signalling centres, a path would have been found for it to get to York without delaying other services. Unfortunately, schedules have to be planned in advance and on this occasion it appears to be a case of "computer says no".

 

All of which comes back to a point I made once before. I am sure NR agree these tours in principal months in advance, then throw the spec. into a 'pending tray' and only look at the timing/gauging issues a few days before the tour is due to run.

Bring back Steve Cornish!

 

Such a late notification by NR seems inexcusable. A lot of unhappy punters. And SD lose a train load of net revenue. Most undeserved after all the incredible work they put in for the July 9th tour with Tangmere. I feel for them even more than I do for the punters.

Comes back to the drum I've been beating for over a year here.

For future main line steam, significant changes are going to be needed IMHO. Maybe some sort of Q pathway built into timetables on fewer steam routes. And whatever rules currently exist for Q pathways and their frequency of use will need changing. Rules are made by people and can be changed by people. Plus my feeling that a concentration of steam loco resources and expertise will also be needed. Hopefully giving an increase in reliability and maybe even a modest increase in top speed to help with a Q pathway.

I had thought we were some way away from having to do any of that. Maybe we are not.